David L. Atkinson's Blog, page 91

Writer - Don't be a Simon Peter

Simon Peter, disciple, was a man who reportedly opened his mouth and put his feet in on several occasions but he was always forgiven. He also denied his own place believing he wasn't worthy. Are you like that about your writing? Do you believe that you won't be able to call yourself a writer until you've known success?
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I've read a number of blogs over the last few days concerning writing one from Neil Gaiman whose rules for writing I re-publish below.
WritePut one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.Laugh at your own jokes.The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. [image error]Neil Gaiman
Neil Gaiman is an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films. 
So, yes I'm a writer, I am passionate about writing, the world, politics and have a strong sense of justice which is reflected in my lead character Patrick A Steele. 
Check out more below.



My 10 books as of December 2014
Steele   My hero was created post recession and so has no concept of how 'good' things were pre-2008. In 'I Have To Get It Right' when he began to flex his muscles he was working in an accountant's office. Then after the Gurentai took him under their wing and removed all of his financial worries, it was justice that was his major concern. He did become involved in international relations in 'The 51st State' but it was for the maintenance of a respectful distance between countries, rather than economic reasons. His trips into the USA had repercussions which can be read about in 'The Biter Bit' but then by the time things began to change in 2011 and the recession was really biting, Steele was trying to make sense of the state of the nation in 'A Changed Reality' and coming up against some really nasty people taking advantage of the shortage of money. By the time the USA are out of their recession Steele's steps are still being dogged by an unknown enemy from the same country. In 'Inceptus' we also find out more about what makes the man tick. The most recent Steele book 'Castled' where Steele is once again at risk from unseen enemies. It would seem that he has become quite recession proof!The most recent addition to the Steele family is Earth plc in which our hero is concerned with political and emotional issues in this crime fighting adventure.
All books are available in paperback or ebook through Amazon, Smashwords and all good book shop websites.


Cessation 

This is a dystopian story that hinges directly on the state of the nation as a result of fiscal mismanagement. Having said that it is more a story of human relations, privations, love and loss.
Poetry - there are also two thin collections of poetry available solely through Amazon.
The Musings of a Confused Mind 
and
Words from the Raindrops 
God Bless

10 things we didn't know last week

In another week where supermarkets were warned to keep daffodils away from onions and users of 'concealed' surveillance cameras in care homes are to follow a code of practice, here are some other silly news items.

1. Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond once played a ghost in a Bollywood soap opera.
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2. Traditionally, police horses in England's Thames Valley force can be called Odin, Thor or Hercules, but not Brian.

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3. People on dating sites who divide opinion between those who rate them as both very beautiful and very ugly do far better than those who everyone agrees is quite attractive.

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4. Australia's oldest man knits woollen sweaters for injured penguins.

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5. "Let us turn ours into a country of mushrooms by making mushroom cultivation scientific, intensive and industrialised!" is an official slogan of North Korea.

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6. Each semen ejaculation by Yuvraj, a bull in Kurukshetra, northern India, is worth $3,000 (£1,948).

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7. YouTube star Grumpy Cat earned more than Gwyneth Paltrow in 2014.

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8. The popping sound popcorn makes as it is heated is due to rapidly escaping pressurised water vapour, not the kernels cracking open or ricocheting inside the pan.

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9. The oldest piece of statute law yet to be repealed in the UK, dating back to 1267, was passed in Marlborough, Wiltshire.

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10. Dogs can apparently tell the difference between happy and angry human faces.


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God Bless

Writing - Relationships and characters

I'm writing this on the eve of Valentine's Day. I'm not producing a blog about its history or anything slushy about how wonderful love is. Read on please.
 
Steele, my lead in 7 of the 8 books I've written, is having relationship traumas while dashing into the fray, and maintaining his progress through the books. As far as is reasonable in this genre of adventure, action and excitement I've tried to keep the love as realistic as possible within my own limited and traumatic experience.Then of course there are the relationships between the more minor characters and the main guy which are slightly different. In some cases it is a boss/employee number, in others it's almost mother/son and then there is the stranger/hero type. Finally, there are relationships between the minor characters to construct and maintain. 
So creating a story has many aspects but creating a series increases those aspects geometrically. Characterisation cannot exist in only one dimension, no man is an island. Of course there have been some series where the central character is all action and aloof but even in the James Bond tales he falls for a girl which eventually ends in tragedy. It is my belief that in the 21st century audiences demand three dimensional heroes and heroines as at times the darker side of their characters can be more interesting and dangerous than there accepted persona.
So trawl through Steele or the dystopian novel Cessation and examine the characters relationships with each other.

