Pat Stevens

It was political satirist Will Powers who exposed a false news headline, that led to the arrest of Jacob Zuma, then Will struck on Friends of JZ website. By posting the infamous Spy Tapes, phone taps proving media intrusion into a court case, forcing prosecutors to drop charges against Zuma. Yet editor Pen Powers of the racist Partisan refused to recognize his mixed-race son, Pen was bribed by media mogul and presidential hopeful Harry Hiroshima, whose rival Jacob Zuma must be put to the sword. Will Powers then focused on unruly Zimbabwe, while opposition leader Helen Zille harangued President Mbeki to invade, Will convinced Mbeki to mediate a unity government to ease Robert Mugabe into retirement. War monger Helen Zille was then replaced, by the Democratic Alliance opposition, with the moderate Mmusi Maimane. Will Powers then urged his father to focus his Partisan newspaper, on racial imbalances in the Rustenburg mines, but Will was ignored resulting in strikes leading to the Marikana Massacre. Undeterred Helen Zille made a comeback, removing all black leaders including Mmusi Maimane, from the Democratic Alliance opposition. Zille then convinced her puppet Kritarchy of Judges, to jail ousted president Jacob Zuma without trial, causing a massacre bloodier than Marikana. So Will Powers launched a brilliant stratagem, by convincing embittered Jacob Zuma to start his own political party, the new MK party shocked the myopic media by taking third place in 2024 elections. Which decimated the ANC government vote and forced them into a ANC/DA alliance, where the seething racist Helen Zille was forced to work alongside her black counterparts, in a multiracial government of national unity.

The Bible is a great source of inspiration to Pat Stevens, for it is the greatest book ever written and the sweetest song ever sung, so important that mankind divided time into before and after the birth of the Messiah. The first five books of law in the Old Testament, are the basis of the Judeo-Christian ethic and the pillars of law in Western democracies, while the five poetical books stand among the greatest poetry ever written. The Old Testament is a marvellous tapestry of amazing ancestors, among these the author drew his inspiration for Absalom's Tomb, and the life of Moses in The Lawgiver.These stories are not an attempt to rewrite the Bible but rather a new style of Biblical writing, where the beautiful English of the King James Version is retained for the dialogue, but a modern writing style used for the narrative. This overlays a lovely Shakespearian veneer, also making the stories easier to read, as they contain only salient elements. Pat Stevens does not write Christian books but rather is a Christian who writes books, that reflect not only his Christian ethic but also his political and social views, so the book moves onto a section of religious essays applied to modern society.Where Absalom's Tomb continues with Solomon's Sons, namely Haile Selassie of Ethiopia and his links to the Rastafarian movement, who believe that neoliberal bankers are the Babylon Whore. The book also introduces the innovative concept of an Old Earth Creationism, which counterpoints the account in Genesis against evolution, and ponders if Einstein's Theory of Relativity could not make a six-day-creation possible? There's a Prayer for the Pope, which raises concerns about the Catholic Church, then the book finishes by questioning the Meaning of Life.

The Zulu people have colourful names for their children, which often come to resemble the nature of the child, and so it was with fifteen-year-old Thulani. His name meant Be Still in Zulu and his parents often wished he were, for Thulani was a lively boy who loved telling wild tales, which bestowed on him the nickname Cloud Eater. This perfectly described the boy's dreamy nature, his stories were gossamer as the clouds themselves, yet the stories always had meaning. The Zulu paid heed to the tales of Thulani, for they kept in their memory, what once had been for all men.In Zulu culture there are strict rules on upbringing, children are taught to keep silent around the adults, yet the elders loved listening to tales of the Cloud Eater. A common sight was a group of men gathered around, while Thulani recounted his latest adventure, the boy was in fact something of a Zulu seer. Many of his fables were part of African folklore, while others will become part of folklore, the Eaters of Clouds they are called in Africa. Whimsical philosophers who are the lifeblood of African culture, because history and traditions are passed on orally in Africa.The tales of Thulani point the way to a modern South African fable at the end of the book, an allegory where animals are humanised and given employment, discover what happens if the Foxy Editor plays the music and the Government Elephants do the dancing? What will transpire if Foxes learned how to write, and controlled all animals through newspapers, under pretension of protecting animal rights. They threw out the humanitarian African philosophy of Ubuntu, and replaced it with a neoliberal system that idolized individuals, namely the individual media controller Foxes.

