Thomas W. Devine's Blog, page 35
August 12, 2012
Native Forest Conservation
I am working on a new novel set in New Zealand in the aftermath of an historic period of social turbulence over native forest conservation. I'm calling it "Green Expectations".
The native forest conservation movement in New Zealand rose to the forefront in the 1970s after the government proposed harvesting large areas of native South Island lowland beech forest with the intention that half the area be converted to exotic Pinus radiata plantation.
In 1975 a series of forest campaign groups joined together under the banner of the Native Forests Action Council (NFAC), sparking the Maruia Declaration, a public petition demanding an end to native forest logging.
Along with the Save Manapouri Campaign, the native forest campaigns ignited a new public awareness of conservation in New Zealand and, in 1986, a controversial agreement was reached between the government and environmental groups. It allowed a reduced area of 120,000 hectares of government-owned native forest on the West Coast to be set aside for logging.
More radical protesters rejected the accord. Their 1990 tree-sitting campaign eventually led to political changes and, in 1993, the Forests Act was amended to stop unsustainable logging of native forest.
The native forest conservation movement in New Zealand rose to the forefront in the 1970s after the government proposed harvesting large areas of native South Island lowland beech forest with the intention that half the area be converted to exotic Pinus radiata plantation.
In 1975 a series of forest campaign groups joined together under the banner of the Native Forests Action Council (NFAC), sparking the Maruia Declaration, a public petition demanding an end to native forest logging.
Along with the Save Manapouri Campaign, the native forest campaigns ignited a new public awareness of conservation in New Zealand and, in 1986, a controversial agreement was reached between the government and environmental groups. It allowed a reduced area of 120,000 hectares of government-owned native forest on the West Coast to be set aside for logging.
More radical protesters rejected the accord. Their 1990 tree-sitting campaign eventually led to political changes and, in 1993, the Forests Act was amended to stop unsustainable logging of native forest.
August 6, 2012
Where is Kim Spenser?
After Kim is kidnapped from a villa on the French Riviera James Vallence, the main protagonist in my newly released second edition novel “Reversal Point” will do anything to find out the answer to that question.
He won’t find the answer until he survives repeated attempts on his life in a vendetta begun by her kidnappers.
https://www.createspace.com/3340898?r...
He won’t find the answer until he survives repeated attempts on his life in a vendetta begun by her kidnappers.
https://www.createspace.com/3340898?r...
August 3, 2012
Why was Kim Spenser kidnapped?
Today was the launch of the second edition of my novel “Reversal Point” in which the answer to the above question can be found.
Kim Spenser is a beautiful young American, member of a wealthy family, who has her possessions stolen on the French Riviera when she is on holiday with her girl friend. It temporarily frustrates her desire to go on to Paris to become a fashion model.
Before fulfilling her aspiration, Kim is kidnapped in mysterious circumstances.
https://www.createspace.com/3340898?r...
Kim Spenser is a beautiful young American, member of a wealthy family, who has her possessions stolen on the French Riviera when she is on holiday with her girl friend. It temporarily frustrates her desire to go on to Paris to become a fashion model.
Before fulfilling her aspiration, Kim is kidnapped in mysterious circumstances.
https://www.createspace.com/3340898?r...
August 1, 2012
Novel Out Soon in Second Edition
Why was Kim Spenser kidnapped? What happened to her? Is she still alive?
These are hooks in "Reversal Point", a thriller that will shortly go onto the market as a second edition paper back and Kindle e-copy.
Action in the novel takes place in France but the main protagonist, James Vallence, is from New Zealand.
His experience of being an artist and living on the French Riviera and in Paris was a dream of mine when I was a much younger.
In reality, his fictional experiences and my real-life ones diverge.
I never had talent as a painter, though I aspired to it, and I’ve never had an American, or French or English girlfriend, or gone through the experience of having a girlfriend kidnapped, or of having to repeatedly defend my life in a vendetta, as James does in the novel.
Like James,I’m not short of hospital experience as a patient. Though he gets badly injured a few times he rises above the odds against him. He’s an every-day kind of guy and not a super-hero but certainly more resilient and courageous than I could swear I would be in his situation.
James knows love and infidelity but since I’ve been married for over 40 years, in the one relationship, I don't have anything in common with him in infidelity.
Some of my readers described the first edition of “Reversal Point” as more raunchy than they thought I would (should?) have written. Sex scenes (still not graphic) remain in the second edition but James, perhaps more noble in this version, exercises a little more self-control so there are fewer of them.
