Author: writegill

Lecturer in English, Toulouse University II, IUT Figeac, France. Ph.D received suma cum laude: dissertation on William Faulkner. Served with distinction in the French Foreign Legion. Commissioned officer in the Punjab Regiment, active service in Kashmir Publications:two novels, three non-fiction books, doctoral dissertation. Active member, International Association of Thriller Writers. Contributing Editor for The Big Thrill, official webzine of The International Association of Thriller Writers. Interview in the December 16-31, 2008 issue of The Caravan, India. Five-page featured interview in the November 2010 issue of Media Vision, India: “correctly analysed … world trends ...” http://www.mediavoicemag.com/frontpage/3821.html. Writing Credits. Published Fiction. Both novels published by Bewrite Books listed in The Writers and Artists’ Yearbook. 1. Blood Money. GILL, Azam, Bewrite Books, UK, pbk., 316 pages, , 2002. ISBN-10: 1904224911. Len Deighton : “a first-class thriller with authentic backgrounds that take the action around the world”. http://original.antiwar.com/bock/2006/07/08/reality-based-recommendations/ Alan Bock — columnist and the senior writer for the editorial page of the Orange County Register — : “ … impart(s) an authentic flavor to the spy thriller genre. This is the kind of fiction that evokes a stronger sense of how the world really works than any number of the kind of history and foreign policy analysis books that are more often on my nightstand. Fun and informative.” http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/blood_money.htm Deepa Kandaswamy freelance journalist and interviewer: “… fascinating book … Gill weaves a web of intrigue, mystery and suspense which surprises with its honesty, insider knowledge …, and the astonishing simplicity of operations … a true page turner … fantastic book, fact and fiction are so finely mixed.” 2. Flight to Pakistan. GILL, Azam, Bewrite Books, UK, pbk., 356 pages, 2002. ISBN-13: 978-1904492269. http://deepakandaswamy.blogspot.com/2007_09_16_archive.html#7163630436102176359 Deepa Kandaswamy freelance journalist and interviewer: “… a multilayered, multidimensional story of intrigue, first love, murder, caste, and honor that spans continents, race, and families. It is not often you get to read Asian fiction that does not use the Western stereotypes or the colonial setting of the East … irrespective of where you grew up, the story will move you. Extremely visual in style, I hope it would be made into a movie soon”. Published Non Fiction. 1. The Effect of Editing on ‘Flags in the Dust’ by William Faulkner. GILL Azam, doctoral dissertation received suma cum laude from Stendhal University, France. Published by University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA, 1988. 2. Winds of Change: Geopolitics and the World Order. GILL, Azam, Writer’s Club Press, USA, pbk. 352 pages, 2001. 3. Jail Reforms. GILL, Azam, Peoples Publishing House, Lahore, Pakistan, pbk., 50 pages, 1978. Library of Congress Catalogue Card N° 78-930627. Nawa-e-Waqt, Pakistan’s leading Urdu Daily, 17 August 1978: “…the scholarly author not only enlightens his readers (by) solid and productive suggestions … that could produce far better results … the author’s resourcefulness, scholarship, clarity of thought … (for the) common reader … the writing is a reflection of the enlightened author’s love for humanity and his eloquent, colloquial writing style.” The Pakistan Times 03 March 1978: “…a sincere,, well meaning endeavour in a cruelly, disastrously mismanaged sector of social concern. … reforms …deserve serious consideration... well meaning endeavour….” 4. Army Reforms. GILL, Azam, Peoples Publishing House, Lahore, Pakistan, hardbound, 97 pages, 1979. Library of Congress Catalogue Card N° 79-930870.

Love, Hope and Heartbreak: A 1960-Journey Through History—Part I,

by Azam Gill

In 1960, the Indo-Pakistani conflict impacted Azam’s family reunion, highlighting the enduring bonds of family across borders and the human cost of political strife. An exclusive

WHEN my mother, sister and I went to India, it was still five years short of the ill-thought out and unnecessary 1965 war which ensured that cousins reeling from the fratricidal madness of the 1947 massacres, topped by the 1948 Kashmir War, would remain mired in deadly squabbles over self-identification, self-image and real estate. And ‘sir jee,’ the now ubiquitous cross-border, visa-free form of address linking vernacular Urdu and vernacular Hindi speakers in a sycophantic doublet had not even been conceived.