Dice of Life is a coming of age novel set in South Africa of the seventies, written from the perspective of a boy leaving childhood, the story revolves around a group of apprentices and deals with the complexity of a racist society. Although not overly political in style, the book examines apartheid South Africa through the eyes of protagonist Harry Cheals, counterpointing his concerns against the easy attitude of his friends. They are the privileged white elite who enjoy life to its fullest, but Harry senses the dice of life will roll a payback someday, and he tries to warn his carefree friends. Because the ugly but cute Warthog is concerned only with getting laid, while Wilfred is ashamed to be an apartheid Afrikaner so he adopts a false English accent, quotes English poetry and describes himself as a liberal. Warthog and Wilfred are oblivious to the ills that plague South Africa, for both concentrate remorselessly on their individual needs, and despite his ugliness Warthog is surprisingly successful with women. For Warthog has personality and is a good dancer, whereas Wilfred's personality is even clumsier than his dancing, so he adopts English mannerisms to make himself more attractive to women. Harry Cheals is friendly with them but also scornfully dismissive, he is aware of the worldwide revulsion for apartheid, but is convinced nothing can be done so he grows a cynical shell. Which hardens as Harry turns even more sceptical, after his betrayal by beautiful but promiscuous Liza, which drives heartbroken Harry to drunkenness and wild behaviour. Resulting in his near death experience from electrocution, and an hallucination of John Lennon appearing in a Lennon Tree, Harry Cheals is desperately in need of some guidance. Then he meets a wise Afrikaner Seer, who teaches that life is not a random throw of dice, but a deliberate course chosen through free will. The Seer also predicts the coming of a liberal system even more repressive than apartheid, this motivates Harry Cheals to reform his life, and attempt to prevent this from happening.

Ballad of Steve Biker is the second volume of the Greatest Game series, which recounts an exciting overseas holiday of the Pack, who are friends of the central character Rupertheimer. There is the Englishman Nick Jarvis and Peter Khumalo the Zulu, along with an enigmatic Afrikaner named Hofmeyr, who travel abroad where they meet their future wives. Rupertheimer receives a harsh lesson in Ireland, from the media tycoon Darby O'Gill, while Khumalo falls under the influence of a mysterious motorcyclist named Steve Biker. This alter ego of the famous Steve Biko, has a profound impact on the Pack, especially on young Peter Khumalo who returns home to join the Struggle. Peter Khumalo joins up with his fiery Aunt Willie Khumalo and her husband Matthew, who lead an South African liberation group named AZIPPO, but Peter's liberation struggle ends abruptly at Rupertheimer's wedding. When a series of bizarre events culminate, in a fierce standoff with counterinsurgency forces, where freedom fighter Peter Khumalo surrenders to fearsome police Colonel Kokkenbull. So the Rupertheimer wedding ends with a message of hope for South Africa, that violence will be renounced and democratic negotiations will come about, which portends the pivotal rote that Rupertheimer must play in the future transition to democracy. These inexplicable events in Rupertheimer's life seem to point the way, to the vital contribution he will make to democratic negotiations, because Rupertheimer is destined to become a key player in the 1994 democratic elections. The South African liberal press has covered this historic event extensively, with hastily scrawled cover-ups, but unfortunately for the press there remain the newspaper archives. Where the craven journalistic scepticism is starkly portrayed, which impacted negatively on the transition to democracy, so it was indeed fortunate that our man Rupertheimer was there. To unerringly guide his troubled land, and steer the good ship South Africa to a democratic landing.

