K. Morris's Blog, page 831

Essay Writing Competition

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ME

Below is a short biography of yours truly. I won’t claim that it is comprehensive, it certainly isn’t, nor will I state that it reveals any secrets (not that I have any secrets to reveal you understand)!

 

KEVIN MORRIS BIOGRAPHY

 

I was born in Liverpool on 6 January 1969, a year best known of course for my birth. Well no actually it is better known for the moon landings which certain peculiar conspiracy theorists still maintain never took place (the moon landings that is, not my birth).

One of my earliest recollections is of eating roast dinners, on Saturday in British Home Stores with my grandfather. Although cooked in the kitchen of a department store they tasted wonderful to a small boy but then again it is easy to look back at one’s childhood with rose tinted spectacles.

On Saturdays my grandfather and I would invariably pop into W H Smiths and buy a book. Often he bought Enid Blighton books and I’ve happy memories of him reading to me about the adventures of Julian, Dick and Ann not forgetting Timmy the Dog (who could)! Being blind it was a real treat to sit on my grandfather’s knee hearing him regail me with children’s adventures. It was from my grandfather a man who had never so much dreamed of going to university that I derived my love of literature.

As I grew older I learned to read braille which opened up a world of independent reading to me. Only a tiny proportion of books are available in braille, however it was still amazing to me, as a young boy to be able to sit with a book on my knee reading for myself. Besides braille I was also a huge consumer of spoken word cassettes, everything from Treasure Island to Wuthering Heights. I still possess almost all of the many cassettes which I have purchased and had bought for me over the years but many of them have now warped with age so are, sadly unusable. Today it is the text to speech facility on my Kindle and Ibooks (using voiceover) on my Ipad which is my favourite means of accessing the wonderful world of literature.

I attended school in Liverpool and later went onto read history and politics at university. I must be a glutton for punishment as having obtained my degree I went onto study for and obtain a MA in political theory (I can see your eyes glazing over already)!

Since 1994 I have lived and worked in London. I live in Crystal Palace a part of London high above sea level and famed for it’s steep hills. It is very green and the air is much fresher than many parts of London. I like were I live and I’m lucky that my home overlooks a large garden and an historic park.

Enough about me for now at least.

My Amazon Author’s Page Is Here!

At long last I have taken the plunge and set up my author’s page on Amazon, http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B00CEECWHY. I have intended to do this for some time but for some inexplicable reason put it off due to labouring under the misapprehension that it would be difficult.

The advantage to having an author’s page is that it allows readers to see all your content in one place (E.G. books, book reviews, biography etc). The lack of an author’s page may lead to people not knowing that you have produced several books as titles are scattered throughout Amazon with no golden thread to link them to the same author.

I have experienced one minor hiccup. My book, Samantha appears under the name K Morris while my collection of short stories, The First Time shows under my full name, Kevin Morris. As I’m registered with Amazon as K S Morris I’ve been able to add Samantha to my author’s page but not The First Time. I’ve emailed Amazon who will, I’m sure resolve the problem.

Self Printed: The Sane Persons Guide To Self Publishing by Catherine Ryan Howard

I harbour a healthy scepticism regarding get rich quick schemes. You know the kind of scheme, buy my book or subscribe to my newsletter and I’ll show you how to become a millionaire in two shakes of a duck’s tail. I am pleased to report that Catherine Ryan Howard’s book, Self printed: The Sane Persons Guide to Self Publishing (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/Self-Printed-Persons-Guide-Self-Publishing-Edition/dp/1478385545), does not fall into this category. Howard whitterly guides us through the world of self publishing in both it’s traditional printed form (she recommends using Create Space) and it’s younger sibling, Amazon Kindle ebooks. The author humorously warns against dreams of literary fame (a few self published authors, for example E L James) will shoot up the best sellers list and earn eye watering amounts of money, however James is very much the exception and not the rule. Self published authors can, however earn respectable sums if they expend care and attention on their work.

Howard sees the perceived conflict between traditional and self publishing as unhealthy. Both self publishing and it’s traditional counterpart can survive and what is right for one author is not, necessarily the correct option for another.

Howard’s book is well worth a read and I’d recommend it.

