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Discharged from hospital for the 3rd time in a week. This time the rampant infection which was possibly caused by an operation and subsequent treatment may be under control.

It’s shocking that an elderly man with a life-threatening condition can be discharged before he’s well. The desperate straits the NHS is in is to blame. Not enough beds! So the pressure to discharge sick people is intense. Even elderly people with no support at home.

So the patients come back, or die. The hospital is so terrified of ‘bed blocking’ they play Russian Roulette when they prematurely discharge.

Everyone employed by the NHS is in a rush, from the operating theatre to discharge. Get ‘em in get ‘em done get ‘em out.

The kindness and efficiency of the wonderful nurses and ambulance staff is an exception. For most of them, it’s about Love. Of the profession and the patients. Ironic. They accept low pay, some are ‘hot bedding’ most are immigrants. A League of Heroes.

Underfunding is at the root of it of course. If only this Government would do the right thing; Wealth Tax, windfall tax, tax companies that make billions in the UK and avoid corporation tax by locating abroad.

That’s what the Green Party would do, and raise an estimated £24-29 billion. It’s a Big Brainer.

Baroque & Roll?

Book by Susan Wokoma
Directed by Paul Roseby
Music and lyrics by Naomi Hammerton

Advertised as a musical, the National Youth Theatre performed their production of Handel and Hendrix at St James’ Piccadilly this week. So, titillated by the title and the connection with the marvellous Handel/Hendrix house and museum in Brook St London, I just had to go. A musical featuring the ghosts of two of my greatest heroes? Unmissable!

Did you know these two great musicians lived next door to each other? 200 years apart, mind you, and a thin wall. Hendrix on the top floor of 23 Brook street, Handel occupying the whole house at number 25 for almost 40 years. Hendrix, it must be noted, only stayed 3 months so if his ghost ever visits, it’s probably only a pop in to ensure his hippie-style apartment has the right (copies of) his furniture.

You may think the connection between the two H’s is a bit spurious and exaggerated but wait! Music is the great connector. Both were geniuses. Innovators. Creators of magic which steals the emotions and soars the spirit.

So the idea to make a musical about these great men, weaving in a plot about a young woman who runs away from home, has suicidal thoughts but is saved by the ghosts of H&Hs a damn good one. And the delightful young cast put talent, commitment and powerful singing and acting into their performances.

Vegas Volente’s Mrs Bryant was impressive. What a wonderful blues singer she must be! I want to hear more from her. Mostyn Crawford was especially powerful as Hendrix, with a voice that approached that of the great musician. I was (much) less convinced by Charlie Weaver as Handel, but then I’m such an obsessive fan, no-one could approach the Master.

But maximum plaudits to the star of the show – the fragile, demanding teenage runaway Melody (Sophia Wolfenden) whose journey this is. She speaks straight to the heart with superb singing and an assured grasp of character.

(Caveat: the pictures in the program are misleading – I do hope I have the names right!)

The whole cast were excellent, although at the beginning the sound quality wasn’t good and let them down a little.

My only complaint is the absence of Handel and Hendrix. None of their music at all! Please, producer, director and composer Naomi Harrington go and see Mama Mia again. You missed a trick! The genius of using well-known music to illustrate a plot. Both H and H produced more than enough music to turn this musical magnificent. The music in the production is good but my goodness, H&H were geniuses.Just for starters, imagine a few bars of the Hallelujah Chorus at the moment the heroine realises she’s not going to commit  suicide…?

And read my bloody book! Ragazzo by Jon Elkon will give you a great insight into the mind and music of Herr Handel. After just a little too much wine.

RAGAZZO – PUBLISHED AT LAST!

TEN YEARS AGO I was knocked on the head by a dead composer. It was like a knock on the door – ‘Let me in’ he said and I had to. Fine, I thought, what harm can he do?

‘Herr Händel’, I said, ‘how fine. Great wig.’

He smells of ambergris and hock. Of powder and lime. He farts often, burps too – his stomach has too much ego in it, too much bibulous laughter. I know he’s laughing at me, why wouldn’t he?

‘I have something for you,’ he said.

‘Fuck off’, I said, ‘pardon me – aren’t you dead?’

‘Surely,’ he said, ‘ you won’t hold that against me?’

