Fireside Park

An Accident Of Birth

2012-02-26T14:56:00.002-08:00

I'm moving on from my working title.

Exit: Bolter Baron
Enter: An Accident Of Birth

I've written the book and edited it several times. I have worked with critique partners, and finally I have a fully edited manuscript, for which the working title was Bolter Baron. I've now, after much deliberation and nail-biting, given it a title which I believe will be more appropriate:

An Accident Of Birth

You can see the book blurb here. Once you've read it, hopefully you'll agree that An Accident Of Birth is appropriate, and maybe even why I used Bolter Baron as a working title.

I feel that the way the new title positions the story is much more appropriate for the mood and content than the working title.

I hope you agree, and if you honour me by reading the story once it's published, I believe you will.

So, what's next? I shall send out copies to beta readers. I can't wait to get their feedback.

After that...

The world is, as they say, my small, shell-like thing. Let's hope there's a pearl in it.

The Big Move

2012-02-22T15:48:00.000-08:00

Here I am again, after a hiatus of nearly six months. I've missed you all, I've been away too long, and all because - wait for it - we moved.

That was it. It's the last time we move house. I've promised myself that.

We had so much stuff to get rid of that we just started flinging stuff out for the bin collectors, driving carloads of stuff to the municipal tip, filling the bins every time they were emptied, then piling black bags next to it.

Thank God for bi-weekly bin collections. After all, if they emptied them every week we'd miss out on wondering how to get rid of the swarm of rodents that plague the bin. We'd even be able to get rid of all our rubbish. It's too much to ask, really.

So, there we were, cheerfully chucking out all our unwanted stuff, sorting, figuring out how we might want to pack stuff up for moving, then BAM! Sold.

How we laughed. They wanted to complete the transaction (I love that word) in about three weeks.

You can just see it, can't you? We poured the bubbly and chinked glasses.

"Cheers. Here's to the next owner. Now, the packing - bloody hell, quick..."

We didn't really count how many boxes we packed, but it was well over two hundred. Some of them were wardrobe boxes; large things that carry clothes on hangers and have room for a few bits and pieces to rattle around at the bottom. Some of them were small book boxes, and some were in-between sizes.

There were a lot of book boxes. The kind you fill up and then when you try to pick it up you damage your back.

To cut a long story short, when the removals lorry arrived at our new home, we started bringing the furniture and boxes in, and after lunch (we started at dawn) we started to seriously wonder if we could fit everything in the new house.

We managed to, but only by stacking it everywhere we could find space.

Then the real fun started.

Every room needed decorating. We had had the forsight to get the new carpets fitted in all the rooms before the lorry arrived, but we didn't know at that time that we need to replace the entire central heating system. Radiators, boiler, piping, the works.

I won't go into the damage you can get from the black sludge that torrents out of the old central heating, when it's removed, and... into the nice new carpets. That's a story for another day. Suffice to say, we've had our fair share of setbacks.

And... What is it with plumbers, builders and other trades people? Don't they want the work? Is it too much to ask that a professional person returns a call? Turns up when they say they will? Apparently it is.

To every rule, though, there is an exception. Thank you so much John Potts, Plumber, and Steve. Reliable, high quality work, friendly and great to deal with.

On a positive note, we've built a built-in wardrobe, put up about 185 linear feet of bookshelves (so far), built a built-in desk for both of us in the study, modernised the kitchen and bathroom, and decorated about half the house. Just the other half left to do...

Not a bad start.

Well, anyway. That's why I haven't been around in the blogsphere lately. But now I'm back, and glad to see you.

I hope you are all enjoying a prosperous, happy and healthy 2012

Publisher Interview and Giveaway

2011-09-06T05:41:00.000-07:00

Interview with Mark Heiman of Loomis House Press

Mark Heiman and Laura Saxton Heiman of Loomis House Press have now completed publication of the first new (non-facsimile) edition of Francis James Child's collection The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, completely re-set and edited to include all of Child's post-publication corrections and additions, including 77 additional ballad texts.

In today's post, I interview Mark Heiman, who has generously agreed to offer a hardbound copy of the latest volume to the winner of a draw. More on that after the interview:

Mark, thank you for agreeing to this interview. Some readers may not be aware of Loomis House Press. Could you tell us a little about your publishing objectives.

We founded Loomis House Press in 2001 in recognition of the many core ballad and folklore texts that were no longer available in print — Child being foremost of those. The world has changed somewhat since then, with the availability of digitized holdings from libraries around the world, but we’d like to hope that there are still people who value having some of these titles in hand and on the shelf.

For a long time the Child Ballads were only available as second hand books, often at high prices, but more recently the facsimiles of the first edition have become available again. Why did you choose to produce a second edition of the Child Ballads?

Well, you’d somewhat answered your question. Child was out of print, and used copies were going for exhorbitant prices, unless you were lucky enough to find an old Dover volume on a back shelf in a used book store. Those bookstores had only begun to sell online in small numbers in 2001, so gathering a complete set of Child took a lot of dedication and/or money.

Without a new edition of Child, the likelihood of a new generation of ballad singers and scholars discovering this work seemed remote, and that’s just a shame. For better or worse, Child is the foundation on which all subsequent ballad scholarship and collecting has been built. His 19th century academic prose can seem daunting at first, but persistence is repaid by the breadth and depth and even the wit of his work.

Producing this new edition must have been a massive task. What particular challenges did you face?

The original edition of The English and Scottish Popular Ballads was published in ten volumes over 15 years, from 1883 to 1898, and over that time Child continued to discover new ballad variants, to find better manuscripts of some of his sources, and to develop his understanding of the materials he was working with. As a result, each of those ten volumes contains a lengthy section entitled Additions and Corrections, where Child notes things that should be added to or corrected in each of the preceding volumes. The final volume contains new material for the entire set, including some corrections of prior corrections!

What we set out to do was to carefully carry out the instructions represented by this supplemental material, inserting new texts where indicated, correcting or expanding ballad notes, etc. In order to do that, we had to first create a new digital text of the books, working from an original first-edition set. If we’d started ten years later, now that several public domain texts have been generated, we could have saved many hours of tedious proofreading!

One of the largest challenges, and one we didn’t really recognize at the outset, has to do with page numbers. The original final volume contains a number of indices and an extensive glossary, all of which obviously refer to the original pagination. Many of those references are to text in the Additions and Corrections — text that we have subsequently scattered through five volumes. Identifying the correct new pagination for all of those references was a huge project; it ultimately involved creating software to track the location of repositioned references and dynamically generate new index references. That’s why Volume 5 took as long as it did…

Now that all five volumes are complete and available, what new projects do you have in the pipeline?

We’ve got a long list. As you probably know, we paused between volumes 4 and 5 to bring out a facsimile of Bronson’s Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads; that had been on the list from the beginning, but we were able to acquire the rights at that point in time, so it was well worth taking a little time just then to bring those books out.

At the moment, we’re preparing a fascimile edition of Sharp’s two volume English Folksongs from the Southern Appalachians, another absolutely foundational source for ballad texts and tunes that has long been unavailable.

Also on the near horizon are some online projects — we now have this digital, corrected, highly structured representation of Child’s collection that should be able to serve as the foundation for an amazing online “Child Explorer.”

On a personal note, have you always been in the publishing industry, and what is your interest in the Child Ballads?

I had worked as a writer and editor, and had been doing freelance book design for a number of years before we founded Loomis House, so it wasn’t a big leap. My interest in Child goes back to when I first stumbled across Child (and Bronson) as a teenager, and I’ve been singing ballads ever since, and more recently, giving performance/lectures about Child and the ballad tradition.

Thank you, Mark.

Mark has generously offered a hardbound copy of the latest volume, including shipping, to the winner of a draw. To enter this draw, all you have to do is post on your blog to tell your readers about this interview and give-away. Leave a comment on this post to let me know where I can see your post and you'll be entered in the draw. I will pick a winner, on 20th September - two weeks from the date of this post, at random from the entries and notify the winner, who can then contact Loomis House Press to arrange delivery.

Please do support Mark and Laura's work by posting a link to this post on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or anywhere else. Thank you.

The Author's Guide to Social Oppression

2011-08-13T06:48:00.000-07:00

As a writer I have a keen interest in how individuals and social groups behave in society, and what social drivers affect those interactions. When there are riots in the streets of England I wonder why people would bring destruction to their own communities. As someone who has never rioted I believe I never would, but what would it take? What would have to change to make me riot?

At one extreme, there are plenty of people who don't riot, who defend their homes and businesses against those who do and at the other extreme are the anarchists who arrive in buses and trains with the objective of creating mayhem. In the middle of these extremes are the many who get caught up in the violence and end up destroying the very community they should call home.

The story begins with a combination of values and hope.

As individuals our values are learned from those we love and those we trust. For most people, values come from three key places; family, community and education. If any of these trusted teachers of values fails a person they will look elsewhere for mentoring, seeking tribal security.

Hope is a very different matter. In order to have hope a person must have a realisable prospect of a future in which they have freedom and control over their own life. A future in which they have the resources to live, within the constraints of social acceptability, however they choose. A future in which they can gain self respect through making a contribution to the society and community in which they live. A contribution which will be valued by others.

In nineteenth and early twentieth century England we had a strong agricultural, manufacturing and industrial base. We had a thriving steel industry, steel based manufacturing such as cars, ship building and shipping. We had mining, textiles and more. Everyone could contribute to society irrespective of social background, education or wealth. With these industrial jobs came self respect and community. Everyone who wanted a future had one and with that came hope. The working classes were the majority and they had strong values.

From there, what next? Here's my recipe for how to get from there to where we are now:

1: Dismantle the industrial and manufacturing base. This is best achieved by creating conflict with unions and by eroding trust with the workforce. This leads to a fragmentation of communities. Make sure there is no investment in new industrial and manufacturing jobs when the old ones fail.

2: Promise the population that they can have anything they want. Encourage them to rely on the stock exchange to create wealth for their retirement. Sell off the social housing to give people the impression they are in control. Create a culture of greed so that what community is left has an incentive to hate or envy their neighbours.

3: Promise people that now we don't have manufacturing and industry we'll have a new economy based on high-tech and services such as banking. This ensures that most of the people who were the working class in the era of industry, have no hope of participating in the new economy. This has the added benefit of making sure most people who still have a job have to either commute a long way or move to find work, breaking up families and communities further.

4: Make sure all the political parties are just the same set of politics with different names. This guarantees that the wealthy industrialists and the moneyed class always have a government which takes care of their interests at the expense of the general population.

5: Make sure the police understand that their job is enforcement. Create a culture in the police where force is admired and respected. Instil a righteous sense of entitlement within the members of the police and ensure they don't forget they are serving the institution and the force, not the people.

6: Reform education every year or two. This ensures that teachers don't know whether they're coming or going, school children are always subject to educational experimentation and the emphasis is to do all the right things to be a teacher, rather than to impart a valuable and high quality education to our children.

6: Create a whole generation of youths who have been told from birth that they are bad. Make sure they understand they are the root of wrong in this country and adults would cross the street rather than come face to face with them. Make sure that by the time they reach puberty they know for sure that whatever they do they will always be considered bad.

7: Keep tightening the laws and policing every year until the trouble starts.

Once enough people have lost hope and self respect that social unrest starts, this is where the plan becomes brilliant:

This is what the government has been waiting for. It is the perfect excuse to call for stronger powers for the police and tighter controls on the population. Maybe this was the plan all along.

8: Call for more armed police and more police powers to confine and constrict peoples' behaviour. Give the police more day to day control over peoples' lives.

9: Monitor social media and other forms of communication. Make sure that everyone knows they're being watched – all the time. After all, if they've got nothing to hide, why should they mind?

10: Respond to social unrest by stopping people from communicating with each other.

11: If people are in the wrong place at the wrong time then forceful policing is justified. If people are violent it is criminal, but if the police are violent it is reasonable use of force. Invent strategies such as kettling – after all, when people are angry, the best way to make a tense situation explosive is to confine the angry people. Works every time.

See No Evil

2011-08-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

Scientists can now create an invisibility cloak which will, under certain specific circumstances, render an object invisible. So far this has been achieved for tiny objects, the largest being the size of a staple, and only with certain wavelengths of light (not always visible wavelengths) and often only for certain viewing angles. OK. I've got my red pen out and I'm marking this one '3/10, a good start'.

There's wild talk of developing this technology, using so called metamaterials, to make invisibility cloaks that would render a person or an object invisible to the human eye. Just imagine the headlines: “Harry Potter no longer fiction!”. That objective is, however, a long way off. Wild indeed.

I could boff on about the science and technology of these wondrous achievements, but you can read all that elsewhere and any way, it would, in my view, completely miss the point.

For me, the point is this. What is invisibility and what are the implications?

I don't want to define invisibility in technical terms; there's plenty of dictionaries to do that. I want to define it as I see it. (Oops, pun alert!).

The metamaterials I referred to earlier simply divert light around an object in a way that doesn't leave any visible signs that it is there. The object is still there, and it still has the same properties of reflection, colour and feel as it always had. What has happened is that we have distracted the viewer from it with images of what is behind it.

Invisibility is the art of obscuring reality for the purpose of deception.

Thinking about this, it occurred to me that invisibility is being used very effectively in certain areas of our lives. Consider your average day to day riot. You know, the kind we see from time to time when the going gets tough.

Our politicians and police skilfully create an invisibility cloak and throw it over the real problem. They do this so they won't be held responsible for their contribution to the problem and so they won't actually have to solve it. They can sit back and point, saying 'Look, see how bad these people are.'

What we see barely needs pointing out. We see anarchists being shipped in by the bus and trainload. We see righteous indignation from our politicians at the bad people who damage businesses and homes, set fire to cars and loot shops.

This indignation is shared by all right minded people. There's no excuse for violence, theft or gratuitous vandalism. Nobody in their right mind would excuse it.

So are the rioters the root of the problem or the symptom?

That brings me to the nice invisibility cloak I was talking about. It brings me to what we don't see while we're distracted by the drama in the news. What nobody talks about. The underlying problem of economic depression, hopelessness, institutionalised racism, controlling government and oppressive policing. The problem of a political system which goes by the name of democracy but really just guarantees the continuing power of a grotesque, greedy ruling elite. Problems which will never go away because it's not in the interests of our ruling elite to solve them.

