The Mayan prophecy -21-12-2012

17-12-2012 - 4 days to go?!  'I don't know'!            
    According to last night's TV programme, in the Mayan calendar it is the day of the Apocalypse! End or beginning?That is the question! 
     It reminded me of my poem on p 262 of  'Under a Swirling Sun', something like this:
                   We all can change can improve... forgive and love.
                                     God is love, it is said.
                    Is this the Apocalypse? Are we changing consciousness?
                      .......
                    A  technology of the Mind will over-ride our technology.
                              Fuel fields depleted. Mind free?
                    On the horizon the Spiritual...Look it dawns!
                 After all is our time not the time 'between worlds'
             the time of 'non-existing' before the sixth calendar of the Mayans,
                       the Apocalypse or Time of Revelation?
                       ... the age of Kali, of Darkness?
                       That before the New Creation begins
                 when neither Time nor Money will matter...
                        NOW  is the time to CREATE...

         Fear not dear Friends, the end IS known to the Father only...
   besides... how many have gone through the 'end of the world' already?
 Let us live, love, hope and overall excel in compassion and kindness to all.
    The end if it comes will come like a wolf amongst sheep - by surprise!
                  I do think so... although of course, 'I don't know!'
       

Still 16th of December -
Regarding the launch of 'Under a Swirling Sun' I forgot to say that it was quite good and the Bookshop sold much more than expected, some 26 books. I had already sold 10 privately. We had 50 people at least. Now there will be a launch in Cape Town in March and another one here in Durban perhaps at Ike's Books (more space than at Musgrave)  - this one  with interviewing. The books will soon be available on amazon.com. Ciao! Be good!

Poetry review - Dr Coutts

2012-12-16 - Regarding my poetry I would like to share some of Dr A.Coutts' opinions, like, 'unequivocably  honest', easy to understand yet never banal ...with different depths of meaning... He suggested that I write poems about the Portuguese shipwrecks along the East Coast of South Africa. He lived in the area. Dr Coutts was deputy-rector of Edgewwod College and has doctorates in Education and Philosophy. Also a writer, his last novel - I forget the name now, sorry! - was about the tragedy of the San or Bushmen in the Drakensberg. Very interesting!At that presentation at Live Poets Society on the 7th of November, he asked me to insert my poem 'If I was a Tree' at the end of his new book - with which I felt honoured.
   O, well...  I have travelled a long often lonely road, indeed. It is good to feel support.
To all my friends kind enough to read my blog, I wish love and peace, compassion and the realization that ...'I don't know!'...   'Bye now!

UPDATE

2012-12-14 - News  to follow next week.

2012-12-03  

The Launch of my debut novel, Under a Swirling Sun, by Adams Booksellers and Reach Publishers  took place on Thursday the 28^{th of November} at the Hall of the Church of S José. It was better than I expected. I am grateful to Cedric Sessing for the great amount of extra work he endured to enable this launch to still take place before Christmas. With so many book launches only in this week, to get some 50 people and sell about 30 copies  was indeed gratifying. I received apologies - for not being able to participate -from here to Singapore, including  Portugal and Germany.

   The reviews were quite impressive. They were read at the launch  by young writer Daniel Alexander, author of ‘Through the Crimson Mirror’ and founder of the Durban Authors Association – who read not only his review but also the one by well-known artist, writing facilitator, etc., Bernice Stott.

  Elias Sousa, now Consul Honorarium for Portugal, in Durban, at the end voiced his thanks and appreciation for ‘this author’s’ contribution to the community.

   Adams Bookshop has already received requests to launch the book in Cape Town at the beginning of next year, perhaps in February or March, and Cedric Sessing intends to have another launch with interviewing at Musgrave Centre here in Durban.

   Praise the Lord! , is all I can say. Indeed it took me some twenty years to complete this ‘work of art’, which changed from crysallide of many shapes to eventually a wonderful butterfly - so it seems. A story first called ‘Matruska’ became, ‘Camilla’, then ‘Snakes in a Golden Wheatfield’ and then ‘Look at the Sun’. But then ‘it’ changed again- when already with the publishers and became ‘Under a Swirling Sun’.

   This title attracted Bernice and made her write the following in her Review:

‘Under a Swirling Sun’ seeks to draw us, the readers, to a spectacular solar event that took place in 1917. ‘The Lady of the light’ appeared in Portugal and predicted another phenomenon; people in Europe would see a night sky lit up by an extraordinary light. It would be an ominous sign predicting wars and hunger. On the night of the 25^th January 1938 a well-known but rare Aurora Borealis illuminated the northern hemisphere night sky for many hours. In 1939 World War II broke out shortly after this extraordinary rarity. Pursuing the questions of love, truth and freedom, the author reflects on the frequency of synchronicity in her life. She asks us to become listeners “to the soft voice within, deep in one’s heart,” listeners to God and the voice of the authentic self. It is a book about the special events in her life, her struggle to realize the many aspects of her personality symbolized by the “Matruska” doll. The “Matruska” doll metaphor tells the dominant story of her early life in Mozambique where church, home, state, school and conservative society shaped the discourses of ‘how to live’. Although meta-fiction, perhaps the writing of this book has been a definitional ceremony which has provided her with an opportunity to be seen in her own terms, garnering witness to her own worth, vitality and being. A brilliant read as we become the outsider witnesses to ‘Margarida’s  unusual life.