In 1959, General Ayub Khan, the President of Pakistan, had promoted himself to Field Marshal, not because of any laurels in battle field generalship, but only because he could. There was nobody to oppose him and, if there had been, he was sure that the result of the impending 1965 war predicted by his ‘son’ Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, progeny of a ‘Sir,’ brought up by an English nanny and, groomed by good old Berkley and Oxford, would take care of it.

We all know how that went down!

Read More here https://www.differenttruths.com/love-hope-and-heartbreak-a-1960-journey-through-history-i/

Raksha Bandhan’s Legacy of Protection and Love

by Azam Gill in DIFFERENT TRUTHS

Raksha Bandhan is an allegory of love, trust, protection, the spoken word, human frailty and honour. An annual ritual between biological and non-biological brothers and sisters renews trust through the inviolability of a promise, strengthening social cohesion.
“Rakhsha Bandhan ensured that in a patriarchal society, brothers would take the responsibility of their sisters’ safety and well-being.
“It created a bond between siblings and enhanced their natural love and affection.
“Tying a rakhee to a non biological brother also binds him to only brotherly feelings.
“Rakhi brother is a common term.”
Professor Roopali Sircar Gauhar, PhD …. to read the full article https://www.differenttruths.com/raksha-bandhans-legacy-of-protection-and-love/

TWINNING IN Saeed Ibrahim’s “TWIN TALES from KUTCCH”

Vitalizing twinning in this period saga, Saeed Ibrahim deftly overlaps characters, places, and situations within the novel’s hall of tactically placed mirrors in perfect sync. TWIN TALES is a microcosmic, counterfactual gem of the period preceding the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan — a ray of sanity, overriding divisions and separation, to rebuke the macrocosmic killing fields and trains of death the British left as their legacy. Not to speak of 88% illiteracy, 32 years life expectancy and no health service or public education worth the name, except for fee-paying, lucrative schools for the elite to ensure unequal opportunity.
TWIN TALES OF THE KUTCCH brings love, family and humanity to the fore in subliminal criticism of the brutal independence of India.

Coming soon: full review in https://www.differenttruths.com/

Afghanistan Alexander’s descendants Azam Gill BBC Asian Network Blasphemy Blasphemy Pakistan books British Asians British Raj Caste Cattle rustling CIA DJ Nihal Express Tribune France French Foreign Legion India India-Pakistan tensions Kalash Karakorams Lahore LOC Kashmir militant Islamic fundamentalists Nepal Pakistan Pakistani Christians Pakistani Christmas Persecution of Christian minorities Persecution of Pakistani Christians poetry Punjabi village Christians Punjab Regiment Punjab smugglers rat people Rustling Satire South Asia South Asian Warriors Stiff Upper Lip Terrorism Tony Blair USA US Presidential election World War I Victoria Cross writing

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𝐀𝐒𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐓𝐀𝐋𝐈: 𝟏𝟎𝟏 𝐏𝐨𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐫. 𝐑𝐨𝐨𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐢 𝐒𝐢𝐫𝐜𝐚𝐫 𝐆𝐚𝐮𝐫

“𝓑𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓴𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓼𝓽𝓮𝓻𝓮𝓸𝓽𝔂𝓹𝓮𝓼 is the natural outcome of my poetic oeuvre. War, widowhood, myths, rural folk, contemporary social conditions are some of the themes that haunt this volume. The poems in this volume are my spontaneous response to life’s true happenings. You may find the 𝓼𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓻𝓮 and 𝓲𝓻𝓸𝓷𝔂 sometimes difficult to bear. 𝓒𝓸𝓷𝓯𝓵𝓲𝓬𝓽 and 𝓿𝓲𝓸𝓵𝓮𝓷𝓬𝓮 have,…

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ZARA’s WITNESS, by SHUBHRANGSHU ROY

Zara will smile in the company of Bach’s Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, St Exupéry’s The Little Prince, Gibran’s The Prophet and Coelho’s The Alchemist. After the ersatz blossoming of Maharesh Yogi and Ravi Shankar nudged by the Beatles’ self- grafting, this is a breath of fresh air blown from India’s multi-millennial civilization

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TWIN TALES FROM KUTCCH: a microcosmic, counterfactual gem of the period preceding the 1947 Partition of India and Pakistan — a ray of sanity…

Azam Gill reviews COBALT, Chris Bauer’s latest thriller.

