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The Irony of The Road Movie is that the weak leave, but only the strong survive

From the earliest days of American cinema, the road movie has been synonymous with American culture and the image of America to the world. By my definition, the road movie is a vehicle for either one or a small group of individuals who seek to escape the world they are living in and set out towards redemption on the road.
New- May 2008 - Order now be one of the first to read it
Mean Tide by Sam North
'Extraordinary novel about a child's psychic awakening'
ISBN: 978-1-4092-0354-4
'An engaging, unusual and completely engrossing read'
- Beverly Birch author of 'Rift'


Kids can survive anything, they say. Oliver, aged twelve, has a missing father in Africa, his mother has had a breakdown, and he is recovering from chemo. He is sent to live with his only relative. On a foggy day, one bald boy, with his cat, Flop, arrives at his Grandma's house at the water's edge in Greenwich. Oliver discovers to his horror that his Grandma, a famous psychic, hates cats. Her housekeeper, Lena loathes kids, and silent Justine seems to hate everyone. Add crazy Harriet, who has seen every fortune teller in London; Aura, a mysterious, aspiring beautiful actress and Bullet, the homeless kid with a very mean streak, trouble can't be far behind. When Oliver and Justine find a beautiful dog with it's throat cut washed up on the riverbank, Oliver feels a strange connection to this dead animal and so begins his own induction into a psychic world.
 
 
A Bernado Bertolucci retrospective -

Bernardo Bertolucci is the one of the key influences of why I love cinema. When I first discovered him in 1971 his work made a huge impact on me as a film student. He began with Before the Revolution in 1964 ­ a story about University intellectual who has sided with the communist rebels in Italian society and it being a Bertolucci film, he is also having an incestuous relationship with his aunt. Filmed when he was just 22 it revealed his skills as a brilliant stylist, if not a great storyteller.

 
 
 
 
 

Researching the Novel and when to stop and write

For future historical novelists writing about the present, they will find blogs of overwhelming trivial details of just about every single person on the planet. They may well find it hard to penetrate six billion souls and make meaning out it, but the information will be there.

* Coming to the Winchester Writers Conference? See you there June 28th 2008

 
 
 
Sam North is a Senior Lecturer in Creative Writing & Course Leader for the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Portsmouth - now in its fourth successful year hack

Since 1999 Sam has been running the on-line magazine Hackwriters.com a site for international writers in all subject areas. In 2001 as Hackwriters won Skylines Travel Writers of the year award, nominated for the New Statesman education award in 2006. It continues as a place for new and 'experienced' writers to showcase their work. As of writing there are 4200 articles posted on site.
email: sam.north at port.ac.uk

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Sam North who lives in Devon?

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