Novel Films Blogfest

2011-08-01T01:53:00.001-07:00

Hosted by the fabulous Madeleine at Scribble and Edit, this blogfest is running from August 1st - 3rd

How many works of fiction have you seen BOTH the film/TV drama and read the original book, play or comic story?

My problem is remembering them. There must be dozens of them, so what I'm listing here, in no particular order, is what comes to mind now, as I attempt to write this list:

Lord of the Rings

Harry Potter

Last Orders

Cold Comfort Farm

Oliver

Shakespeare (too many to list)

Great Expectations

Christmas Carol

Catch 22

War of the Worlds

The Day of The Triffids

The Great Gatsby

Casino Royale

Live and Let Die

Jungle Book

Aladdin

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Cinderella

Bram Stoker's Dracular

The Client

The Firm

Steel Magnolias

Educating Rita

Shirley Valentine

The Norman Conquests

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Agatha Christie (too many to list)

Our Man in Havana

No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency

Jeeves and Wooster

Sherlock Holmes

Do check out the other blogfest entries here. Thanks, Madeleine, for an interesting challenge.

Inspiration for a Title

2011-07-06T04:14:00.000-07:00

I have a wip and a new work both in need of a title, and I've been thinking about what it takes to make a good book title.

The biggest question of all is 'what does the title need to convey'? The answer isn't simple. These are the main points I've been considering:

Do you want the title to convey an aspect of the story?

Can you tease the reader with a title which conveys the action of the story without spoiling it? What is it about the story that makes it unique?

A good approach to this is to start with your logline. If you haven't come up with one yet then it's a good idea to do so before attempting to title the book. Coming up with a good logline is an art of its own, so it helped me a lot to research the art before coming up with one. Once you have a logline you have a core statement from which you can key a title.

Is there a message or theme which could be conveyed in the title?

Does your book have an underlying message, moral story or fable? Is there a snappy way this underlying message can be conveyed in the title?

How well will the title convey the genre of the story?

If the title conveys the story genre, all's well and good. It doesn't hurt to do so and in some situations it can be an advantage (such as when your book is listed out of context and without a cover image). What has to be avoided is a title which indicates the wrong genre, or is confusing about the genre. For example a title that sounds historical for a story set in the future.

Will the title reach out to the right kind of reader?

Every title has an effect on a reader, but that effect can be hard to predict, since everyone reacts differently to the next person. This is one of the reasons to get feedback from others on your title choices before making a commitment.

What do you want the reader to think of when they see the title?

Even if everyone reacts differently there is still scope to create an impression with the title. Having answered the question What do you want the reader to think of? the next step is to find ways of conveying that in words. Again, experimentation and feedback are key.

How will the title look on the spine and the front cover?

Once in the shelf the spine is the only visible part of the book. How will the title look when viewed that way?

The title will probably come before cover art, but it is important to consider how it will look on the front of the book. A seventeen word title won't look great on any front cover or spine. Remember, the front cover will often be viewed as a small icon on websites and in catalogues, so whoever designs the cover needs a title they can make readable even at that small size.

Where else will the title be seen?

The title will often be seen without a cover image. This can happen on websites, in lists or catalogues, and the title may even appear without the author's name. These situations need to be considered when answering questions about what the title conveys to the reader.

How does your title compare?

There's a market for your book, and there are other authors writing for that market. Take a look at successful books in your genre that are comparable with your work. Their titles work, or at least don't harm sales, so it's worth considering why to see if there is an approach you can use.

Having considered all these points I try to come up with a small selection of options for the title and begin with my favourite, seeking feedback.

I've been through this process for my wip and here is the logline and title I came up with:

Wishing to free his sweetheart from a government enforced breeding programme, a young man finds himself competing for her with a ruthless underworld boss. - Bolter

This was after a lot of agonising and many options considered. The back cover blurb can be seen at the 'Bolter Baron' tab on this blog.

So, my questions for you...

How do you set about creating a title for your book?

What do you think of Bolter as a title? Do you have a suggestion for me?

Finally, I'd like to say thanks to my followers for sticking with me while I've been a bit sporadic with my posts. You're a great bunch.

Blog award of DOOM meets Tril Tales

2011-06-24T00:05:00.000-07:00

When you receive the BLOG AWARD of DOOM (created by Sarah McCabe) your task is to post a short selection of your writing, 100-300 words, in which your favourite character suffers a horrible fate. It can be your favorite character from your own writing or from something you've read, it can be from a finished manuscript, a WIP or something you just made up on the spot. Your choice, but it has to be full of DOOM.

Whenever you use the word DOOM in your post, you must capitalize the whole thing.
Pass it on to one other blogger and let them know their DOOM has come.
Remember that the person who passed the award on to you also received it as well. Go back to their post to read and comment on their writing sample. Make sure to thank them for sending the DOOM your way.

I received this fun award-with-a-difference (as she calls it) from the fabulous and talented Madeleine at Scribble and Edit. So, here's my DOOM piece:

Scrunge Meets his DOOM

Scrunge walked into the bar and was confronted with unfamiliar faces, species he'd never seen before and speech he couldn't understand. He knew there would be strange beings here on the lower decks of the pirated Randrian ship, but this many?

He walked to the bar and peered at the labels on the drinks. A tall creature came and grunted at him, his features obscured by long matted brown fur.

Scrunge coughed. “Er.” He pointed. “Is DOOM a beer?”

“Uk-uk-uk! Beer.” The creature nodded with what appeared to be enthusiasm.

“Oh, good. A pint, please.” The creature tilted his head as if he hadn't understood, but started to pour. Scrunge noticed that several of the strange beings stared at him.

Shocked at how much his DOOM had cost, Scrunge went to a quiet corner to enjoy it. As he did so, holding his DOOM, the temperature dropped and staring eyes followed him.

“I wonder why it's called DOOM.” He wondered, sitting at a table.

As he drank the room started to shake, the ceiling collapsed and most of the floor fell away. Alien beings screamed, hooted and jabbered as they slid into crevices or were crushed by falling ceiling joists. The furry creature behind the bar disappeared amidst a hail of shattered glass, a loud crash and a plume of purple smoke.

The bar door flew off its hinges and several grey shiny spherical objects flew in, directing laser like beams of destruction at everything in their path. When all the aliens had disappeared through the floor or were dead or dying the shiny spheres clustered around Scrunge, taking aim with their laser shooters.

Scrunge looked at his pint of DOOM. “Blimey! I think I prefer ordinary beer.”

Thank you Madeleine. After my initial apprehensions I enjoyed this challenge.

It is now my pleasure to pass this award-with-a-difference on to a talented friend and fave blogger, Angeline Trevena. Enjoy.

Child Ballads. A second edition after 130 years.

2011-06-17T00:05:00.000-07:00

In July this year the final volume will be released of the Loomis House Press second edition of Francis James Child's collection 'The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads was first published in ten volumes by Francis James Child between the years 1882 and 1898. The first edition, published by Houghton, Mifflin and Company was later re-printed by them in five volumes, each containing two of the original volumes.

Francis J Child was an acedemic at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and prolific in his work. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads was his greatest and most enduring work; the one by which his name is remembered today.

Since then it has only been available in facsimile editions, the most popular of which is the Dover edition. For a long time the Dover edition was unavailable, leading to sky-high second hand prices for tatty paper back copies.

Revered by lovers of poetry, songs, ballads, antiquity and folklore worldwide 'The English and Scottish Popular Ballads' is one of the most sought after poetry collections.

Dover have since re-printed their facsimile edition, but until recently the first edition has been the only edition available.

Mark Heiman and Laura Saxton Heiman of Loomis House Press have changed all that.

Years' of work have gone into the production of a new edition, newly typeset and containing Francis Child's own corrections in five volumes as well as tunes from Child's own sources.

Volumes 1 - 4 have already been published and volume 5 will be available in July, completing the set.

I would like to congratulate Mark and Laura of Loomis House Press for their diligent work and celebrate the completion of this important new publication.

Quote of the week - Lessons learned

2011-06-14T11:55:00.000-07:00

For today's quote of the week I've taken one of my favourite stanzas from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

About 152 years ago, eight hundred years after it was written, Edward Fitzgerald, author and poet, published the first edition of his translation of the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. In all he published five editions of his translations and with each edition the wording of some stanzas changed.

He must have been particularly happy with his translation of this stanza, as he never changed the words.

This is, for good reason, one of the most famous stanzas from this epic poem. The wisdom of the words and the wordcraft of the translation combine to make it profound and memorable.

◊

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,
Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit
Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,
Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.

◊

I was reminded of this while editing Bolter Baron. My female MC finds solace in the words of Omar Khayam at a troubled moment.

She imagines that some would interpret his words as acceptance of defeat, but that isn't the message.

It is about the future, not the past. If we wallow in the mire of how we arrived here then we focus on recrimination and redress. If we plan for the future with the secure knowledge of the lessons we have learned, we can make a better life. That's what he said with those beautiful, eloquent words.

Image, Edmund Dulac Art Images. If you like this image please take a look at his website here

Book Blurb Friday...

2011-06-10T00:05:00.000-07:00

Book blurb Friday is hosted by the fabulous Lisa Ricard Claro over at Writing In The Buff. Please do visit her excellent blog. In Lisa's words:

A "blurb" is the story summary on the back of a book (usually 150 words or less) written to entice you to read the book. Think of your visits to a bookstore or library. A book's front cover may catch your eye, but if the blurb doesn't interest you the book goes back on the shelf; if it resonates with you, you bring the book home.

The goal of this meme is to:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

This week's book blurb is for this cover photo:

So without further ado, here it is:

Hipsin's Little Trip

Little! Yeah. Hipsin's mother had always told him he was little, but this was ridiculous.

Ok, together with Dedatur he'd stolen a shuttle to escape the Droundari prisoner transport spaceship. So - no penal colony on Sweldova 9. No lifetime of sweat and toil, but this?

In the name of Wiren! That... thing was clearly a discarded refreshment container, but their shuttle could fly into the opening and they could spend two days exploring. They called me little! They had no idea.

Now they'd have to find a way to survive. Without enough fuel to get away this was their home, like it or not.

What did we do? We armed our weapons and went looking for the inhabitants. They'd be the biggest threat, so we should meet them face to face.

That was our biggest mistake...

◊

Word count 137 excluding the title.

Please check out the other entries for the book blurb. There is a linky to them all here.

Back from travels and tagged

2011-06-05T01:46:00.000-07:00

I've been absent from blogland recently as I've been travelling on family matters. I'm back now and raring to go. First and formost I'd like to thank three people who have tagged me. Dorothy Evans tagged me a little while ago (sorry I took so long!), and also Denise of L'Aussie Writing and Nancy Williams at N R Williams, Fantasy Author.

The way the tags work vary a little, so I'm making a kind of hybrid of them here:

1. Do you think you're hot?

The windows in my workshop make it rather like a greenhouse and even in hazy sun it gets extremely hot - so, yes.

2. Upload a picture or wallpaper you're using at the moment.

I'm working on edits for Bolter Baron at the moment, so this is difinitely on my mind. I'm also looking for a final title for the book. Bolter Baron is my working title.

3. When was the last time you ate chicken meat?

Almost every day - I love it. It tastes like chicken.

4. The song you listened to recently.

5. What were you thinking as you were doing this?

I was hoping to goodness I wouldn't have to re-write this post from scratch when my browser locked up. Sigh of relief!

6. Do you have nicknames? What are they?

I had some hilarious nicknames at school (oh, so long ago). Sometimes I was called Bison, sometimes Tibbles (a play on TB). Now I must be quite boring as people just call me Tony, although sometimes I get called Tony Maloney.

Now comes the fun bit - passing on the tag and acknowledging my wonderful followers. I've seen a lot of these tags around lately, so rather than naming specific people to pass it on to I shall do it slightly differently.

I have lots of wonderful people who follow my blog, and I'd like to acknowledge them all. I'd like to pass this on to any of my followers who hasn't been tagged. If that is you, then you may consider yourself 'it'.

Using the passive voice in creative writing

2011-05-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

I am in the process of editing my work in progress, and at the moment I am having fun taking out my inappropriate uses of passive voice. In doing so I have had to clarify my thoughts on this subject, so I decided to write them down. I hope my thoughts on this will be of some interest to you.

The use of passive voice in creative writing is widely frowned upon, yet this very statement uses it. Are there times when passive voice is better?

What is passive voice?

Consider the phrase: Roger burned the toast.

The action is “burned”, the object of the action is “toast” and the subject of the phrase is “Roger”, the one performing the action. The fact that Roger performed the action is emphasised.

If I rearrange this sentence so that the object of the action becomes the subject of the phrase, and the subject is no longer the one performing the action I get:

The toast was burned.

The latter phrase is in passive voice. This phrase removes the emphasis from the performer of the action, Roger, and places it on the object of the action, toast.

The grammatical construction is such that a finite form of the verb to be precedes the past participle of the action verb. Generally the past participle is recognised as being the form that ends in “ed”.

Finite form of to be + past participle = passive voice

What is not passive voice?

There are some common misconceptions about passive voice. One of the most common relates to the use of the past progressive (otherwise known as past continuous) form. This is a phrase containing was or were followed by the present participle.

Consider the example: The toast was burning.

This is active voice. It is the past progressive form, and the verb burning is the present participle. This is generally recognised as the form ending in “ing”.

The past progressive form is used to indicate one of the following:

Concurrent actions. Action a was happening while action b was happening. I was working while you were watching television.

An event during a continuous action. Event a happened while action b was happening. I stopped work when you were making dinner.

Creating atmosphere. In the pub the landlord was washing glasses. Several people were playing cribbage while others were drinking or talking.

In order to put this passage into passive voice I would say: In the pub the glasses were being washed. Cribbage was being played and there was drinking and talking.

Clearly this is a much weaker way of writing the passage.

Why is the use of passive voice frowned upon?

The principle reason passive voice is frowned upon is because the statement is weakened by the loss of emphasis on what or who is carrying out the action. In our first example:

Roger burned the toast

We know exactly what happened. When placed in passive voice:

The toast was burned

We lose a key piece of information about the event. This weakens the statement.

Why is the use of passive voice sometimes the right approach?

I have breakfast at the hotel restaurant, and when it arrives it is poorly prepared. At this point my narrative may say:

The toast was burned and the eggs overcooked.

The obvious fact that someone in the kitchen did this need not be stated. Indeed, the reader would be frustrated by the irrelevance if the author told them it was a cook called Roger.

Such use of passive voice is not only acceptable, but it can be preferable to the active voice alternative.

