Stuart Aken's Blog, page 19
July 29, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 29th July 2023
My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. Today we bathe under the warm glow of a sunset on the historic Greek island of Crete. It was taken on a spontaneous trip organised by the husband of our hotel owner, who suggested …
July 23, 2023
Black Harry, by Mark P. Henderson #BookReview.
Subtitled ‘Glossopdale’s Elizabethan folk hero’, this is a fascinating account of the life, actions, attitudes, courage, and determination of a man who can probably be held responsible for significantly improved changes in the relationships between landowner and tenant.The book is set during the reign of Elizabeth I at the time when she incarcerated her cousin, …
Continue reading Black Harry, by Mark P. Henderson #BookReview.
July 22, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 22nd July 2023
My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one depicts a panorama of part of the glorious Yorkshire Dales under a summer sky. This part of the country, most of it a National Park and therefore protected from adverse development, has …
July 21, 2023
Progress Inspired by a Walk?
I don’t know what inspires ideas in other writers, but I gather a lot of my writing thoughts and inspiration from walking. I live in the Forest of Dean, so I’m surrounded by beautiful places in which to walk, usually with my wife. Yesterday, we decided to visit a local spot of significance, Symonds Yat, …
July 15, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 15th July 2023
My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one shows the River Wye as it flows through the Forest of Dean. The far bank, left on the picture, is actually Wales, as the river forms part of the border between the …
July 14, 2023
After the Research
The research (see the post from 9th July), apart from those unexpected oddities that make you check the occasional detail, is done. I began the re-write at the beginning of the week. It quickly became clear that merely editing the first draft would not create the book I first envisaged. So, I have started again …
July 9, 2023
When Research Rules the Roost
Presumably all writers of fiction start with research for their chosen themes, subjects, periods, and locations. I know I always do. For my latest WIP I decided to set the story within the period around the first part of my own life. This was, after all, a time I knew well. Or so I thought.On …
July 8, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 8th July 2023
My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness. This one shows the eroding effect of wave power on the strong rocky cliffs of the Greek island of Thassos over eons. Imagine how much more of this island would have been eaten by …
July 1, 2023
#ScenicSaturday 1st July 2023
My photos here show how beautiful is our world. I hope to encourage viewers to help save it from our carelessness.This one shows a newly created space on the right following the felling of some diseased trees in the Forest of Dean. Climate change has increased the incidence of tree infections, resulting in the cutting …
June 27, 2023
the little book of humanist funerals, by Andrew Copson and Alice Roberts #BookReview.
This lovely little book is all about celebrating a life that has passed, celebrating the person rather than burying them under dogma and superstition. For the many people for whom religion has been revealed as illogical and unhelpful, the words of practical advice, care, empathy, and comfort form a wonderful substitute to the usual services …
