tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55450291628305629302024-03-13T08:19:28.566-07:00Olives - The Blog Of The BookAlexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.comBlogger83125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-6292582969261231782013-05-21T08:32:00.001-07:002014-01-31T00:50:48.130-08:00Olives - Creaky Old Blog Final Post Shock Horror<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 300px;"><span style="background-color: white;">Français : Olives vertes (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Olives_%C3%A0_l%27ap%C3%A9ritif.jpg">Wikipedia</a>)</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">I'm feeling a tad guilty - the Olives Blog is looking a little creaky since I finished my run through the book with excerpts and commentary on its content.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Moving on to publish <i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Beirut - An Explosive Thriller</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"> rather took the place of promoting </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Olives</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">, including updating the blog. But then I'd already shared pretty much all there was to share about the book and its characters.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">You can find out more about <i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Olives - A Violent Romance</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"> </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://www.olivesthebook.com/" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here at the Olives Website</a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">. And there's loads to discover about </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Beirut - An Explosive Thriller </i><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="http://www.beirutthebook.com/" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">here at the Beirut Website</a>.</b><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"> I warn you, they're very different books indeed!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Now I've published </span><i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">Shemlan: A Deadly Tragedy</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">, the last book of what I ended up calling The Levant Cycle - three books that take place in the same timeline and the same part of the world. You can <b><a href="http://www.shemlanthebook.com/" target="_blank">find out about Shemlan here.</a></b></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">For updates and news, you're probably best catching me at </span><b style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;"><a href="https://twitter.com/alexandermcnabb" style="color: #45818e; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">@alexandermcnabb</a></b><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">. I'll be more than happy to answer questions, chat or answer complaints from people whose family name appears in my books or who think Jordanians don't drink or make love or whatever other cosy myths my books have inadvertently shattered. Alternatively, there's always <b><a href="http://www.alexandermcnabb.com/" style="color: #b6d7a8; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">www.alexandermcnabb.com</a><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 22px;">!</span></b></span><br />
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Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-46112091519688323342012-09-17T00:14:00.000-07:002012-09-17T00:14:12.594-07:00Sabra and Chatila<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">I shook my head as I looked up at Daoud. ‘But they killed Israelis. Innocent Israelis.’ </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Daoud had walked away to stand by the ornate dinner table under the chandelier, his back to me. ‘What? And the infallible Mossad never makes mistakes? The wonderful Israelis would never harm civilians? Have you never heard of The Stern Gang, Paul? The Haganah? Ain Helweh? Sabra? The history of Palestine since the Naqba has been of Israeli killing, of Israeli cruelty and Israeli callousness. Thousands died in Gaza, Paul. Do you think they lost a second’s sleep over a couple of bombs and a few dead Arabs? Do you? Killing is a potent drug, Paul. Kill a few Arabs and you’ll maybe have less of a conscience at sacrificing one or two of your own.’</span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Olives, Page 221</span></i></blockquote>
<br />
Thirty years ago yesterday, Phalangist militia were let into the Sabra and Chatila Palestinian refugee camps by the occupying Israeli military. It took them 62 hours to mow down some three thousand men, women and children. The camps were guarded throughout this time by Israeli soldiers.<br />
<br />
An excellent eye-witness account of the aftermath is to be found in Robert Fisk's seminal 'Pity The Nation - Lebanon at War'. It's not pretty reading.<br />
<br />
A little over thirty years before that, soldiers from another country guarded the gates of camps where innocents were murdered. And no, scale doesn't stand as an excuse.<br />
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Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-71324258521296565772012-08-29T07:10:00.001-07:002012-08-29T07:10:29.125-07:00Into The Dark<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
Many years ago, in 2005, I was proud to be one of the sponsors an
artshow called 'Into the light', which protested the Amman bombings.
Today, Jordan's internet was plunged into the dark in a very different,
but just as important protest.<br />
<br />
Bloggers and website owners in Jordan are protesting the amended Press
and Publications Law, putting up a black 'interstitial' page which
reads, "You may be deprived of the content of this site under the
amendments of the Jordanian Press and Publications Law and the
governmental Internet censorship."<br />
<br />
You can take a look yourself by popping over to pal <a href="http://www.andfaraway.net/" target="_blank">Roba Al Assi's blog here</a>
- one of hundreds of sites in Jordan that have gone 'dark' for the day.
You can click through to a pretty pissed off post behind the tarpaulin.<br />
<br />
They're not kidding, either. The law appears to make the classic mistake, not unlike <a href="http://fakeplasticsouks.blogspot.com/2012/03/got-any-lebanese-lira.html" target="_blank">ongoing Lebanese efforts</a>
to bring the Internet into a media law, of confusing the web with print
media. Under the law, websites (so badly defined it could include
social media, blogs or any other online property) would be forced to
join the press association, appoint an 'editor in chief' (a role with
some very defined responsibilities) and also opens the door to blocking
websites, something Jordan has very laudably avoided doing.<br />
<br />
A moderate country with the most competitive telecom market in the
region, tremendous intellectual capital and an important regional centre
for ICT, IP and software/web development, Jordan's smart and
technically capable young people deserve better than muckle-headed
legislation hewn from granite by politicians who wouldn't know a website
from a wombat.<br />
<br />
Let's hope someone noticed how dark it got today...</div>
Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-9420041568613686842012-08-23T03:40:00.000-07:002012-08-23T03:40:25.624-07:00Reviews. Cool. An Olives Update.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
The reviews continue to trickle in, the latest from book blogger Julie Weight is <a href="http://juliew8.com/book-reviews/review-rating/rated-5/olives-a-violent-romance-by-alexander-mcnabb/" target="_blank">linked here</a> - a very kind five stars *ker-ching*. It'd be nice to think that all these positive reviews would result in a cascade of book sales, but that's simply not the case.<br />
<br />
<i>Olives - A Violent Romance</i> has now sold over six hundred copies which, although miniscule, puts it in the 'two percent' - 98% of books in print sell less than 500 copies, and we're talking mainstream published books here, not just indy or self published books. Of that, something like four hundred sales have been the printed 'Middle East edition'.<br />
<br />
So 600 copies is something of a result. I'll post an update on the great self publishing experiment on Olives' first anniversary, but by this stage it's clear that a lot of social media promotion (Over 6.000 Twitter followers and a popular blog do not for massive book sales make, at least in the Middle East), mainstream media coverage and positive reviews are not, in themselves, enough to make a book 'take off'. What <i>does </i>it take? If I knew that, chaps, I'd be off doing it...<br />
<br />
Meanwhile <i>Olives </i>has gone on sale in India for Kindle users now that Amazon.com has opened up to India. For some reason, Amazon only supports the 35% royalty rate for Indian Kindle sales, so I've taken the opportunity to drop the cover price there to $2.99 on the grounds it's now more affordable to Indian readers.<br />
<br />
The manuscript of <i>Beirut - An Explosive Thriller </i>has come back from its editor, the urbane Robb Grindstaff, with lots and lots of changes so I suspect that'll keep my head down over the next couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to this one, because if <i>Olives </i>got blocked in Jordan I can guarantee you <i>Beirut'</i>s gonna get banned in Beirut! The manuscript is also with the UAE's National Media Council for review and I can't even be sure it'll be passed to print in the UAE...<br />
