Distilled into the adventures of the fictitious Tom Hero, Mr Boomslang & 7 Other Rhodesian Fireside Tales chronicles life in Zimbabwe/Rhodesia in the 1960's. Taken from the experience of Douglas John Schorr who served as both a civil servant in Rhodesia's Ministry of Internal Affairs (Intaf), and a Lieutenant in the Rhodesian Territorial Army, these are tales of all of the human experience - from the gloriously comic to the heartrendingly tragic, told with humour and candour about a time that is no more.
About the Author: Though born in South Africa, I celebrated my first birthday in Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) in 1950. Early on I knew the government Department of Internal Affairs was my home, our job to assist with the development of the country's tribesmen and women. 'Called-up' for national service at 20, I was a proud lad when I was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Rhodesian army. Hard work, resignations and war-deaths saw me fast-tracked to promotion in '76 to the very senior rank of District Commissioner. My conflicting experience in assisting and controlling Rhodesia's rural people as an Intaff member, and fighting them as a loyal patriot finally came together to teach me a life-changing lesson, one that shattered the façade of our Rhodesian society for me: To make war on one's own people in the name of personal privilege, I realised, is wrong. Believing that a non-political capitalist structure would replace apartheid and make all men equal under its free-market system, I moved to South Africa. There I proudly earned an MBA from Stellenbosch University and embarked on a career in business. The country's bull boom of the 80's opened a new world of personal gain. I was young, hungry, and prepared to sacrifice all to get ahead. The '87 crash, however, punched home a new life-lesson: The true consequences of a free market system, I discovered, are that only the best connected will survive. Today I am based in Malaysia. After a journey amongst both the world's most privileged and most destitute, I now write about the devastating effect of a global profit at all costs driven economy, particularly amongst the poverty stricken of Southern Africa. My goal is to add my voice to a simple message: The rich are getting richer while the rest head for servitude. My first book, 'The Myth of Smith', an autobiographical account of my awakening to the reality of the Rhodesian Bush War while involved in it, is available for sale on Amazon Kindle at http: //bit.ly/TheMythOfSmith. I have just published my second, 'Mr Boomslang & 7 Other Zimbabwean Fireside Tales', available on Kindle at http: //bit.ly/MrBoomslang. I am currently at work on 'The Farmer Fallacy' - a look at the reality behind Rhodesian farming, focusing on the relationship between white and black. My article and analysis work can be seen at www.douglasschorr.com, and I can be contacted at douglas.schorr@gmail.com.