The Mysteries of Amazon

I am, on the whole a big fan of Amazon. As a purchaser of ebooks I appreciate the sheer variety of Kindle content available. It is, quite simply mind boggling! From the point of view of an author I value the flexibility offered by Kindle Select which enables me to promote my books as free for 5 days in any 90 day period generating interest in my stories. However one aspect of Amazon which frustrates me is the way in which reviews posted in one country only appear in that jurisdiction. My book, Samantha recently received a 4 star review on amazon.co.uk which greatly boosted my sense of wellbeing when I read it. However on visiting amazon.com I noticed that Samantha showed as having no reviews. This is, to my mind bizarre. As a bit of a simpleton I would have thought that as Samantha is available world-wide reviews provided on one Amazon site should show up on all other sites. The same content is available globally so why can not the reviews show up world-wide? Reviews can be a factor in determining whether an interested browser turns into a book purchaser and anyone visiting amazon.com would not be aware that my book had been reviewed in the UK which could mean the difference between selling (or not selling) a copy. I would be interested to hear your views. Kevin

My page on Reddit

I have set up a Reddit account. You can find my content by going to http://www.reddit.com/user/newauthoronline. I hate the fact that each time one posts on Reddit it is necessary to solve a visual Captcha and there is no audio or other alternative to the dratted thing!

Review of Stolen Girl by Katie Taylor and Veronica Clark

I have just finished reading Stolen Girl by Katie Taylor and Veronica Clarke, http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00AWR8RL0?ie=UTF8&ref_=oce_digital. The book relates the true story of how 13-year-old Katie Taylor is groomed by a paedophile gang and systematically raped and used as the gang’s sex toy. The book opens with Katie trick or treating with her brother Andrew and her father at the age of 10, however this innocent pastime is replaced only two years later by horrific sexual abuse.

Katie is bullied at school and has a low opinion of herself making her an easy target for the paedophile group lead by Zeb. Zeb and the other men who abuse Katie ply her with alcohol and drugs to loosen her inhibitions. They claim to love Katie but their sole aim is to sexually abuse her. The final straw comes when Zeb asks the 15-year-old Katie to become a prostitute (thus far she hasn’t received money but Katie has, as mentioned above been plied with drugs and alcohol). Katie is so shocked and frightened by the suggestion that she confides in her school’s councillor who alerts the police. Following a wait of 2 years the 18-year-old Katie sees Zeb and several other of the gang’s members sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, however she is bitter that a number of the men who abused her are found not guilty.

The book raises two sensitive issues, that of paedophilia and Asian sex gangs. While stating that the majority of Asians deplore the sexual abuse of children the authors make it clear that all of the men who abused Katie where of Asian origin. Katie’s story is horrific and is wholly credible. However we should, if that is possible put her experience into context. Most Asian men do not abuse children and (as the authors acknowledge) are horrified by paedophilia. Also it should be borne in mind that the ongoing investigations into allegations of child abuse surrounding the late Sir Jimmy Savile relate primarily if not exclusively to alegations made against white European males. The bottom line is that people of all races commit acts of paedophilia and they should be condemned irrespective of their ethnic origin. I recommend this book.

And they all lived happily ever after

In February 2013 I published Samantha which tells the story of a young girl forced into prostitution by Barry, a brutal pimp in the city of Liverpool. Sam meets Peter and the two of them are soon besotted with one another, however Sam feels that she can not confide in her lover that she is, in effect a sex slave. The revealing of Sam’s secret life near the end of the book leads to profound consequences for all concerned.

In a 4 star review of Samantha a reviewer writes

“Some of the strands haven’t been tied up at the end and maybe that’s just what the author intended”, (see http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B00BL3CNHI/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1). The reviewer is right, that is precisely what I intended. It would have been easy to write an ending in which Samantha and Peter walk off hand in hand into the sunset to live happily ever after. It would have been easy but it would not have been credible. Sam has lied to Peter by telling him that she works as a nurse. He is, quite naturally angry and upset when he discovers the truth. Any hope of a relationship between Sam and Peter is dependent on them rebuilding trust, perhaps this is possible, perhaps not. The truth is I don’t, as the author of Samantha know the answer to that question hence the “loose ends”! Life is not a fairy tale. It is messy and complex and the ending of Samantha reflects this fact.

 

Samantha by K Morris Book Reviews

I have created a dedicated page with links to reviews of my books. You can access my reviews here http://newauthoronline.com/reviews-of-my-books/

New Poetry Blog

Yesterday I discovered a new poetry blog which I recommend http://emilyspoetryblog.com/. The blogger quotes poems and goes on to provide her own analysis. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Emily Bronte’s The Night Wind and W H Auden’s Time Will Say nothing.

Kevin