Crime Beat

Holding a book, a magazine, the turning of physical pages, is entirely different from taking a computer to bed. The experience of reading a book in bed is more comforting than reading a laptop, or one of those new-fangled electronic reading gadgets I haven’t tried out yet (what’re they called? I don’t care what they’re called. They’re anathema!) You can’t fold the ears of a computer, you can’t lie down, in fact, or get really relaxed cradling a laptop. And heaven help you if you fall asleep! The only warnings that attach themselves to novels are about content, not that you might damage your bedding, you lap, your thighs, while ‘reading’. A cerebral jolt, say, reading a violent scene from Stieg Larsson, is different to taking the risk of possible third degree burns!

Print, I reckon, will never go out of fashion, whether it’s a novel, or a magazine or a newspaper that leaves ink on the sheets along with every other smear of life there. There’s something to be said for holding a story in your hands, something complete and whole – words organized on a finite number of pages held themselves between covers. And when it comes to Phakama Mbonambi’s WORDSetc, there’s a lot to be said. I hope the word is out by now that Phakama Mbonambi’s next issue of WORDSetc is dedicated to all things crime and krimi. That’s right, the December issue, with glamorous Margie Orford as cover girl (girl’s got brains and looks!) will feature a host of authors and writers on the between-the-lines of writing crime fiction, as well as essays and in-depth articles on the Number gangs, the legal thriller, a critics choice of must-read SA crime fiction.

It seems sometimes as if there’s a very fine line between truth and fiction, especially in South Africa when the word ‘crime’ brings up all sorts of images real and imagined. The boundaries seem to blur. A case in point is Megan Voysey Braig’s submission for the magazine, a short story titled ‘Burning’, written as a response, she explained, to the recent murder of waiter Oscar Paulo, who worked at A Touch of Madness restaurant in Observatory, and was well known to regulars at Off-the-Wall poetry readings. I first heard of the murder when an email came through from Hugh Hodge – editor of another fabulous literary magazine New Contrast, and Off-the-Wall organiser – as he sent out details of a memorial fund in support of Oscar’s daughter’s education. This is not the first of these tragic messages that have come my way in recent weeks, but it’s a reality check every time. Decent people are getting killed out there! So what has real life to do with crime fiction? Life is story. And this magazine will go beyond story to provide a modicum of meaning.

When it comes to magazines, they come and go. I would imagine that especially literary magazines, deemed perhaps – erroneously – beyond the interest of readers who profess to more utilitarian tastes, might hold a precarious place on the shelves. Pity is that putting a mag like this together is a challenge as far as advertising goes. Publishers, big business, books stores, anyone with an interest in promoting reading, your financial help is needed in support of the South African story! WORDSetc is alive and kicking, a ragbag of stories and thought and reviews. Let’s keep it that way!

Joanne Hichens, editor of the crime fiction anthology, Bad Company, co-author (with Mike Nicol) of Out To Score is currently working with Phakama Mbonambi on the December 2009 issue of WORDSetc.