                                              xxxxxxxxxxxx

As to Daniel Alexander this was is review:

Now, what to say about it. What a story… What a story…

As I read it, I am reminded of a quote from the movie ‘V for Vendetta’. I don’t know if anyone else has seen it, but it gives me goose-bumps when I watch it. It’s about freedom and oppression, and many of the things for which we fight in this country, and in our own lives. When the female lead is asked, “Who was he?” in reference to the male lead, she replies, “He was Edmond Dantés... and he was my father. And my mother... my brother... my friend. He was you... and me. He was all of us.” And that is what this book is: many things to many people.

   It touches on philosophy, arts and culture, politics, religion and many more aspects of human existence. It tells the story of someone who is open, honest, kind, understanding and intelligent, and maybe a little ahead of her time. Worlds collide in this brave story by someone caught in-between religion, faith and the practical matters of the ‘real world’.  It takes much courage, firstly to see all this, to realize it, and secondly to write it.    I’m taken back to medieval times when questioning the Church in any way was criminal, which shows much bravery on the authors part.

    A novel indicative of our times and the loneliness and confusion many of us share. A bit whinny at times which just adds to the honesty and reality of the story- like a Picasso painting where pain shows in bright red strokes.

   One person’s person struggle with the human condition: our feelings, how we hide and manipulate and many of the other characteristics that we all share come to life.

   The writing style is informal and easy to read. It’s full of idioms and weird anecdotes, making it an interesting read. It is honest and intelligent. It is intelligent in the fact that it is multi-layered and a multi-dimensional story.

   I started off saying, ‘What a story.’ And what a story indeed. I always battle to figure out what to say when people ask me to speak like this. Love, adultery, betrayal, happiness, acceptance; what a story, is all I can say.

                                                      xxxxxxxxx

 I hope one day you can also read this story, dear friends, and have your own opinion, which I would love to hear – don’t worry the friendship will remain!

   One of the things I said at the launch is that this is a fictional story based on memoirs, but I think that the things that, when reading them, people will say, ’Ah! This is fiction!’, are probably the ones that are actually true – like the episode of the ‘white butterflies’ that suddenly flooded the office where the protagonist was sitting looking at her left finger … And by the way, swarms of  white butterflies do appear in Durban, 'out of the blue', just about every twenty years - when they immigrate to the North of Africa. Voila!

    

My debut novel 'Under a Swirling Sun' - Launch

                              Thursday 29 Nov Book Launch

 DBN author VICTORIA PEREIRA’s debut novel

                                      Under a Swirling Sun

Adams Booksellers and Reach Publishers invite you to the launch   

            of Durban poet and writer Victoria Pereira’s debut novel

Under a Swirling Sun

at San José Church Hall corner of Stamford Hill Road and Argyle Road ,

Thurs 29 November 5.30 for 6.00 pm .

                  Entrance and secure parking via Argyle Road (opposite Liberty Liquors)

          Rsvp : cedric@adamsbooks.co.za  082 873 2702 or victoria28@telkomsa.net .                                            

                      Author’s phone 031 266 7401

See details of the book and the author, below the picture of the cover .                                  

Based on the author’s mémoirs, this is a wry fictional account of Margarida’s life. Born in Portuguese Moçambique, after independence she emigrates with her husband and children to South Africa. A freak encounter leads to an impossible love

affair and a powerful awakening. We capture her struggles, with those who supported or tried to crush her, including a controversial therapist. Through some uncanny synchronicity and extraordinary experiences, she encounters dormant facets

of her personality pushed into the dark recesses of her mind – carried inside, like a ‘Matruska’ doll. Based on historical facts, ‘Under a Swirling Sun’, highlights the quest for love and for freedom and draws attention to an ‘unexplained’ solar phenomena that took place in  Portugal in 1917. What are the consequences if we do not pay attention to the extraordinary?

About the Author

Multi-talented, accountant, translator, lecturer in religious studies, participant in international conferences, creative writing facilitator, writer and poet, her main interests are spirituality and inter-cultural dialogue. Victoria has five grand-children, is loyal to family, friend even foe, loves gardening, ceramics and animals – ‘humans too, but these can be hard work’…

POETRY

Cover of original book - 1993
New collection to happen in 2013

On the 7th of November 2012, I was Guest Poet at LiPS (Live Poets Society) where I showcased my old collection and recited my new poetry to be published next year. Bernice Stott, Daniel Alexander and Dr. Alex Coutts also read my poems.
   More about it tomorrow -- I don't know...