As a sop to one of my least favourite days of the year I've written a short poem that was inspired by the BBC Weather girl who suggested linking the weather to romance. Forgive me!


Roses are redViolets are blueThe weather is cloudyand so are you!

My 10 books as of December 2014
Steele   My hero was created post recession and so has no concept of how 'good' things were pre-2008. In 'I Have To Get It Right' when he began to flex his muscles he was working in an accountant's office. Then after the Gurentai took him under their wing and removed all of his financial worries, it was justice that was his major concern. He did become involved in international relations in 'The 51st State' but it was for the maintenance of a respectful distance between countries, rather than economic reasons. His trips into the USA had repercussions which can be read about in 'The Biter Bit' but then by the time things began to change in 2011 and the recession was really biting, Steele was trying to make sense of the state of the nation in 'A Changed Reality' and coming up against some really nasty people taking advantage of the shortage of money. By the time the USA are out of their recession Steele's steps are still being dogged by an unknown enemy from the same country. In 'Inceptus' we also find out more about what makes the man tick. The most recent Steele book 'Castled' where Steele is once again at risk from unseen enemies. It would seem that he has become quite recession proof!
The most recent addition to the Steele family is Earth plc in which our hero is concerned with political and emotional issues in this crime fighting adventure.
All books are available in paperback or ebook through Amazon, Smashwords and all good book shop websites.


Cessation 

This is a dystopian story that hinges directly on the state of the nation as a result of fiscal mismanagement. Having said that it is more a story of human relations, privations, love and loss.
Poetry - there are also two thin collections of poetry available solely through Amazon.
The Musings of a Confused Mind 
and
Words from the Raindrops 
God Bless

Writing - Prophesy, writing and human chipping

Perhaps the blog's title should be the other way around - 'Writing and Prophesy'. It is a bit of a chicken and egg question.
Driverless Cars
Yesterday it was announced that driverless cars can be tested in four parts of the UK - Coventry (the furthest north), Milton Keynes, Bristol and London. Authors' imaginations are truly amazing as these vehicles have appeared in a number of works.Demolition Man starring Silvester Stallone, Sandra Bullock and Wesley Snipes originated around 1993.I, Robot adapted from Isaac Asimov's story written in 1950 and adapted for the screen in 2004 starring Will Smith.In both cases the script writers have had the freedom to introduce these vehicles as there has been interest, speculation and experimentation on this technology since the 1920s. They say it will be ten years before we can walk into a showroom and purchase such a vehicle for ourselves.
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Other futuristic and therefore prophetic subjects that have appeared in literature include time travel and the use of robots. In the film series Robocop there are a couple of issues that may have some momentum. 
Obviously there is the use of robots to maintain law and order, which I don't believe is likely to happen, but the use of replacement limbs that are electronically controlled is on its way. The second issue is the increased sophistication in police surveillance to the point where computer interpretation of the patterns in crowd movement are believed to be able to predict civil unrest. Obviously, the way that is handled is a separate matter but what other purposes could that level of surveillance be used for. If it is possible to look at a computer image of crowd dynamics what about assessing individual human behaviour?
[image error]A human chip
There is a company in Scandinavia that offers its staff a chip which can then allow them access to the building by holding the chip to a reader that allows them to pass - no codes necessary. We chip our dogs and cats in case they get lost or are stolen - how long before humans are chipped for similar purposes? People with Alzheimer's often wander off raising fears for their safety, if they were chipped!!!
[image error]Chip is in the top right corner
An article in the Washington Times published in January 2014 predicts the mandatory use of human chipping within the next ten years. It also gives examples of the use of chips in UK passports and the London Oyster Cards. 
[image error]Chip on the bottom right

If you carry your passport, or more likely an oyster card the chip inside will report your location to ever is running the computer that is monitoring its use. In fact any local authority, including my own, that issues a card that can be 'read' electronically will likely be able to ascertain your whereabouts at any time. Some would say that it is a good thing but if you consider yourself a free person you may want to fight this step in surveillance tooth and nail.
From the writer's point of view what we were writing not so many years ago as SF will seem dated if we don't move forward with the developments that are happening as I write. Keep reading folks!
God Bless

