Apata

by Harold A. Bascom

In 1951, the year Elizabeth II visited the country, there was a dramatic manhunt in the forests of British Guyana. This book is a reconstruction of the life of the young man at its centre, a talented young Guyanese who is denied a proper education because of the colour of his skin.

279 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Whether I should create an Amazon author page or not was a burdensome question. One concerned friend believed that the moment I presented myself as a black guy from South America, I would be finished—that it was destined to be the final nail in the coffin of my aspirations. Americans, white and black, she said, would avoid what I have to offer like the plague. Another friend thought that if having an author page was the way to go, then I should set one up; he thought, however, that I should use the photograph of a white guy behind which I might hide my skin’s truth.

I was conflicted and gave myself the space I needed to think. How happy would I be, I thought, if through deception, I find some kind of success? I wouldn’t be. And my father … my father who instilled in me that need to stand for truth would be spinning in his grave. I whispered to myself, “I am not a Black, South American writer; I am a writer like any other who just happens to be Black and born in South America; for better or for worse, I’ll be me.”

I am a writer’s coach with one grand aim: to help beginning fiction writers—the world over—put out their best writing. I have worked with first-time fiction writers in South America, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America where I now live and write.

Other than being a novelist, I’ve been a prize-winning playwright, theatre owner, and director of plays back in Guyana, South America where I was born. I am also a painter with a background in traditional book illustration. I, however, find a lot of fun incorporating digital graphic applications and processes into my illustrative artwork as I continue to utilize different kinds of pens, pencils, collage, montage, and pigments. The illustrations in my new book. “How to Protect that Novel You’re Writing from Crappy Reviews: Eleven convos on the Basics of Fiction Writing for First-Time Authors Planning to Self-Publish,” is a testimony of this.

Though I’m an intense crafter of fiction, who works with a nine-to-five type schedule, I do not hesitate to take a few hours away from my laptop to be in my garage with my fifth scale radio controlled gas-powered model car where I immerse myself into the mind-relaxing fantasy of being a racecar driver and mechanic. (On weekends, I enjoy assisting my girlfriend, Donnette, with her cake decorating, which I see as a legitimate art form.)

I live in the city of Loganville in the U.S. State of Georgia, and anyone who’s new to fiction writing and has a question can contact me through the following email: haroldabascom@yahoo.com