<br /></div>
Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-83775650862998745062012-07-15T02:59:00.001-07:002012-07-15T02:59:02.171-07:00Amazon. Uncool.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The International Edition of Olives is not available to buy right now thanks to a very annoying screw-up by POD platform Createspace. What's particularly annoying is this has been the case since May - Createspace quietly blocked the book as it has the wrong ISBN number in it. The fact that the ISBN number in the file is the right one makes the move all the more frustrating. Making things worse, parts of my account appear to have been reset, including expanded distribution.<br />
<br />
Once I get the problem sorted out, it'll take 4-6 weeks to repopulate all the expanded distribution outlets. If you're desperate in the meantime, Amazon has <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Olives-Alexander-McNabb/dp/1466465719/" target="_blank">two copies left in stock here</a>.<br />
<br />
*sigh*<br />
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</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-60832100368837824942012-07-07T08:20:00.002-07:002012-07-08T00:17:17.765-07:00Amazon.Cool.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
I was mooching around Amazon yesterday and stumbled across these, a feature I hadn't seen on amazon before - an automated review picker that highlights reviews that make similar statements about Olives. They put a smile on my face, I can tell you!<br />
<br />
<br />
<div style="padding-bottom: 22px;">
<span class="block" id="advice-quote-0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="block" style="left: -4px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R1SFFO4OVQTYIP/ref=cm_cr_quotes_dprb_0?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1466465719&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text" id="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R1SFFO4OVQTYIP-2-57-117" name="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R1SFFO4OVQTYIP-2-57-117" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Read the full review by mfs"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px;">Picture John Grisham (at his best) in a Middle Eastern setting, and you get a pretty good idea of what you're in </span> </a><span class="inlineblock" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; white-space: nowrap;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R1SFFO4OVQTYIP/ref=cm_cr_quotes_dprb_0?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1466465719&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text" id="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R1SFFO4OVQTYIP-2-57-117" name="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R1SFFO4OVQTYIP-2-57-117" style="color: #333333; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" title="Read the full review by mfs">for.</a></span></span><span class="block" style="margin-top: -5px;"><span id="advice-quote-author-0"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;"> </span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="block" id="advice-quote-0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="block" style="margin-top: -5px;"><span id="advice-quote-author-0"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;">mfs</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;"> | </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;">2 reviewers made a similar statement</span> </span> </span> </span></div>
<div style="padding-bottom: 22px;">
<span class="block" id="advice-quote-1" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="block" style="left: -4px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R3UM1S81PY0FHZ/ref=cm_cr_quotes_dprb_1?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1466465719&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text" id="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R3UM1S81PY0FHZ-2-44-129" name="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R3UM1S81PY0FHZ-2-44-129" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Read the full review by Catalin Marin"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px;">Olives was one of those books that you start to read out of pure curiosity and end up reading it quickly wishing there was </span> </a><span class="inlineblock" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; white-space: nowrap;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R3UM1S81PY0FHZ/ref=cm_cr_quotes_dprb_1?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1466465719&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text" id="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R3UM1S81PY0FHZ-2-44-129" name="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R3UM1S81PY0FHZ-2-44-129" style="color: #333333; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" title="Read the full review by Catalin Marin">more. </a> </span> </span> </span><br />
<span class="block" id="advice-quote-1" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="block" style="margin-top: -5px;"> <span id="advice-quote-author-1"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;">Catalin Marin</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;"> | </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;">3 reviewers made a similar statement</span> </span> </span> </span></div>
<span class="block" id="advice-quote-2" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="block" style="left: -4px; position: relative;"><a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R27O4XG9C9XA36/ref=cm_cr_quotes_dprb_2?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0065HHZG4&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text" id="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R27O4XG9C9XA36-2-1657-154" name="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R27O4XG9C9XA36-2-1657-154" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;" title="Read the full review by JGibbons"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px;">McNabb
does a great job at building a relationship between the characters and
the reader from the get-go which continues to develop throughout the </span> </a><span class="inlineblock" style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; white-space: nowrap;"> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/review/R27O4XG9C9XA36/ref=cm_cr_quotes_dprb_2?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B0065HHZG4&nodeID=133140011&store=digital-text" id="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R27O4XG9C9XA36-2-1657-154" name="advice-quote-list-dpReviewsBucketSummary-B0065HHZG4-R27O4XG9C9XA36-2-1657-154" style="color: #333333; cursor: pointer; font-family: Georgia,Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic; line-height: 20px; text-decoration: none;" title="Read the full review by JGibbons">story. </a> </span> </span> <span class="block" style="margin-top: -5px;"> <span id="advice-quote-author-2"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;"><br /></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="block" id="advice-quote-2" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 12px;"><span class="block" style="margin-top: -5px;"><span id="advice-quote-author-2"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;">JGibbons</span><span style="color: #999999; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;"> | </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,Sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; line-height: 36px;">3 reviewers made a similar statement</span> </span></span></span></div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-35725728829615818742012-07-01T09:09:00.001-07:002012-07-01T09:21:41.530-07:00A Star Review<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif; text-align: center;">
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<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
"McNabb turned to self-publishing after 10 years of submitting his work
to agents and publishers had earned him nothing more than 250 rejection
letters. And it’s lucky for the public that he did."<br />
<i>India Stoughton writing in the The Daily Star </i></blockquote>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Lebanese newspaper The Daily Star reviewed <i>Olives - A Violent Romance</i> this week which is nice, especially as I'm taking myself off to Beirut for a quick trip to attend GeekFest Beirut 5.0 and do a little visiting in preparation for book three of the cycle of books that Olives triggered.<br />
<br />
Book two is <i>Beirut - An Explosive Thriller</i>, which is currently in its final edit as well as with the UAE's National Media Council to obtain its 'Permission to print'. I'd planned to publish Beirut in November, but will likely bring that forward to September/October.<br />
<br />
Book three of the cycle (They're not a trilogy, they're very different books indeed. Olives is a novel, where Beirut is a testosterone-soaked international spy thriller. Look at it as my feminine side coming out) was called 'Hartmoor' until I found out about Sarah Ferguson's hapless pot-boiler of the same title. So it's probably going to be called <i>Shemlan - A Deadly Tragedy</i>.<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">"McNabb does an excellent job of making Stokes an unreliable narrator.