Kim Spenser (an American student), Jenny Costello (an English painter), Anelise Beauvoir (a French fashion model), Fleur Templeton (an English art dealer) and Colette Mauly (a French student at the Sorbonne) all have dynamic roles in James’s life. And there are a couple of villainesses too.
The second edition is different enough, I hope, even to be read with enjoyment by those who bought or borrowed the first edition.
These are hooks in "Reversal Point", a thriller that will shortly go onto the market as a second edition paper back and Kindle e-copy.
Action in the novel takes place in France but the main protagonist, James Vallence, is from New Zealand.
His experience of being an artist and living on the French Riviera and in Paris was a dream of mine when I was a much younger.
In reality, his fictional experiences and my real-life ones diverge.
I never had talent as a painter, though I aspired to it, and I’ve never had an American, or French or English girlfriend, or gone through the experience of having a girlfriend kidnapped, or of having to repeatedly defend my life in a vendetta, as James does in the novel.
Like James,I’m not short of hospital experience as a patient. Though he gets badly injured a few times he rises above the odds against him. He’s an every-day kind of guy and not a super-hero but certainly more resilient and courageous than I could swear I would be in his situation.
James knows love and infidelity but since I’ve been married for over 40 years, in the one relationship, I don't have anything in common with him in infidelity.
Some of my readers described the first edition of “Reversal Point” as more raunchy than they thought I would (should?) have written. Sex scenes (still not graphic) remain in the second edition but James, perhaps more noble in this version, exercises a little more self-control so there are fewer of them.
Kim Spenser (an American student), Jenny Costello (an English painter), Anelise Beauvoir (a French fashion model), Fleur Templeton (an English art dealer) and Colette Mauly (a French student at the Sorbonne) all have dynamic roles in James’s life. And there are a couple of villainesses too.
The second edition is different enough, I hope, even to be read with enjoyment by those who bought or borrowed the first edition.
July 24, 2012
Kept by the Rich and Stolen from the Poor
The Dominion Post (24.7.12) reported that tax evasion cost the world’s governments US$3.1 trillion each year, or about 5.1% of world GDP. At least US$21 trillion of assets (NZ$26.5t) have been stashed away in offshore tax havens by criminals, dictators, and the rich, as well as by big corporations. The campaign group, Tax Justice Network, says that amount is equivalent to the combined GDPs of the United States and Japan.
Any form of tax evasion is unadulterated greed, in my opinion. The middle-class and those even less well off are bled by the tax man while the rich get away with it.
All power to the Tax Justice Network.
Any form of tax evasion is unadulterated greed, in my opinion. The middle-class and those even less well off are bled by the tax man while the rich get away with it.
All power to the Tax Justice Network.
July 19, 2012
The Demise of Books
Now who would expect a Pulitzer prize-winning author (The Evening Post 17.7.12) to say he is ok with the demise of paper books if “books” can be delivered to readers less expensively by other means.
Richard Ford’s idea might appeal to the young generation(s) but to anyone who grew up with bound paper pages in their hands it’s anathema. Do we have to have a global society where everything is digitised, including sex?
Richard Ford’s idea might appeal to the young generation(s) but to anyone who grew up with bound paper pages in their hands it’s anathema. Do we have to have a global society where everything is digitised, including sex?
July 17, 2012
Indigenous Rights to Water
In New Zealand at present there are differences of opinion over whether the indigenous people (Maori) have rights to the ownership of water and therefore, in controlling water use, whether the government (Crown) is usurping the ownership right. The Waitangi Tribunal is to make recommendations to the government.
Newspaper columnist, Karl du Fresne (The Dominion Post 17.7.12) suggests that some New Zealanders believe the pursuit of indigenous people’s rights will imperil the wellbeing and progress of the entire country, potentially to the detriment of Maori along with everyone else.
That potential risk is greatest with water. If indigenous rights end up costing suppliers of hydro-electricity more than it costs now, when no one “owns” water, then consumers already on the poverty line (many of them Maori) will be worse off.
Already I see clients at the Citizens Advice Bureau Porirua who cannot afford to pay their winter power bills and end up without electricity when their suppliers cut off their supply over arrears.
Karl du Fresne suggests in his column that all New Zealanders are in the same waka (canoe) and should be paddling together; whether he realises it or not, a traditional Maori proverb says the same thing about the common good.
In the pre-European days, when the Maori proverb was coined, the common good only included Maori. After a post-European history of valid grievances against the Crown, you can understand Maori still believing the only peoples whose common interest they should have regard for (and want in the waka) are Maori. And that’s the attitude I’ve encountered in Treaty-related work.
