Another Exciting Event – The Gates of Hell on Blazing Trailers

The wonder of the Web never ceases to amaze me. Attached is The Gates of Hell on Blazing Trailers.

Thank you, Blazing Trailers for hosting my novel.

http://www.blazingtrailers.com/show.php?title=776

The First Review for The Gates of Hell

This is really an exciting moment for me: the first review of The Gates of Hell by a person I don’t know, and therefore one who is likely to tell me the truth.

Thank you eBook Guru!

http://www.ebookguru.org/2009/12/review-the-gates-of-hell-by-caroline-addenbrooke/

My first Online Interview for the Gates of Hell

My first interview is with The Dark Phantom. Thank you, Dark Phantom, for the opportunity of sharing! It was quite cathartic to revisit the writing of The Gates of Hell.

http://thedarkphantom.wordpress.com/2009/11/14/interview-with-caroline-addenbrooke-author-of-the-gates-of-hell/

Overland to Moremi, Savuti, and Chobe

After we left the Magadigadi Pans, on our way to Zambia, we continued on,  through Moremi, Savuti and Chobe – all wildlife preserves in Botswana.

Chobe covers over ten thousand square kilometers, and is well known for its large populations of elephant. Within an hour of entering the Park, we encountered a mixed herd of about a hundred and fifty animals.  As we sat in our vehicle, and watched them, they came across the open sand towards us, walking around the vehicle, until we were almost a part of the herd. Then they moved on, to gather by the waterhole.

More pictures of this section of the trip are in Images of Africa.

Elephants before a storm

The Salt Pans of the Magadigadi

In 2006 we made our first epic journey overland, travelling north from Johannesburg, through South Africa, and Botswana. We were on our way to join the wildebeeste migration across the Liuwa Plains, in Zambia.

Our route took us past the Magadigadi Pans, and we stopped over to visit, as we’d not been there before.

There are a number of documentaries on various aspects of Magadigadi, and based on these, I had an expection of vast, dry, mirage filled salt lands. But what I saw when we crested a small rise, took my breath away. Before us, an inland sea spead as far as the eye could see. The air was saturated, heavy with the thick mineral smell of the sea, and pelicans, flamingos, terns, gulls; just about every water bird you could imagine, covered the water.

As with every other wilderness I have visited in Africa, Magadigadi was beyond stunning. A few of my pictures are included in Images of Africa.

We arrrive at the edge of the pans.

Book Trailer – The Gates of Hell

The book trailer for The Gates of Hell is now on YouTube: The address is:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMxAQScMpTU

Flying Namibia

In April 2008, we took three weeks off work, and flew from Johannesburg, west, across mountains, canyons, and the Namibian desert, to the Atlantic Ocean. Turning north, we then travelled up the skeleton coast, across the sand desert of the Namib, to Sossusvlei. Our last stop in Namibia, before flying on home through Botswana, was the quaint coastal town of Swakopmund. It was an epic journey in a small four seater Jaberoo, and it is one of the most stunning trips I’ve done.

A collection of my pictures from the trip are under “Images of Africa.”

The Sand Desert of the Namib

Safari in the Tuli Block

One of the highlights on my recent safari in the Tuli Block was the evening sighting of a leopard cub in a tree. Mashatu Reserve is a 30 000 hectare wild preserve in Botswana. “Images of Africa” has been updated with pictures  from this trip.

A cup hides in the topmost branches of a tree.

On Writing – Software

On Writing:

I use Microsoft Word, and find the indexing function most useful in developing torque in the story line. Detail is in the “On Writing” Tab. I would value comment and opinion from other writers on the software they use.

On Writing

I have opened a new page “On Writing”.

It is my hope that I can share some of the deep satisfaction that I get from writing, and some of the experiences. One such experience is that in the writing of “The Gates of Hell”, that it wasn’t me writing. It was a story told by the characters. I didn’t even create them; they turned up when they did, and I just wrote down what they told me; it was their story. One they needed to tell. Strange; but true.