He is ill-informed, breathtakingly tactless and uniformly self-serving.
Though he feels he has no choice in capitulating to Lynch’s demands, as
he is drawn ever deeper into violence and intrigue, readers may find
themselves asking why he doesn’t just leave Jordan while he still can.</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
Stokes’ actions make the situation worse at every turn, endangering
everybody around him. Though he thinks himself an adroit double agent,
it is clear to the reader that he’s being manipulated by those who know
exactly what he is doing.</div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
His cluelessness is rendered ironic by Aisha’s mocking nickname for
him: “The Clever Brit,” and other Arab characters’ repeated references
to the “cunning British.”</div>
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Adroit with dramatic irony, McNabb cleverly ensures that the reader
sometimes has a greater grasp of what’s happening than the hapless
Stokes, who initially knows very little about the Middle East."</blockquote>
</div>
The Star's review (<a href="http://www.dailystar.com.lb/Culture/Books/2012/Jun-30/178796-dont-judge-this-thriller-by-its-cover.ashx#axzz1zG6eTYos" target="_blank">linked here for your listening pleasure</a>) is pretty positive, all the more appreciated given the paper's reputation for fiercely critical reviews. But reviewer India Stoughton does take grave exception to <i>Olives</i>' cover - to the extent the headline of the piece is 'Don't judge a book by its cover'.<br />
<br />
Wow.<br />
<br />
I love the cover Lebanese graphic designer and artist Naeema Zarif created for Olives. Naeema is the talent behind GeekFest's distinctive iconography. Naeema's work on the various GeekFest posters have increasingly taken on the style of her own art – a distinctive series of images consisting of a range of juxtaposed elements creating a whole that makes your eyes flit around trying to decipher what’s going on in the resulting melange. There’s often a great deal of wit, subtlety and game-playing, but Naeema is a natural tease and likes to leave the viewer to try and sort it all out rather than giving the game away.<br />
<br />
Naeema’s art for Olives, when it arrived, blew me away. It’s utterly not what I expected, and yet seems so, well ‘right.’ It also, critically, works well as a thumbnail – today’s book cover needs to work as a booky book cover, a Kindle book cover (in colour as well as mono, BTW - don't forget the Kindle Fire!) and also as a thumbnail for Amazon.com and other sites.
It’s no surprise the cover of Olives consists of a number of elements. It’s a mash of images that come from Naeema’s reading of the book, there are elements resonant of multi-theism – Amman’s citadel is in there (look for a shape a little like ‘in’ at an angle across the cover), there is the earth the olives come from, the land and its importance are such an important part of Olives. The blues of the Mediterranean sky and the water are there, too. And so is parchment, a symbol of the unravelling peace the book is wound around. You’ll be hard put to find ‘em, but there are even some olives in there. Together, these things all speak to Olives – to the fundamentals that underpin the book. And behind the title, in faded characters, Mahmoud Darwish’s famous words – which form the frontispiece to Olives: “If the Olive Trees knew the hands that planted them, Their Oil would become Tears.”<br />
<br />
It’s a remarkable piece of art and I’m very proud to have it grace and represent my work
Being able to select who designs my cover is, of course, a huge privilege open pretty much only to self published writers - publishing companies don't consult authors about their covers, that's a marketing decision and one not to be made by a mere scribbler (or 'content producer'). I suppose you get an option once you sell your first million copies or so, but I know a number of published authors who were told, 'This is your book's cover, matey', which was the beginning and end of the conversation. I'd always hoped if I landed a contract they'd let me at least pitch Naeema's hat into the ring, but I sort of knew that was a forlorn hope. But now I'm in control, I get to have my cake and eat it.<br />
<br />
At the end of the day, any review is subective and opinion. I'm just sorry they liked my work and not Naeema's, because I'd honestly have preferred the review to have been the other way around.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Naeema's working on the cover of <i>'Beirut - An Explosive Thriller'</i> as we speak...<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=7d1ab2b4-0456-4e39-9ef6-91f2b081bdba" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>
</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-80338655481494388492012-06-19T00:34:00.000-07:002012-06-19T00:34:43.028-07:00The End Of Free<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gn5-uPkaIs4/T-AqtNg8PLI/AAAAAAAACME/S_At-cbkNF4/s1600/Amman+Bird+Market.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gn5-uPkaIs4/T-AqtNg8PLI/AAAAAAAACME/S_At-cbkNF4/s320/Amman+Bird+Market.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
So the great Olives review freebie coupon has run out. Nothing remains to be done save wait for the reviews.<br />
<br />
Book reviews are a wonderful thing. They're a little like book club meetings, I find, in that you get to experience other peoples' perspective on your writing. They're obviously less interactive, which is sometimes a shame as you find some point or another in a review where you want to say, 'Sure, but if you take this and that into account, surely that thing makes sense?'.<br />
<br />
I recognise I have been extremely fortunate in the reviews Olives has gained so far (a sample <a href="http://www.olivesthebook.com/">are given here</a>) and cannot help but be proud of the book's Amazon and GoodReads average ratings above four stars. All the book's reviews have been positive apart from one early review that was a 100% stinker. That review did me a favour, in fact and toughened my hide nicely. Fortunately, it was a lone, bile-flecked voice snarling in the wilderness.<br />
<br />
So what's not to like in Olives? As we've seen, some commentators have been a tad sniffy about the booze and sex content, which has rather amused me as I've been hooning around the Middle East long enough to be confident in my portrayal of a sophisticated Abdoun family. A lot of people haven't liked Paul, but that's fine as you were never really supposed to. As I said to <a href="http://orientations.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/53456409/Books-Feature%20new.pdf">Time Out Beiirut's Mackenzie Lewis:</a> "Poor Paul isn't much of a hero - he's the bit of us we'd all rather wasn't there'. <br />
<br />
This coming round of reviews will be interesting, though, as most of the reviewers aren't Middle East based and likely will have no affinity for the region. So quite what they make of it all is something I am more than keen to find out.<br />
<br />
Their opinions are important - today's readers are guided strongly by word of mouth and shared opinion. If Olives is going to have a chance of finding a readership outside of the region, it'll need reviews. What the reviewers' opinions are is, of course, entirely up to them. </div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-60945993197871976542012-06-01T13:08:00.001-07:002012-06-20T07:47:19.707-07:00Gone<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YceFC7tu464/T8khA8620-I/AAAAAAAACLc/GxtOQJBcZc0/s1600/Othodox+Crucifix+Jordan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YceFC7tu464/T8khA8620-I/AAAAAAAACLc/GxtOQJBcZc0/s320/Othodox+Crucifix+Jordan.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