The Greatest Game is the first of a four-book anthology, counterpointing the lives of four main characters, against a transforming South Africa. Depicting a scenario you may not have encountered before, because thus far the South African transition, has been written exclusively by liberal journalists. Books written by clowns are good for a belly laugh, but a political event of such magnitude normally produces great novels, and the four books of The Greatest Game quartet are serious contenders. The main character in the series, is the scion of the wealthy Rupertheimer family, and the bane of his famous uncle Randlord Rupertheimer. This first book is set in the sixties, it introduces you to the zany schoolboy Rupertheimer, and his friends called the Pack. They are the Englishman Nick Jarvis and Peter Khumalo the Zulu, along with the Afrikaner Hofmeyr, who is a talented rugby player. Unfortunately there are also the selfish liberals Thorn Thompson and Dick Clott, who would engender in Rupertheimer, a lifelong abhorrence of posturing neoliberalism. This opening book describes the sixties schooldays, where Rupertheimer scores a rugby penalty with a piano, then comes military service where Rupertheimer manages to sink a South African Navy ship. This makes a mortal enemy of navy Killick Vokop which continues through the series., but despite these many misfortunes Rupertheimer shows early signs of the remarkable prescience, he'd one day employ to guide his country to an embryonic democracy. Although these books are fiction they are set solidly against history, and the picture painted of the Johannesburg liberal press is one of cowed compliance with apartheid, rather than valiantly opposing it as they claim. If you prefer your fiction laced with a semblance of historical truth, ignore the feeble excuses of liberal journalists, and rather read the novels of Pat Stevens.

Parables and Poems is an anthology of short works, some of which are featured in other books by Pat Stevens, but are included here to reinforce various points of view. The piece's range from brief humorous essays to longer satirical articles, covering a wide spectrum of problems, but concentrating mainly on Southern Africa. The author has attempted to sequence the articles, so the content of each compliments the previous, in order to create an interlinking theme. Included are eight of the authors poems, and a list of favourite books both local and international, that have strongly influenced his writing. Then comes a light-hearted thrust at South African sport, which due to the interference of the liberal press is a heavy-hearted subject, Protea cricket is a tragic example of this. The liberals insisted on dropping the Springbok emblem, since then cricket and the pretty flower have never won a world cup, while the rugby Springboks have won two. Scrapping the death penalty and introducing criminal friendly laws, are more serious examples of liberal interference that bedevils South Africa, which turned the country into a crime hellhole. The liberals are savagely satirized throughout the book, especially in four amusing allegories, which mock the liberal penchant for social control. The book finishes with a section that poses the question, could a worthwhile meaning to life be a dedicated mission to annihilate neoliberalism, that certainly is the Holy Grail quest of author Pat Stevens. Forcefully expressed in his novel Zulu Vampire, where the South African press are taken to task, for their twenty year persecution of Jacob Zuma. Then in the comic fantasy The Old Farts vs The Fatberg, the UK press are savagely satirised, for elevating Boris Johnson to Prime Minister.

Sons and Daughters introduces you to bleak Robber Island where terrorist Peter Khumalo has been incarcerated, but life must go on for the rest of the Pack, because there are now sons and daughters to be raised. Hofmeyr grapples fiercely with technical problems at the dilapidated Hospital Hill, while Rupertheimer battles valiantly with the fanatical Green Freaks, but Nick Jarvis experiences Marital Blues when his wife has an affair with sleazy journalist Thorn Thompson. Then in 1988 Peter Khumalo is released from prison, so he joins the Rupertheimer corporation as a labour lawyer, which he comes to regret when Rupertheimer involves him in Labour Pains. People still ponder the 'miracle' 1994 democratic elections, how on earth did South Africans manage to achieve their historic transition, considering the pathetic quality of the press in that country. The Pat Stevens novels explain how this 'miracle' was arranged, Rupertheimer's many epic battles with Liberal Times newspaper, demonstrate the remarkable prescience he employed to guide his country to an embryonic democracy. Because uncle Randlord Rupertheimer had sold Liberal Times to Irish media mogul Darby O'Gill, and Rupertheimer's old school days foe Thorn Thompson was made editor, while dirty Dick Clott became a powerful Greenfreak writer. Resulting in a fierce skirmish with environmental journalist Dick Clott and his rabid Greenfreaks, then the wild chase around the construction site by enraged COSUDSA unionists, orchestrated by Liberal Times editor Thorn Thompson. Which was superb training for the tremendous task that lay before Rupertheimer, his date with destiny would shortly arrive for the Greatest Game series now moves onto the 1994 elections, described in the follow up book Democratic Dawn. The last of the four-book anthology covering four decades, packed with high adventure and pulsing excitement, set against the historic background of a slowly transforming South Africa