I blame YouTube. Wandering about the place, out of curiosity I had clicked on this: Giulio Cesare Va Tacito. Copy and paste that phrase into YouTube. (I’m not giving you the url. I have an ongoing war with scammers claiming I’ve contravened copyright law, demanding money)

A gorgeously giggle experience! A great tune, combined with hilarious Silly Walks. Supposedly Julius Ceasar meeting Ptolemy for the first time, Ceasar singing like a girl, Ptolemy a strutting absurdity, a pompous clown – the two great panjandrums doing their crazy dance and yet it was perfect. Somehow, the tension between the two was palpable, exciting. Like Biden and Putin. Set in a late 19th Century colonial context, initially annoying (I would have preferred togas and robes) but somehow, it worked.

and the music was genius.

I found a version of the Opera with English subtitles. Fantastic. Magical. Emotionally riveting (I mean! a wife holding the decapitated head of her husband and letting her emotions flow out all over the stage. Caesar meeting Cleopatra. The mad machinations of Ptolemy’s court. Fabulous characters.

Beyond fabulous music.)

What! Why doesn’t everyone know about this???

So I began to open that magical door called YouTube to find more. And I did.

Then Handel knocked on my forehead demanding to be let in.

Here is the result. A book as bonkers as Baroque Opera itself. An attempt to make and break the conventions, just as Handel did. (If you’re one of those people who enjoys the Umlaut – Händel doesn’t want you to.)

If you’ve read Susskind’s ‘Perfume’, this is the book which attempts to do for Baroque Opera what Susskind did for scent. With a nod to Vonnegut, Monty Python and Franz Kafka.

And a deep, Baroque bow to the ghost of Herr Handel.

Promo Video HERE

Interview with me HERE

Buy the book HERE

Who is the Bonkers Boy in the Book? Meet Guido. And who made him bonkers? Why? Is he really bonkers? Or its it revenge – ?

Much love

Jon

MANY THANKS TO PUBLISHER ALIEN RABBIT AND CHRIS GODBER FOR EXCEPTIONAL SUPPORT. EDITOR JOIE DAVIDOW WAS BRILLIANT. AND HERR HANDEL OF COURSE

I have pleasure in announcing the WINNER of this year’s MEGASAGA writing competition –

The winning story is…..is…. (drum roll)

BE WARNED

 The oceans are mine! I have lived in their depths for longer than your kind has existed. In earlier times I have come to the surface and drawings of me destroying your wooden ships can be found on older maps. But they are incorrect in so many ways. I am much, much bigger than depicted. Up to now, I’ve been prepared to live alongside your kind, but your wanton pollution is ruining my world. Cease now or I will surface near your cities and destroy them one by one.

I am the Kraken and you have been warned. 

The Judges said:

‘– I absolutely loved this story, it was everything a Megasaga needed, the use of language and powerful Narrative had me gripped…. Needless to say, this is an Author I would like to hear more from’. ‘Masterly, a perfect Megasaga with beginning, middle and a sting in the tail (excuse the pun)’ This is a writer with a surety of technique, whose writing is bound to bring him success’

THE AUTHOR

‘I live in a tiny seaside village in KwaZulu Natal in South Africa with my wife of 48 years. I have a married daughter, the light of my life, who has emigrated to England and now lives in Durham. I am a passionate Liverpool supporter and never miss a match. Fortunately, all of their games are broadcast live.

‘I spent my working life in the motor trade while inventing, designing, manufacturing and wholesaling games in my spare time. The most successful of these were ‘The Spintronic Home Casino’ and ‘Bible Walk.’ (The Spintronic Home Casino’ featured full size fold up playing boards for Roulette, Craps, and Black Jack, playing chips, and an electronic roulette
wheel, while ‘Bible Walk’ was a Christian question and answers board game.

‘Since my retirement, I have concentrated on writing and have completed three novels. These are ‘The Good Witch’, a 107 000 word YA fantasy, ‘The Monster at the End of the World‘, a 50 000 word YA Viking Saga, and ‘The Last Ogre,’ a 76 page Medieval saga told entirely in verse. The Last Ogre won a competition two years ago run by ‘Leading Edge,’ an online fantasy literary journal. Since then I have teamed up with the renowned South African illustrator Lawrence Moorcroft whose magic fingers have transformed my tale into an epic Picture book.

