Marilyn Holdsworth

Broken Pieces - Rachel Thompson

Tuesday, January 14, 2014

Getting to Know #Thriller #Author Brian Bloom @BrianB_Aust

What is your greatest strength as a writer?
Whilst I genuinely take advice and criticism well, I don’t take “instructions” well. My writing is my writing, as edited by disinterested third party professionals. If you read my work you can be sure that it’s “my” work – of course, as influenced by what I see and hear around me, including receiving advice and criticism. I do my own research but I rely on others to explain to me the meaning of much of what I unearth. In short, my greatest strength is my drive to say what I want to say in the most effective manner that I can muster, without succumbing to being forced in a vanilla jelly mould.

What’s your greatest character strength?
Take your pick. Either:
I have a sense of humour that is sufficiently well developed to enable me to mock myself when I start to take myself too seriously. Humour is a gentle pin for pricking the ego bubble.
Or
Persistence. Like a fox terrier, I’m still holding the bone long after everyone else has gone home.

What’s your weakest character trait?
Take your pick. Either:
I too often say what I think without thinking
Or
Too short a fuse and too blunt when I’m tired or frustrated.

How do you work through self doubt and fear?
I wait patiently until they pass. If I’m not going to take my strengths seriously then I’m certainly not going to take my weaknesses seriously either. We are all unique and we all have something unique to offer the world. The trick is to find out what it is and work within your limitations. There isn’t a man or woman alive who hasn’t made mistakes. The bigger you dare to dream, the larger the mistakes you will inevitably make. I’ve trained my ego not to be afraid of making mistakes. It’s more productive to act and then admit if/when one is wrong, than to sit and do nothing because of doubts and fears. But the flip side is this: I try not to let my successes go to my head.

What writing are you most proud of?
When I was writing my newspaper column, I forecast that Communist China would open its doors to trade with the West. This was at a time when China was still generally regarded as implacably communist. When the doors were finally flung open, I understood more clearly what was driving international affairs. That is what enabled me to write my two novels with clarity of purpose. The reality is this: politicians of today are generally not interested in you and me; they are interested in feathering their own nests. So, if you imagine yourself as a crooked politician and you ask yourself: “what would a crooked politician do under these circumstances” you can cut through all the media hype and garbage and get to the truth.

What the opening of China’s markets taught me was that, typically, when a politician stands up in public and proclaims loudly that he is against something, you can probably make a safe bet that he’s actually in favour of it. And now ask yourself: “Why am I prepared to accept this abominable behaviour?” The short answer you will probably give is: “Well, what can I do about it?” Aha! And that’s where my two novels come in. They are not intended to be prescriptive. But they are intended to communicate the principle that the individual is certainly not powerless in today’s world. At the end of the day, the power lies with the people. The politicians and the media work to dumb down the people with sound bites that are often out of context. My novels work to enlighten the people. And, if you understand how things work, then you can draw a line in the sand and say: No More! I don’t believe what’s coming out of your silver tongued mouth. You no longer deserve my vote! Get it right or get out! That article on China’s true intentions – and being subsequently proven correct – was a seminal experience for me.


Beyond Neanderthal

There is an energy force in the world—known to the Ancients—that has largely escaped the interest of the modern day world. Why? There are allusions to this energy in the Chinese I-Ching, in the Hebrew Torah, in the Christian Bible, in the Hindu Sanskrit Ramayana and in the Muslim Holy Qur’an. Its force is strongest within the Earth’s magnetic triangles. 

Near one of these–the Bermuda Triangle–circumstances bring together four very different people. Patrick Gallagher is a mining engineer searching for a viable alternative to fossil fuels; Tara Geoffrey, an airline pilot on holidays in the Caribbean; Yehuda Rosenberg, a physicist preoccupied with ancient history; and Mehmet Kuhl, a minerals broker, a Sufi Muslim with an unusual past. Can they unravel the secrets of the Ancients that may also hold the answer to the future of civilization? 

About the Author:
In 1987, Brian and his young family migrated from South Africa to Australia where he was employed in Citicorp’s Venture Capital division. He was expecting that Natural Gas would become the world’s next energy paradigm but, surprisingly, it was slow in coming. He then became conscious of the raw power of self-serving vested interests to trump what – from an ethical perspective – should have been society’s greater interests. 

Eventually, in 2005, with encouragement from his long suffering wife, Denise, he decided to do something about what he was witnessing: Beyond Neanderthal was the result; The Last Finesse is the prequel. 

The Last Finesse is Brian’s second factional novel. Both were written for the simultaneous entertainment and invigoration of the thinking element of society. It is a prequel to Beyond Neanderthal, which takes a visionary view of humanity’s future, provided we can sublimate our Neanderthal drive to entrench pecking orders in society. The Last Finesse is more “now” oriented. Together, these two books reflect a holistic, right brain/left brain view of the challenges faced by humanity; and how we might meet them. All our problems – including the mountain of debt that casts its shadow over the world’s wallowing economy – are soluble. 

Buy Now @ Amazon
Genre – Thriller
Rating – MA (15+)
More details about the author
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