They call it writer’s block, but according to Lee Child that’s just an excuse.
So why have I not posted here for 10 weeks?
I have a better excuse. I’ve been racing to finish and deliver my latest novel a mere two months after what I thought was an achievable deadline offered to the publisher. Good thing they knew this to be folly and insisted on a more realistic deadline. Which I could easily hit.
Then there was the pain of being told that Top Dog Lucca the Maremma (pictured) must have an eye removed if he is not to spend his twilight years in agony. (He’s recovering well, thanks for asking).
All this has given me a few weeks to come up for air and reflect on 2023 and, more importantly, what 2024 promises. It’s not a pretty thought. In no particular order of horror and pain: Ukraine, Gaza, Trump, Nazis.
Nazis? Yes, while I was lost in thought writing my next novel, set amid Caesar’s dictatorial march of death and genocide through Gaul, it seems that this very platform (Substack) that writers like me love and revere has allowed neo-Nazis to publish their hate here. Even to raise money for their despicable causes.
Now, I’m a mere minnow in Substack’s amazing rise to give voice to writers who can actually earn a living here (as a minnow, I don’t charge anything but the Big Guns can, and do). The question is, do I quit and start again somewhere else or add my minnow’s voice to the vast majority and express my solidarity with ‘Substackers Against Nazis’?
For now, I want to move the needle in opposition to these hateful people. As one writer (Anne Helen Petersen) puts it, why should we move somewhere else “only to have the Nazis (and anti-Trans assholes) show up once again and drive us to the fringes – which is where they belong.”
Then there’s Margaret Atwood’s enlightening post on the subject.
The rise of hate speech and hate crime has risen out of all proportion following the horrors of October 7 – which was about when I took a break from posting here – and the continuing Israeli attacks on Gaza. As with all freethinkers, our household and those we love and cherish have been asking what the **** is that all about, just as we’ve always been asking why the Nazis murdered 6m Jews in WWII.
Is it ingrained in the human psyche ever since the brothers Ishmael and Isaac fell out a zillion years ago to kick off the Arab v Jew horror story that has unfolded down the aeons? Will there never be brotherly love again in the Middle East? Is there really no answer?
Long before the latest chapter of hatred, I wrote a novel aptly called Line in the Sand. You see, there was a time when what is now Palestine & Israel belonged to a people known as Canaanites. At more or less the same time, two migrations took place. From the south and east, a nomadic people of escaping slaves took their time progressing from Egypt to ruthlessly claim the Canaanite settlements for themselves. Meanwhile, the Sea Peoples came across the Mediterranean to become the Philistines. All this happened over many years, but eventually the two would clash and lay claim to what some called The Promised Land. Sod the Canaanites, someone else wanted it.
And the migrations and tensions have never ceased…
Line in the Sand is a snapshot of that struggle, the story of David and Goliath retold. Just one of my historical novels now under contract with Sapere Books for 2024 and beyond. Read about it at my new website, just relaunched.
To my friends and substack readers I say, have a Happy New Year, if you can.
Thanks for this, Alistair. It’s good to see you back, and to read your thoughts. Like you, I’m staying put for a while.
I’m sorry to hear about the eye surgery. You may or may not be aware that I went through that with Digby last summer and it’s tough on them and us. Diggs was too old and otherwise challenged (mostly deaf, and the eye that had to go turned out to have been his good one) to cope but I heard so many tales of younger dogs adapting happily!
Anyway, have the happiest possible new year. X
Alistair, you’ve spoken so eloquently for me, and I suspect many other Substackers, on the tolerance of Nazis on Substack.
Especially after reading Margaret Atwood’s piece, I’ve agonised over whether or not I should allow myself to be chased away from yet another platform (I fled Twitter in October 2022, the week the Melon Husk took over.) Like you, I feel inclined to stand my ground this time.
I had already decided to devote part of my next newsletter to this topic. It is an issue that will not go away, and U think there will be much more debate here until the right action is taken by Substack moderators.
Thank you for your thoughtful contribution, Alistair.