I'm back - and it's Book Blurb Friday

2011-05-06T00:04:00.000-07:00

Margo and I have had an amazingly busy time lately, and a part of that has been family health issues. I'd like to thank everyone who's sent their well wishes, and I'm happy to be able to say that things are looking up now. The health issues are much improved and no longer frightening. Good news indeed! Thank you all for your kind thoughts.

We'll be around a little more for a couple of weeks, as our schedule is allowing us a little bit of a life for a while.

Breathes a sigh of relief

The Book blurb Friday is hosted by the fabulous Lisa Ricard Claro over at Writing In The Buff. Please do visit her excellent blog. This week's book blurb is for this photo:

... And my entry is:

Still Waters
By Tony Benson

Solomon didn't know he had unusual powers until he discovered the place that unlocked those powers. As an accountant with a wife, two sons and a dog, with an executive house in suburbia he had always considered himself to be an ordinary sort of person.

Solomon rarely ventured far from his home or work, but one day he was out walking the dog and found his usual path obstructed by municipal works. He took a different path, and was soon in the grounds of a derelict manor house. Coming across a pool he sat watching a rocky waterfall while his dog paddled in the water. When the dog vanished and a beautiful woman walked out of the water towards him he just knew he had turned his darkest desire into reality, and at that moment his life changed in ways even he wouldn't have imagined.

Please check out the other entries for the book blurb. There is a linky to them all here.

Time getting in the way...

2011-04-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, Just a short one today to say I'm sorry I haven't been around posting or visiting your blogs lately. Margo and I have been having an amazingly hectic time lately, and we're not getting the time for blogging at the moment.

We're missing all our friends out there in the blogsphere, and we'll be blogging when we can, but this Summer is going to be a bit hit and miss as far as available time goes.

So we haven't forgotton you, and we're really hoping you won't forget we're here.

Most of the 'stuff' that's going on is good, positive stuff, not bad, but there are some family health issues.

We will be around - I promise

Thank you so much for all your support and wonderful comments. You make it all worthwhile

Book Blurb Friday

2011-04-01T01:44:00.001-07:00

Book Blurb Friday is hosted by the fabulous Lisa Ricard Claro over at Writing In The Buff. In Lisa's words:

A "blurb" is the story summary on the back of a book (usually 150 words or less) written to entice you to read the book. Think of your visits to a bookstore or library. A book's front cover may catch your eye, but if the blurb doesn't interest you the book goes back on the shelf; if it resonates with you, you bring the book home.

The goal of this meme is to:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

So, without further ado, here's my entry for this week's Book Blurb:

Gertrude Feliziano was an ordinary person. She worked at the roads department in a small town in Greater Crungina, near the foothills of the Pilazic Mountains. She had only one distinguishing feature, which was her secret habit of bathing naked in the hot springs which abounded in the foothills. She loved to bathe in the hot, steamy water, and she loved her solitude.

Bathing one day, her clothes discarded in a heap at the side of the spring, she was horrified to discover she wasn't alone. The body of an unconscious man was floating at the edge of the hot pool.

Clambering out of the water she discovered his clothes at the foot of an old tree, and poised over them, a fresh red blossom. What follows is both sad and hilarious as she attempts to help him while protecting her own reputation.

Please do hop over to Writing In The Buff and check out the other fab entries.

And the winner is....

2011-03-31T05:04:00.000-07:00

First of all I'd like to say thank you to all my followers for being so supportive and being such wonderful people. You rock! Also a big thank you to everyone who entered my Counting to 200 competition and giveaway.

Today I have my 200th follower on Google Friend Connect in addition to my Networked Blog followers, so I'm now well and truly over the 200 mark.

I've taken a list of all the cool people who entered for the draw, and used random.org to select the winner.

And the winner is...

Robyn Campbell of Putting Pen To Paper

Please visit her excellent blog and say hello to her. There you will find much of writerly interest to delight you. Congratulations Robyn.

Harry Potter Blogfest - Who are your mates?

2011-03-30T00:13:00.001-07:00

The fabulous Michael, over at In Time, is hosting this fun Harry Potter blogfest. In his words:

It's quite simple. All you have to do is choose which two characters would be YOUR best mates at Hogwarts. You can use any student characters from any book.

My best friends at Hogwarts are definitely Fred and George Weasley. In fact, since they left Hogwarts we've become good friends. We have so much in common, you see. I left school in pretty much the same way they did, and I was always in trouble at school, wilfully flouting the rules for the sake of a bit of fun. Since we've been friends, of course, we've been pretty much out of control. It's because we encourage each other down that path, and the outcome is always the same. Trouble.

I never have any money these days, as I spend it all on fun tricks and jokes, but I'm happy, and with Fred and George I have many happy hours making muggles fall in a lake, or fixing their saucepans to the cooker. Laugh! Really, you should try it.

Please do check out the other entries over at In Time. There's a list of links to the other entries there.

I'm planning to visit all the other entries in the blogfest, but it may take me a couple of days to get to everyone, as life is particularly hectic at the moment, so if I haven't visited yours yet, then I'm on my way.

Don't forget, it's not too late to enter my Counting To 200 giveaway. Just make sure you're following my blog and leave a comment on the Counting To 200 post.

Book Blurb Friday

2011-03-25T01:00:00.000-07:00

Book Blurb Friday is the idea of the fabulous Lisa Ricard Claro over at Writing In The Buff. In Lisa's words:

A "blurb" is the story summary on the back of a book (usually 150 words or less) written to entice you to read the book. Think of your visits to a bookstore or library. A book's front cover may catch your eye, but if the blurb doesn't interest you the book goes back on the shelf; if it resonates with you, you bring the book home.

The goal of this meme is to:

Write a book jacket blurb (150 words or less) so enticing that potential readers would feel compelled to buy the book.

So, here's my entry for this week's Book Blurb:

Torment

Dina is in a prison she doesn't understand. She isn't sure whether it is a physical one, or in her mind, but it seems real enough. She's been confined in this dimly lit corridor for days now. She can hit the walls with her fist but they don't move, scream but no one comes. She can tug at the door handles but they don't open. Food and water appears only when she sleeps.

To make matters worse the only view she has out of this prison is a window in one of the doors. She can see through it into a room she doesn't recognise, but there's no sign anyone can see her from the other side.

When her lover is dragged into the room at gunpoint, beaten unconscious and left tied to a chair, she knows she has little time to escape if she is to save him.

Please do visit the other entries in the Book Blurb Friday. There is a linky list showing who they all are at Writing In The Buff

2nd Crusade Challenge - The Goldfish Bowl Teetered...

2011-03-19T13:13:00.000-07:00

The second Crusade Challenge has now been announced by the fabulous Rachael Harrie over at Rach Writes. What she says is:

Write a flash fiction story (in any format) in 100 words or less, excluding the title. Begin the story with the words, “The goldfish bowl teetered” These four words will be included in the word count.

If you want to give yourself an added challenge (optional, and not part of the judging criteria), see if you can write the story in your own genre (eg if you’re a horror writer, write a horror story; a romance writer, a romance story, etc).

So, without further ado, here's my entry. I believe it counts in at 99 words:

The goldfish bowl teetered at the edge of the vortex. Five intense people watched.

“Let it go.” Said Jerry. “Who cares?”

Alice replied “No, Jerry! The water will collapse the vortex. It's our last chance to reach our friends.”

“Forget the vortex, what about the fish!” Hilary glared.

“If it goes in,” said Adam, “the glass will shatter and burst out on the other side. We may never get our friends back, but we don't want to kill them.”

Taylor interrupted them. “So, we're agreed. We have to stop it going in.”

Please do check out the other entries. There's a linky over at Rach Writes

Quote of the week - Eating is optional

2011-03-18T10:02:00.000-07:00

"Nobody will send the bailiffs round just because I don't buy food"

I'm not telling you who said this, but I will tell you about her.

She is a close friend of ours who was invalided from the army after receiving terrible injuries in Desert Storm. She was a seargeant with a distinguished career - up to then. That was a long time ago, but she is still living out the reality of what happened every day. Abandoned by the army, her injuries, both physical and mental, make her un-employable.

She is a good person. She is one of the most generous spirited people I have ever met, and she is tireless in supporting charities that raise money for needy people. She hates owing money, and does everything in her power to pay her way, losing sleep over any debt she incurs.

She has a tiny pension from the army and that is topped up by pitifully inadequate social security. Every time she eats she has to figure out how she will pay for it, and much of the time she simply doesn't eat, because there's not enough money to pay for food, and she'd rather pay her bills. She is in debt, with no hope of paying it off. The debt was incurred paying for necessities, not for luxuries such as food.

The British Government is doing a great job of cutting back on spending. They are doing this, they say, to cut the national debt - legacy of the previous spendthrift government.

Laudable, and we all support fiscal caution, but billions are being spent on the 2012 Olympics, and millions of pounds of public money are being spent a year on ex-prime minister Blair so that he can live it up in his luxury role as... what is it he does? The government has a wine cellar that would be the envy of any connoisseur, and they are still spending a small fortune keeping it stocked. The government is spending our hard-earned money hand over fist everywhere you look.

In their wisdom our Government have reduced the social security paymets to my friend, and by doing so they have reduced her from poverty to extreme poverty. She has gone from woefully inadequate income to less.

What makes all this harder to watch is that she is normally so upbeat about it. Sometimes she gets depressed, sometimes angry, sometimes afraid, but most of the time she's cheerful - as she was when she said to me

"Nobody will send the bailiffs round just because I don't buy food"

Counting to 200 - competition and giveaway

2011-03-15T03:34:00.001-07:00

It seems only a moment ago I was celebrating having 50 followers, and now I'm well on my way towards the 200 mark! To celebrate that and to say thanks to all my followers I'm having a competition and give-away.

The Prize

When I reach 200 followers I'll be giving away two shiny new paperback books (Worldwide shipping included).

The first is The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows. This delightful book is an excellent read, and I didn't want to stop reading when I got to the end.

From the Random House Press website: January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.

The second book is Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson. This is a humourous and endearing book that everyone will enjoy.

From the Persephone Books website: Miss Pettigrew is about a governess sent by an employment agency to the wrong address, where she encounters a glamorous night-club singer, Miss LaFosse. 'The sheer fun, the light-heartedness' in this wonderful 1938 book 'feels closer to a Fred Astaire film than anything else' comments the Preface-writer Henrietta Twycross-Martin, who found Miss Pettigrew for Persephone Books. The Guardian asked: 'Why has it taken more than half a century for this wonderful flight of humour to be rediscovered?' while the Daily Mail liked the book's message - 'that everyone, no matter how poor or prim or neglected, has a second chance to blossom in the world.' Maureen Lipman wrote in 'Books of the Year' in the Guardian: 'Perhaps the most pleasure has come from Persephone's enchanting reprints, particularly Miss Pettigrew, a fairy story set in 1930s London'; and she herself entertained R4 listeners with her five-part reading. And in The Shops India Knight called Miss Pettigrew 'the sweetest grown-up book in the world'.

How to Enter

Entering for this draw couldn't be simpler:

If you're not already following my blog, then add yourself as a follower.

Give this competition a shout on your blog, linking back here, and encourage your followers to come and take a look here. If you'd like to give it a shout on Twitter as well, than that would be great

Leave a comment on this post, telling me something quirky about yourself.

The winner will be drawn at random from all the entries as soon as I reach 200 followers.

Good luck, and happy blogging. Thank you for being such wonderful people.

Share and enjoy

2011-03-15T02:43:00.000-07:00

I love the blogging community because it's full of kind and supportive people. I have many new followers, and to all my followers I'd like to say a big hello and thank you.

I've been the lucky recipient of two awards lately:

I've received the 'One Lovely Blog' award from two people. I'd like to thank the wonderful jys at A Writerly Pensheep, and David Powers King for this award. I shall put it on my award shelf with pride.

I would like to pass this award on to three people who deserve it. I'd love it if you would visit their blogs:

Angeline Trevena She is an inspired writer and a fun blogger.

Dorothy Evans She is a talented writer and is new to blogging.

The Contemplative Cat who's blog is always interesting and who's writing is fab.

I have received this Friends For The Journey ~~award~~ encouragement from the awesome M Pax at Wistful Nebulae. Thank you so much M, you're an inspiration.

What better could I do with this than to pass it on to my wonderful wife, the lovely Margo Benson.

Tril Tales: The Awful Truth

2011-03-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

Another exciting episode in the Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Scrunge followed the Vorgans down the ramp from the shuttle into the docking bay of their ship. Pulling off his bobble hat and thrusting it into his anorak pocket he looked around, taking in the vast space, the docked shuttles and the cargo gantries. Something was wrong. He couldn't put his finger on what, but he was worried.

It was good to be out of the shuttle, in a decent sized space ship orbiting Earth. Murg walked beside him, humming to herself and stroking the little furry cat. The nasty Drangathian girl Maraal was behind them. He looked up and saw a symbol painted on the wall of the cargo bay.

He leaned closer to Murg and spoke in a low voice.

“Do Vorgans have armed cargo vessels?”

Murg turned to him, her eyes quizzical. “Armed? I don't think so. Not around these parts anyway. Why?”

“This is a Sigma Class ship. Randrian, and I've never heard of them selling anything like this to anyone.” He watched for a response, but didn't get much back. “Armed to the teeth. They only use them for their really valuable cargos.”

Murg stopped suddenly. “Shhh!” Maraal bumped into her and growled, pushing past. Murg looked toward the Vorgans, but they were already far ahead, walking towards the exit door. “What are you saying?”

“I don't know. I just don't understand.”

“Well, get a grip!” She stuffed the cat into her shoulder bag and grabbed his hand, pulling him quickly towards the Vorgans and the exit door.

Scrunge smiled as he kept up with her. She was holding his hand. Maybe... Just Maybe.

They followed the Vorgans towards the front of the ship, up a ramp and into a large room. Curving around the front of the room were panorama windows giving a wide view of the space in front of the ship. Inside the room were consoles, displays, rows of screens and things Scrunge could only guess at. This was the flight deck, cockpit, or whatever a Randrian would call it.

Scrunge ran across to the main control console. He'd always dreamed of driving a big space ship. Maybe Yurruch would let him try. He peered at the displays. They were in geostationary orbit 22,000 miles above the Earth with their main thrust engines on standby. All the environmental indications seemed normal and the cargo bays were... Full!

Scrunge put his hand over his mouth as the implications hit him. A Randrian cargo vessel, almost certainly carrying an extremely valuable cargo, in the hands of a Vorgan who can't even drive a shuttle.