Still, what falls from the skies with no direct input by man, surely must belong to everyone equally. Maori, on the otherhand, might say it comes from the gods but they descend from the gods and are therefore entitled. I’ve heard that argument too.
We can only await developments.
Newspaper columnist, Karl du Fresne (The Dominion Post 17.7.12) suggests that some New Zealanders believe the pursuit of indigenous people’s rights will imperil the wellbeing and progress of the entire country, potentially to the detriment of Maori along with everyone else.
That potential risk is greatest with water. If indigenous rights end up costing suppliers of hydro-electricity more than it costs now, when no one “owns” water, then consumers already on the poverty line (many of them Maori) will be worse off.
Already I see clients at the Citizens Advice Bureau Porirua who cannot afford to pay their winter power bills and end up without electricity when their suppliers cut off their supply over arrears.
Karl du Fresne suggests in his column that all New Zealanders are in the same waka (canoe) and should be paddling together; whether he realises it or not, a traditional Maori proverb says the same thing about the common good.
In the pre-European days, when the Maori proverb was coined, the common good only included Maori. After a post-European history of valid grievances against the Crown, you can understand Maori still believing the only peoples whose common interest they should have regard for (and want in the waka) are Maori. And that’s the attitude I’ve encountered in Treaty-related work.
Still, what falls from the skies with no direct input by man, surely must belong to everyone equally. Maori, on the otherhand, might say it comes from the gods but they descend from the gods and are therefore entitled. I’ve heard that argument too.
We can only await developments.
July 12, 2012
Women’s Rights not up for Debate?
In The Wellingtonian newspaper (12.7.12) a letter makes the following assertions:
• Women have a right to their own reproductive autonomy.
• That right is not up for debate.
• Men can only give their opinion on it if asked (and then only if the opinion is informed and not crude).
• Women’s reproductive health is not an area for everyone’s opinions to be heard and equated – and that is not up for debate.
• Women (not men as in the past) know what is best for women.
• Abortion is a matter related to women’s reproductive health.
As a male, I felt so informed by reading the letter that I wanted to share these points with you in my blog, even though not asked to by a woman.
The letter writer, in my opinion, is saying that women have the sole right to determine (a) if, when, and with whom they will conceive another human being and (b) to terminate that life if they make a mistake or change their minds or are forced or coerced into pregnancy.
Now the first part of the assertion does not particularly vex me, and is probably no longer a subject hotly debated outside of religious beliefs (e.g. in Christian or Muslim countries) or over social engineering (e.g. in China).
The last part of the assertion is, however, contrary to the current New Zealand law on abortion. A termination of pregnancy is not anyone’s right but it can be authorised in lawful circumstances. It is the least the lawmakers can do to protect human life.
Or do you disagree with my last statement?
-
• Women have a right to their own reproductive autonomy.
• That right is not up for debate.
• Men can only give their opinion on it if asked (and then only if the opinion is informed and not crude).
• Women’s reproductive health is not an area for everyone’s opinions to be heard and equated – and that is not up for debate.
• Women (not men as in the past) know what is best for women.
• Abortion is a matter related to women’s reproductive health.
As a male, I felt so informed by reading the letter that I wanted to share these points with you in my blog, even though not asked to by a woman.
The letter writer, in my opinion, is saying that women have the sole right to determine (a) if, when, and with whom they will conceive another human being and (b) to terminate that life if they make a mistake or change their minds or are forced or coerced into pregnancy.
Now the first part of the assertion does not particularly vex me, and is probably no longer a subject hotly debated outside of religious beliefs (e.g. in Christian or Muslim countries) or over social engineering (e.g. in China).
The last part of the assertion is, however, contrary to the current New Zealand law on abortion. A termination of pregnancy is not anyone’s right but it can be authorised in lawful circumstances. It is the least the lawmakers can do to protect human life.
Or do you disagree with my last statement?
-
July 10, 2012
A tale about a book
I returned to fiction writing after many years, driven by having almost become redundant in my then paid employment. My first novel, “Reversal Point”, was the result. The initial manuscript had enough pages for two novels. After twice re-writing it, and many self-edits, I got the manuscript down to the length of one modest novel. I published it in 2007 at the invitation of CreateSpace.com after the manuscript became a semi-finalist in the original Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA).
My writing in the book was kindly described by another author, through Authonomy.com, as having “a very sophisticated voice” and the Amazon top reviewer for the ABNA said the book as a whole was “well-crafted”. My brother, Frank Devine, a renowned international journalist and not one who was quick with compliments, summed it up as “terrific”.
You might wonder, then, why I did not leave well alone but decided, this year, to re-write “Reversal Point” and bring out a new version at minimal expense.
