K. Morris's Blog, page 768

Like A Bad Penny I Will Be Back

My mum and her partner will be visiting from tonight until Tuesday 7 October and, of course we will be doing lots of family things together which I am looking forward to! This means that I won’t be blogging (well not quite so much) over the next few days. However don’t break open the champagne just yet. I will be back, like it or not from Tuesday. You have been warned!

Dining With Enoch

London is a melting pot with people from all parts of the world living, working and sometimes loving together. The lady who assists me in formatting my books and other administrative tasks is black British. Her boyfriend is white. This is, to me a sign of progress, that love and friendship can overcome racial and other differences.

Unfortunately not everyone thinks in the same way. Yesterday evening as I sat in my favourite Indian restaurant enjoying a curry I overheard the following snatch of conversation

Man, “Enoch Powell was right”.

Fellow diner sitting on an adjacent table, “Yes”.

Back in April 1968, the late Enoch Powell (a member of Edward Heath’s Conservative Shadow Cabinet) delivered what has come to be known as “The Rivers of Blood” speech, so called because of the line

“As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like

the Roman, I seem to see ‘the River Tiber foaming with much blood.'”

Powell was referring to the racial conflict which he believed would flow from allowing non-white immigrants into the United Kingdom. He called for “voluntary repatriation” of non-white immigrants and opposed the introduction of anti-discrimination legislation.

The speech lead to Powell’s dismissal from the Shadow Cabinet and is, to this day still sighted by opponents of a multi racial society.

I have known the owner of the Indian restaurant for many years. He and his staff are wonderful, kind, charming people and it is particularly sad that a customer chose to invoke Powell’s views on race in an approving manner in that restaurant. I wonder if the speaker considered the irony of his support for Powell’s sentiments as he sat enjoying his curry in an Indian restaurant which (had Powell had his way) would, in all probability not have existed. I doubt that this gentleman has much capacity for self examination so the answer is, almost certainly no.

Ultimately love and friendship cut across racial lines and Powell’s views are, thankfully slowly dying out.

For information on Powell’s speech please go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivers_of_Blood_speech

Cyborg

The baby nestled in your loving hands. Your soft caresses elicit no response from it’s dead, metallic body. You fall asleep and dream of texts, the phone grasped in your warm, cyborg hand.

5 Worst Publishers – BEWARE!

drewdog2060drewdog2060:

An interesting post (although I must add that I have no personal experience of any of the presses mentioned here).

Originally posted on Savvy Writers & e-Books online:

Author and e-Book Builder Deena Rae wrote in one of her blogs:

“The world of publishing has always been filled with scammers, and top of the list are vanity publishers. To those who have been in the world of publishing a vanity press used to be a bad thing, but with Penguin, Random House, Simon & Schuster, and even Harlequin getting into bed with AuthorHouse / AuthorSolutions to form so-called subsidiary presses. Now there is a sheen of “respectability” to vanity publishing…

.

Want to know which vanity publishers I personally find the worst? This is based just on my own research, observations and studying of lots of “publishing contracts”.  Top of the list are the ones that are operating under so many names and changing them so often, one can barely keep up with listing them:

AuthorHouse / AuthorSolutions (Penguin)
Alibi, Hydra etc. (Random House)
iUniverrse, XLibris, PublishAmerica, America Star Books

View original 412 more words

Birdsong On An Autumn Evening

An Autumn evening. The park deserted save for me and my dog. A solitary birds sings. Entranced I stand, his song bringing thoughts of sorrow comingled with joy. Beauty, pain and happiness, contradictory emotions stir within my breast.

The lonely bird continues to sing, his voice filling the darkening park.

Distant sound of traffick. I linger, reluctant to break the spell.

Later, the pub full of noise. Yet, through the din I fancy, dim and distant, the singing of the birds can be heard.

