Bücher veröffentlicht von Oliver Spedding

Edward Horner was born with a silver spoon in his mouth but the spoon is tarnished as he suffers from a debilitating lack of self respect and self confidence. This has dire consequences for him in his later years as he squanders his inherited fortune due to his irrational determination to prove himself. It also creates an inability to confidently implement his own creative ideas.Edward's marriage to Cynthia fails as he avoids the responsibilities of marriage and fatherhood. His relationships and the various enterprises that he attempts to establish all fail as a result of his lack of self-confidence and his failure to be forceful about his opinions. Frustration at his helplessness and fear of failure become his constant companions. Coupled with this is his failure to provide for his old age due to his incessant unrealistic imaginings of success and wealth. Dream follows dream until suddenly there is no time for another dream.As Edward's deteriorating financial status gains momentum, he becomes the victim of his own naïve and desperate behaviour. The position of weakness that he constantly finds himself in adds to his frustration and despair. Belatedly he begins to see the error of his ways but is incapable of changing the debilitating self image and lack of confidence that he has been burdened with during his lifetime.Edward's failure isn't solely of his own making though.

South African Brixton Murder and Robbery Unit detective Morgan Hunter, martial arts expert and cage fighter, fighting under the name "The Mighty Midget", is framed by two of his colleagues, detectives Frans Botha and Piet Venter, for the murder of Isaac Bakwena, the only suspect in the killing in1986 of a prominent black South African businessman and founder of the Hamba Group, Doctor Solomon Mokoena, in his Santon, Johannesburg home by unknown assailants. Morgan is sentenced to twenty years imprisonment.Unbeknown to Morgan, Detectives Frans Botha and Piet Venter had been hired by the head of the vast conglomerate, Bester Industries, Willem Bester and his two sons Jan and Koos. Their task was to murder doctor Mokoena, as all of Bester Industries' factories are situated in border areas and the enterprise stood to be liquidated if doctor Mokoena's efforts to recover the "homelands" and the adjacent "border areas" created by the illegitimate South African government and return them to the South African people were successful.To murder doctor Mokoena, the two detectives hired a Soweto gang, the 007s, to mug a taxi driver, Isaac Bakwena, and steal his identity document, place it at the scene of the murder as a decoy and also to do the actual killing of Mokoena.Morgan, together with Frans and Piet, were assigned to investigate the Mokoena murder. During the investigation at Mokoena's house, Isaac Bakwena's identity document was found. Bakwena was arrested but claimed that he had been mugged and his identity document stolen and planted at the murder scene. Doctor Mokoena's wife, Dorothy Mokoena, witnessed the murder but escaped and disappeared.The three detectives were under a great deal of pressure to solve the case and an altercation took place between Morgan and his two colleagues over the use of force to get Bakwena to admit to being an accomplice in the murder. When Morgan was called out of the interrogation cell to answer a telephone call, Frans and Piet murdered Bakwena and successfully framed Morgan.The telephone call that Morgan left the interrogation cell to take was from one of his informers James "Clipper" Simango who urgently needed to see Morgan as he had vital information regarding the Mokoena murder but Morgan was jailed before he could meet with Clipper, who then disappeared.Four years later, Morgan receives amnesty when South Africa becomes a democracy and he and an old school friend, Kate Harrington, set up a legal consultancy. They also fall in love.One evening when Morgan is walking home from work, an attempt is made to assassinate him. He survives and sets out to find Clipper. He traces Clipper to a house in Soweto, but when he reaches the house he finds Clipper murdered. Morgan fails to discover who Clipper's attackers were, except that they weren't his former detective colleagues Frans and Piet whom he had previously suspected of attempting to kill him and of murdering Clipper.Sometime later an attempt is made to kidnap Morgan but his outsized friend, Sam Cele, thwarts the attempt and the kidnappers escape.Morgan finds an ally in South African Police Detective Alfred Madonsela who is investigating Morgan's attempted murder. Morgan, Sam and Alfred set out to expose the mysterious force that is determined to eliminate Morgan. All they can do is entice the enemy to make a mistake that they can use to move closer to discovering the mystery of Doctor Millaman's murder, Clipper's murder and the attempts to kidnap and murder Morgan; a very dangerous tactic that could cost Morgan his life.