‘I am over the moon to have won this prestigious competition and would like to thank the judges for bestowing this honour on me. ‘

Second Prize: the runner -up:

SOMEWHERE BEYOND…

You are all powerful, you laugh at us within your undecipherable expanse.

You are power and give life and happiness, you are what some call a god, always there, always roaring, the sounds you make a constant murmur in our ears, reminding of your presence. But you take. Without mercy or compassion.

One second you promise, the other you steal. What joy you gave is so quickly transformed to sorrow and despair.

And my tears will join the rest of what you stole, in your rolling, crashing waves.

Grant my final wish: May I forever stay lost.

The Judges said: ‘The originality of this story is what had me captured, the language and structure was also something I found admirable amongst the other stories.. I enjoyed the use of metaphors, as well as the sadness I could feel emanating from each sentence.  It is one thing to make an audience see a clear picture but a whole new world when you are able to make them feel as well.’ ‘What I loved was the deep mystery in each sentence. You can tell the writer is a poet, who has a love of words and a commitment to their precise use’. ‘The story is embedded in the words, without being explicit. Very clever!’

THE AUTHOR

‘Hello,  I am 41 years old, I am a small scale organic farmer who loves Nature, the outdoors, working out, and writing. I mainly write science fiction because I think it’s a genre that encompasses all genres, and is apt to make us think and feel.The unknown can bring out the best or the worst in us, and I love to develop upon scenarios I see happening,  expanding them to build a new world of ‘what if?’. I also love poetry, because it is made with the express purpose of creating an image and a feeling, simple words that transport us in new realms and ideas by the graceful touch of the author. I write song lyrics if I am inspired,  although I am unable to sing properly :))).I’ve been writing – with the express purpose of bettering myself- since I am 18 , but I only recently published a novel, and became interested in the many online contests that help brighten an author’s day or push them beyond their limits and comfort zone.It takes a long time to master the craft ( for me, anyway) and I still have a lot to learn.

‘I live in Quebec,  Canada. I’m completely self taught, I learned to write by writing, reading,  and writing more. My book is called The Wanderer’s Quest, a dystopian scifi adventure  published by Olympia Publishers.’

CONGRATULATIONS VERONIQUE!

I want to thank the Judges, Beulah Lee Harris and Lorna Malan for all the time and effort they put into judging the Contest this year. This is the first time I have asked past winners to judge, and I know you would much rather have entered!

I also want to thank ALL the entrants, with a special shout out to the shortlisted authors: Paulos Ntswela Hlwaela for ‘Raging Sea’, Pavlova Maharaj for ‘Beauty‘, Bev Moss Reilly for ‘Uncharted Waters’, Grigor for ‘Captivity‘, You can read all their wonderful stories HERE

Illustration: “Le Poulpe Colossal” by malacologist Pierre Dénys de Montfort, 1801

Here are the SHORTLISTED stories in this year’s MEGASAGA competition. Which would YOU give the £100 prize to?

The rules: stories have to be 100 words exactly, including the title. These are the submissions we have decided to put to the judges; if yours isn’t included, please don’t be despondent! It takes courage to submit an entry to a literary competition. We had several very good stories to choose from, and only one prize. Alas!

The WINNER will be announced in about a month’s time, Keep an eye on this website….

1)

Raging Sea

There I was enjoying the open world that was the sea. I was captured by the calmness, the peace and breezing air that the sea provided. Then a rude awakening awakened me, the sea raged at me, current shooting at my boat, everything that was loose in the boat was thrown around. The sea had turned on me, I hanged on to my boat for dear life and just as soon as the sea raged, the thunderstorm settled and the sea as once beautiful, the calm water looked innocent but most of all I survived the raging sea.

2)

Beauty 

I could taste the salt in the air and knew I had to get to the ocean, to sail across the turquoise water, being hypnotized by its mystical motion.

I thought about the lapping waves. My boat and I, like a remote island, surrounded by a mass of water. 

The gentle rocking of the boat, the ominous sky, the wind blowing through my hair… The most magical dream, that became a reality…

3)

Be Warned

 The oceans are mine! I have lived in their depths for longer than your kind has existed. In earlier times I have come to the surface and drawings of me destroying your wooden ships can be found on older maps. But they are incorrect in so many ways. I am much, much bigger than depicted. Up to now, I’ve been prepared to live alongside your kind, but your wanton pollution is ruining my world. Cease now or I will surface near your cities and destroy them one by one.

