Ned Hayes's Blog, page 32
October 8, 2015
The Cambridge Key - Second October Story
I’m delivering several free stories on Amazon this month – happy October.
My little alternative history story about JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis is free on Kindle for one week – enjoy!
Get free story The Cambridge Key >>
In 1937, the British Crown anticipated war with the emerging fascist leader Adolf Hitler. The British Secret Service was desperate for code-breakers, and for a method to encode messages to Allied agents on the ground, deep in the heart of the continent.
One agent was assigned to solicit the help of a set of secretive, brilliant professors to find a solution to this dangerous puzzle.
The cryptographic key these professors proposed was radical, and changed the course of the war effort (and English literature) forever…
October 6, 2015
"October, crisp, misty, golden October, when the light is sweet and heavy."
- Angela Carter, The Magic Toyshop (via tormentsofman)
BOOK QUOTE: “Stars steam away as a pale sun rises, hot coal...
BOOK QUOTE:
“Stars steam away as a pale sun rises, hot coal dropped in a watery sky. Light seeps across the forest as the reedy shrieks of wood fowl echo in the trees. The path from our village to the King’s Highway is a crooked line of mud rutted with cart tracks, a rough trough where the dirty snow is stabbed through by the hooves of feral sheep. To the east, that faint track leads up through the forest until it reaches, finally, the open country.”
October 3, 2015
lori-rocks:
the dark path… by 8og
BOOK QUOTE: “A bird calls,...
the dark path… by 8og
BOOK QUOTE:
“A bird calls, distant and wounded. The woods are still as death. Quick steam huffs in and out of Geoff’s open mouth. We gather wood and help Tom build his fire. As I pick up spare twigs and dried bracken, I wonder how far our sounds penetrate into the black forest, and how far our shouts echo along the White Road. Anyone approaching along the road could find us here.
Supper is roasted pork we brought from the village, and warmed snow. After we have licked our fingers clean, we edge closer to the fire, heads cocked toward the whispering wind as it brushes the treetops. Night birds warble, and small creatures rustle in the snow.Tom continues, the cider giving him a pompous certainty.They say if you creep along the right valley in the dead o’ night, ’round the dark o’ the moon, you’ll hear them witches a-singin’ an’ a-chantin’.”
Yet this time when he speaks, there is something in his tone that gives us pause. There are some who believe to speak of a thing is to summon it into the world, and Tom speaks with such conviction. We become so quiet that the loudest noise is the sizzle of burning tree sap.
The darkness around us presses down, as if to listen. The music of the wind rises and falls with the swirls of the snow, the creaking of the sea of branches in the darkness above us.”
October 2, 2015
October Story -- free for a week!
October 1, 2015
Ten Ways To Get Your Kids Reading
1. Make sure your kids see YOU reading (and enjoying it). There’s no point expecting them to do something you don’t do yourself.
2. Read to your children regularly. Make it part of their bedtime routine. Reading together helps parents bond with their children, and later, it gives them a chance to discuss all kinds of problems and ideas.
3. Don’t be a teacher when you’re reading to your kids. Be an entertainer instead. Go ape on the funny voices. Make it fun for both of you.
4. Don’t be judgemental or preachy. Choose books that deal with topics that will really engage your child.
5. Don’t approach your child’s reading as you would their education. Reading isn’t about setting targets, or impressing your friends with your child’s reading age.
6. Read the first half of a story aloud, then allow yourself to be “interrupted”. Leave the book lying around. Ten to one they’ll pick it up…
7. Whatever your child chooses to read, support it. That goes for comics, fairy books, romance or fart jokes.
8. Don’t put your child under pressure. Reading should be a reward, never a punishment.
9. Don’t stop your child from re-reading books, or having you re-read them. It’s an important comfort mechanism.
10. Age banding is irrelevant. Gender is irrelevant. Reading age is irrelevant. Is your kid reading? Then they’re OK.
Lastly, NEVER take a book from your child. Whether it’s a “girl book”, a “boy book”, a silly book or MEIN KAMPF. Don’t be afraid they’ll be influenced in a negative way. Where children read widely, they’re very unlikely to be influenced by any single set of ideas. Instead, they’ll learn to question ideas, and more importantly, to think for themselves…
September 30, 2015
Galileo’s drawings of the Moon, 1610 – revived for the...
Galileo’s drawings of the Moon, 1610 – revived for the Bloodmoon Eclipse this week!