The plotting of Rick Bauer’s COBALT is an intricate spider’s web of meticulous cunning, bringing in, controlling and coordinating disparate and conflicting elements. COBALT throbs with suspense, crime, politics, big business, government, foreign intrigue, geopolitics, and conspiracy disrupting the lives of good, honest folk.
Full Review Here: https://www.differenttruths.com/reviews/book-review/thriller-cobalt-explores-morality-in-a-high-stakes-race/

Mike Broemmel

Playwright, Novelist, Speaker

“Mike Broemmel is the 21st century’s answer to John Steinbeck at his most nitty-gritty.”- Neil Marr, Monaco, Publisher & Editor

Biography of Mike Broemmel

Mike Broemmel is a prolific playwright, with nearly two-dozen of his plays produced in the past decade. A number of his award-winning plays have been in continuous production since their initial premieres. 

Mike’s plays are produced across the United States and internationally. In 2019, his play  Stand Still & Look Stupid was a featured production at Féile an Phobail, the largest arts festival in Northern Ireland. In 2023, his play I’m Harvey Milk ran Off-Broadway. In 2024, a series of six of Mike’s plays is running at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. Two of his plays are being staged at the 2024 Imagine Belfast Festival in Northern Ireland. 

Mike’s career began in the White House Office of Media Relations ….. https://mikebroemmel.com/bio

Mike Broemmel Homepage https://mikebroemmel.com/

Mike Broemmel’s Books https://www.amazon.com/s?k=mike+broemmel&i=stripbooks&crid=20HVZ677FI757&sprefix=mike+broemmel%2Cstripbooks%2C197&ref=nb_sb_noss

WORLD JATT / JAAT DAY
“Multi sourced information and Extensively researched,” Dr. V. Gill, USA

Saga Indicus traces the origins of the Indian Jatts. Agriculturists, warriors, and now represented in all the professions, they are mainly found in Punjab, Sindh, Rajputana and the western portion of the Gangetic Doab. The origins of Jatts cannot be traced without exploring ancient Indian history which takes the lion’s share of Indo-European studies. The origin of the Jatt people is traceable through the meaning of the word itself, referred to in Panini’s Ashtadyayi, and further back in The Mahabharta itself. The trail of overlapping meanings leads back in time from Panini (450BC)’s Ashtadyayi to The Mahabharta, and forward in time to the present-day Jatts and their constituent Gill clan. Saga Indicus undertakes this study through: The Panini Fulcrum: 400 BC. The Vikramaditya Fulcrum: 375-415 BC. The Prithipal Fulcrum: AD 9. The Bhatinda Fort fulcrum: AD 783. The Gilpal Fulcrum: AD 1113. Saga Indicus is crucial to the understanding of Indo-European cultures.

Pakistan’s Education System Under Scrutiny After …

by Dr. Azam Gill

She cowered under a table, trembling.
The timeless aroma of spices was retreating to the fetid stench of fear. Kaka Johnson’s eyes narrowed to slits. His brain overcame instinct and with great presence of mind he pulled down the grilled steel shutters of his fast-food joint.
Intoxicated by self-righteousness, the crowd in the street bayed for a ritual sacrifice on a rap beat, desperate to mitigate its own misery. The death chant rose in slow intensity, drowning Kaka Johnson’s desperate pleas and leaving his mouth open in a silent, Munchean scream.
The first spark of decency.
Two neighbouring shopkeepers begged for sanity — their pleas swallowed up by the death chant.
They were the second spark of self-respect.
Although the Imam from a nearby mosque made the mistake of not reading the calligraphy on the robe, he courageously arrived to face the crowd and argued unheard against insanity.
He was the third spark of courage.
Then tires skidded on gravel, and tight-faced police officers spilled out of their jeeps, index fingers on trigger guards, throats dry, eyes darting to approaches, exits and hostiles.