Come Back My Little Oxford

We have all done things in life which we later regret. As a child (teenager) I owned a Braille edition of The Little Oxford Dictionary Of Current English. I regularly consulted the dictionary (all 16 braille volumes of it)! To ascertain the meaning of words with which I was unfamiliar. It was an invaluable resource and, in retrospect I can not, for the life of me recollect why I decided to donate The Little Oxford to The National Library For The Blind in Stockport (UK). My decision to donate was no doubt connected with the proliferation of online dictionaries (why retain a dictionary which occupies a whole bookshelf when one can ascertain the same information by logging onto Google or another internet search engine of your choosing)? However I now regret my hasty decision, and wishing to obtain an updated replacement I logged onto the Royal National Institute Of Blind People’s (RNIB’s) website, only to discover that the Dictionary is no longer available in Braille.

Why the desire for a paper dictionary? Online dictionaries are convenient in that they do not take up shelf space. In addition an internet work of reference can (unlike it’s print counterpart) be easily updated. However online dictionaries (the free ones at any rate) tend to be chock full of advertisements (I hate wading through ads to find what I am looking for). Additionally I dislike being online while writing. The ideal, for me at least is to turn off my mobile, log off the internet and close e-mail thereby ensuring that I can concentrate, 100 percent on my writing. Also, to be frank I like leafing through paper dictionaries, perhaps at the age of 45 this love of traditional sources of reference is ineradicable. I suspect that in years to come paper dictionaries will become quite collectable. It will be a talking point when someone has on their shelves a copy of the last print edition of The Oxford English Dictionary but, in the meantime I still regret the loss of my 16 volumes!

http://newauthoronline.com/2014/04/21/shed-a-tear-for-the-oed/

The Condemned Man

The prison officer watched as the condemned man tucked into his last meal on earth. The smell of eggs, bacon, pork sausages and hot buttered toast caused his mouth to water,

“bloody murderers, they eat better than I do”

He muttered casting his mind back to the bowl of cornflakes and the lukewarm tea he had consumed prior to leaving for his shift in the prison earlier that morning. Well the prisoner who was showing such relish in devouring breakfast would in half an hour’s time be dancing a gig on thin air, as the noose tightened choking the life out of him.

“Enjoy it while you can my friend” the jailer said outloud.

“Thank you. I will”, the prisoner replied popping half a sausage into his mouth.

“There’s a lot of grub on that there plate of yours. Fact is you seems to ‘ave as much now as you did when the waiter brought it ten minutes past”, the jailer said scratching his head in puzzlement.

The condemned man grinned, chewing a piece of thick back bacon with relish.

“How many pieces of bacon do you ‘ave on that there plate?” the warder asked, looking with envy at the platter which despite the attacks of the prisoner still groaned under the weight of mouth watering bacon, sausages and eggs.

“Tell you the truth, I don’t know”, the prisoner said as he took another slice of hot buttered toast from his side plate.

“Aint that cold?” the jailer asked pointing to the toast which had been sitting on the plate for some time past.

“Nah, it’s as fresh as when it was toasted over the fire” the prisoner said as he licked butter off his fingers.

The warder glanced at his watch.

“Angman will be ere in five minutes. Best get a move on Johny”, he said addressing the condemned man.

“But rules say the condemned man is allowed to finish his meal”, the convict said.

“And so ‘e is Johny. All I’m sayin is I’d appreciate it if you would get a move on finishing it as angman’s due any time now”, the warder said glancing, yet again at his watch.

“I’ll finish when I’m finished and not a moment before”, the convict replied, pouring himself another cup of tea, from the china pot which stood next to the plate still piled high with delicious eatables.

“Remind me Johny, whats the name of that place you ordered your meal from? I’ll be eatin there meself. It smells so damn good”, the prison officer said, trying not to drool at the scent oeminating from the convict’s breakfast.

“Can’t you guess?” the prisoner said, spearing yet another of the never ending supply of sausages with his fawk.

“I wouldn’t ‘ave asked if I knew now would I”, the prison officer said, trying to keep the irritation out of his voice.

“It’s the Café Cornucopia”, Johny said as he tucked into yet another egg.