He went over to Murg and whispered, “Murg, we have to get away from here! We have to get back home.”

Murg looked at him intently for a moment, then said, rather loudly, “Maraal, Scrunge wants to take a walk with you.” She looked around at Maraal, who was using a knife to cut her initials into the wall. “He's an expert on these spaceships and he wants to tell you all about them.”

Maraal scowled and Scrunge took a step backwards, knocking his elbow against a row of switches. The lights dimmed and a computer-like voice started speaking. “Environment controls disengaged. Navigation thrusters disengaged...”

On the other side of the flight deck Yurruch dropped the large box he was carrying and stood as if frozen in panic.

“Main thrust engines shut down,” the voice continued, “Orbit control failed. Twenty seven minutes to planetary impact.”

Yurruch sprang to life and ran across the flight deck with all his arms waving in the air.

“Gazumpdenpladht! Drabblaglockenblrrrrrp,” then he shouted, “BLRRRP!”

He came to a halt in front of the main control console and continued to wave his arms, his head moving from side to side.

“Gaaa!”

Scrunge lent over and returned the switches to their original positions.

“Navigation thrusters engaged...”

Yurruch started and looked around, first left, then right, his eyes wide and staring.

“Environment controls engaged...”

“Uhhh” Yurruch's hands all lifted as though he wanted to keep them well away from the controls.

“Main thrusters on standby...”

Murg went over and put her arm around Yurruch. Maraal was smacking the window with the handle of her knife.

“Orbit achieved. Stabilising.”

Scrunge went over to where Murg was mopping purple beads of sweat from Yurruch's main head.

“Murg. Come over here.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her. Fury showed in her eyes as she let go of Yurruch and followed him.

“Murg, you've got to listen to me...”

“You git! Get your hand off me.”

“Murg, they're pirates. Yurruch. He stole this ship. He's a pirate.”

Murg stopped in her tracks and looked at him for a moment.

“Oh, my goodness!” her eyes no longer showed fury, only concern. “Oh!”

See more Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Image, Aurora Australis, International Space Station, Courtesy NASA

Amazon Kindle Review - Buyer Beware

2011-03-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

I've read several books on my recently acquired Kindle, and my first reactions are very mixed. Here's a summary:

Gadget Features and Design: Excellent
Supported Document Formats: Poor
DRM Copy Protection: Abysmal
Amazon and Publisher Policies: Extremely Poor

Gadget Features and Design

The Kindle is an extremely well thought out gadget. Whether holding it in the left or right hand you can page through the book with no awkwardness. The 'click' needed to turn a page is very quiet, but is still audible across the room. The display is 3½” x 4¾”, and because it's e-ink, rather than the usual technology used in computer screens, it is easy on the eye. It works completely with reflected light (like a page of a book does) rather than emitted light (like a computer screen). Changing font size is easy, so you can quickly set the text to whatever size best suits your eye. Battery life is pretty good although mine doesn't seem to last a month as they boast.

I didn't expect to enjoy using a kindle because I love books. I love being able to flip through a book (which you can't do on a Kindle), handle it, smell it and feel its weight. Having said that, I love reading on my Kindle, and several books later that enjoyment isn't turning out to have just been a novelty. It's great to use.

Supported Document Formats

Amazon use a mobipocket based format for their Kindle books, so that's the native Kindle format. Amazon claim you can read PDF books, DOC books and others. Don't believe it. I haven't tried other ebook formats, so I can't comment on them, but I have tried PDF files and my conclusion is don't bother. You're stuck with a PDF page, so it renders the full PDF page to the 3½” x 4¾” display, basically miniaturising the text. If you increase the font size to make it readable you end up sliding a window around a page. Yuk!

They make no claims to read documents that are in Nook or other ebook formats than their own, and as far as I know they don't support them. This basically means we (the paying customer) are stuck in the middle of a vendor format war. Thanks, Amazon!

DRM Copy Protection

This is my biggest complaint. BEWARE! As far as Amazon are concerned, when my wife buys a book for her Kindle, if I want to read it, then I have to buy it again to read it on mine. This a completely unacceptable restriction based on immature DRM technology and it really annoys the reader. If you're a publisher then only use DRM if you want to annoy the people who are paying your wages (that's the reader). Industry research has established that piracy (perversely) actually promotes sales, and casual sharing almost certainly does too. There are many publishers and self publishing authors who don't use DRM and are making huge amounts of money. If you're not convinced by what I'm saying, then take a look at J A Konrath's blog, and remember, he never uses DRM.

What makes this problem worse is that many publishers are pricing their Kindle book higher than paperbacks. I can borrow my wife's paperbacks but not the more expensive Kindle book? Only a fool would consider this to be a reasonable marketing strategy, and trust me, just reducing the Kindle price won't make people happy once more homes have two or more Kindles. This takes me on to the next issue:

Amazon and Publisher Policies

This is another huge problem. I've used Amazon for many years and had nothing but good experiences with them. Until now. Obviously Kindle is a separate business unit run by different people who never got the pep talk on customer care. For example, I sent them a query about their DRM policy and they sent me back a response that basically treated me like an idiot. I'm not the only one who's had bad experiences with Amazon over Kindle issues, and I've heard many tales from people, both publishing books on Kindle and buying them, that would make your toes curl.

The two biggest issues with publishers, both publishing companies and self publishing authors, are pricing and formatting.

Pricing: A Kindle book is not tangible. Once produced there are no costs to making a new copy and distribution is extremely inexpensive. It's delivered by download from web server – no postage, no lorry carrying it around, no handling. So why is it that so many publishers think they can charge as much or more for a Kindle book as for a paperback. This is bozo pricing and cannot go on. They are harming their own sales and revenue.

Formatting is a bugbear of mine. I've red several Kindle books and about two thirds of them have had serious formatting problems. Nobody would publish a paper book with those problems, but people seem to think it's acceptable to toss a Kindle book over the fence without proper preparation.

I'll give you an example. I recently bought The Name Of The Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. It was way too expensive, and I won't make that mistake again. The paragraph breaks are all wrongly spaced and in every paragraph there are sentences where the full stop is not separated from the following word by a space. This jolts the reader out of the book every time. Shame on the Orion Publishing group for doing such a shoddy job and then overcharging for the result.

I've done an experiment, using html and a freely available tool to turn one of my books into a mobipocket book, and it looked perfect. The formatting was a pleasure to read after some of the terrible atrocities I had been subject to. So – it's not hard to do. Admittedly I know a little about html, and I took the time to look up what html is compatible with Kindle mobipocket book format and what isn't, but it's not hard to do. They just don't seem to do it!

Family Science Day at the Norman Lockyer Observatory

2011-03-01T05:02:00.000-08:00

If you can make it to this event, then please do come. The Norman Lockyer Observatory is a fascinating place, and the event will be great fun for the whole family.

Family Science Day at the Norman Lockyer Observatory, Saturday 12th March 10.00 am - 4.00 pm
Enjoy planetarium shows, story telling, space-related talks, telescope tours, explore radio & satellite communications and get involved with hands on activities for all the family. An all day event with the theme of “Communication”, part of National Science & Engineering Week (www.nsew.org.uk).

Cost: Children FREE, Adults £5.00

Contact: David Strange, 01297 680209
david@dstrange.freeserve.co.uk
Sponsored by the Institute of Physics South West
Refreshments will be available on site and there is plenty of Free Car Parking.
See www.normanlockyer.org for maps and more.

Programme:

Talks
Carol Boote (NLO) ~ “Is there Anybody There” at 11.00am
David Whitehouse (BBC Science Correspondent) ~ “The Search for Life in Space” at 2.00 pm

Planetarium Shows - at various times throughout the day

Story Telling in the Planetarium - 2 sessions in the afternoon
Professional storyteller Michael O'Leary will be weaving stories of the Moon and celestial beasts.
Suitable for young and old (and particularly 6-10yr olds) to hear Michael spin tall tales in the atmospheric planetarium under a canopy of stars.

Hands on activities - throughout the day
Have a go at some fun hands-on science experiments with students from Colyton Grammar School and members of the Institute of Physics. Make & Launch your own Rockets and enter our 'Alien' Competition too.

Telescope Tours - throughout the day
The Domes will be open and NLO volunteers will be on hand to explain how we communicate with the Stars and what we can learn from starlight.
If the sun shines there will be demonstrations of a heliograph.

Radio Room - will be manned throughout the day
The NLO Radio Group will be demonstrating Satellite and Radio communications..

Quote of the week - Descriptions

2011-02-28T01:34:00.000-08:00

A home is not a mere transient shelter: its essence lies in the personalities of the people who live in it

Henry Louis Mencken

What I love about this quote is that it illustrates so well how we can shape the way we describe something. We could simply describe what we see. We could describe, as Mr Mencken suggests, its essence based on the personalities of the people who live in it. We could describe it in terms of the thoughts and memories it evokes in us as an author, or for a character in the story. We could describe it from the point of view of its history. There is no end to the different aspects, or combinations of aspects, we can use in a description.

The aspects we chose to use in our descriptions help to define the character of our writing. It places that character under our control and gives us infinite scope for expression.

Pork Pies and a Thank You

2011-02-22T05:07:00.001-08:00

First of all, I'd like to say a big thank you to all of my new followers. You are what makes the world go round. Less than three weeks ago I had fifty followers, and now I have nearly a hundred and fifty awesome people following my blog! Thank you all for your support, your lovely comments and your own entertaining, interesting and fun blogs.

In my last post I told a little porky. Lots of you have guessed at it, and some of you got it right, but first I have to say, I love rabbit - Margo makes a spectacularly tasty rabbit pie. In fact game is really quite popular around here. Many restaurants will serve dishes with rabbit, pheasant or venison, and you'll even occasionally find such things as pidgoen. All worth a try, and all really tasty (unless, of course, you're a vegetarian).

I'm also a bit uncouth, really, because I'll have red wine with just about any dish. I don't ignore the 'accompanying wine' recommendations, but I do love a glass of red.

So what was my porky? Well, sorry to disappoint, but I've never wanted to dress up in women's clothes and I've never wanted to play pantomime dame. Sad, aren't I? Thank you to those who said they thought I'd be a great drag queen, although pantomime dame isn't generally regarded as cross dressing around here because of the hairy legs and wellies.

Porky - rhyming slang: Pork pie - lie.

Crusade first challenge - and an award thank you

2011-02-20T14:41:00.000-08:00

The challenge is here, and if you click on the link it will all start to make sense (... sort of).

In this post I intend to bloviate interminably on the given subjects for the First Crusade Challenge. One thing I love, more than anything, is to go, with the Lovely Margo, to a restaurant and have some exotic fuliguline or rabbit dish, accompanied by a glass of the red. It's probably annoying to others that I have red wine with inappropriate dishes, but I'm a cool blade, and I don't care.

Margo says that one of my best character traits is that I am a kind and tolerant person. The trouble is I have no time for impatient or intolerant people. There's a conundrum.

Talking of intolerance, I have a secret to share with you. It's something I've never shared with anyone before. (Sound of trumpets heralding an anouncement...)

Here it is....

I've always wanted to dress up in womens' clothes and be the pantomime dame. The combination of hairy legs with wellington boots and a lacy frock... I'd probably have to get some transfers that look like tattoos, and put on a wig, and there you have it. Widow Twanky. Now I've shared my darkest secret I can't wait for the offers to come in for pantomime 2012.

Something I said here is just not true. Can you believe that? Well, sad to say, I've lied. What do you think I lied about?

And now for something completely different...

I've been awarded the Stylish Blogger award by the lovely Misha at My First Book. Thank you, Misha. In order to accept this award I have to:

1. Link back to the award givers (check).
2. State Seven things about myself.
3. Pass on the award to 3 recently discovered bloggers.

Ok, well here goes with seven things about myself:

1: I'm a Scorpio (Libra cusp)
2: I like being different. Can't stand conformity
3: I love pretty much every kind of music.
4: I play guitar, melodeon, bodhran and violin, but I also have (and occasionally play) mandolin, ukulele, phono-fiddle, banjo, lyre, bowed psaltery, appalachian dulcimer, bones, spoons, penny whistle, didgeridoo... need I go on?
5: Margo is the one. (No. This doesn't rate #5 in my priorities, but I didn't want to come across as too sappy)
6: We don't have a gas supply here, but the previous people here installed a gas fire that runs off bottled gas. It has a remote control. (Oooh! I hear you say).
7: North Devon, UK, where we live is the most windy, rainy place on planet Earth.

And here I pass the award on to three recently discovered bloggers whose blogs I enjoy:

Shelly Batt
Gen @ Living On Earth
Liz @ Laws of Gravity

Do drop in on them and say Hi!

Quote of the week - Communication

2011-02-18T02:57:00.000-08:00

The problem with communication... is the illusion that it has been accomplished.

George Bernard Shaw

The Four Facets of Communication

I see four facets of verbal communication that have an impact on its effectiveness.

1 - What I intended to say

2 - The words I used

3 - The words the listener heard

4 - What the listener thought I said

What I Intended to Say

This could be very simple, but mostly what we say is not as simple as we might think. As an example, I might say “it's time for lunch”. There is a lot of meaning in this that is not conveyed simply by the words. I always have a hot lunch, but you may not know that. When I say it's time for lunch, I haven't made it clear that this means I want to eat hot food within a few minutes rather than maybe within a couple of hours. What I think I have conveyed with these few words is largely dependent on my world picture.

The Words I Used

These are just a representation of what I intended to say. Words are never a perfect representation of the intended message, since they are hampered by both the limitations of the language, and the speaker's command of the language. I choose the words based on my experience of what I think it would take to convey what I intended to say. If I am talking to someone face to face, then I also have body language information that I have conveyed to the recipient, whether I am aware of it or not. If I am using a phone, or a video-conference, then some dimensions of the body language are lost, and if I am using written word, then most of the dimensions of body language are lost (but not all – think about such aspects as the exact timing of when you convey the written words).

The Words the Listener Heard

Normally we like to think this is exactly the same as the words I used. Unfortunately it frequently happens that someone hears something different from what was said. This can happen due to background noise, unclear speaking, conflicting body language, listeners expectations and many other causes.

What the Listener Thought I Said

The listener heard certain words, but the way they interpret them, and hence the message that they receive, is coloured by their world view. It is very likely that whoever you are talking to will have a different world view than you, and the more different their world view, the more likelihood there is of a misunderstanding.