I am the Kraken and you have been warned. 

4)

Unchartered Waters: A Tale of Resilience in the Pandemic 

As relentless waves crashed upon the shore, a parallel unfolded throughout the world. The untamed sea mirrored the unstoppable spread of the Covid pandemic. As the virus surged through nations, the tides of uncertainty engulfed lives.

People faced isolation, confined like the ebb and flow of the tides. Amidst the darkness, a glimmer of hope emerged. Humanity’s resilience prevailed as the sea finds calm after the storm.

With united efforts, vaccines became the lighthouse guiding us toward brighter shores. Like the sea, the world adapted, emerged stronger, forever changed by turbulence.

5)

“SOMEWHERE BEYOND…”

You are all powerful, you laugh at us within your undecipherable expanse.

You are power and give life and happiness, you are what some call a god, always

there, always roaring, the sounds you make a constant murmur in our ears, reminding of

your presence.

But you take.

Without mercy or compassion.

One second you promise , the other you steal.

What joy you gave, is so quickly transformed in sorrow and despair.

And my tears will join the rest of what you stole, in your rolling, crashing waves.

Grant my final wish: May I forever stay lost.

6)

Captivity

Between me and the sea, merely wood. I don’t know how thick it is. There is more between me and sky. I know it’s wood because when I knock on it, it makes the noise of a deep catarrhal throat. When I run my fingers over it, sometimes it intrudes thin pins of pain into my flesh, which break when I try to remove them.

How do I know my horizontal world is  sea and my vertical world is sky, outside the wood? Sky and sea trickle in.  Crack, crinkle and intrude like clues as to who I am.

The MEGASAGA competition theme this year is THE SEA

It doesn’t have to be THEIR story! It can be yours! Or purest fiction.

BUT IT HAS TO BE EXACTLY 100 WORDS INCLUDING THE TITLE! And, of course, be about the sea.

I spend some of the most enjoyable times of my life on the waves. I am tremendously lucky in having dear friends with yachts, who travel the world and every now and then they invite me to join them. I have seen the sea smile, frown, churn in fury, laugh at we puny humans. I have seen the North Sea, the Atlantic, the Irish Sea and the Mediterranean at their best and their almost worst – though I have yet to experience the horror of, say, Force 9 or worse.

WRITING ABOUT THE SEA

The Sea teaches us about how fragile we are, how tiny, how arrogant. That we are ephemera. No wonder we like to anthropomorphise these vast stretches of water. We give the sea moods – see above. We describe it in terms we reserve, normally, for humans. Even when we call the sea ‘beautiful’, we’re thinking of a human attribute.

Can the sea be a murderer?

How many human skeletons lie on the sea bed?

Yet when the sea kills humans, they are often the victims of natural forces under nobody’s control. Wind, tide, wave, weather. The sea does not have a mind. It can’t be angry. The sea is itself subject to the weather – its ‘moods’ determined by outside forces.

Many of the skeletons under the waves, however, were killed by other humans. In war, say. Or piracy. Or incompetence. Or sheer greed. Take the example of asylum seekers and would be immigrants, victims of horrible forces outside their control. Tragedies which stand as an indictment for human cruelty.

The sea, the sea. So much has been written about it, so much has yet to be written about it. And it provides us with a massive archive of great fiction, wonderful novels, poems, plays. From Shakespeare’s Tempest to Iris Murdoch to Joseph Conrad to Melville to….The sea is the greatest Deus ex Machina in too many tales to mention! I could fill innumerable pages with authors and titles inspired by the sea. Not to mention music, art, sculpture…

Here’s one I prepared earlier., I’m not saying it’s good! But I am saying that writing a precisely 100 word story is a fantastic exercise for a writer not just in writing, but in ruthless editing,

Geffen

The sea had concluded its business with our beautiful yacht and swallowed her whole. Luckily, we had freed the dinghy from the deck just in time. Marie, Geffen and me. There was no way we could have saved his wife Joan, a picture of her being swept from the deck with her red hair swarming about her face was stuck in my mind. And no doubt in his.

We felt no real joy when we woke on the fifth day and saw the coast only a mile or so away. And no surprise when Geffen slipped into the sea.

