The Week in Review – April 5, 2025

There's a lot I can say about the world at present, but I've already deleted the introduction to today's blog once because I think I was dropping too many F-bombs.

Anyhoo, before I go back on my decision to make this post family friendly, it's time to kick off with this week's roundup...

I've not had nearly as much time as I would have liked to read, but I did finish wonderful little field guide by Peter Ryan. Yes, I'm more than a little obsessed with birds, so the Guide to Seabirds of Southern Africa is one that I particularly enjoyed. Granted, my eyes complained about the size of the type, but this is a field guide, so if it weren't the kind of book you'd conveniently slip into your backpack before going for a cruise on a ship, then it would have to be the kind of hefty coffee table book you could clobber annoying people over the head with. (I'd really like that, too.)

What I appreciated with this slim volume was how much they managed to pack into it. Not only do we get an overview about seabirds in general – and they really are amazing, considering some of them hardly ever go to land – but we're also reminded how fragile our oceans are. We are one of the reasons why seabirds are vulnerable thanks to our fishing habits and also all the awful plastics we seem to be choking our oceans with. 

But if you get past that, Ryan gives us an excellent overview of all the important species that are found in and around our coast ... as well as the ones who sometimes wander here by mistake. And I learnt a new word (for me, all right) for a type of albatross. Whoever came up with "mollymawk" deserves a badge. I may want to include it in a colourful, Shakespearean insult one day.

Nevertheless, this fantastic little book has loads of photos, and while I'm not going to tell my shearwaters apart from my storm petrels anytime soon (without a lot of handholding), I really do appreciate all the photos that will assist with IDing. I suppose I really need to get off my posterior and go for a boat cruise soon considering that Simon's Town and Cape Point are right on my doorstep, so ostensibly I don't have to go far for some birdwatching.

Bookish stuff

This past week I attended one of editor and all-round awesome person Helen Moffett's Salon Hecate events at the Noordhoek Artpoint. One cannot ask for a better environment to sit and listen to folks talk about their passions – there are always amazing new artworks up on the walls. This time around it was on April 1, and the talk centred around why certain people do the things they do (publishing, volunteering, doing book fairs) in a country that doesn't exactly have a huge reading culture. 

Speakers included Julia Smuts Louw (Off The Wall poetry), Darryl David (assorted book festivals), and Colleen Higgs (Modjaji Books), all interrogated by Helen. My big takeaway was that one needs to put your trust in the universe and take that leap of faith to do that thing that makes your heart beat faster. You might not always succeed, but when you do, it's magic.

And to a large degree, that's what I've found. If I look at my career thus far, I'm certainly not wealthy, but I've had some incredible successes that involve winning major literary awards, speaking at literary festivals and Comic Con, working with some of my favourite authors and illustrators, and of course, seeing my books out there in the wilds. It's not so much the number of books, but rather the journey that sees you arrive at various destinations. 

If you think it's a mountain that has one peak, you're very much mistaken. I liken this more to a steady climb full of false summits that never end unless you decide you're done.

I'm not done yet.

Going wide

I've steadily been going wide with my books. What that means is that I've given up on Amazon's Kindle Unlimited for my most recent titles. My sales there have been so dismal. I don't know if it's the boycott of Amazon goods or simply that the industry is so volatile what with all the junk AI books and general oversaturation. Or just that I really suck at marketing. Or perhaps all of the above. What I am grateful for is my small cabal of rabid readers who go out to buy my books when they do release. THANK YOU.

So, my books are now going to be going up at Kobo, Barnes & Noble, and all the others, as soon as their terms with KU finish up (it's a 90-day contract). And I'll also be directing folks to purchase the ebooks directly from my Ko-fi store as that's the venue where I get the biggest slice of the pie when it comes to the splits. PayPal doesn't steal nearly as much from me as Amazon or the other vendors do. So if you're looking for something to read, do stop by my Ko-fi store. I've just put up the ebook for my novelette The Princess Job this past week. I'll still be using Amazon for my print fulfilment, however, as the system works, even if it's not that author friendly. I just shudder what the print costs are going to be now with all the tariffs. But, as we say here in South Africa, ons sal maar sien.