White Bird Under the Sun is a coming of age novel set in Africa, although based partly on the authors upbringing, this is not a biography but rather a passage in any young boys' life. The story starts right in the womb and then sketches fifties Johannesburg, where the White Bird absorbs the music and movies of the time, etching memories on his mind that would last for a lifetime. The early years are spent at Crown Mines Model Village, the scene of many naughty misadventures, where the White Bird drives his poor mother to distraction. The father is then offered a work opportunity and the family travels to cowboy country Northern Rhodesia, this book takes you on a journey through Africa that will warm your heart as it recounts the joy and travails of a young boy, growing up in the idyllic bushveld setting of fifties Rhodesia.The flight of the White Bird is not a solitary journey, there is the warmth of a close-knit family and the inevitable rivalry between siblings, as the White Bird matches himself against his formidable sisters. Yet through his journey he is supported always by loyal Twiny, despite the early struggle in the womb she turns into a loyal companion, and a willing assistant in her brothers' madcap schemes. This is not a tale of high adventure or romantic love, but rather the lifetime memories that are engendered, when your first Tiger Fish kicks at your line or your first buck lies dead at your feet. This book describes the reverent wonder you feel, when you first set eyes on the magnificent Victoria Falls, or watch a fish eagle swoop down on the mighty Zambezi river. Fly with the White Bird and share the African memories that can never be felt again, as the author unveils the wonder of Africa, as seen through the entranced eyes of a young boy.

Democratic Dawn is the last book in the Greatest Game series, where Rupertheimer steers South Africa through the historic 1994 democratic elections, by outwitting his right-wing Afrikaner uncle Barefoot Battelle. Who's now been joined by Rupertheimer's old arch-enemy Killick Vokop, yet the canny Rupertheimer wins through, with the help of tough police General Kokkenbull. To finally arrive triumphantly, at the celebrated 1994 democratic elections, a glorious achievement unparalleled throughout history. Never before had a ruling elite willingly given up power, nowhere else had a single bold individual attained it, the Greatest Game series of books reveals who that remarkable individual was. Yet ever since his schooldays Rupertheimer has been plagued by two fanatic liberals, Thorn Thompson and Dick Clott now edit Liberal Times, where they freely express their own liberal rights. Uncle Randlord Rupertheimer no longer owns newspapers, he has sold their media empire, which allows Thorn and Dick free rein to attack Rupertheimer. Liberal Times is now owned by Irish media mogul Darby O'Gill, who is too timid to control journalists, Randlord Rupertheimer remonstrates with his friend Darby but to no avail, Until the shocking British paedophilia scandal, where the unfettered UK press of Darby O'Gill hack celebrity phones, yet are silent about rampant paedophiles like Jimmy Savile, Darby O'Gill is finally shamed into taking action, and he fires troublemakers Thorn Thompson and Dick Clott, who blame Rupertheimer and viciously strike back. In concert with an equally vengeful Killick Vokop, the embittered journalists stage a thieving raid on Hotazel Mine, but Rupertheimer and his now reformed uncle Barefoot Battelle thwart the diamond dogs. The series ends when the second generation, Roy Rupertheimer and Liza Jarvis marry, there is joy at the union but also a sombre warning. That the new millennium will bring three perils, terrorism and recession then a great plague, so a new champion named Will Powers braces the liberals in the follow up novel Hero of the Struggle.