Friday, November 25, 2011

The Gokwe Kid - Dick of the Bushveld

What’s in a name? Especially for a book. I gnaw at my beer can. So far, as I intend to have a prequel and a sequel - which I think means it is a trilogy of utter insane gibberish - what about the title of the middle one?

Okay, we have Last of the Rhodesians and Chronicles of an African anarchist covering the lot. But, whilst I like The Gokwe Kid bit, it is this bit ‘Dick of the Bushveld’ I am not so sure about. Maybe I am being a little toooo clever-clever. Two reasons –
  1. How many people associate the word ‘dick’ as in detective, and at the same time it is also short for ‘dickhead’, which unquestionably I was/am?
  2. It is also a word play on a very famous ‘Boy’s Own’ type colonial book, Jock of the Bushveld, by South African author Sir James Percy Fitzpatrick. A true story, I remember reading this and howling my head off at the end. It is about a dog.
‘It was weedy, ill-proportioned and was the victim of constant sibling attack. The odd little puppy grew into a great and fearless dog. He was well liked, well respected and well behaved and this was the start of many a great adventures.’ (Wikipedia)
So I started out just like Jock - but forget the ‘great and fearless’ bit. Think more of ‘ungrateful and brainless’, and sadly Jock gets his brains blown out whilst I get to keep mine whilst well blasted out of them most of the time.

Any ideas?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Have you ever considered having your head examined? I can’t wait for the book to come out. It seems to take for ever! Why am I commenting to myself?