My father has slipped from us all, his mind increasingly leached away by dementia. My one enormous regret is that, back when he’d have understood what I was on about, I couldn’t have put this book in his hands and said, ‘Hey, Dad, I’ve written a book.’. This is for him anyway. </blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
<i>Olives, the book's dedication.</i>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
</blockquote>
</blockquote>
<br /><br />
He died peacefully this evening.</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-4690142234230244342012-05-31T00:03:00.000-07:002012-06-03T23:14:46.211-07:00Olives for FREE!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kMeM0npMdQ4/TyDQhe6ESCI/AAAAAAAAB18/x_Gk_bBB3tU/s1600/Olives-The+Cover+Thumbnail.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kMeM0npMdQ4/TyDQhe6ESCI/AAAAAAAAB18/x_Gk_bBB3tU/s1600/Olives-The+Cover+Thumbnail.jpg" /></a></div>
<br />
So here's the deal. You undertake to review Olives for your newspaper, blog, YouTube or school magazine. Wherever you have an audience. You undertake to give the book a sincere and honest review.<br />
<br />
In return for that undertaking, here's a review copy of Olives. It's free, it's yours to keep and there is no obligation implicit in the gift other than that above.<br />
<br />
You go to this here website, <a href="https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/103726">Smashwords</a>, and you enter this here code: GK45A. You download Olives - A Violent Romance for free as an e-book for Kindle, iBooks, Sony, Nook or PDF file. The code will be valid until 18/6/2012.<br />
<br />
If you'd like to tweet me your review (or just chat), it's @alexandermcnabb.<br />
<br />
Enjoy the read! </div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-62622883504083888062012-05-29T01:37:00.002-07:002012-05-29T01:37:30.224-07:00Back from Florida<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gu-x2cgefDg/T8SKdJjcb1I/AAAAAAAACLQ/KszotFPBwms/s1600/Chai+Nana.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="311" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gu-x2cgefDg/T8SKdJjcb1I/AAAAAAAACLQ/KszotFPBwms/s320/Chai+Nana.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
In case you might be interested, here's a link to the 'True Talk' radio show on WMNF radio in Tampa, Florida. Show host Samar Dahmash Jarrar gave me a grilling about <i>Olives - A Violent Romance</i>, the great naming debate, sex, alcohol and the motivations of writers. It was a fun, freewheeling discussion which I, for one, enjoyed immensely.<br />
<b><br /></b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><a href="http://sound.wmnf.org/sound/wmnf_120525_110618_true1_256.m3u">The link's right here!</a></b></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
I start warbling about 28 minutes into the podcast, BTW. </div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
The first question: "Why on earth did you pick a name that would be like Kennedy here in the USA?" is one we've seen debated quite a bit on here. We talked about treading the line between the participants in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict, making the Middle East somewhere people want to find out a little bit more about and dig below the surface of the headlines. We talked about the Arab reaction to Olives, too, crossing the border into Israel, being a European in Arabia and lots more besides... Fun...</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-9625367423039805682012-05-25T05:05:00.000-07:002012-05-25T05:05:12.447-07:00Florida Here We Come!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-baWmmvl0YJ4/T790rzGQx4I/AAAAAAAACK0/VHotIbCwPYU/s1600/WMNF.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-baWmmvl0YJ4/T790rzGQx4I/AAAAAAAACK0/VHotIbCwPYU/s1600/WMNF.jpg" /></a> </div>
WMNF Radio is a community station in Tampa Bay, Florida. Fridays at 11am they have a program called True Talk that focuses on the Middle East and the Muslim World and later today that's precisely where you'll find me, talking to host Samar Dahmash Jarrah and co-host Ahmed Bedeir about Olives.<br />
<br />
More details on <a href="http://www.wmnf.org/programs/256">True Talk are linked here</a> and here's the link if you <a href="http://www.wmnf.org/listen">want to listen in tonight</a> at around 7.30pm Dubai time.<br />
<br />
I met Samar when she guested on the radio show I used to co-host with diminutive blonde bombshell Jessica Swann on Dubai Eye Radio. We've sort of kept in touch since and have been meaning to do this for a few weeks now.<br />
<br />
It's all part of 'Olives Over America', something of a focus on the US for me over the coming weeks, with a number of US book bloggers reviewing <i>Olives - A Violent Romance</i>. That's going to be something of an acid test as the book will by no means be playing to a home crowd!<br />
<br />
It'll also be interesting to talk to Samar and get an Arab-American perspective on the book. Do feel free to join us later! :)<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=e34ecf8f-6c83-45a6-b094-75ac86de73c3" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>
</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-62093694890870019022012-05-20T04:00:00.000-07:002012-05-20T04:00:35.564-07:00Reviews, Reviews, Reviews<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ieK4jUzl8a8/T7jOC5MeJ6I/AAAAAAAACKU/-kQf5JuH4qM/s1600/Book.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="308" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ieK4jUzl8a8/T7jOC5MeJ6I/AAAAAAAACKU/-kQf5JuH4qM/s320/Book.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
One of the interesting aspects of The Great Collapse of Publishing is being a heavy reader who doesn't quite know what to read next. How do you tell if a book - especially a self-published one - is great or simply rubbish.<br />
<br />
I say especially self published, but I've had a couple of recent disappointments with big publisher works. However, self published books are a little like the girl with the curl right in the middle of her forehead. There's nothing worse than a badly written, sloppy book that's all over the place and has wooden dialogue, a tenuous plot and scrappy characterisation unless it also hasn't been edited.<br />
<br />
You don't want that on your Kindle, believe me.<br />
<br />
This has led to the rise and rise of the book blogger, as well as communities such as GoodReads. All that commentary can help a reader sort the wheat from the chaff. Except it's a jungle out there - the explosion of new material that self publishing has opened up to the market has not only meant a new richness of choice and diversity for readers, it has led to a bewildering number of voices crying out into the wildnerness, "Me! Me! Read my book!"<br />
<br />
The end result has been a universe of book bloggers out there with months-long TBR lists (To Be Read), constantly harried by authors and being pressured to respond to a constant swathe of imprecation. Let us not forget, back in the Bad Old Days those most egregious of gatekeepers, literary agents, got 40-50 submissions a day (still do, in fact. In the US a big agent can pull 200 submissions a day).<br />
<br />
Now book bloggers aren't quite getting as bad as that, but it's on the rise and fast, at that. Soon they'll be getting pretty choosy about which books they take on board - a number of more influential book review blogs actually put new submissions on a list for reviewers to take on if they like the look of them.<br />
<br />
Olives has had some lovely reviews (some collected <a href="http://www.olivesthebook.com/">here on the book's website</a>, along with the fabby Time Out Beirut interview), especially on <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Olives-ebook/product-reviews/B0065HHZG4/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1">Amazon </a>and <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13050921-olives">GoodReads</a>. But I'm off seeking more, so spent much of the weekend chasing around the world after book bloggers.<br />