So What?

As a writer these facets of communication affect me in two basic ways. Firstly the written word, as much as speech, is subject all four facets, and this can easily lead to the reader getting something different from my writing than intended.

Secondly I can use these facets to bring some spice to the dialoge between my characters. This can be surprisingly difficult to do, but if done well, can lead to some intriguing situations in the story.

The 'Four Facets of Communication' is an extract from my non-fiction ms 'Balancing Act'

Bernard Pivot Blogfest and...

2011-02-15T23:52:00.000-08:00

Today, February 16th is the Bernard Pivot Blogfest, hosted by the fabulous Nicole Duclerior at her blog One Significant Moment at a Time. For more about the blogfest you can see details, including links to all the participants here. The idea is to get to know eachother by answerin the Bernard Pivot questionairre.

Here it is, with my answers:

1. What is your favorite word?

Martini

2. What is your least favorite word?

Hemorrhoids

3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?

Music has always been a passion of mine and I find it truly inspiring. There is one problem though. If I have music playing while I write, I find myself staring into space, enjoying the music, instead of writing. Sadly that means I usually write in silence.

4. What turns you off?

Inconsiderate behaviour or unkindness, most body fluids, politicians.

5. What is your favorite curse word?

Bugger! If you've never said it - with passion - you really must try.

6. What sound or noise do you love?

Pop - glug, glug, glug...

7. What sound or noise do you hate?

Persistent barking from my neighbor's dogs (or is it from my neighbor?)

8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?

I always thought it would be fun to be an astronaut.

9. What profession would you not like to do?

There's a really nice chap who comes here once every couple of years to empty our sceptic tank. I *really* don't want his job.

10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?

101 was a great old age, well done!

Thanks for coming by. Do drop in on the other participants and say Hi to them. Thanks Nicole for a fun blogfest.

...and Thank You

I'd like to say a big thank you to J C Martin, Fighter Writer for awarding me the Write Hard award.

I'm particularly grateful because J C Martin has been an inspiration to me. Her writing is amazing, her talent is great and she is a lovely person. If you haven't seen her blog, then please do visit it here. You'll be glad you did.

A Valentine's Day Wish

2011-02-14T10:02:00.001-08:00

I'd like to wish everyone a happy Valentine's Day.

Today the wonderful Margo and I had a romantic Valentine's day lunch followed by a walk in the Broomhill Sculpture Gardens. Now we're settling with a Rusty Nail and looking forward to a cosy evening together.

I am blessed to be married to the most wonderful person in the Universe.

The button I've shown was created by Jules at Trying To Get Over The Rainbow. Share the Love 2011. It's a great way to say thank you for reading my blog and to pass on the love.

Quote of the week

2011-02-12T02:28:00.000-08:00

With Valentine's Day coming up I thought I'd bring you one of my favourite quotes from the Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. This verse is one that my dad used to quote to my mum when he was being romantic. This is from Edward Fitzgerald's second edition of his translation.

A Book of Verses underneath the Bough,

A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread, and Thou

Beside me singing in the Wilderness,

Oh, Wilderness were Paradise enow!

Image, Edmund Dulac Art Images. If you like this image, then please take a look at his website here

Celebrating 50 - A Big Thank you!

2011-02-11T08:19:00.001-08:00

I'd like to say a big

Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You

To all of the cool people who follow my blog. Today I reached 50 followers - Yey!

You are:

Cool
Generous with your comments
Fun
Interesting to visit on your blogs

And most of all you are:

Awesome to have around

I wish you all success, good health, happiness, great wealth and happy blogging

Second Writers’ Platform-Building Crusade

2011-02-06T02:46:00.000-08:00

This great idea by Rachael Harrie over at her Rach Writes blog is running from now through to April 30th. Rachael started this idea last year, and it was very successful then, so I'm looking forward to participating this time round.

What Rachael says about it is this:

"Basically, the Crusade is a way to link those within the writing community together with the aim of helping to build our online platforms. The Crusaders are all bloggers in a similar position, who genuinely want to pay it forward, make connections and friends within the writing community, and help build each others' online platforms while at the same time building theirs."

If you think you might want to participate, then check out Rachel's blog and find out more, sign up and enjoy.

I've been lucky enough to have lots of cool people following my blog since I started actively blogging late last year, and to all the people who follow Fireside Park I say a big thank you.

And Thank you for an award...

Thank you to Nancy at N R Williams, Fantasy Author for the You Make Me Smile award.

Giving Thanks and Blowing my Horn

2011-02-02T07:47:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to say I've had some really good luck in the last few days.

Firstly I have been nominated as a finalist in the No Fear Blogfest. If you liked my entry, then I'd love it if you would vote for me :-) Voting closes at midnight GMT on Saturday 5th February 2011. Thanks to everyone for your kind and supportive feedback and for your votes.

Thank you Dom for selecting me as one of the six finalists.

Secondly, I have been selected as one of the winners of the book The Treasures of Carmelidrium by Nancy Williams. She has given away three copies to people who commented on her blog tour. If you missed any of the posts on Nancy's blog tour, then I recommend that you take a look at them. You can see an index of the book tour blog posts here. You can buy her book from Amazon here.

Thank you Nancy. I'm looking forward to a good read.

Outlining

2011-02-01T09:16:00.000-08:00

Do you outline?

I've tried writing novel length fiction without an outline and it just doesn't work for me, leading to too much re-writing later on and too many stumbling blocks along the way.

The outline I produce depends on the novel I'm trying to write. I am just in the process of finishing an outline now for a paranormal fantasy novel in which the setting is here on Earth, in the future. Additionally a large part of the story takes place on a different world, so I have world building to do for two different worlds.

For this story I started with a short statement of what the story is about. I then expanded it to a summary, in about 1500 words, of the story. The summary breaks the story down into Acts I, II and III with clear gateways between them.

Armed with my summary I then created scene descriptions for all the scenes in the book, in the order they will appear in the text. Each scene description is anything up to about a page of text. I don't worry about chapters yet, that'll come later. As I created the scene descriptions two things happened. One is that the concept in my mind for my worlds and key characters started to flesh out, and the other is that my original 1500 word summary became very out of date, with changes coming in that I hadn't thought of when I wrote it.

My scene summaries say whose POV will be used and the date/time (relative to the start of the story) of the scene. They also give any other relevant details like weather, phase of the moon if it matters, etc. The main part is a textual summary of the action in the scene, how it moves the story along and why it will make the reader want to read more. Thus, when I have these summaries completed I can see fairly well how the story flows.

When this is completed I have a fairly good first cut at the scene summaries, an out of date book summary and a lot of world and character building fixed in my mind. Next I come to writing down what I need for my world and character building. For this story it's less than others because I have a great, clear picture in my mind of the worlds and trying to document it in too much detail before I write the story doesn't achieve much. In other stories I have made extensive world building notes in order to keep consistent with a large degree of complexity, but that's less necessary in this one.

I should come back to my book summary and update it, and I'm sure I will at some point, but I reach a stage when I have a really good idea of how my writing will be structured, and I am impatient about going back and writing something I probably won't use.

Armed with my scene outlines, a plan for word count and some notes on world building and characters I will start my writing. Of course, during the process of producing all this I had a lot of thought to put in to plot threads, character arcs, building tension, and all the other things that make the story a good read.

In comparison, I have an outline pretty much completed which is over 25,000 words in length. It is for a future writing project, which is on hold while I complete my current works in progress. I contains scene summaries, and detailed descriptions of characters, locations, technologies, government, society and politics, and even has diagrams for technology processes and location layouts. That's quite an outline and it will be the basis for the first novel in a sci-fi trilogy.

I know outlining isn't for everybody, but it works for me and it seriously reduces re-writing when I'm editing. What do you do?

No Fear Blogfest

2011-01-28T07:53:00.000-08:00

Today is the beginning of the 'No Fear' blogfest hosted by Dominic De Mattos at his fabulous Writes Of Passage blog. Thanks Dominic for hosting this fun blogfest.

The idea is to post a passage in which the main character shows their bravery. My passage, written for this blogfest is here:

Tril Tales: Murder, almost

I hope you enjoy my submission, and I look forward to reading all the other entries by the cool people who have participated. If you haven't seen them yet, then do drop by the others and see what they've written.

Trill Tales: Murder, almost

2011-01-28T07:33:00.000-08:00

Another exciting episode in the Tril Tales by Tony Benson

“Too fast! Too Fast! We're going to hit it!” Scrunge shut his eyes and braced himself against the bulkhead of the shuttle.

“Calm down, gibbering Earth-Man.” said Yurruch as he slowed the shuttle to docking speed. “Be sitting, all passenger folks.”

Everyone hurried to their seats. Scrunge's shaking hands couldn't do up his seat-belt. Stupid Trils. It was all very well for Murg, telling him off when he referred to off-worlders as Trils, but they didn't do much to earn his respect.

What had he been thinking when he'd sneaked aboard this ridiculous little Vorgan shuttle? Following Murg was a great idea, but this? The Vorgan just seemed to find everything amusing. There he was, sitting at the shuttle controls, making little burbling noises with all his noses and bouncing excitedly in his seat every time he nearly killed everyone. Those nauseating noises! Was that how Vorgans sing?

He peered around to look at Murg. She was sitting there looking calm as a brick and poking a little fluffy toy at Pussyfoot while the little cat dabbed at it with her paws. Fine. No panic there, then.

Next to Murg was an empty seat. Hadn't Bleek been sitting there? Scrunge craned his neck but couldn't see her. This was worrying. After all, he didn't like losing track of the nasty Drangathian. He preferred to be able to keep out of her way.

As he was peering around the passenger seats he heard strange noises coming from the front of the shuttle. He turned in time to see Yurruch with his back to the controls putting his arms in the air and the Drangathian standing there pointing something at him.

“Take us back to Earth, Vorgan. Now.” Her voice was threatening.

“Erbribble drr drr mrump blaaaaarh!”

Yurruch was backing away from her. No sign of amusement now, in fact Scrunge thought his Vorgan features might just be showing signs of fear. It was hard to tell with Trils. Most Earthers got confused by Tril body language which seemed to conflict so often with what they were saying. Not much doubt this time, though. That thing in Bleek's hand was inspiring terror, and Yurruch was no longer coherent.

Scrunge's heart fluttered, and his stomach felt like it had just been thrown off a cliff. Bleek was trying to hijack the shuttle to get back to Earth and Yurruch had lost his grip. They were less than a minute from docking, but with nobody at the controls they would just crash into the Vorgan ship. They would all die!

Scrunge didn't really know why he did it, but he got up and walked, surprisingly calmly towards Bleek. His heart was beating hard in his chest as he stood in between Bleek and Yurruch, facing the weapon. He held her gaze and kept his voice level. “Bleek, don't. You'll get us all killed.”

“My name's not Bleek!” She was shouting now, becoming hysterical. “Get away. I'll shoot.”

Scrunge didn't move. Gently he said “I don't know your real name. What is it? I'll use it if I know it.”

Bleek's eyes showed confusion. Seconds went by as the shuttle got closer to the Vorgan ship.

“Maraal.” No longer shouting. “My name is Maraal.”

“Maraal, give me the weapon. Let's talk about how we'll get you to your ship.”

Maraal burst out crying. “It's not a weapon, it's a toy.” She sobbed. “I want to go home”.

Scrunge took a step towards her and as he put his arm around her he turned to Yurruch.

“For goodness sake either dock the shuttle or stop it!”

“Blrrrwb!”

Yurruch turned back to the controls as Scrunge gently took the toy weapon from Maraal.

“Come on, let's sit down over here.”

He turned towards the passenger seats with Maraal and as they went to sit down Scrunge saw Murg. She was standing there with her mouth open looking at him in a way he'd never seen before.

She took a step towards him and burst into tears as she threw her arms around him.

“Oh, Scrunge!”

See more Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Image, Saturn's Moon Mimas, Cassini, Courtesy NASA

Hello New Clunky, and Life is Good Award

2011-01-25T10:12:00.000-08:00

After a few days with my new toy I'm back to being a productive bunny again. The budget didn't stretch to a new Mac, so I'm stick with Win$. Just a few gripes though. This (expletive deleted) computer keeps popping up little windows that try to sell me software! Why on Earth does Bill #@&%# Gates think I need this kind of pressure salesmanship. I can't find any way to switch this rubbish off. So much for Winpoo 7.

Ok, I've calmed down now. Apart from that, I am happy to say I'm back up to speed with the writing and starting to catch up with my bolgging buddies.

I am proud to say that the fabulous Denise of L'Aussie Writing has awarded me the Life Is Good award. Thank you Denise.

The requirements of this award are:

1. First, thank and link back to the person that gave the award.
2. Answer the 10 survey questions.
3. Pass the award along to other bloggers whom you think are fantastic.
4. Contact the bloggers you have chosen to let them know about the award.

The ten questions are:

1. If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing this? If you are not anonymous, do you wish that you had started out anonymously, so that you could be anonymous now?

It's my real name, really! I wouldn't have it any other way. I don't believe you can be anyonymous if you're really trying to engage with people.

2. Describe an incident that shows your inner stubborn side.

Me, Stubborn?

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?

A greying 52 year old. Quite a nice chap really.

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?

When we lived in the US I got a taste for real lemonade. In fact, I want some now. Real squeezed lemons, though, not the instant stuff.

5. When you take time for yourself, what do you do?

Ah, the fun part. I read, play music, listen to music and watch movies, but best of all is spending time with my lovely Margo.

6. Is there something that you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?

I guess the fact that I write means I'm an author. What I really want is to be a successful author. (That means lots of people buying my work). One day!

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the shy person, or always ditching?

I was the naughty one. I was always in trouble and always being sent out of class.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what would you see?

I guess it would be the moment they turned off the life support for my father after the accident. I was thirteen.

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?

I'm a very private person, but I'm getting used to sharing myself. It's part of getting to know people and other people getting to know me.

10. If you had the choice to sit down and read a book or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?

I'd read a book. I have reclusive tendancies, so I love nothing more than sitting with Margo, reading a book.

I'm passing this award on to the following awesome people:

Angeline Trevina. Recently published - life is good.

Raining Fairylights Great writing - life is good.

Untitlement Such creativity - life is good.

Thanks again Denise.

Last, but certainly not least, last week at her Publication Party Denise at L'Aussie hosted the awesome Clarissa Draper. Clarissa kindly offered a first chapter critique as a competition, and I was the lucky guy who won it. Many thanks to Clarissa.