Read More: https://www.differenttruths.com/governance/law-order/focus-pakistans-education-system-under-scrutiny-after-mobs-near-lynching/

Blood Money

Like the novel of the same name by Azam Gill, the poem, BLOOD MONEY, carried by Different Truths, hits hard at the nexus of banks and leaders binding climate funding.

1–2 minutes
Cop28 Under Fire: A Look at the Sinister Nexus
Blood Money

$400 million bowled in Blood Money
After decades of bleeding the needy
Not enough to lick the spit
Damn, they don’t have the grit

To really walk the walk
But throw a fistful and talk
Headlines yell poor countries are winners
Nah, not them, the winners are the sinners

Yet, the grand-standing end-users
Are the leaders with grubby paws
Of the recipient countries howling and drowning
With offshore accounts fattening and growling

And the dodgy banks off shore
Real owners of grants galore
With blow-dried hair, high-tech pimps
On filling their coffers, they do not skimp

The spidery network of a money bed
Semantic altruism on its head
They process grants and own the companies
Which get development contracts for their cronies

Bribe the crooks running their countries
Who pocket smoothly all these monies
Which find their way back off-shore
Lying in wait for their overthrow

Lean, hungry and villainous
Casius’ eyes are so jealous
Yet somewhere, sometime a hand-pump awaits
For the end user trickle of Blood Money’s fate
My essay, ‘Disinherited Internal Exiles, is seated in distinguished literary company.  Thrilled to share  my co-authorship in “”Angst of Belonging and Not Belonging,” edited by Dr. Roopali Sircar Gaur & Anita Joseph, and carried by TDW Publishing. 
You might wish to order a copy:
www.amazon.com/Angst-Belonging-Not-Anita-Joseph/dp/9391828345
https://www.amazon.in/Angst-Belonging-Not-ANITA-JOSEPH/dp/9391828337

Flipkart: Flipkart.com <https://www.flipkart.com/angst-belonging-not/p/itm90456096befb6?pid=9789391828332&lid=LSTBOK9789391828332XYW2N1&marketplace=FLIPKART&cmpid=content_book_8965229628_gmc >

Angst: Of Belonging and Not Belonging, (Editors: Roopali Sircar Gaur and Anita Joseph), is an international anthology of poetry.73 well-known poets from across the world.

In the vast realm of human existence, few emotions resonate as deeply as the complex tapestry of belonging and not belonging. These sentiments, intertwined with the yearning for connection and understanding, or ANGST, have inspired countless works of art throughout history. ANGST is an overwhelmingly complex and haunting presence. It speaks to a profound sense of unease, restlessness, and disquiet that permeates the human experience. Within the pages of this international poetry anthology titled “ANGST: Of Belonging and Not Belonging,” we embark on a captivating journey through the landscape of angst, delving into its intricate manifestations and exploring its impact on our collective psyche.
Each poem within “ANGST: Of Belonging and Not Belonging” serves as a luminous thread, weaving together a vibrant drapery of emotions and insights. The poets’ words unite us in a shared exploration of identity, connection and the search for a place to call home. Through lyrical expressions, they illuminate the joy of finding solace in the embrace of community or the deep sense of being rooted in a particular time and space. Conversely, they lay bare the ache of displacement, the searing loneliness of feeling adrift, or the longing for acceptance and understanding in an estranged world.

Indian President Droupadi Murmu: Did India Miss its Opportunity?

By Dr. Azam Gill, published in DIFFERENT TRUTHS https://www.differenttruths.com/

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/india/how-good-a-president-will-droupadi-murmu-turn-out-to-be

On 25 July 2022, Ms. Droupadi Murmu was sworn in as India’s second female and first Tribal President. “My election is evidence that the poor in India cannot just dream but also fulfil those dreams,” said President Murmu. Prime Minister Narendra Modi proclaimed the ceremony a “watershed moment for India, especially for the poor, marginalised and downtrodden.”
Although the ground reality of these lofty semantics will now come under critical scrutiny, India must be appreciated for electing yet another president from one of its diverse minorities. After all, by accepting secularism at Independence, Hindu-majority India bound itself to manage its diversity within a democratic framework, and has, overall, done …
…. But then these aren’t the only minority groups in India…..
To Read the full article
https://www.differenttruths.com/governance/politics/droupadi-murmu-did-india-miss-its-opportunity/
1–2 minutes