<br />
Funny, but I can see that same wary look in their eyes I used to see in agents' when I came into the room...<br />
<div class="zemanta-pixie" style="height: 15px; margin-top: 10px;">
<a class="zemanta-pixie-a" href="http://www.zemanta.com/?px" title="Enhanced by Zemanta"><img alt="Enhanced by Zemanta" class="zemanta-pixie-img" src="http://img.zemanta.com/zemified_c.png?x-id=754e85ba-c64f-42cb-8cc7-1f34155fe23b" style="border: medium none; float: right;" /></a></div>
</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-16049853142284753872012-05-15T00:42:00.001-07:002012-05-15T00:42:07.553-07:00May 15th<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8k1YW3PBaCQ/T7IFTPsNsCI/AAAAAAAACJ0/lgc_cq4J54g/s1600/Refugee+Camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-8k1YW3PBaCQ/T7IFTPsNsCI/AAAAAAAACJ0/lgc_cq4J54g/s320/Refugee+Camp.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-indent: 14.2pt;">
<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">The conversation
turned to Palestine in the past, to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">al
nakba</i>, ‘the catastrophe’, the formation of Israel in 1948 and the end of
the British Mandate in Palestine. When I asked Ibrahim whether he had ever gone
back there, his bushy eyebrows shot up in astonishment.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">‘Go back? Of
course we go back! As often as possible. It is not always easy.’ He laid his
forearm on the table as if he were about to give blood, palm up. He looked
across at me. ‘Sometimes they are like this on the border. Sometimes like
this.’ He balled his hairy hand into a fist. ‘When it is like <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">this</i> you are turned back or made to wait
for hours while they play with you. Sometimes before they make me kneel on the
path in front of them. That is hard for a man like me. I am old, I have become
used to having the dignity, you know?’</span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">Olives, Page 44 </span></i></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Garamond","serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;">This year is the 64th since the creation of the state of Israel and the resulting displacement of hundreds of thousands of people from their land. I've already posted about it <a href="http://olivestheblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/al-naqba-catastrophe.html">over here</a> and won't repeat myself but it's sort of key to <i>Olives - A Violent Romance </i>and so I couldn't let it go past without comment! </span></div>
</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-27572138241226082912012-05-14T01:35:00.002-07:002012-05-14T09:21:54.946-07:00Featured<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Olives - a violent romance</i> is the 'top featured' book over at <a href="http://www.ereaderdailynews.com/">eReader Daily News</a> this week, a promotion which will hopefully be the start to finding a US audience for this most violent of romances!<br />
<br />
<br />
The smashing news is that I've had to drop the cover price of the book to meet eReader Daily News' criteria, so this week you can buy Olives for your Kindle for just $4.99 by clicking this here handy link:<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Olives-ebook/dp/B0065HHZG4">Buy Olives - A Violent Romance for just $4.99!!!</a></b></div>
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And as if that weren't enough, I've given the <i>Olives </i>website a bit of a spruce up to include some of the reviews of the book that have appeared in various media, <a href="http://www.olivesthebook.com/">linked here</a>. I've also included a link to Time Out Beirut's interview with me about <i>Olives </i>- and, for your reading pleasure, <a href="http://orientations.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/53456409/Books-Feature%20new.pdf">gladly reproduce it here</a>.<br />
<br />
There are more interviews in the pipeline, too. It's lucky I'm no shrinking violet, isn't it? I genuinely feel sorry for writers facing this brave new world of self publishing who don't have an appetite for the promotional side of things, because dragging your weary carcass out there and pushing yourself at people is pretty key to finding even a small readership.<br />
<br />
Smashwords' guru in chief Mark Coker has published a guide to e-book marketing which is both sensible and useful - <a href="http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/305">it's linked here</a> if you're interested. One of the many excellent points Mark makes is that you can push as many rocks up as many hills as you like, but at the end of the day the monster of all marketing tools is word of mouth. <br />
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That doesn't mean you don't have to do marketing for your book - it's an absolute necessity in my humble. But it does mean that once the ball is rolling, it should (if your book has 'it') gain its own momentum. At what stage that happens is, I can tell you with much personal experience, anyone's guess!!!</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-89018622327606612912012-05-10T00:46:00.000-07:002012-05-10T00:47:04.964-07:00Technology Troubles<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Aisha pushed her chair away and stood, stretching. She leaned on the back of my seat. ‘This is really good, Paul. People are going to love this.’<br />
I grinned. ‘Thanks. I hope so.’<br />
‘Zahlan’s concerned it’s all on dead trees. You know that, right?’<br />
I nodded. ‘Yes. He made it abundantly clear. He wants an online version as well as what he calls “more interactivity” but that wasn’t really part of the plan. We did discuss that carefully with Mr Shukri when we signed the deal.’<br />
Aisha sat back down, this time sideways with her legs crossed towards me and taking sips of coffee, her red nails rich against the white and gold porcelain. ‘Yes, but Shukri’s old school. He wouldn’t know the Internet if it came round and bit him on the ass. I think your Robin sort of took advantage of it. But Shukri’s gone now. Zahlan’s in charge and he’s shaking things up. He’s very good you know, Paul.’<br />
<i>Olives, Page 24</i></blockquote>
When <i>Olives - a violent romance </i>was first written back in 2004, the Internet in the Middle East was less than ten years old and there was little sense in having a website for a contract published magazine. Of course, time changed that and Jordan has been at the very forefront of the region's online development - Jordan's got the most competitive telecoms sector in the region and punches well above its weight when it comes to software development, fostering startups and generally creating intellectual property.<br />
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It would be inconceivable to have such a project today without a website, yet there are still 'Shukris' in the woodwork, old skool types who would let a sneaky beast like Robin sign up a magazine contract with no online element. <br />
<br />
And so Paul has to, as the Minister puts it, 'go the extra mile' and produce an online asset from his magazine to smooth the waters with new boy on the block Abdullah Zahlan. </div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-57065906158885974042012-05-04T00:49:00.000-07:002012-05-04T00:49:14.420-07:00How Much Is That Olives In The Window?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
I have never pretended to actually understand Amazon's expanded distribution - I just signed up for it and sat back to wait and see what would happen.<br />
<br />
What's happened is you can now buy your very own copy of Olives for just <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/1466465719/">£888 from bookseller invise-uk. </a>At that price, you' think they'd chuck in free delivery but no, that's an extra £2.80.<br />