Goodbye 'Old Clunky'

2011-01-18T11:27:00.000-08:00

Goodbye Old Clunky
It's been a rocky road
It wasn't all that wonderful
In fact, you were a bit of a toad

I could have loved you better
But you didn't really try
And now I've got a new one
So it's time to say goodbye

All set up now on my shiny new Windoze computer. My treasured computer (Mac) and Old Clunky (Win$) are now both properly laid to rest.

Three Ravens, Band Photoshoot

2011-01-17T04:48:00.000-08:00

The lovely Margo, myself and our friend Rachel are the Three Ravens, a folk band who perform mostly traditional tunes and songs to our own arrangements. We've now had our official band photoshoot, so here are some of the photos:

This photo shows me on the left, Rachel in the middle and the lovely Margo on the right. The jewellery that Margo and I are wearing is designed and made by Margo.

Margo is playing a bowed psaltery. The bowed psaltery and the guitar are made by me, but the violin is not.

Of course, we couldn't resist the moody shots...

Playing for the camera... but it was deaf!

We're putting together a band page at http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/threeravens, so if you 'like' it in Facebook you'll get the updates as we make them.

We're looking forward to posting some mp3 files as soon as we have some ready. Video is not going to be quite so soon, though.

The demise of my treasured computer

2011-01-16T03:51:00.000-08:00

Hot Dang! My treasured computer has finally given up the ghost, and it's so old it's not 'cost effective' to repair. Hmmmph!

So, that leaves me working on 'Old Clunky' my un-reliable and extremely slow upstairs computer that should have been retired three years ago.

Happily my treasured computer gave warning that it was failing and I had about an hour to do lots of backups, so I have saved all my data. Phew!

Well, my presence in the world of blogfolks will be rather limited now until I've sorted out something to replace the treasured computer, so that'll be a few days at least.

See you all soon. Happy blogging.

Tril Tales: Drangathian Distress

2011-01-13T08:05:00.000-08:00

Another exciting episode in the Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Scrunge screwed up his eyes and peered towards the front of the shuttle craft. There was something wrong, that was for sure. They’d reached orbit and they’d been fine until a few moments ago but now the Vorgan, Yurruch, had stopped the shuttle and was leaning forward to look left and right into the dark space outside.

Surely he couldn’t be lost? How hard could it be? He just had to find the Drangathian ship to drop off that nasty Tril girl, and then go on to dock with his Vorgan ship.

The shuttle lurched forward and then stopped suddenly as Yurruch leant across the controls in his effort to get a better view. The ship lurched again and then swept into a violent roll. Scrunge vaguely saw the other passengers hurled around the cabin as he plunged between two rows of seats.

When the shuttle regained its bearings he picked himself up and looked around. The others seemed to be okay. Murg was recovering her small furry cat, Pussyfoot, from a luggage rack, the Drangathian was wimpering and punching the seat in front, the Vorgan pilot’s wife and two little ones were dusting themselves down, and Yurruch was patting the controls as if to pacify them.

Feeling breath in his ear, he turned.

“What are you doing here, Scrunge?”

Murg’s face was close and her eyes were fierce. He took a step backwards, but she followed him.

“You stowed away! You weren’t invited. This is my trip, not yours.” She looked at him intensely as if to reinforce what she was saying. “My trip!”

“I - er…” Scrunge tried to step backwards again, but found he was backed up against the side of the shuttle. He indicated the confused looking Vorgan. “Do you think he’s lost? Daft Trils like him shouldn’t be driving one of these things.” The ship lurched again and Murg nearly fell.

“I’ll never forgive you” she hissed, and stalked away to sit next to the Drangathian girl. As she sat she turned back to Scrunge. “And don’t use that horrible word. You’re outnumbered here.”

Scrunge started to follow but thought better of it. Two people being nasty was definitely worse than one. He saw Yurruch heading back towards Murg and the Drangathian, and glanced at the controls. Nobody there! Yurruch had re-gained his composure and was looking cheerful.

“Earth Girly, Blue meek girl, the Drangathian ship is not here. Gone.”

Scrunge laughed out loud. Blue meek girl. After the way she’d humiliated him earlier at the bank, this was going to be fun.

The Drangathian girl stood up. “What!”

Scrunge was a little surprised. This was the first she’d spoken since she’d been aboard. She hadn’t even told anyone her name.

“Take me back to Earth. I’ll wait there.”

Scrunge stepped forwards. “Hey, Blue Meek.” He smiled, showing his teeth. "Bleek!" The Drangathian girl turned and fixed him with a glare. He sang as though for a nursery rhyme “They’ve left without you.” He giggled.

Yurruch looked at Scrunge and then at the Drangathian. His eyes lit up. “Bleek.” His arms all went out in different directions as though in a gesture of hopelessness. “No time, not enough fuel. You come with us.”

The Drangathian let out a long cry. “Noooooooooooo.”

Scrunge felt his spirits sinking. Bleek was the most unpleasant Tril he’d ever met, and now they were going to be stuck with her. Getting back at her for humiliating him would be small consolation.

Murg was stroking her cat at the back of the shuttle, so Scrunge sidled up to her.

“Hey, Murg.” He chose his words carefully. “If you’re going to make friends with the - erm, with, you know, Bleek,” he said the name apologetically, “then can you” he scratched his head “erm…” he moved closer to her and lowered his voice “can you try to get her to be nice to me?”

“Pah! She’s not nice to anyone, and you’re horrible to her. I can’t work miracles, you know.” She put the cat down and folded her arms. “Bleek, indeed.” She looked at the Drangathian girl sitting further up the shuttle. “‘Tril’. For goodness sake, you’re not even trying.”

“Murg, Please.” He made an expression that he hoped would say he was completely at her mercy. “Pleeease!”

Murg looked at him, and her expression softened.

“Scrunge, you’re hopeless.” She smiled.

See more Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Image, The Sun Performs, SDO, Courtesy NASA

Stylish Blogger Award

2011-01-11T01:47:00.000-08:00

Big thanks to J.C.Martin of J.C. Martin, Fighter Writer for this award. You've made my day!

To accept this award I have to:

1. Thank and link back to the person who nominated you for the award
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Pass the award on to ten recently discovered bloggers. Contact them and let them know they have been nominated.

So here are my seven facts about myself:

1. I make stringed instruments for a living (mostly electric guitars, but also acoustic guitars, bowed psalteries, appalachian dulcimers, etc.)
2. I live in the beautiful South-West of England, and I love it here
3. My wife, Margo, is the most wonderful person in the universe
4. We are the servants of two cats called Sulis and Minerva.
5. I play in a folk trio called Three Ravens along with Margo and a friend called Rachel.
6. We used to live in San Diego in California. I was there for ten years.
7. I was an engineer for thirty years before moving on to my current profession as a luthier

Here are some bloggers that I have recently discovered. They are my nominations for this blog award. Do pop over to their sites and say hi:

1. Dominic de Mattos @ Writes Of Passage
2. MJA Ware @ The Missing Word
3. N R Williams. Fantasy Author
4. Lola Sharp @ Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
5. Hannah Kinkade @ Musings of a Palindrome
6. Tara @ Feel Of Something New
7. Elizabeth Twist
8. Summer Ross @ My Inner Fairy
9. L'Aussie
10. Nina @ Nindogs

Tril Tales: Murg Takes a Trip

2011-01-05T02:56:00.000-08:00

Another exciting episode in the Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Murg looked down as she walked. Over her shoulder was a large bag, and peeping from the top was the furry little face of a small cat. She pushed the little head back inside the bag so it couldn’t be seen.

“Sorry Pussyfoot. They won’t let me on if they see you. It’s quarantine rules, you know. But you don’t have any nasty diseases, now do you?”

The sides of the bag jerked for a few seconds, there was a muffled yowl and then all was peaceful again.

“That’s better.”

Murg had reached the little shuttle craft badly parked, half on the pavement and half jutting into the middle of the road. On its side was a strange alien looking sign that was obviously supposed to identify the shuttle to those who understood it, and standing at the open door was Yurruch, the head of the family of Vorgans Murg was coming to see.

Yurruch made a wibbling noise with his lips and his eyes shone as he stood aside to let Murg climb the little ramp into the shuttle.

“Welcome, funny little Earth girly.” He said, looking very pleased with himself for getting the greeting right first time. “My honoured lot are in the cabin. We love you.” He hugged her enthusiastically with his mottled green arms, and pressed what could best be described as his face to her cheek for just a moment.

Murg was working hard to suppress her laughter. These little Vorgans were so cute and so funny. She walked into the cabin where there were a number of seats for passengers, and there were Yurruch’s partner Cribbur, and his two foals, as he called them, Fribbia and Yan. There was also a Drangathian who sat in one of the chairs looking as though everything was just a nuisance today.

Yurruch pointed some of his tendril-like fingers at the Drangathian.

“One of the Blue People will ride with us too. We pass her ship and we send her there.”

“Oh, how nice.” Murg looked directly at the Drangathian. “What’s your name?”

The Drangathian girl looked at her and made a sound as though she was vomiting with her mouth shut, then swallowing it. She then hissed and looked away.

“I see. Well, my name is Murg. I’m pleased to meet you.” There was no more reaction from the Drangathian, so she went to her seat and chatted with her Vorgan friends while she waited for the shuttle to take off.

After a while there was a sound a bit like a vacuum cleaner starting up and the shuttle lifted from the ground. Almost immediately Murg was thrust backwards into her seat by the force of acceleration, and she felt as though her cheeks were sagging backwards towards her ears. She couldn’t have moved if she had wanted to.

There was a sudden sound, rather like a cat being strangled, and Murg’s bag sprang to life. The top opened and a small furry animal hurled itself out and was immediately pressed hard against a stowage bin, terror in its eyes. Murg tried to make reassuring noises but all she could manage to say was “Eeeeeee!”

Soon the acceleration slowed and they could all move around more easily. Fribbia and Yan leapt over to Pussyfoot and started playing with her, pushing her across the floor to each-other as if it were a ball game. Murg politely interceded and stroked her, wondering why she was trying to scratch at the lid of the stowage bin.

“Entering Orbit.” Yurruch said loudly. Fribbia and Yan made happy squeaking noises.

Suddenly there was a sound from the inside the stowage bin, and then there was a tapping on the lid from the inside. Murg picked up Pussyfoot and backed away as Yurruch and Cribbur carefully undid the latch. As the lid flipped up a person with a black eye, wearing an anorak and a bobble hat, sat up quickly. He turned and smiled at the peering Vorgans.

“Hello. Are we there yet?”

Murg looked on, horrified. “Scrunge!”

Yurruch looked at Murg gravely. “Earth girly, you know this naughty little ragamuffin?”

“This isn’t just a naughty little ragamuffin. He’s a complete git of the first water!”

“Ah!” Yurruch pulled what could best be described as a smile and turned, gesturing, to Scrunge. “Honoured complete git, welcome!”

Murg slumped into her seat.

See more Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Image, Hoag's Object, Hubble Telescope, Courtesy NASA

Show Me Yours Blogfest

2011-01-01T09:58:00.000-08:00

For the 'Show Me Yours' blogfest, my submission is a part of the opening scene from my NaNo 2010 entry “Bolter Baron”. This is unedited, and the whole 50000 word novel was written in a very short space of time, so do please keep that in mind while you're reading the excerpt.

Do also go and check out the other entries to this blogfest over at the Falen Formulates Fiction blog. You can find it by clicking on the picture.

A short summary of the plot can be found here.

Bolter Baron: Excerpt

“You have a visitor.” Hannah was smiling as she came into Francesca's suite. She came across the room with fresh towels and put them in the bathroom.

Francesca looked at Hannah. “You know, he's lovely, but he's no use really. Do you know, it's seven years now?”

Hannah came over and gave Francesca a hug. “I'll take you to him. I think he's got a few little gifts for you. He does love you, you know.”

Francesca looked out of the window. Seven years! How could he leave her here for seven years? Admittedly it wouldn't be easy to get her out considering all the security, but he hadn't even made an attempt. No use, really.

She followed Hannah out of the room and along the corridors until she came to the visitor's room. It was an elegant room with plush décor and comfortable furniture. There was a small table with a chair each side of it where she could sit with her visitor. In the room, sitting facing the door and looking expectant was Dominic. He had obviously made some effort with his appearance, and probably even had a hair cut. He looked up as she came in and grinned.

“Hi, Darling”

“Hello Dom.” They gave each other a peck on the cheek and went to their seats. Dominic looked up at the camera mounted in the corner of the room. He started pulling little packages from his bag, all wrapped in gift paper with ribbons. He put them on the table and looked at her. She felt his appreciative gaze.

“Hannah's a real darling. She knows what's in this one, because the scanner got it right straight away, but she didn't miss a heartbeat, she just let it through without saying anything.”

Francesca opened the top of the package and found a bottle of sloe gin. She laughed and put it back on the table without taking the bottle out, then glanced guiltily at the camera. “Thanks, Dom”.

She opened the other gifts, which were the usual jewellery, perfume and books. She loved reading. It was one of the few pastimes that really took her mind off everything. She would read almost anything. As she took the wrapper off the last one her face crumpled and she started sobbing. Dominic jumped up and came around the table to put his arm around her.

“I'm sorry. The presents are lovely, it's just that I feel like they are time fillers. Just ways to ease the time along until they make me have another baby, then eventually, after more babies than I can count I'll just give up and die. It all seems so hopeless.”

Dominic glanced at the camera again. “It won't be like that. Honestly, soon.” He whispered “I'm getting you out.”

Tril Tales: Murg Tells it Straight

2010-12-30T12:10:00.001-08:00

Another exciting episode in the Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Murg sighed. Honestly! Why couldn’t he bring himself to be on time even once? Good grief! What kind of a date was this? Twelve thirty for a pub lunch, that’s what he’d said. Now it was nearly two o’clock and in another half an hour they’d stop serving food. She made her way to the bar, ordered fish and chips with mushy peas and got another pint of Winter Warmer.

Now what? Two Drangathians, probably a male and a female though it was hard to tell, had moved in on her table while she was at the bar. They were sitting there gargling with their beer and trying to make bubbles. There was only one table left now, and it was right in the middle where everyone would have to push past her chair wherever they were going. She sat down and sighed again, looking at her watch.