Poetry Thursday 147 - Aitch-Ess-Bee-Cey

Aitch-Ess-Bee-Cey
I won’t tell you how I came to mon-eybut I’m sure that it wasn’t by stealth.I gave the cash to aitch-ess-bee-ceyand asked that they increase my wealth.
That upstanding organisationand protector of ill-gotten gains,came to a frightful, fiscal decisionafter wracking their corporate brains.
We’ll send your cash out to the gnomesand there it will grow – tax free.Some in the UK may lose their homesbut that won’t concern aitch-ess-bee-cey.
Caught out alas by a whistle-blowerwho nicked numbers of statements,each with the ‘undeclared’ tax answeron opening forms – a common constant.
UK government is in a dilemma,what to do with the errant bank?Aitch-ess-bee-cey named a cheaterfrightening many of higher rank.
For now establishment maintains a silencetax is being paid – I’m losing mon-ey!Bankers are urging quiet patiencetrust us here at aitch-ess-bee-cey.© David L Atkinson February 2015

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God Bless

Writing - 'I told you so' & HSBC

I laughed out loud this morning when a news item came up concerning the foods that we should or shouldn't eat.

I actually heard a scientist from a university say that we should be eating red meat, saturated fats and fewer cereals and less bread. She also actually said that the human body was evolved to eat those things and that obesity had more to do with the over-indulgence in carbohydrates. I can hear my late mum saying 'I told you so'.She lived a hard life, being orphaned at the age of eleven and then passed to relatives who weren't that enthusiastic about taking her on. But she lived until she was the grand age of 90 years and I feel sure that if asked what secret there was to longevity she would say simply 'Eat natural foods'. By that she would talk about fresh unpreserved and unrefined foods and meat. She even lamented the lack of marbling in meat in her later years insisting that the fat in the meat enhanced the flavour. She never removed fat from meat, always ate full fat salted butter and in fact ailed very little until her final year or so.The research that was announced this morning seemed to be supporting an old-fashioned style of eating when there were fewer choices and food was produced seasonally and eaten fresh.
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We bought our first fridge when I was around five or six years old in the mid 1950s and like people who lived around that time you bought fresh and ate fresh.This was one of my Mum's 'soap box' issues and I've always felt that if we humans introduce chemicals into food which are not occurring naturally and then ingest them surely we are putting things in our bodies that may create adverse reactions. Throughout my life I've seen increases in allergies, asthma, cancers, unnatural behaviours in school children, obesity and many other health issues and it would be too simplistic to put them all down to food additives however we were never intended to absorb and digest food colourings etc.
Another soap box issue. 
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It was announced yesterday about the tax avoidance behaviours of HSBC that apparently occurred around 2007 and has been investigated since resulting in a prosecution in this country and the recovery of millions of pounds. Apparently, it was the Swiss banking arm of HSBC that provided sanctuary for many millions of undeclared pounds. 
Am I stupid or cynical or both? 
If a person comes into money irrespective of from where what is the first thing that they do? They look for a place to get a high interest yield and then they look to avoid losing too much of that yield through heavy taxation. How do they go about that? They hire an accountant or go to their bank for advice. The banks and accountants then do their best to fulfil the wishes of the newly well-off. 
Am I saying something new? Definitely not! So then it is hardly surprising that financial institutions will do their best for their customers. They want to keep customers and try and get more and of course they are run by human beings who are weak and open to temptation. So we shouldn't be surprised. I'm not justifying illegality in any way and feel sure that there will be further announcements but it just astounded me that it was such a surprise announcement.
God Bless

One Pot Cooking = Fish Stew from Syracuse

Once again I've turned to Clarissa Dickson-Wright's One Pot Cooking for a recipe. When you like preparing food, recipe books make excellent Christmas presents - Thanks Son!I felt that I knew where Syracuse was when I saw the title of this recipe - Italy - well Sicily in fact. However, when I Googled the name it came up with a city near New York! This stew is from the Sicilian version.
[image error]Syracuse
I make no apology for producing yet another fish dish but I could happily live from that source of protein, there are so many variations. I also enjoy Italian cooking with the olive oil and tomatoes and this dish has it all.
Fish Stew from Syracuse
The very early food writer Archestratus, who was writing in 345BC came from Syracuse. His best known work is a poem called 'The Life of Luxury' and he may well have eaten this stew.Simply, the more fish you put in the better it is and the firmer the fish the better it is. I used smoked haddock, hake and salmon because they were readily available.There is no need to be nervous about this recipe it couldn't be simpler, just throw everything into a casserole and cook for an hour or so.
The full recipe is on the appropriate TAB

The plate above shows the stew served with mashed potatoes and peas but it goes great served in a soup bowl with crusty bread, pittas or Italian bread.