<br />
Given you can snap up your very own copy of this violent romance for <a href="http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Olives-Alexander-Mcnabb/9781466465718">£9.93 from the Book Depository </a>including free shipping to over 100 countries around the world (including Jordan where distributors are too craven to stock the book), you'd be forgiven for wondering quite what invise-uk is offering to sweeten the deal. A case of Cristal, perhaps? A diamond-studded cover?<br />
<br />
Given the Book Depository pricing actually undercuts Olives' price on the shelves in the UAE, Delhi, Bahrain and Lebanon (where the Middle East Edition is on sale), I thought the least I could do is out-do Invise.<br />
<br />
So here, ladies and gentlemen, is your chance to buy Olives - The Dubai Edition.<br />
<br />
<b>What do you get?</b><br />
The Dubai Edition of Olives is enhanced by a fine, etched, 18-carat gold cover and printed on fine vellum in a signed, numbered edition of no more than ten copies. Each copy is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity and a calligraphy of the quotation from Mahmoud Darwish which also graces the back cover of the edition. We are pleased to confirm that a box of Patchi chocolates and a bottle of Roederer Cristal champagne will accompany the book on delivery<br />
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There will also be sparklers.<br />
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All for a mere £1001.<br />
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Take that, Invise-uk!</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-43686644046237824802012-05-02T00:15:00.001-07:002012-05-02T00:15:16.892-07:00Narratives in Action<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
It was a sunny, warm day yesterday so I cannot, sadly, attest to whether the rain in Al Ain stays mainly on the plain, but there's a brand new multi-carriageway lump of blacktop replacing the 'old' Al Ain road that spirits you straight to the airport and, if you know what you're doing, the 'crescent' building at the heart of the United Arab Emirates University's Maqam campus. UAEU is a big university, people, very big. And brilliantly well equipped, at that.<br />
<br />
I was there to speak to an audience of students (and a smattering of faculty members) as part of a two- day workshop organised by the Department of Philosophy, the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Deanship of Libraries of the United Arab Emirates University, in collaboration with Université Paris Sorbonne Abou Dhabi, titled 'Narratives in Action'.<br />
<br />
I attended the morning session and was glad I did. A fascinating talk by philosopher Dan Hutto explored how we use language and narrative to guide our interactions and behaviours within a social context. Steve Bird examined how language 'primes' us and outlined a fascinating new research project he and colleague Sami Boudelaa are undertaking to explore the relationship between language and cognition. Further examinations of language, narrative and their effect on human behaviours came from Massmimiliano Cappuccio, Hosny Mostafa Al Dali and Fama Zohra Sai.<br />
<br />
And then, after lunch, it was my turn. Given the event was billed as an 'interdisciplinary workshop' and I clearly have no discipline to offer, I outlined to a hearteningly full room how to write a book. As I pointed out, writing books is easy - all you have to do is put together 100,000 words. The order you put 'em in is, of course, the kicker.<br />
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My advice was loosely based on <a href="http://fakeplasticsouks.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-to-write-book.html">this here post </a>over at Fake Plastic Souks, 'How to Write a Book' which I wrote as a follow-up to my earlier 'How to self publish in the UAE' post on that self-same blog. I was delighted to come across at least one young lady who is attending UAEU's creative writing course, which is held in Arabic. I did all I could to exhort the students to take up writing for themselves and publishing for themselves - there's never been a more exciting time in publishing as writers can now find their own outlets for their work as I, indeed, have done myself - and very glad I am that I done it.<br />
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I had fun, although I'm not sure how the audience processed all. I had to skip right afterwards and return to the devastation that is McNabb Mansions now the AC men have been in for the past three days. But that, as they say, is quite another narrative...</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-43229747242403594692012-04-24T22:30:00.001-07:002012-04-24T22:30:05.061-07:00Book Clubs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
I love book clubs. It's daft. They buy your book, invite you along to their meeting, talk to you about your work for three hours and then thank you for coming. It's such a selfish pleasure, it's not true!<br />
<br />
Patricia invited me to her book club a while back, the meeting seemed miles away and then suddenly it was upon us, this club meets monthly at each other's houses in rota - the hostess picks the book for the next meeting and Patricia picked Olives. And so I found myself in a taxi in Dubai's Al Safa area trying to find the (rather lovely) villa of a lady called Emma. We were ten in all, I was the only chap - but that's book clubs for you, the pastime seems to be dominated by the fair sex. I can't say that spending an evening eating, drinking and talking about my book to a group of interested ladies is the worst way to pass time.<br />
<br />
And so to Olives, which all professed to have enjoyed immensely. The group had read Sarah Abulhawa's 'Mornings in Jenin' previously, which all had also enjoyed, and it came up in the context of books that highlighted the conflicts of Palestine being all too rare and eye-openers, particularly for the European members of the group. Paul was the subject of great debate, his motivations and personality coming under the spotlight, as did Aisha's behaviour and that of her family. Unusually, a great deal more sympathy for Paul was expressed than I usually hear - as well as a deal more cleverness invested in decrypting the names of the characters in the book than ever went into naming them!<br />
<br />
As the evening went on we sat around a table in the garden (the weather in Dubai being just about perfect for that kind of thing right now) and talked about the water issues in Jordan and the West bank, publishing and bibliophilia in general. Was the water issue based on research? Could Daoud's scheme be considered realistic? Would Nour really have been so approving of Paul's relationship with Aisha? Why would Anne even bother her head coming out to visit Paul? Is there a 'real' Aisha anywhere? We talked around all of these, as well as morality, alcohol, pre-marital sex and all the other stuff you find to talk about when you're chatting about books.<br /><br />A truly convivial gathering, in short, with a group of people representing a uniquely Dubai mixture of nationalities and viewpoints.<br />
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I love book clubs...<br />
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Today, April 24th, Armenians around the world mark the Armenian genocide, still so shamefully unrecognised by the Turkish government. I posted earlier how the <a href="http://olivestheblog.blogspot.com/2012/02/amman-and-circassia.html">Circassian genocide</a> had resulted in Amman's population of people from the North. Similarly, there's a big <a href="http://olivestheblog.blogspot.com/2012/03/orthodox-greeting.html">Armenian community</a> enriching the city.</div>