After a while the fish and chips arrived. She had to admit it, the fish was delicious. Locally caught and fresh, coated in a special recipe beer batter with crisply deep fried potato chips. She tucked in with relish and didn’t notice Scrunge walk in and go to the bar. After a minute or two he walked over and sat down facing her. He took off his bobble hat and put it on the table. She didn’t look up.

“You’re a lying bastard, Scrunge.”

“Thanks.” He didn’t say any more, which wasn’t like him. He always had something to say. She looked up.

“Whoa! Where did you get that black eye?”

“Oh.” He put his finger to his eye and winced. “Ouch!” Then a second after he’d said it someone’s elbow banged the side of his head as they pushed past his chair. “Bloody hell!” He looked up at them, but they’d already walked on, not noticing what they had just done.

Murg softened a little. “Oh dear. So what happened?”

“Oh, just a little security scare at the bank. Nothing really.” He sipped his beer and then pilfered a chip from her plate.

“You’re pushing your luck. Buy your own bloody food.” She jabbed her fork into her chips and started eating more quickly so that Scrunge wouldn’t get too many. He leant over and took another, this time dipping it into his beer before eating it. The end of the chip dropped off and sank to the bottom of his beer, but he ignored it.

“Murg, look, I’m sorry I’m late, it’s just… these bloody Trils…”

“Don’t call them that. I don’t want to hear it. You’re just a bigoted git, Scrunge, you’re just like the reset of them. You treat off-worlders as though they’re low-life, you use derogatory names for them and then you complain when they aren’t so nice back to you. Grow up.”

Scrunge stared at her, mouth open. Her stomach turned.

“Close your mouth, you foul git. Bloody hell, I can see my chips in there, sloshing around with your beer. You’re revolting.”

His mouth shut with a plop. He put his hand in front of it, “But…”

“Scrunge, they have feelings just like we do. Plenty of them are really nice people… Well, not exactly people, but you know what I mean, some of them are good hearted… you know…”, she searched for the word.

“Good hearted Trils?” He grinned.

Her fork slammed down on her plate. “As it happens some Vorgans have invited me to take a trip back to their ship. They’re taking me up there this afternoon in their shuttle.”

All of the good humour that she had seen in his face evaporated in an instant. He sagged in his seat and didn’t say anything. He just looked at her.

“I’ve met up with them several times. We even had tea together at the Tea For Two. I like them.”

Scrunge looked at her for a few seconds as though thinking carefully what he would say next. “I was hoping you’d have dinner with me tonight.” He looked sad. “I thought…”

“You thought! What, and wait for an hour and a half wondering whether you’ll even show up? You’re kidding. Anyway I won’t be here.”

His face hardened. “So, you’re going ahead with this and taking a trip with these Tr… these Vorgans?”

She looked down and spoke quietly. “Yes, I am.”

“So you’re a Tril Lover.”

It was Murg’s turn to stare with an open mouth.

“Chips and beer, Murg. Not pretty.” His eyes were hard. “It’s sloshing around.”

Murg composed herself. She fiddled with her bag for a moment and then pushed the remains of her dinner over to him. “Eat this.”

She got up and walked out of the pub. She could feel his eyes following her. How could she have ever entertained the thought? Him? Well that foolishness was behind her now, and what’s more she had a rather special trip to look forward to. She’d never been off-world before.

See more Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Image, Star Cluster Pismis 24 in Emission Nebula NGC 6357, Hubble Telescope, Courtesy NASA

Tril Tales: A Trip to the Bank

2010-12-24T06:07:00.000-08:00

Another exciting episode in the Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Scrunge had his hands in his pockets. He would meet Murg later for lunch at the Rising Sun, but for now he had to go to the bank, having used all his cash last night. Off he trudged with his hands deep in his pockets and his bobble hat keeping the snow off his head.

As he reached the bank he stopped and looked around. There wasn’t much to see really except the off-world Tril tourists and the haphazard parking of the strange vessels they used as shuttles to take them to the surface from their orbiting spacecraft. It never ceased to puzzle Scrunge why these strange and wonderful creatures would prefer to come on holiday here in the winter. There were two possible scenarios here in the winter. One was snow and ice, and the other was deep squidgy mud. Neither was, as far as Scrunge could figure out, very desirable. Still they came.

People always seemed to like it when the season for the Tril tourists came around, after all, there were always more of them than there were Earth Folk tourists in the Summer. Nonetheless, it still seemed a strange thing to Scrunge. After all, the Trils were notoriously mean, hardly spent anything and demanded the world. Literally!

Funnily enough, the only thing they could easily be talked into spending money on was green wellington boots. They loved them. Consequently every shopkeeper with any sense stocked at least a few sizes of green wellington boots when the Winter season approached. Of course, no self respecting Earth Folk would be seen dead in them, but that made it even more fun. Somehow it gave the Earth Folk a sense of superiority that they could otherwise, somehow, not find.

A family of five Vorgans trudged by on the pavement, somehow managing to swagger at the same time as they navigated the deep snow, giggling and pulling their boots out with a slurp every time one got stuck in the snow and came off their slippery little feet.

Scrunge suddenly felt fed up. Bloody Trils. Come and spend some money why don’t you? Faffing with your wellies doesn’t help our tourist trade however much our lot smile at you. He looked up at the sign above the bank door. It was a picture of a sickeningly handsome clean-cut man with whiter than white perfect teeth, smiling broadly, and beside him were the words “Got Wealth? We’ll Take Care of It”. He turned on his heel and walked into the bank where he joined the queue of shuffling, impatient, cold people.

He harrumphed, he sighed, he shifted from foot to foot, looking impassively at the poster of the same smiling man beside the words “We Own Your Home”. Eventually he found himself at the head of the queue.

“Next.” Just what he needed. A young Drangathian girl on a working holiday who had managed to wangle a job at the bank. Probably a rich student placating her family by showing willing to do a bit of work. That was the usual Tril holiday job story.

He moved up to the counter and held out his bank card. “I’d like to take out some cash please.” He smiled. Must be nice.

“Yes, Mr… “ She scrutinised his card and then spoke loudly in her strident Drangathian voice “Mr Scrungephucket?”

Scrunge reddened and looked over his shoulder to see if anyone had heard. Several people were openly grinning but the rest hadn’t heard anything. Not too bad. “Er… Just Scrunge if you don’t mind. Can I take fifty out please?”

“Scrunge? It says here your name is Scrungephucket.” Her voice got louder as she said it. He was now bright red and had no need to look back over his shoulder. There was complete silence behind him apart from a few barely suppressed giggles.

“Actually, it’s pronounced Scrungefookay.” He corrected her. It was no good, she was having way too much fun. She roared with laughter.

“Well, anyway, fifty please.”

She looked at him sternly. “I’ll need some more identification, Mr…” She paused and looked him straight in the eye before saying in a louder voice “…Scrungephucket.”

Sighing, he took his driving license out of his pocket and handed it over the counter. She made a big deal of looking at it and comparing the photo with his face. Eventually she passed it back and gave him a patronising look.

“Mr Phucket…”

“That’s it, I’ve had enough. Give me my card back.”

“SECURITY…” Her hand moved quickly under the table and a bell sounded. The front door to the bank clunked shut. Almost immediately two large uniformed security officers rushed into the room and grabbed his arms, pulling him towards the door that led further into the building.

Bugger. Murg will have to wait.

See more Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Image, Galaxy M82, Hubble Telescope, courtesy NASA

Tril Tales: A Winter’s Tale

2010-12-21T13:29:00.000-08:00

The first exciting episode in the Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Scrunge walked along the path. He had to try quite hard to make sure he didn’t slip on the ice where people had walked on the snow. A little unsteadily he turned into the Rising Sun Inn, pausing to scowl at the sign as he went through the door. A variety of strange and interesting folk turned to see who had come in, and then most of them immediately lost interest and turned back to their drinks. A small Vorgan, making small squeaking noises as he walked, came up to him.

“Nerdy Earth-man, I spit on your shoes.” He did so and turned to walk back to the bar.

“Oy!” Scrunge walked after him. “I… erm… Can I buy you a drink?” He finished rather weakly as a huge Vorgan, looking just like the first one but about eight times as big stepped between them and folded his muscular, spotty green arms.

The big guy grinned. “Do I get one too?” his voice was really, really deep. It was a somewhat surprising contrast to his small friend’s voice.

“Oh, er… Sure.” He paid for the drinks, and having done so he seemed to have made friends with the unlikely couple of Vorgans. “So, are you just passing through or are you staying around here?”

“Ha! Stay here? You crack me up.” The little one squeaked and giggled, blowing bubbles in his drink.

The deep voice grunted. “He learned his English from an American.” He slapped the little Vorgan around the head.

Scrunge laughed. “Better than learning American from an Englishman.”

They both stared at him. An awkward moment passed and then the little one jumped up and down, saying “Hey! I know, I know…”

The big guy looked confused and several other people in the pub had started to pay attention to them. Scrunge was starting to feel uncomfortable. He glanced around at the hostile faces. It didn’t do to be too familiar with Trils around these parts. Trils. It was a horrible term for off-worlders, short for Trilobites, but nonetheless it was what they were commonly called by Earth Folk. Scrunge decided it was time to leave. Not that he particularly wanted to, but tonight wasn’t looking set to be a quiet night at the Rising Sun.

As he turned to walk to the door he noticed that the big guy was already there, blocking the way with his sinewy arms folded again. He sighed. Now what?

“Going somewhere?” The voice boomed and the whole pub went quiet. All eyes were on him to see what he would do next. This was the kind of sport they loved. Who needed that big screen up in the corner when real life could offer you this kind of entertainment?

Scrunge scratched his chin. He should have shaved this morning, but it was too late to think about that now. The big guy’s voice boomed out again “Mrocchwp wishes to speak.”

The little guy was still jumping up and down “I know, I know, really!”

Scrunge knew what was best for him. He smiled. “No! really? What?”

“Talisker! I’ll try Talisker. You buy.”

Scrunge breathed a deep sigh. He knew for a fact, because he had counted for himself, there were twenty-seven different malt whiskys in this pub. Was this vacuous little git of a Vorgan planning to bully him into buying him another twenty-six drinks? He felt his pocket for money and sighed. “Frank, can I have two Taliskers and a glass of water please”

“Double! Double!”

Oh God! “Frank, make the Taliskers doubles, would you? Thanks.”

Two hours later Scrunge, yet again, handed over his credit card to Frank. It was the only way. Frank had to be paid and Scrunge had run out of cash an hour ago. The two Vorgans were both sitting on the floor with their backs to the bar humming funny little tunes to each-other, while the other people in the pub were giving them occasional disgusted looks.

Scrunge took his credit card and put it safely in his pocket as he walked out into the cold night. Safe from what, though? He thought about it, but he couldn’t quite figure it out.

See more Tril Tales by Tony Benson

Image, Saturn, Cassini-Huygens, courtesy JPL Space Science Institute, NASA

The Death of Democracy?

2010-12-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

Yesterday the 'British' government voted to put up English student fees to a maximum of £9000. Well... that wasn't what people wanted, and it was only made possible by the Liberal Democrat party breaking a firm written and signed election pledge not to do so.

So, what exactly is democracy? It's supposed to be a form of government in which people govern themselves or elect representatives to govern them. So far so good. We supposedly elect representatives to govern us. But, well, you guessed - it's not as simple as that.

Firstly we have to look at the choices we're faced with in an election. The candidates are almost all members of an elite class whose interests are to serve their own elite class, not the electorate in general. So... When we vote we get to chose which member of this elite class will 'represent' us.

Secondly, we can only base our vote on our expectations of what the candidates will do if and when elected. We all know that election pledges are somewhat unreliable, but sadly, apart from our experience of the individual politicians and their political parties, they're all we have to go on.

This brings us to the Liberal Democrat pledge to not put up student fees, and to eliminate them if possible.

Guess what... They lied.

This latest example of election lies has, for many of us, been seen as the last straw. After all, if even after a so-called democratic election we don't have politicians who represent us, what can we do to keep control over our own lives? Not a lot!

Some people resort to violence which I personally don't condone, but I certainly understand the hopelessness that leads to it, and I am not surprised by it. Worse still, I'm not sure what I'd recommend as an alternative. Tell your MP what you want? Trust me I've tried it. They just boff back at me with interminable excuses and get on with what they were planning all along.

So who are these 'elite' people? They are the politicians, bankers, and industry leaders as well as the super-wealthy. They see us as being here to serve them and to make them more wealthy. In order to achieve that goal they pretend to serve us in government while actually taking control of our lives and our money.

It's time we moved on from this feudal society which we call a democracy.

Enough!

The notoriously naughty Assange

2010-12-09T09:46:00.000-08:00

As far as I can tell, Julian Assange is probably not a very nice person.

HOWEVER

There is nothing illegal about being not a very nice person. What he has done is to help us all to see what an incompetent bunch of amateurs we have elected to govern us. Now, most of us had already figured that out for ourselves, but in exposing that to the general public he has done no more than publish information that has been voluntarily made available to him. This is called publishing. It is what all newspapers do, reputable or otherwise.

As a result of the astoundingly embarrassing revelations he has been branded by the governments of the USA and the UK as the world's naughtiest person. Almost immediately it was brought to light that two allegations of sexual abuse have been brought against him in, of all places, Sweden. Now... Does anyone else think the timing of this is more than a little suspicios?

I have looked hard at what the newspapers have been able to find about these allegations. We all know that newspapers are notoriously unreliable for what most of us would call facts, but some of them have apparently tried to find out what really happened, and having read all of it I'm pretty convinced that unless there is something very significant that we're not being told about the allegations, then this is no more than a trumped up charge aimed at silencing an embarrassingly naughty person.

So... Will our government and our police become complicit in this nonsense? The answer unfortunately is yes. Having arrested him they are apparantly seriously considering deporting him on the basis of weak, bordering on ridiculous, accusations accompanied by heresay.

Our government would no doubt, particularly in view of the current student protests, love to send us all a clear message about what will happen to any of us who stray out of line.

Well, here's an interesting thought. Since Sweden has an extradition treaty with the USA where senior politicians have openly declared their intent to kill him, surely the risk that Sweden may extradite him to the USA is sufficient grounds for him to claim asylum here. That would slow down the extradition proceedings!

It seems to me that what is happening to Julian Assange is a chilling reminder to all of us what will happen to us if we upset the ruling classes. We should be just trolling along being good little people and working to line their pockets, not exposing them for the incompentent fools that they are.

If our government agrees to extradite Julian Assange then they will be declaring themselves openly to be creating exactly the kind of totalitarian state that they so love to criticise abroad. It would be a travesty of justice and a politically motivated abuse of our justice system.

