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dear Forumers, passing on first of two messages for your new year edification. If possible ( all things considered!) have a good one, cheers, mark ---------- "The Bella": New novella about Copenhagen climate talks December 15, 2011: "The Bella" is a new novella by Benjamin Morris, an award-winning writer and researcher at the Open University. Set at the 2009 United Nations climate change negotiations in Copenhagen, "The Bella" is the first major work of fiction to address the talks, and is currently distributed as a digital book through Amazon.com. More information about the book and the author are available at the following links: http://www.amazon.com/dp/b006marz2s/ (US Edition) http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Bella-ebook/dp/B006MARZ2S/ (UK Edition) Book summary: Set over the course of a single day Tuesday, December 15, 2009 during COP15, the United Nations climate negotiations at Copenhagen, The Bella tells the story of a crew of filmmakers in attendance at one of the most controversial global meetings in modern history, attended by hundreds of thousands of people from around the world. This day was the last day before the Bella Center, the site of the negotiations, was placed on secure lockdown for visiting dignitaries and heads of state, and the day that protests across the city began to escalate into widespread violence. Inside the Bella Center, conditions were rapidly deteriorating from the high hopes and expectations of the previous days, as delegations fell into disarray, negotiations stalled, and attempts to form a treaty were thrown into limbo. As the crew struggles to salvage what remains of their film, their efforts prove unexpectedly pivotal, as sensitive information obtained in the course of their work jeopardizes both a fledgling romance one of the filmmakers forms with a negotiator, and ultimately the outcome of the talks themselves. Set entirely within the Bella Center, and deftly intertwining personal narratives of the characters with political narratives of international relations and diplomacy, The Bella chronicles a day in recent history whose story has never been fully told. At turns surreal, comic, and moving, The Bella is at once the story of a day in time, a building in space, a man in love, and a movement that nearly changed the world. --------------