K. Morris's Blog, page 758

Do Not Distract

As a guide dog owner I am very happy for people to make a fuss of my 4 legged friend, Trigger when he is not working. He is a wonderful dog and deserves to be fussed and played with as all work and no play makes Jack (sorry Trigger) a dull boy.

When working however it is imperative that Trigger and other assistance dogs are not disturbed. Distracting a guide dog can lead to me or another guide dog owner becoming intimately acquainted with a lamp post or the back of a number 7 bus, a fate which I am, you may be surprised to learn somewhat anxious to avoid!

The problem which I and other guide dog owners have is that many people see a cuddly dog and their immediate reaction is to call out to the animal or reach out and stroke it. I have lost count of the number of occasions on which I have politely had to request people not to distract Trigger when working due to the obvious dangers which can flow from doing so. Most people understand my explanation. However a minority either lack (for whatever reason) the ability to comprehend or, quite simply don’t care. One gentleman in my locality always greets Trigger when he is working and will often stroke him. I have explained, until I am blue in the face why he should not do this. However he still persists. What is one to do in such a situation, grin and bare it? Perhaps I should dress Trigger up to resemble the Hound of the Baskervilles. Would that act as a deterrent do you think?!

As I said above, I am very happy for Trigger to receive attention when he is not working. I do, however wish that the gentleman in my area would desist from distracting my (working) guide dog.

Let Us Return

Let us go quietly in to the wood

Let us go peacefully, become one with the trees

Let us be swallowed by nothingness

Let us return from whence we came.

Beauty In Bleakness

A wooded path

Beauty in bleakness

Fallen leaves stirred by a chill winter’s breeze.

Cold cuts like a knife

Exilirating to be alive

Words Are My Pleasure – Guest Post By Teresa Karlinski

Below is a repost of Teresa Karlinski’s article which originally appeared here on 1 December. The piece is being reposted due to formatting issues with the original, (down to me, not Teresa). Many thanks to Teresa for the below article.

 

Kevin

 

 

Thank you, Kevin, for this opportunity to guest post. I believe I have an interesting, short and sweet, offering for you.

W ords are my Pleasure

Tess (Teresa) Karlinski

http://letscutthecrap.wordpress.com/

Time: Where does it go? Most days it’s a race to keep up. It doesn’t wait, and slips away like water through your clenched fingers.

Reading: Don’t we all love it? Is there ever enough time to get our fill? I need a daily fix—at least a small one or I’m grouchy.

Life messes with our plans and schedules, doesn’t it? Instead of a novel, I’ll grab anything, even a cereal box to read words. Ha, you’ve done it too, I see.

Have you heard about the latest rage: anthologies—you know, books of single-themed stories by a number of different authors? Palpable-Imaginings has many variations on its theme, including mystery, fantasy, adventure, survival, nightmares and more. If, like me, you like assortment (no, not chocolates) or want to fill in those short pauses in life with an engaging story, check it out.

In this compilation, Palpable Imaginings, eight writers offer 17 stories. Start anywhere: the first story, the middle one or the last.

Variety in small doses works for me. What about you? If you’d like to take a look, have a peek here. (available in print copy only)

 

http://russtowne.com/ of A Grateful Man blog compiled the stories for this collection. The eight contributors are:

Russ Towne
William Barrett Burton
Vern McGeorge
Christine Fitchtner
Brad Latham Fort
Teresa Karlinski
Sandy Lardinois
Scott Schroeder

 

Thank you, Kevin, for the invitation to visit here. The pleasure is all mine.

 

December’s Short Story Contest

drewdog2060drewdog2060:

A great opportunity for established and budding authors alike to enter December’s short story writing competition on Tipsy Lit.

Originally posted on TIPSY LIT:

Are you playing? Then grab this badge, place it on your blog’s sidebar and link to this post!

You’ve got a story in you, right?  Somewhere, deep down, there’s something you want said, but more importantly, there’s something that you want READ.

Well?  Here’s your chance.

Every month Tipsy Lit is hosting a flash fiction contest on our blog.  You have every day in the month (except the very last one!) to enter the contest.  The last day, the winner will be announced and their story will be published on our STORY BLOG.

The only stipulation?  Your story can’t be any longer than 500 words.  Flash fiction baby!

HOW TO ENTER

Entering is uber easy!

Publish your 500 words story (with the title) on your own blog.
Be sure to add the Tipsy Flash Fiction badge and link it to this post.
Come back to this post…

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An Act Of Mercy Remains Free To Download For 1 Day Only

The free promotion of my collection of short stories, An Act Of Mercy ends today (1 December). To download An Act Of Mercy free please visit http://www.amazon.com/act-mercy-other-stories-ebook/dp/B00EHS74CS/ref=asap_B00CEECWHY_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1417418604&sr=1-4. If you read any of my books please do consider leaving a review.

