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by EHICHOYA EKOZILEN

[EDITOR'S NOTE: Once again this year, a talented African writer -- this time from LAGOS, NIGERIA -- has placed his work in our hands to publish and place in nomination for the Caine Prize in African Writing. We're both gratified and concerned, as lightning seldom strikes twice. Also, we normally do not run fiction. Despite these trepidations the author has requested that his work be published in these pages. This is the first installment of the story. The second half will appear on Thursday, 30 January, 2003. -RA]

There was a problem. Bilkisu sat on the armchair feeling awful. She feared she was going to lose her head just by thinking about it because there seemed no way out. Anybody walking in here could have seen the indigence in the home just by taking a look at the sitting room. The armchair on which she sat was torn, the concrete floor patched in several places. Except for an old radio cassette player and a black and white television which had long before ceased functioning, there were none of the modern electronic gadgets common in many homes these days. There were groundnut peelings on the floor. There was a small puddle on the ground - it could have been water spilled by a child or urine. Although close to her feet, none of these things were anywhere close to Bilkisu's mind that afternoon.

For the next two hours she remained like that, just thinking but no solutions came to her mind. She thought wistfully about those ladies in medieval romance plots who got rescued by knights in shining armour and wished knights still roved the streets. But this was the threshold of the twenty-first century, this was Jos at the borders of the Sahel Savannah and, more importantly, this was real life - so there were no roving knights.

At 8 p.m., Bilkisu, her parents and her two elder brothers sat in the sitting room of their modest house. The father spoke first.

"Have you made up your mind, Bilkisu?"...MORE




by DAVE TOMAR

CAMDEN, NJ, USA - This week, UN weapons inspectors finally uncovered what the Bush administration has excitedly characterized as "several smoking guns," all of which have illustrated the incontrovertible need for immediate military action in Iraq. After two months of fruitless investigation in Baghdad, a newly dispatched corps of inspectors bearing the name Team Alabama made the startling discovery in the home of Iraqi scrap-metal salvager Raqi Mareidi, just south of Baghdad.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld spoke of the revelation in a Friday press conference, explaining that "Mareidi's involvement in a plot to destroy freedom became apparent beyond a reasonable doubt yesterday when inspectors found an egg-beater in his kitchen sink. It is clear, according to the same American forensics experts that worked on the O.J. Simpson prosecution team, that this utensil was used to mix a fluid of some sort. So there you have it. Chemical warfare." Rumsfeld went on to reiterate the promise to Americans that "Iraq's civilians will pay for this terrorism with their lives."

Mareidi, who was subsequently taken into U.S. custody in a series of plastic shopping bags, commented only that "my family and I saved up for six years to buy that egg-beater." ... MORE




by GAYNOR PAYNTER

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA - Hello from your South African correspondent. I hope that this letter finds you all in good health and spirit, and that the New Year is being kind to you! I write to you from my lounge, which is quite nice and cool at the moment - quite a far cry from what it was a few days ago when we were in the throes of a heatwave and temperatures in Johannesburg soared to 33 degrees Celsius - a good three degrees hotter than it has ever been in any summer that I can remember! Weather aside, South Africans are back at work in full force after the Christmas / New Year break and rush hour traffic is back to it's normal (very busy) volume - I find myself having to leave work at least half an hour earlier than I had to over the December period!

Not deterred by the heat, we packed up a picnic basket, donned hats and sun protection cream, and my family, some friends and I ventured out yesterday, which was Sunday, to Hartebeespoort Dam... MORE

DUBLIN, IRELAND - "Saint Patrick stood at Burgage an' he come no farther. An' he pointed his staff up at Lacken, Kylebeg an' Ballinastockan an' he sed 'Let that be a den of thieves an' robbers forever more' ".

When the above statement was made to me some years ago, by old Jimmy Freeman of Ballyknockan, I didn't know what to make of it. I thought he was indulging in a bit of good-natured inter-Townland rivalry. Being well aware of the God-fearing and law-abiding nature of the inhabitants of the places in question it looked like our National Apostle was out beside it.

Oh, sure enough, a Ballinastockan man was once fined sixpence for riding an unlit bicycle in Blessington during the hours of darkness. And it was rumoured that (before my time) a farmer on the Kylebeg/Lacken border was prosecuted under the Noxious Weeds act, but nothing serious.

But now I have discovered that two hundred and ninety seven years ago a local man was found guilty of more serious offences... MORE





by ROD AMIS

NEW ORLEANS - Against my best judgment but because I can't let down another aspiring writer, we are submitting to the Caine Prize Committee again this year. The World's Magazine nominee for the Prize is a Nigerian writer named EHICHOYA EKOZILEN. I believe his piece is superb and - though I firmly believe that lighning never strikes twice - I have to publish it and submit it for consideration. That's the kind of fool I am.

I hope you'll take the time to read the first half of "Sunset in the Sahel" which I'm offering in this edition. It's a wonderful story that addresses serious issues. Win or lose the Prize, this is what this enterprise is all about.

I once joked that I wanted to create the equivalent of a Paris Review for the Web, that it was my intent to be the Maxwell Perkins for a new generation of writers. I can't step back from those jokes. I can't step back from writers who trust my blue pencil. So here we go again. Win or lose, we'll bring you some of the best writing we can find.

As you know, my love, I am always at war with myself. One of the latest battles was about going with this piece of fiction. I am going with it because of its quality, as I hope you'll agree. What better way to fulfill my dreams? ... MORE

TABLE OF CONTENTS Thanks to Meadows & Meadows of Anaheim, California you can download the PDA software here and The World's Magazine is there on your Palm Pilot or other device. Yowza!.

OTHER EDITIONS

THE PREVIOUS ISSUE: CULTURE WARRIORS
(GAYNOR PAYNTER writes on the Cricket World Cup in LETTER FROM SOUTH AFRICA; CHARLIE THE TUNA gives advice; and much more!)

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