</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-52099604082580464522012-04-21T23:55:00.000-07:002012-04-21T23:55:31.721-07:00The BBC and Olives<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
During the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature I filmed <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17791535">an interview with BBC World's Ben Thompson</a>, intended to be part of a 'package' on self publishing in the Middle East. I'm joined in the piece by various luminaries of the Middle Eastern publishing scene including distribution guru Narain Jashanmal, translator and e-publisher May Habib and author Dania El Kadi, I do an excellent impersonation of a slightly more careworn and dissipated Alistair Campbell.<br />
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As you'd expect, I used the opportunity to point out that authors are Doing It For Themselves as publishing houses become ever more risk averse. That's certainly the case for me, saddled with a book that has been thoroughly enjoyed by the hundreds of people who have read it so far and yet which 'traditional' publishing feels is too risky and not a commercial proposition they could invest in.<br />
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That book would still just be a load of charged particles on an oxide-coated aluminium platter if I hadn't decided to self publish it. After some 80-odd rejections from agents (and my own agent deciding he couldn't sell it), I am very glad I took the plunge.Olives has given a great deal of enjoyment to many people and every sale, review and Tweet of 'I enjoyed #Olives' adds to my delight and conviction that it was the right decision to take.<br />
<br /></div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-33000382870073416432012-04-17T21:36:00.001-07:002012-04-17T21:36:22.924-07:00How To Find Your Own Aisha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Today brings that most welcome of things, a guest post. Roba Al Assi is the lady behind popular Jordanian blog <a href="http://www.andfaraway.net/">And Far Away</a> and someone whose zeal for creativity and ready eye for the unusual and offbeat often provoke a wry smile and have not infrequently led me to explorations of things I would not otherwise have considered...</i><br />
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So, do you have a mini-crush on Aisha Dajani from "Olives"? The news is good. Given Amman's size and societal norms, you can follow these ten easy steps to meet your very own Aisha. The trick is to see how the people of the city are connected to one another, and filtering them out to the Jordanian woman of your dreams. Just make sure that you don't caught up in, ahem, espionage.<br />
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1. Spend a lot of time at Turtle Green. After some time, you’ll get to catch all the familiar faces and how each is connected.<br />
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2. Catch events at Masrah Al-Balad. Get surprised at how many new faces there are. Learn them.<br />
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3. Grab your drinks at La Calle, After Eight, or Negresco. Keep in mind that Books@Cafe, contrary to popular belief, attracts several crowds, some of which an Aisha will not take part in.<br />
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4. Befriend some of the Bakaloria crowd. I won’t mention names, but I can say this: they’re usually not to be found in La Calle, After Eight, or Negresco. Go to richer, darker, less fun places to find them.<br />
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5. Keep an eye on events happening at Rainbow Theatre, Makan, the Royal Cultural Center, and the RFC. Sometimes, there’s an Aisha-crowd magnet of an event.<br />
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6. Don’t be caught dead in a place that serves argeeleh.<br />
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7. Take a walk in l’Weibdeh or Abdoun.<br />
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8. Become a leftist, and attend leftist activities and events.<br />
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9. Have very strong opinions about how Amman is losing its soul to pseudo-modernity.<br />
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10. Attend pro-Palestine, anti-nuclear, and anti-corruption demos.</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-77517381020184861452012-04-16T07:21:00.001-07:002012-04-16T07:21:31.010-07:00The Jordanian Water Privatisation<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Aisha’s soft touch was a little thrill as I helped her off the conference shuttle bus, the exhaust fumes making me squint up at her as the warm light caught her fine features. It was a hot Dead Sea day and I shifted uncomfortably in the unfamiliar confines of a suit. She glanced at me as her high heels hit tarmac, a flash of white teeth at my discomfiture. <br /> ‘Come on, let’s get you installed in the press office so I can find Harb and Zahlan.’<br /> We walked into the King Hussein convention centre, more buses pulling up behind us as conference visitors streamed in from the hotels along the Dead Sea coast and from the public car parks down the road. The keynote speaker, Harb Al Hashemi, Jordanian Minister of Natural Resources by the Grace of God, was also, Aisha told me, going to announce the result of the privatisation. The evaluation committee had reviewed the financial offers of both bidders and made its choice. Harb would reveal all.<br /><i>Olives, Page 243</i></blockquote>
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The privatisation of Jordan's Water Network in <i>Olives</i> is a fiction, although the critical water shortages Jordan is facing is a very well researched reality. The Israeli 'security wall' does, indeed snake around fertile land and springs, deviating significantly from the '1967 border' by kilometres just to snag a juicy well or spring. In a region where water - the stuff of life - is severely scarce, ensuring a steady supply is existential. Even when that supply comes at the expense of your neighbour or, if you prefer, your 'partner in peace'.<br />
<br />
Ariel Sharon did indeed threaten to take Israel to war over the damming of the Litani River and Israel did take control of Lake Tiberias in the 1967 war, securing the massive reservoir. There are underground aquifers leading into Tiberias, a number of earthworks exist today that date back to Roman times, the <i>Qanat Romani </i>of Jordan, mostly concentrated in the North of the country.<br />
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But the privatisation is makety-uppity - you can blame it on the fact I was working with the Jordanian Ministry of ICT on a number of privatisation projects at the time I was writing <i>Olives</i>, including the privatisation of Jordan's telecoms sector which stands today as the most competitive in the Middle East - precisely because of that privatisation programme. And the Ministry of Natural Resources is also, sadly, a fiction.- the water issue belongs fairly and squarely to the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation which is embarking on a number of schemes almost as breathtaking in scope as Daoud Dajani's in <i>Olives</i> - including the controversial Disi project, which will pump water hundreds of kilometers from Wadi Rumm up to Amman.<br />
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</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-83662399282615928352012-04-14T21:54:00.001-07:002012-04-15T21:53:33.739-07:00Dedication<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br /><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">
My father has slipped from us all, his mind increasingly leached away by dementia. My one enormous regret is that, back when he’d have understood what I was on about, I couldn’t have put this book in his hands and said, ‘Hey, Dad, I’ve written a book.’.