 

Many thanks,

 

Kevin

…serious Authors… if yeez want to be taken seriously, then do yer research seriously…

drewdog2060drewdog2060:

An amusing but entirely correct post on the importance of research.

Originally posted on Seumas Gallacher:

…contrary p’raps to the image this ol’ Jurassic would like to project about himself, I don’t always get ev’rything 100%right… and not just the ‘I was wrong once, when I thought I was wrong’ kinda 100%right… and if getting yer knees kicked is evidence of mistakes, errors, faux pas, and sheer f*ck-ups, then my historical bruises would make a posse of hospital E.R. teams wince… notwithstanding that, Mabel (doncha LUV that WURD?… ’notwithstanding’), it is imperative to check yer facts, do yer homework… NUTHIN spoils a reader’s enjoyment of a good book quicker than when a wee factoid appears out of left field and is blatantly incorrect… in the days before the internet, quill-scrapers had access to dictionaries, atlases, reference libraries, and where relevant, back numbers of newspapers… fast-forward to the present day… much as I sum’times rail against the over-reliance on gadgetry (for example, checkout…

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Lets Talk About Eugenics

In 1913 the British Parliament enacted The Mental Incapacity Act. The legislation had it’s origins in the Eugenic idea that the poor, the mentally incapacitated and other marginal groups where placing an intolerable burden on the state and should be sterilised and/or confined to secure facilities (hospitals for “the mentally defective” as they where then frequently termed). Eugenics was predicated on the belief that defective genes where responsible for poverty, unmarried motherhood and other things which the eugenicists wished to eradicate. As a consequence of the Act 40,000 individuals where confined to institutions, those imprisoned ranging from those with learning disabilities through to petty criminals and unmarried mothers.

Eugenic measures where widespread with America being particularly zealous in their promotion via the Eugenics Society (a similar organisation existed in the UK). As a consequence of the murder of people with disabilities under the Nazi’s Action T-4 Programme eugenics, not surprisingly became a dirty word but as late as the 1970’s eugenic measures where being employed in Sweden against people with certain disabilities.

Support for eugenics has come from people with divergent political views. The Socialist Fabians (Sidney and Beartrice Webb) where strong proponents of Eugenics and the Labour MP Will Crooks described the poor as “almost like human vermin”. The Liberal Beveridge (the man responsible for drawing up the modern welfare state) advocated for Eugenics while Winston Churchill (a Liberal and, later a Conservative politician) advocated for Eugenics.

In “An Act of Mercy” I imagine a UK in which eugenics has been adopted as official government policy. Individuals are tasked by the government to visit families and identify those with disabilities. Anyone so identified is removed from their family and subjected to special measures. Such an idea was, in fact proposed by Leonard Darwin in the early 20th century although he did not support the killing of so-called “defectives” but their separation from the rest of society.

 

For an interesting article on the support for Eugenics by people on the Left please see the following piece in The Spectator, http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/5571423/how-eugenics-poisoned-the-welfare-state/. (The article is skewed as it fails to mention that many non-socialists also advocated strongly for eugenics, a fact mentioned in the comments following on from the piece. It is, none the less worth reading).

The New Statesman has a good article on Eugenics which can be found here, http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2010/12/british-eugenics-disabled.

For information on Will Crooks please see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Crooks.

For my collection of short stories, An Act Of Mercy And Other Stories please see, http://www.amazon.com/An-act-mercy-other-stories-ebook/dp/B00EHS74CS. An Act Of Mercy is free in the Kindle Store until Monday 1 December.

Fragment

Sunlight on a late November day,

Transitory beauty, all will pass away

A 4 Star Review Of My Collection Of Short Stories, The Suspect And Other Tales

A great 4 star review of my collection of short stories, The Suspect And Other Tales,

 

“I, too, enjoyed these stories. Short but tasty morsels that dont fill you up but yet leave you satisfied!”. My thanks goes to the reviewer for taking the time to write a review. For the review please visit the following link (http://www.amazon.com/review/R5ZYKHOEVDT3L/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8&ASIN=B00PKPTQ0U). To download The Suspect And Other Tales please visit the following links, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Suspect-other-tales-Morris-ebook/dp/B00PKPTQ0U/ref=cm_rdp_product, for the US or http://www.amazon.co.uk/Suspect-other-tales-K-Morris-ebook/dp/B00PKPTQ0U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1417268733&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Suspect+and+other+tales, for the UK).