The fact is, after writing three more novels I thought my “voice” had become smoother – well, to my ear at least. I wanted “Reversal Point” – as a legacy – to be the best that I could make it, so I did a partial re-write and produced a second edition proof copy through CreateSpace.
There were a few hitches in that process. The text on the cover pages came out off centre in the proof – a technical hitch that CreateSpace then kindly fixed. And the title page came out on the left side instead of the right. Then, when I did a manual proof-reading, I decided I hadn’t done enough work on getting it “perfect”. I carried out a hand-written self-edit of the proof copy then converted the editorial changes into type and am now doing what I hope will be a final edit and proof-reading of the manuscript.
It’s been an interesting experience, with times when I got disheartened and wished I hadn’t had the idea of bringing out a second edition. And it’s all meant that I’ve had to put on hold giving the finishing touches to my next novel “Island of Regrets”.
My writing in the book was kindly described by another author, through Authonomy.com, as having “a very sophisticated voice” and the Amazon top reviewer for the ABNA said the book as a whole was “well-crafted”. My brother, Frank Devine, a renowned international journalist and not one who was quick with compliments, summed it up as “terrific”.
You might wonder, then, why I did not leave well alone but decided, this year, to re-write “Reversal Point” and bring out a new version at minimal expense.
The fact is, after writing three more novels I thought my “voice” had become smoother – well, to my ear at least. I wanted “Reversal Point” – as a legacy – to be the best that I could make it, so I did a partial re-write and produced a second edition proof copy through CreateSpace.
There were a few hitches in that process. The text on the cover pages came out off centre in the proof – a technical hitch that CreateSpace then kindly fixed. And the title page came out on the left side instead of the right. Then, when I did a manual proof-reading, I decided I hadn’t done enough work on getting it “perfect”. I carried out a hand-written self-edit of the proof copy then converted the editorial changes into type and am now doing what I hope will be a final edit and proof-reading of the manuscript.
It’s been an interesting experience, with times when I got disheartened and wished I hadn’t had the idea of bringing out a second edition. And it’s all meant that I’ve had to put on hold giving the finishing touches to my next novel “Island of Regrets”.
July 9, 2012
Same Sex "Marriage"
You may have noticed a lot of positive publicity lately arguing that same sex unions should be recognised as “marriages”. It may have included negative publicity of the position that “marriage” can only be between a man and woman.
The institution of marriage is regarded as pre-dating reliable recorded history and historians record that marriage is between male and female or man and woman. The word “marriage” first appears in 1250-1300 CE and is derived from Old French/Latin and relates to a husband and a wife. Anthropologically, it is recognised as being about legitimizing the offspring of the partners.
Ultimately, the word “marriage” can be anything society determines as its meaning. It is no more than a dictionary definition It is, however, the institution of marriage that some see as being undermined if “marriage” ceases to involve just man and woman. So the issue becomes, why should same sex couples, now, have a sanctioned relationship which, historically and culturally, belonged only to man and woman?
Or, more interesting, why do they want it? Is it out of envy, a desire for respectability, a thirst for equality or, as some Christians believe, is it the work of the Devil?
“Equality” is the usual catch phrase of support for the same sex position. But, given the nature of the institution of marriage, wouldn’t same sex marriage be as ridiculous as treating a New Zealand-born person as Australian-born (or vice versa for that matter) or recognising an orange as an apple? They are just not the same.
I have come across no persuasive argument for bringing same sex relationships into the institution of marriage.
The institution of marriage is regarded as pre-dating reliable recorded history and historians record that marriage is between male and female or man and woman. The word “marriage” first appears in 1250-1300 CE and is derived from Old French/Latin and relates to a husband and a wife. Anthropologically, it is recognised as being about legitimizing the offspring of the partners.
Ultimately, the word “marriage” can be anything society determines as its meaning. It is no more than a dictionary definition It is, however, the institution of marriage that some see as being undermined if “marriage” ceases to involve just man and woman. So the issue becomes, why should same sex couples, now, have a sanctioned relationship which, historically and culturally, belonged only to man and woman?
Or, more interesting, why do they want it? Is it out of envy, a desire for respectability, a thirst for equality or, as some Christians believe, is it the work of the Devil?
“Equality” is the usual catch phrase of support for the same sex position. But, given the nature of the institution of marriage, wouldn’t same sex marriage be as ridiculous as treating a New Zealand-born person as Australian-born (or vice versa for that matter) or recognising an orange as an apple? They are just not the same.
I have come across no persuasive argument for bringing same sex relationships into the institution of marriage.
