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LIFESTYLE
THE

SHUDDER

LINGERS

DAVE VANDER'S NEW BOOK

By Nicole Zerwick
Photographed by Ivan Muller www.ivanmullerphotography.com 082 454 8487

ave van der Merwe is a man with an the next book. The lessons learned in getting the first
infectious passion for life and for his job book, Shudder in the Wall, published and the positive
developing leaders for the future, so when feedback Dave received after releasing the book made
Dthe opportunity arose to meet with the publishing the second book much easier and quicker.
Cornwall Hill Estate resident to discuss his new book, In fact, it took Dave 11 months to produce a printed
I jumped at the opportunity. copy of book one and just 3 months for book two. A
difference of 8 months!
The Shudder Lingers by Dave Vander is Dave’s second
book, a crime thriller continuing the story that began It is said that writers often draw on their observations
in his first book, Shudder in the Wall, of Stacey Saranga of the world and the people surrounding them. The
and her battle to keep her successful technology Karoo is the setting for the final scene of Shudder in the
business from being used as a front for criminal Wall that draws the plot to its climax and sees Stacey
activities that rage across the Western Cape. reflecting upon as The Shudder Lingers opens. Dave
relates how on a road-trip through a small town in
Agatha Christie, the 'queen of crime fiction', when asked the Tankwa Karoo he noticed some particularly shady
how she went about her writing said, “There is no agony looking characters and felt the eeriness of the place
like it. You sit in a room, biting pencils, looking at the which served him well when writing the Karoo scenes.
typewriter, walking about, or casting yourself down on Throughout the book one notices the attention to
the sofa, feeling you want to cry your head off”. the meal descriptions and when I asked Dave about
them, he confessed to being a passionate foodie
I don’t know many published authors, and so whether and weekend cook. Does Restaurant Rosa, scene of
or not the mechanics of writing is the agony described so many memorable meals, exist I wanted to know?
by Agatha Christie is still fascinating to me. Dave, Dave laughingly tells me that on a trip to Cape Town
though, seems to break all the rules when it comes to he thought he had found the restaurant to model
writing: the entire story for the first book came to him Restaurant Rosa on, but the meal was sub-standard
in a vivid dream and he and the service abysmal, so the book's restaurant is a
worked from a one-page pure figment of his imagination. What a pity!
outline for each of the
books. Over the four The process of writing and publishing these two books
months of evenings and has been a life-changing experience for Dave. It has
weekends that it took unleashed a creativity that has enhanced his life’s
to write each book the purpose.
story developed and
filled out. We may even In parting, Dave left me with words of wisdom from
have a Shudder trilogy the late Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Computer and Pixar
because there already Animation studios: Your time is limited, so don’t waste
is a one-pager for it living someone else’s life.

"Don’t be trapped by dogma, which is living with
the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let
the noise of others’ opinions drown out your
own inner voice. And most important, have the
courage to follow your heart and intuition"

Cornwall View • Issue 3 2019 5