God Bless

Writing - Writing from where you're at

The title of today's offering is the result of watching 'The Magic of Belle Isle' and reading an article by author and journalist Will Self. In a sense there isn't much of a link other than from in the film the line 'you have good instincts writing from where you're at' and Will Self is comparing the sort of people childless people and parents are.
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In fact in some ways the two examples are contradictory. In my first teaching job the headteacher used to annoy us young folk intensely by saying that we wouldn't be good teachers until we had our own children. Will Self, a parent himself, wasn't being as crass but was suggesting that in some ways parents were more complete than those without parents. In point of fact neither my head teacher or Self were wrong. The point is, as a writer, you should use what you know and what you've experienced.The above doesn't preclude anyone from putting pen to paper. From the youngest to the oldest all have experiences. I have marked some great stories written by school children and perhaps in the hurly burly of working and being a parent myself, I missed an opportunity by not compiling a collection of those stories. In short write if you feel that you want to.
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In fact knowing yourself may help when writing, however, that comes with a health warning. The activity is putting ideas on paper and if you over think that process it will be almost impossible to complete anything but the shortest of articles. It remains essential that you get the ideas down and the person you are will automatically colour the style of what you produce.
On the other hand knowing yourself should enable you to feel confident that you are accurately representing yourself in what you produce. As you grow and age your relationships and experiences are a library of information about people and how they react to each other and so enable you to better understand your characters and their interactions in your stories. Some of the information in that 'library' may be observed rather than experienced but they are just as valid.
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So understanding oneself. The above diagram is a representation of Sigmund Freud's attempt at explaining personality. He expounded his theories at the end of the 19th century and many better qualified people than me have attacked, supported and made suggested changes according to more modern scientific study. If you wish to read more then Google Freud and you will have oceans of material. The important point is that it is one way of analysing oneself and what makes you tick, therefore where you're at when you write.

The really important point is enjoy the experience.
God Bless

10 things we didn't know last week

One piece of news which hasn't hit the magazine as yet is a request to move daffodils and their bulbs away from fresh fruit and veg in the supermarket because the bulbs resemble onions and the leaves Chinese vegetables and both are poisonous,. What are people learning these days?



1. Saying "ow" makes immersion in very cold water less painful.
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2. A 51-year-old software engineer named Bryan Henderson has edited Wikipedia 47,000 times to remove the ungrammatical term "comprised of".


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3. The Archbishop of Canterbury is allergic to garlic.


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4. Cats are significantly less stressed when they have a cardboard box to hide in.


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5. Some 15,152 types of life forms have been identified on the New York subway.


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6. A baby is born on its predicted due date just 4% of the time.


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7. It costs £3.20 ($5) to commission a spear from a Ugandan blacksmith.


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8. The world's largest crane ship is named after a Nazi war criminal.


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9. Chinese internet users are banned from posting messages using the names of famous people.

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10. Dutch and Scottish chimps have different grunts to signify the word "apple", and the former can pick up the latter's accent.


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God Bless

Writing - Readers Gazette

There are many different sites where authors like myself can display their wares, Readers Gazette is one such developing site that seemingly offers quite a large market. One of the reasons that I was attracted to the site was because of a phrase on the masthead,


'May our passion for reading never die'
I advise you to take a look at The Readers Gazette via this link.
My 10 books as of December 2014
Steele   My hero was created post recession and so has no concept of how 'good' things were pre-2008. In 'I Have To Get It Right' when he began to flex his muscles he was working in an accountant's office. Then after the Gurentai took him under their wing and removed all of his financial worries, it was justice that was his major concern. He did become involved in international relations in 'The 51st State' but it was for the maintenance of a respectful distance between countries, rather than economic reasons. His trips into the USA had repercussions which can be read about in 'The Biter Bit' but then by the time things began to change in 2011 and the recession was really biting, Steele was trying to make sense of the state of the nation in 'A Changed Reality' and coming up against some really nasty people taking advantage of the shortage of money. By the time the USA are out of their recession Steele's steps are still being dogged by an unknown enemy from the same country. In 'Inceptus' we also find out more about what makes the man tick. The most recent Steele book 'Castled' where Steele is once again at risk from unseen enemies. It would seem that he has become quite recession proof!
The most recent addition to the Steele family is Earth plc in which our hero is concerned with political and emotional issues in this crime fighting adventure.
All books are available in paperback or ebook through Amazon, Smashwords and all good book shop websites.


Cessation 

This is a dystopian story that hinges directly on the state of the nation as a result of fiscal mismanagement. Having said that it is more a story of human relations, privations, love and loss.
Poetry - there are also two thin collections of poetry available solely through Amazon.
The Musings of a Confused Mind 
and
Words from the Raindrops 
God Bless