Precisely 100 words including the title.

Now you write me a story. Exactly 100 words. It doesn’t have to be serious, or historical. it doesn’t have to relate to the pictures in this blog. As long as it’s good, even humour or comedy could nab the prize.

For the Competition Rules, terms and conditions see http://jonelkon.com/writers-win-100-for-100-words/

For WRITING HINTS AND TIPS see http://jonelkon.com/category/writing-tips/

For past winners, scroll through the blog on Jonelkon.com

Good luck!

I love you all.

We have pleasure in awarding the PRIZES for the JUNIOR MEGASAGA competition as follows:

It was HARD! So many of the stories submitted were worthy of a prize, and to give out so few was just unfair. But in every competition there have to be winners! But be sure of this: there are no losers. Everyone who submitted is a winner in life.

FIRST PRIZE OF £50

Goes to

KAZAU by LINDA NKOMO  

Cast away from the gates of heaven, an angel grounded in the pit of hell. With range and selfishness, the angel made himself sovereign of hell and with him the first wife of Adam, empress of hell, Lilith, together they ruled the underworld. Whispering hatred, lust, greed to the ears of those who walked upon earth. Kazau, son of the great serpent bound to enter the earth and wreak havoc to the streets of Johannesburg. Till the stars flourished and the sun rose he did as he was destined …until a night where he fell in love with a mortal.

THE JUDGES SAID: Powerful stuff.  Someone who is excited by words and has probably been to church quite a lot or had the Bible read to her.  It is the last couple of lines that really stands out:  we are suddenly out of the whirlwind and in Johannesburg and then the wonderful and the stars flourished and back to earth with the final words.  It is a bit like a piece of music

SECOND PRIZE OF £25

Goes to

NTOMBIVUYO ZOE MHLONGO – I WEPT

“You are useless,” he said In a calm and collected way as if what he was saying wasn’t about to pierce into someone’s heart. He stood, maintaining eye contact. You could see that he had no sense of remorse. As soon as I left the room, I broke, finally letting my tears escape. His words had cut deeper than his hands ever could. I’m not saying it is his fault, he just has no idea the damage he causes. He utters without thought and breaks souls without noticing.A father had broken a daughter, I wept. Like always

THE JUDGES SAID: This astonishing story was left out of the first shortlist by mistake. It is a story that comes from the heart, and is deeply shocking. The last words are so well crafted: ‘Like always.’ A perfect example of bathos, leaving the reader wanting more.

]

THIRD PRIZE OF £20

Goes to

WHY THERE ARE ROCKS by Ganie Sindana

Once upon a time there was a place called Arekopaneng deep inside the jungle where Giants made from rocks lived, they lived 100million years without being disturbed .

One day a giant decided to go explore the woods just to look then come back then a human appeared, he jumped “I think we got one!!”the giant ran as quick as it could! And told the chief what had happened.

The giants were ordered to go hide, sleep and never show themselves again some shattered Into pieces and that’s why there are rocks, mountains and hills on earth!

THE JUDGES SAID: Loved this one.  A real story.   Full of invention and the lack of punctuation which does, of course, need to be corrected, makes it read most appropriately as though the teller is breathless with excitement. (I hope it is his or her own invention but would like the telling even if it isn’t.)

FOURTH PRIZE OF £15

Goes to

SIYABONGA MKHUTYUKELWA    DRUMS OF LOVE

Who doesn’t believe in love? Especially those long and romantic movies that might make one to be taken away by their minds to the magic world filled with a cool golden breeze of love. I guess that person is me. I often feel annoyed whenever I see people getting trapped in the name of marriage and literally finding no way to escape from this deep dark cave called love.

Well that is what I believed until I saw this gorgeous young lady bearing the gifts of drumming which made me to fall in a dark hole called love.

THE JUDGES SAID: Amazing!  It is so direct and unselfconscious and poetic!  ‘The golden breeze of love  . .’   What is not to like?   Doesn’t matter if he or she has picked it up from movie magazines.  It shows a love of words.  And it doesn’t hurt that I don’t quite know what the experience was.

CONGRATULATIONS ALL! Winners, Shortlisted authors and EVERYBODY who submitted a story. You are all wonderful and deserve a bright future, whatever you do.