Anthology to Raise Money For Guide Dogs – A Further Update

I posted on 17 September regarding my idea to raise money for the Guide Dogs For The Blind Association (GDBA) by producing an anthology of stories and poems, (http://newauthoronline.com/2014/09/17/possible-anthology-to-raise-money-for-guide-dogs/). Many thanks to everyone who reblogged and agreed to provide material. I have now received the first story from Sally Cronin, (http://smorgasbordinvitation.wordpress.com/), – Many thanks Sally! A big thank you also goes to Dave Higgins for his kindness in agreeing to edit the anthology free of charge.

The anthology is still in need of contributors. If you haven’t already agreed to contribute and would like to do so please contact me at newauthoronline (@) gmail . com (the address is rendered thus to try and defeat spammers).

 

Many thanks,

 

Kevin

Automation

On Tuesday 23 September I picked up my home phone (landline) to make a call. The cordless handset produced only static and I was unable to dial out. I tried an experiment with my mum calling me to ascertain whether it would be possible to receive incoming calls. The phone failed to ring. It did, however make a slight noise and on picking it up the sound of ringing, but no mum’s voice could be heard.

On Wednesday morning I contacted my Internet Service Provider (ISP) who also provide my phone service, to report the fault. I fully expected to be asked 20 questions by the automated system prior to being privileged to speak with an actual flesh and blood person. However from start to finish I had no interaction with a breatheing entity.

An automated voice asked me to explain my problem (my inability to make or receive calls using my home phone). I was then asked whether I would like to divert calls to my mobile while the fault was being investigated. I answered “yes” and was asked to say my number. The system then repeated it back to me and asked me to confirm that my number was correct by saying “yes” or “no”. It wasn’t and I then had to enter my number using the buttons on my telephone.

Over the next few days I received regular texts updating me on progress. The first one confirmed that tests indicated that there was, indeed a problem with my line while the last one, received on Friday 26 September informed me that everything should now be working and asked that I confirm the position by text. I picked up the phone and joy of joys was able to make a telephone call. I texted my ISP confirming that the phone was now working and my interaction with a robot was at an end.

The whole interaction with Mr or Mrs robot was surprisingly painless and efficient. Other than the automated system not understanding the mobile number which I relaid using voice, everything worked smoothly. I have visions of an android engineer twiddling with dials, checking connections until, finally my telephone connection was restored to working order. Of course there was no android diligently working on restoring my telephone connection. It was a living, breatheing human being but, in the future who knows.

I must confess to having been sceptical as to whether the automated system would relay messages regarding my phone problems correctly. Surely something would go wrong? Well it didn’t and I admit to being impressed with the automated system employed by my ISP.

In theory at least the automation of tasks such as resolving faults should enable organisations such as my ISP to free up resources for customer services so when I have a query about my account which can not be answered by the online system, an actual person will pick up the phone, in double quick time and deal effectively with the query. Well I can live in hope!

I am Puzzled

I must confess to being puzzled as regards why reviewers who (by their own admission) do not care for a particular genre choose to review books which (clearly) fall within it. Very recently I came across a review which awarded a book 2.5 stars. By their own admission the reviewer is not a lover of romance which contributed to the low rating, (the work in question is, in part at least a romance).

I don’t review many books. However on those rare occasions when I sharpen my favourite quil pen, dip it in the ink well and write a review it is for a book which falls within my range of interests. I would not, for example review a Mills and Boon romance because romantic fiction is not, on the whole my cup of tea. The writing would, almost certainly not captivate me leading to a review which wouldn’t do justice to the author’s hard work. I could not, in fairness post such a review because, in my heart of hearts I would no that my own personal tastes had influenced it.

I have not read the book in question and have no acquaintance with either the author or the reviewer. I have taken the decision not to name the book or the reviewer because my comment is a general one and I have no desire to get into a discussion with the reviewer regarding their review. I would, however make a plea to reviewers to ask themselves prior to embarking on a book review whether their dislike of a particular genre could impact negatively on what they write.

 

(Note: I have reviewed one work of romance due to being intrigued by the author’s blog. You can find my review here, http://newauthoronline.com/2014/01/22/book-review-12-days-the-beginning-by-jade-reyner. I enjoyed the book). /