Bruno Berger, living in Johannesburg, South Africa, is cruelly abused by his parents during his formative years and develops a hatred for his fellow beings that dominates his life. Throughout his young life he has been ridiculed and betrayed. He meets Conrao "Connie" Amores, another abused student at his school and the two young boys plan to eliminate their tormentors, especially their parents.On the day that they've agreed to begin their revenge, Connie commits suicide and Bruno is left to continue with their mission on his own. Bruno kills both his parents and then goes to his school, mainly to wreak revenge on Lucy Brentworth, his main tormentor during his schooldays. Unable to kill Lucy, Bruno kidnaps her and holds her hostage, only to find out that Lucy is also the victim of child abuse.The two young people decide to team up, escape from the police, and go on the rampage, robbing a business, killing Lucy's abusive father as well as Connie's parents. Captured by the police after a car chase, Bruno is found guilty of several crimes including murder and kidnapping and incarcerated in a Child Detention Centre while Lucy, denying all Bruno's claims of a joint conspiracy, is placed on probation. Obsessed with Lucy's betrayal, Bruno swears revenge. He escapes from the Detention Centre twice with the intention of killing Lucy. His first attempt to kill Lucy fails when she tricks him and, when his second attempt also fails, Lucy persuades him to return to the Centre. Bruno falls in love with her, although he is still struggling to overcome his affliction. Lucy though, has come to terms with her affliction and, by example, helps Bruno in his struggle to return to normality.This is a story of the triumph of love over its real enemy; indifference, the turning away from those in need. It's the story of the influence that one person's love can have on another; the transformation of an individual filled with hatred and revenge into someone who can express love and compassion.Child abuse is a world-wide abomination and it is hoped that this story will give a stark insight into the horrors and consequences that this maltreatment can, and does, create in the lives of millions of defenceless children.Bruno Berger, living in Johannesburg, South Africa, is cruelly abused by his parents during his formative years and develops a hatred for his fellow beings that dominates his life. Throughout his young life he has been ridiculed and betrayed. He meets Conrao "Connie" Amores, another abused student at his school and the two young boys plan to eliminate their tormentors, especially their parents.On the day that they've agreed to begin their revenge, Connie commits suicide and Bruno is left to continue with their mission on his own. Bruno kills both his parents and then goes to his school, mainly to wreak revenge on Lucy Brentworth, his main tormentor during his schooldays. Unable to kill Lucy, Bruno kidnaps her and holds her hostage, only to find out that Lucy is also the victim of child abuse.The two young people decide to team up, escape from the police, and go on the rampage, robbing a business, killing Lucy's abusive father as well as Connie's parents. Captured by the police after a car chase, Bruno is found guilty of several crimes including murder and kidnapping and incarcerated in a Child Detention Centre while Lucy, denying all Bruno's claims of a joint conspiracy, is placed on probation. Obsessed with Lucy's betrayal, Bruno swears revenge. He escapes from the Detention Centre twice with the intention of killing Lucy. His first attempt to kill Lucy fails when she tricks him and when his second attempt also fails Lucy persuades him to return to the Centre.This is a story of the triumph of love over its real enemy; indifference, the turning away from those in need.

By 1998, four years after South Africa finally achieved democracy, hundreds of thousands of destitute South Africans still lived in squalid squatter camps spread across the country. San Diego squatter camp or informal settlement is situated on the western boundary of Johannesburg.Themba "Legs" Gwala, the under-nine sprint champion at his school, lives in the San Diego squatter camp near Johannesburg with his dad and mom and five-year-old sister, Gugu. His best friend, eight-year-old James "Chomp" Bafokeng, ravenous food consumer, and his parents, also live in the settlement and the two boys witness the poverty and hardships that the residents have to endure: no electricity, no proper sewerage system and no running water, winter snow, summer torrential downfalls and the danger of runaway shack fires. They also witness violent protest actions demanding basic services, a barbaric vigilante justice system and unresolved crime.But they also experience the excitement of going to a major football game in Soweto, playing in the snow, almost drowning in a storm water drain during a flash flood and hearing about African myths and legends. They struggle to understand segregation, the stokvel system (traditional savings scheme), learn about illegal mining in the abandoned gold mines, the dangers of glue sniffing, the fire-fighting service that inspires Chomp to be a fireman when he's big and arithmetic that inspires Legs to be an accountant.Other characters in the settlement include Misses Ntombi Zondo, the settlement's Sangoma, who is dedicated to preserving the myths and legends of Africa and enthrals Legs, Chomp and Gugu with her wonderful stories, Mister Bongani Cele, the retired illegal gold miner who has spent most of his life searching for the non-existent treasure in abandoned gold mines, Misses Lerato Nonyana, the retired school teacher with her stories about African urban legends, Mister Calvin Tembe, the Mozambican "mayor" of San Diego, striving to help the illiterate residents, Mister Joseph Amin, the Ugandan law student who helps Mister Tembe with the resident's legal matters and Constable Edward Luthuli, the settlement's lazy incompetent policeman.Legs and Chomp also witness the tragic death of Misses Dikeledi Bapo by "necklacing" after she is found guilty of theft by the vigilante justice system, Legs' dad risk his life to save a stranger's child after a taxi accident, a violent service delivery protest, a shameful xenophobic incident and a shack fire that destroys a large part of the settlement.But when Legs' friend Jabu Buthelezi is murdered in the nearby forest by a serial killer, Legs blames himself for issuing a challenge to Jabu to go into the forest and collect manna. His self-guilt is aggravated when he neglects to visit a young resident, Isaac Jali, who dies a lonely death from cancer. When Legs' dog, Snooper, is killed he turns to glue sniffing to escape his torment, something he learnt when he and Chomp ran away from home and joined a gang of street children.Amidst all this, the serial killer watches silently.

This book contains 55 in-depth non-fiction articles about Animals - Cancer - Goals - Health - Human relationships - Humor - Lifestyle - Myths and Legends - Nature - North American indigenous people - Pets - Psychology - Regret - Self help - Sport - Success - The mind - Wine - Wild animals and many other subjects that will be of interest to many people.