So, what of the Anonymous response to all of this? Well it seems to me that the people are finally fighting back against oppressive and incompetent government. It's not just them, we have student demonstrations and almost certainly more demonstrations to come on other issues.

Maybe we're finding our voice again.

The next internet billionaire

2010-11-27T12:42:00.000-08:00

How many accounts do you have online?

Email, shopping, blogging, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, everything under the sun...

In fact, every time you wish to purchase something online from a company you haven't used before you have to create an account with them, with a new account name and password, before you can complete your purchase.

If you are anything like me you have gazillions of passwords and you can't keep track of them any more. Worse still, maybe you use the same, easily memorable password everywhere you go. Not good!

The problems with this are:
- You have more accounts you can keep track of
- In order to be secure you have more passwords than you can keep track of
- Every time you want to do something you have to sign on, and remember the account name and the password you used
- You lose track of who you have dealt with and where your internet interests lie

So... What's the solution?

Well, here's a business idea. Has anyone noticed how wealthy the creators of Facebook, Twitter, Amazon and Ebay have become? Well, what we now need is something new that provides us with a completely personal internet experience.

We need a web site - Let's call it OnePass - that, amongst other things, allows us to register every site on which we have an account, so that when we long on to OnePass we're automatically logged on to all of our accounts. Of course it does more than that...

OnePass will provide me with a view on the Internet that is completely configurable by me, so that it looks the way I need for how my mind works. It presents all my rss feeds, news sites, social networking sites, blogs, shopping sites and everything else on a news-like front end that I design. It is not hard to set up or to design how information is presented.

When I want to shop at a new internet store, then here's where it gets good. The OnePass management will establish an open interface, and a market position such that internet vendors have it in their interest to subscribe to the OnePass interface. Thus, when I shop at a new site, as long as I am logged onto OnePass, I can purchase from them without a new user account.

There are lots of other details that OnePass needs to handle. Bookmarks need to be a thing of the past. When I bookmark a site it might fall into several categories, and OnePass will let me attach the same site, with one link, to my Music category, my News category, my Favourite People category and any other categories I've thought up that it fits. That way, I can navigate through my own view of the internet in a way that fits my mindset.

And that's the objective of OnePass. I can, over time, build up my own personal experience of the internet without constraining myself to not see the rest, but in a way that tailors it to my needs.

Maybe OnePass is not an adequate name. After all it needs to provide more than a single sign-on for all my internet interests. What it does, over and above that, is to take my pick of the internet and present it to me in a way that fits in with how my mind works.

Maybe OneMind would be better.

I would love to see someone create this web site. I hereby donate this idea to whoever wants to use it. If you are successful, then all I ask is that you remember me (financially, of course) to whatever degree you think is warrented

NaNoWriMo Winning Post

2010-11-25T03:20:00.000-08:00

Well, here it is. Today is the day when they open up the validation for winners of NaNo, and I've uploaded my novel. It was validated at about 800 words less than the OpenOffice.org word count, which was a bigger discrepancy than I expected, but I'm still ahead of the necessary word count of 50,000.

What an amazing feeling! For the first time, I have written a complete novel. Admittedly it is only a first draft and there's a lot of work to be done on it, but nonetheless, it is complete as a first draft.

I rather think it's time to celebrate!

Who's in charge? An impossible conundrum.

2010-11-21T14:46:00.000-08:00

In England, we have a system of government that is usually referred to as a 'democracy'.

In order to discuss this usefully it helps if we know what that word means, so here's what the online Chambers Dictionary has to say:

democracy noun (democracies) 1 a form of government in which the people govern themselves or elect representatives to govern them. 2 a country, state or other body with such a form of government.
ETYMOLOGY: 16c: from French démocratie, from Greek demos people + kratos strength.

Ah! French... Greek... Well that gets to the nub of it.

But what of the core meaning of the word? "A form of government in which the people govern themselves or elect representatives to govern them".

What does this really mean? If we elect representatives to govern us, then it all hinges on what we mean by a representative. Again, falling back on the Chambers dictionary:

"Someone who acts as someone's agent or who speaks on their behalf"

So... When we elect someone in a democratic governmental election the whole idea is that the elected representative should act as our agent or speak on our behalf. That doesn't leave much to the imagination really. Someone might act as my agent or speak on my behalf, and the two mean pretty much the same thing.

Well, it's not quite that simple in an election. After all, the elected representative acts as an agent for (or speaks on behalf of) a large number of people, not just me. So they act as an agent for all the people, not only the ones who voted for them. What on Earth should they do?

Well, for a start, what they should do is canvas the views of their constituency and then do whatever it takes to represent the people whose votes put them there.

How often do we really see this happen. To be fair, there have been occasional cases in history when an elected representative has actually gone to parliament and represented the needs of their constituency. However I'm not being churlish when I say this is rare. So what do they really turn up and do?

In order to answer this we have to assume that they turned up in the first place. So often we see empty seats in parliament because our MP didn't actually get there for the session. Apparently they have something more important to do than to go to work and do what they are paid for by representing our needs to parliament. Well, maybe they know best...

So, what interests do these people represent?

To answer this we have to go back to election night. We had a ballot paper in front of us and we had to pick someone to vote for. Who should it be? Well that depends on who's in the list.

The list, as usual, was a combination of three kinds of candidate. First there are the establishment politicians. These are members of the ruling class who are indistinguishable from eachother except in the colour of tie they wear, and they clearly represent no interest other than their own personal, or their vested interests. Secondly there is the independent candidate. This person is the hopeful budding politician who is well on his/her way to becoming an establishment politician and all he/she needs is your vote to get there. Thirdly there is the nutcase. The Screaming Lord Sutch or whoever he calls himself in your constituency.

With this list of mottley characters in front of you, who do you vote for?

Well, the truth is there's nobody on that list who'll actually turn up in parliament and truly represent the corporate needs of your constituency.

So... Who to vote for? Well voting is an inalienable right, and so is the right to not vote. But how can a person chose not to vote? For a start, if you are female, then there are people who died for your right to vote. Sure, we all have the right to abstain from voting, but somehow I feel we have an obligation to vote. After all, who can complain about the outcome of an election if they didn't vote in it?

So now I'm left with an impossible conundrum. There are no acceptable candidates to vote for, but not voting is an abdication of responsibility.

What have you learned from NaNoWriMo?

2010-11-21T13:18:00.000-08:00

I have entered the National Novel Writing Month for the first time this year. The challenge is to write a 50,000 word novel in the 30 days of November.

Frankly, I was intimidated by the whole prospect. I had not heard of NaNoWriMo until about a week before November 1st and I decided to enter for it a couple of days later. That left me with only a few days to plan, so I used them well.

I figured that I'd need some idea of what to write, so I arbitrarily divided the story into 20 chapters of 2500 words each. I used a story idea I had been nurturing for a while and I wrote a one or two paragraph chapter synopsis for each of the 20 chapters.

Then on 1st November the madness started. I had no idea whether I could reasonably expect to finish on time, so I piled into it with gusto, making as quick progress as I could. This is where I found rule 1. Don't edit as you go. If I had allowed myself to pour over what I had writen I would still be struggling at about 2000 words. I had to allow myself to say "Not now. I'll come back and edit that later..." That was the hardest part.

The next thing I found was that my chapter synopses varied from woefully inadequate to barely adequate. I had chosen two POV characters and each chapter synopsis stated whose POV I should use, and contained some statement about the chapter content.

In some cases the synopsis didn't really have any actual action, so it was rather hard to eke 2500 words out, and others had about enough action content that I could do so without too much hardship.

The next thing I learned is that a 50,000 word novel is really short. When a chapter has 'padding' that fills out the character of the story rather than moving the action from point A to point B, it's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it seems to have some considerable scope for enhancing the work.

So... Boff is okay? No, or at least, not necessarily. What seems to work is boff that fills out the story and gives a more three dimensional portrayal of the characters. What doesn't seem to work is boff that just fills space. Not too surprising really.

I found myself learning about character development. Each of the main characters in the story had their own particular quirks and peculiarities, and I had to be consistent about those. That's not as easy as it sounds. Also, some of the characters are noticeably changed by the events of the story. That needs to come out in the action and dialogue, not by just telling the reader they have changed. An interesting challenge, but one that is easier in practise than might seem when just contemplating the prospect.

These are just some of the things I have learned from my NaNoWriMo experience. As it happened I finished my book at just under 53,000 words after 15 days. I was over the moon at achieving this, and it is the first time in my life that I have completed a first draft of a book length work of fiction - albeit a short 50,000 word book.

So, what has your experience been so far?

Getting Strictly What you Vote For

2010-11-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

The Widdi-Monster must go!

What happened to our journalists?

2010-11-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm getting old. I remember a day when there were journalists in the UK who were household names and who were, by any standards, the heavyweights of their profession. Most journalists were well educated, knew the English language well, understood punctuation and grammar, had a wide vocabulary, all of which they could spell correctly and knew how to craft a good article which would be engaging, accurate and well researched. They checked their sources and their work was peer reviewed before it was put in front of the public.

The happy result of this was that if you read a mainstream newspaper that wasn't a tabloid, you would almost certainly be reading well written articles that made an honest attempt to inform you of the events to which they referred. Their weakness, of course, was that every paper had a political bias and that pretty much any articles you could read in a paper would conform to that bias. However, the political persuasions of the newspapers have always been well known, and anyone who wants to avoid the bias can read a selection of papers from across the spectrum and form their own conclusions.

Things have changed.

Any paper you might chose to read is still as biased as ever, and probably more so. That much at least is the same, but everything else seems to have changed.

Newspaper articles of today are riddled with spelling errors, gramatical errors and poor attention to capitalisation and punctuation. Very often the articles are poorly researched, and frequently the sources are completely un-verifiable. Every paper suffers from a burning desire to sensationalise any story they can come up with and as a result they produce so much verbal diarrhoea that they are guarenteed to misinform and confuse their readers.

Many people now believe, for example, that a specific number of units of alcohol is the correct safe limit for them on a weekly basis or that the recommendation to have five portions of fruit and vej a day is not an appropriate way to stay healthy because some people who have five portions of fruit and vej a day are obese.

Worse than this, we have bloggers. Yes, that's me. Bloggers produce vast amounts of writing every day and it was some time ago that the newspaper editors realised that they could print content without paying for it if they preyed on the good nature of enthusiastic bloggers. So now what happens is that blog posts appear in newspapers as if they are articles. The bloggers are flattered and impressed with themselves and the public are subjected to whatever drivel the blogger invented for their post.

So this is what has become of the reporting profession. The days when words like 'editorial integrity' were banded around as important principles in the journalistic professions have long gone. We are left with bloggers, and journalists who have a poor grasp of the English language and how to express themselves effectively using it.

And the good news? There are still many talented writers out there who know and understand the language, and even respect it. They just don't seem to end up working for the papers.

NaNoWriMo

2010-10-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

The time has come. Starting tomorrow, along with a huge number of other people throughout the world I will get started on the challenge of writing a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. At the end of November it will all be over.

The event is the National Novel Writing Month, known as NaNoWriMo. If you're interested to find out more about NaNoWriMo, then take a look at http://nanowrimo.org. Maybe you'd like to give it a try?

Reality bites - voting and its consequences

2010-10-22T13:59:00.000-07:00

So, is the honeymoon over?

It's a pointless blame game to throw buns at those who voted Conservative or Lib Dem, beause both parties are rapidly backtracking on their election pledges. Then again, who can blame them? After all, they're only dealing as best they can with the realities of being in government.

Or are they?

Well the truth is somewhat different. The fact is that if Nick Clegg solicits my vote (and I say 'if') with the pledge that his party's policy is not to increase university tuition fees, then when Lib Dem MPs get elected that's the line I expect them to take. That's party politics, right? The MP does what the party has promised rather than what is good for their constituency.

Sadly, no. They don't do what they promised to do, they don't do what it takes to represent their constitutency and they don't do what they personally believe is right.

So... What do they do? Well, what seems pretty clear is that they do whatever furthers their vested interests. What is not so clear is where their vested interests lie. That's where we, the voters, flounder.

We seek to do what is right, and we seek to exercise our 'democratic' right whenever we're given the opportunity, but we're playing a game of poker with an opponent who has the deck stacked.

So what do we do about it?

In my view the only thing we can do about it is to recognise that voting is not only what you do when you go to the ballot box. We vote whenever we take any action whatsoever.

If you respond to an advertisement you are voting to support not only the company that placed the advertisement, but they way they advertised. So, if you buy something as the result of an unsolicited telephone call, never complain about unsolicited telephone calls.

When Gerald Ratner gave his famous speech to the Institute of Directors in 1991 the public response was to stop shopping in the Ratners Jewellery Stores, which very soon went out of business. Nobody organised a campaign on Facebook, nobody incited anyone to stop shopping there, it just happened. That's voting. Each person who withdrew their patronage placed a vote and Gerald Ratner wasn't elected.

We forget sometimes that as simple members of the public we are the ones who hold the power. No bank can survive without our interest payments or savings. If you don't want a Tesco supermarket in your town, then don't shop there.

Everything we do has consequences, and that's what should give us all hope. If we do what our conscience dictates, then we are placing the vote that counts. If we do something that we believe is a compromise then we vote for something we don't believe in.

So ... does this mean we have to be uncompromising? Yes and no. In our personal relationships we have to compromise and we're fools if we don't, but in our outward behaviour - how we shop, where we go, what we buy, how we respond to government policy - yes - if we compromise then we are giving away the family silver.

Fireside Park

2010-10-22T13:28:00.001-07:00

I am posting to this new blog in the blissful knowledge that although it is here, online and available to all, it will almost certainly be read by almost nobody... Almost.

If only one person reads this post then the nobody becomes somebody and if that somebody leaves a comment then I shall even know they were here.

So, who am I and why am I writing this blog? Well, it's not the time for a biography, but suffice to say I am in my fifties and I have been around the block a few times. I've spent a lifetime working in R&D and engineering in the aerospace, defence and transit industries, and I have spent more than two decades making and repairing stringed instruments.

I have also committed pen to paper, on and off, for a number of years. I have written fiction and non-fiction books and vast quantities of technical documentation. As the years have gone by, I've realised that I enjoy writing, and that when I can get my thoughts straight I actually have something interesting to say. That's what I'm here for.

So here we are. A stroll in the park brought to your fireside.