Black
President
Vin Diesel - Actor
"He (Schmidt) super-empowered me. The
book (Feature Filmmaking at Used-Car Prices)
changed my life."
Kevin Smith - Writer/Director, Clerks,
Chasing Amy, Dogma, etc.
"Without Rick's book (Feature Filmmaking…),
Clerks would have been an idea that never made
it past this page."
John Lasseter - Writer/Director, Toy Story,
Cars, etc.
"Rick Schmidt shows filmmakers
how to use these new tools (as discussed in
Extreme DV) to realize their visions."
Earth Inc
Stephen Merchant - The Office,
Extras
Endorsing Michael Bollen's Earth Inc, Stephen
Merchant said: 'Earth Inc is a funny,
charming, inventive comic novel. Michael Bollen's
warmth, sharp wit and eye for satirical detail
reminded me of Douglas Adams. Quite possibly
the best work of fiction since The Bible'.
Politics and Paranoia
Paul Foot, John Pilger
Praise for Robin Ramsay's Lobster Magazine
'Now that the British media, like mainstream
politics, has become an echo chamber, one of
the rays of light is a journal produced from
Hull called Lobster. It is journalism
at its best: curious, analytical, reliable,
wry and indispensable' - John Pilger
'Lobster is one of the most important
magazines to be launched in the post Second
World war period in Britain. It has covered
a long string of stories boycotted by the other
media. How has a magazine with no resources
been able to do this? By understanding the sinister
side of our intelligence services - out of control
and careless of the consequences of its excesses'
- Paul Foot
Jasmine's Tortoise
James Brewer, Lloyd's List
'POOR Iraq: its mineral riches have long made
it the plaything of the superpowers.
'In the abstract, it might be difficult in
this harsh world to be especially sympathetic,
but it is moving even unto anger to be given
an insight into how the power game has wrecked
and ruined families and whole communities.
'This is what Corinne Souza has achieved mercilessly
in her forceful "faction" novel Jasmine’s
Tortoise, which weaves the unfolding political
crisis of Iraq into the warp of world politics
(warp, in both senses, being just the right
word).
'Her book shows how intelligence-gathering
combined with personal greed reached deep into
political life in the UK and in the other major
powers, and has continued to do so well after
the Cold War ended.
'In her book, establishment dirty tricks and
cover-ups are threaded skilfully through all
400 pages, which span 37 years, as the author
scatters clues that eventually lead to an Agatha
Christie-style denouement.
'The book begins with the deep involvement
of British, American, Soviet, French and other
intelligence agencies in Iraq, a country that
used to be a fairly amicable melting pot even
under the ruthless rule of Saddam Hussein.
'The better-off families from many ethnicities,
including the Jewish and Christian communities,
and Sunnis and Shias, lived in friendship at
least, and often in harmony, enjoying trips
to the races together and grand balls by the
Tigris.
'As Souza writes of one spooky protagonist:
“His job was to involve others. And betray
them if necessary. Even those to whom he was
profoundly attached.” Thus even children
are cruelly groomed as "sleepers"
for activation, and sometimes blackmail, later
in their lives.
'Into the whole network feed the freemasons
and the Vatican, right up to the Holy Father
himself. Everyone is informing on, and deceiving,
everyone.
'Some shrewd remarks escape the lips of this
devious crew. At a socialite “spies party”
in 1965 in Baghdad, the French ambassador forewarns:
“America is out of its depth in Iraq.”
'Lloyd’s underwriters of old could be
trusted, it is suggested, to agree readily to
give cover for shipments of arms to Iraq, for
other dubious deals laundered through an international
construction contractor, and for sanctions-busting.
'Spies consort with spies and — James
Bond-style — shamelessly use bedroom traps,
not least in the case of one General Nico Stollen,
a charming and know-all agent of the KGB who
“makes a welcome addition to London society”.
'Poisoning the Kurdish water supply and murdering
a British defence minister is all part of the
pattern of Souza’s book.
'We can feel for some of the innocents caught
up in the system and have a shred of understanding
for some of the operatives.
'But this is an exposure of deep-rooted hypocrisy
and is so close to the type of people we know
and are expected to respect that it will send
shudders of fear and shame down the spine of
any decent person."
Review from Lloyd's
List, the Leading Maritime and Transport
News Portal
G. H. Fraser-sampson
It is fashionable amongst reviewers to refer
to a first novel as a "promising debut",
but "Jasmine's Tortoise" is much,
much more than that.
Corinne Souza handles her subject matter with
style and assurance, born it seems of deep knowledge
and personal experience. The story ranges across
continents and generations and is set against
a political backdrop of impressive accuracy.
The sheer scope and scale of it is breathtaking.
The writing is of the highest order (how refreshing
to find a contemporary novelist who knows how
to use a semi-colon, and employs words of more
than two syllables) and calls to mind both John
Le Carre and C.P.Snow. It will be interesting
to see how Souza's style develops into a truly
unique voice (which one has little doubt will
happen) in future books. Descriptive writing,
characterisation and plot are all of the highest
order.
I would thoroughly recommend this book to
anyone. In turns touching and awful, the story
grips you. Yet this is much more than just a
good story. It crosses over into the territory
of a serious literary novel.
Eliza Drake
I got hooked on Jasmine's Tortoise It was
a fascinating insight into a world I hardly
knew. A very good period feel with amazing echoes
of LeCarre and Graham Greene at times. Once
I had got over the shock of the legion of main
players at the start I really enjoyed it.
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