This is for him anyway.
<br />
<i>The dedication in Olives</i></blockquote>
<br />
I can't really say when it became obvious my dad was suffering from the slow erosion of memory that is vascular dementia. He had always seemed a little bit mad to me - when I was a kid he used to drive me to embarrassed stage whispers of "Dad, shut up would you?" as he ambled through department stores whistling or singing silly little songs. He would talk to absolute strangers, making quips and generally laughing his way around the place.<br />
<br />
I know I inherited his sense of humour and I'm very glad of that. I dread to think what else I've inherited.<br />
<br />
He was an inveterate doodler, every birthday card I ever had from my parents featured a version of the wartime cartoon character, Chad cracking a 'Wot - another year?' type gag. Going through his papers, I found a cartoon typical of his style in a letter and was shocked to find it wasn't his - it was my grandfather's, a cartoon to my brother nestled in an impossibly formal letter to my mother sent in the 1950s. The doodle illustrated a brilliant nonsense poem that involved a cassowary and a missionary, a piece of pure Thurber.<br />
<br />
It really hit me four years ago. We were walking through Camarthen
when he declared to me he could remember when this was all countryside
on the outskirts of London. He was back in Linden Avenue, the street in
Wembley he was born and grew up in. We walked through the bustling Welsh
town centre together and he pointed out landmarks to me from his
childhood in another town eighty years ago, back when you'd still see
steam-driven traction engines on the streets.<br />
<br />
Two weeks ago we flew to the UK, our only purpose to take my father in to a care home.That's why I was going through his papers. We sat in the kitchen together the evening he went, my inconsolable mum weeping as I sorted through bags of his old letters, photos and other stuff.<br />
<br />
He wouldn't go the first time around. Confused and disoriented, as he always is when he's woken up from a snooze, he got as far as the front door with me as I lied to him. Opening the door meant a gust of cold air and a sight of the vile weather outside. Declaring 'This isn't me', he insisted on going back inside, dropping down onto his comfy chair in the lounge and refusing to budge, blinking owlishly as he asked where he was and who we were. We tried again the next day, taking him in the car as I dropped my mum to the hairdresser then drove on to the care home. She didn't have the strength to do it, wouldn't lie to him. It was to be a full week before she could even contemplate going to the home to visit him.<br />
<br />
I walked him, together with a pretty nurse, through the TV room with its complement of empty-eyed old ladies and then the dining room and into the lift to the first floor. I took him as far as his bedroom and then I couldn't take it any more and fled to fetch his bag of clothes from the car. The long, shuffling walk punctuated by his constant exclamations of 'Oh dear' had taken twenty minutes. Not once had he looked around and stopped to ask where we were.<br />
<br />
I was tormented by the thought we'd got it wrong, that I had consigned him to a lonely prison where he'd be locked in a darkened room, helpless and howling for my mother, his companion of sixty two years and latterly his carer - to the point where her own health had suffered.<br />
<br />
He didn't miss a beat. He has not the faintest clue where he is or who the people around him are. He's warm, secure and fed and functioning at that basic, animal level. He's able to experience, but has no memory of his experiences. As it shuts down, his mind isn't even able to dredge up the old, embedded memories of his childhood or his wartime in the marines so carefully documented in the schoolbook I found in those dusty plastic bags. He doesn't remember Linden Avenue any more.</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5545029162830562930.post-66358819164047215692012-03-29T05:45:00.000-07:002012-03-29T05:45:19.517-07:00Olives Launches In Lebanon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
It was Lebanese bibliophile community The Cube's first anniversary last night and many people did gather at charming little drinking spot Knock On Wood in funky Hamra for a meet-up, book-swap and readings from myself and Lebanese poet and writer Pascal Assaf.<br />
<br />
I gave a quick talk about how publishing works and why I spent years banging my head against the brick wall of conventional publishing before taking matters into my own hands, then gave a reading from the book (the scene where Aisha takes Paul house hunting). Standing around chatting afterwards was a pleasure that segued nicely into a slightly later evening than I had planned as a number of reprobates from Dubai visiting for ArabNet joined us and proceeded to demonstrate quite how much fun Hamra can be.<br />
<br />
Coincidentally, <a href="http://thecubelb.wordpress.com/2012/03/27/a-violent-romance-for-your-enjoyment-olives-by-alexander-mcnabb/">The Cube's review of Olives - A Violent Romance</a> went up yesterday as well.<br />
<br />
A great big thank you from the bottom of my heart to the Cube Crowd - lovely people with a passion for reading they share on the website and in their meetings, which manage to circumvent the 'traditional' book club format of 'dicatating' what people should read for each meeting.<br />
<br />
And now it' off to Librairie El Bourj in Beirut's Place Des Martyrs for the 'official launch' of Olives in Lebanon. There's been quite a bit of interest in the book, particularly in face of the little controversies around the book's content, each of which is no controversy at all, but people do love a little drama, don't they?</div>Alexanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14141884153180374138noreply@blogger.com0