Ailsa Abraham's Blog: Ailsa Abraham, page 65

Tree Hugging, Motorbikes and the Goddess – an interview with Ailsa Abraham | Shani Struthers

Tree Hugging, Motorbikes and the Goddess – an interview with Ailsa Abraham | Shani Struthers.

 

Shani very kindly invited me around to her place and Cam tagged along too. So you can read about both of our writing here.

Thanks so much Shani for the opportunity.

A very special reader

If you have read Alchemy and Shaman’s Drum you may have noticed that I acknowledge as one of my teachers Mike Williams PhD who set me off on the shaman’s path. To learn more about him you can visit his web page 

Today he has left reviews for both Alchemy and Shaman’s Drum on Amazon. I am so delighted that I’m nearly in tears. Not only does the Teacher now call the pupil his friend, he has great praise for her work. I could ask for nothing better. To compare me to the legendary Dion Fortune… (as famous as Tolkein in some circles) is beyond my wildest dreams.

He underlines the READ ALCHEMY FIRST message and I am grateful for his approval of my knowledge of faiths. (Yes, I used to hang out with a lot of Druids once upon a time). OBOD stands for the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids of which Mike is an adept, having gone through all three grades.

Mike Williams PhD

His review of Alchemy click here.

And of Shaman’s Drum…

5.0 out of 5 stars A tale that teaches as well as entertains, 29 May 2014


By
Mike Williams (South Wales, UK) - See all my reviews

(REAL NAME)



This review is from: Shaman’s Drum (Paperback)
I have to admit to a vested interest here as I am mentioned by Ailsa in her acknowledgements – even though, in reality, I did very little – and so my reading of her novel was spiced with extra anticipation. Since the publication of Alchemy (which I also review) it is clear that Shaman’s Drum is its sequel and the second of – may we hope – three books in the series.The story races along and the characters certainly get under your skin (you want to know more and more about the odd partnership of the heroes, Riga and Iamo – with some questions remaining unanswered until Alchemy was published!) but I was also struck by how much spiritual knowledge Ailsa has put into her novel. In a way, it reminded me of reading Dion Fortune, whose novels entertained as well as taught. Ailsa shares her, evidently first-hand, knowledge of shamanism and also of other faiths, although not orthodox religion as this has been banned in the world of Riga and Iamo. As a member of OBOD, I was particularly amused by her portrayal of Druids; she has clearly been to a lot of grove rituals! This is a book for everyone: a good story, compelling characters, and always grounded in real wisdom and knowledge. But read it second after Alchemy!

 

My Creative Process

My Creative Process.

Mark Ethridge responds to the Creative process prompt and it is fascinating.

His motivation and way of working match mine almost exactly but being a computer genius he has different names for it. Thanks Mark, fabulous read!

…happiness is Curly-Wurly-Shaped Fries… #TBSU…

ailsaabrahamwp:

And the French think “English” cuisine is dreadful -they haven’t lived!

Originally posted on Seumas Gallacher:

…some, who probably know much better about these kinda things than this ol’ Jurassic, say ‘yeez are what yeez eat’… and I can’t say I totally disagree with their assertion… in my Twitter header self-description I even include the phrase, ’TV football couch potato’… my ancestry traces ‘way back to Ireland, where the humble spud was so much a staple of the nation’s diet, when the potato crop famines came, the people left… thus enriching greatly the rest of the planet, notably North America… my own folks descended from these good Irishers, and have been frightening the daylights out of Scotland ever since… a Scotland which baffles the WURLD with its culinary specialties… the inimitable Haggis, which continues to perplex gourmets everywhere…  and of more recent invention, Fried Mars Bars… which causes just about equal consternation to the International College of Heart Surgeons… but let it…

View original 191 more words

B is for Bears (of the Teddy variety)

ailsaabrahamwp:

Today- a reblog. Another of the most successful posts we have. Enjoy and please remember, if you want to adopt an orphan, I’ll only ask for their bus-fare to get them to you.

Originally posted on Ailsa Abraham:

So what on earth do Bears have to do with magic?  Yes, I do mean teddy-bears, not big grizzly totem animal bears, they will come later on. I am talking about teddy bears.

Bears are the first magic most of us come across as a child. Who didn’t hug their teddy and talk to them when they were angry or frightened? Who didn’t treat their teddy as a Fae friend without even knowing they were doing it?

It takes only a very little shape-shift to watch a teddy bear become its real self, yes, a real live helper. If you find a teddy that is lost and doesn’t have a person, they need love and attention but once they get that, they perk up, they find their name again and if you are very lucky, they find a new home which needs a new “protector”.  If not, well they…

View original 165 more words

Meet My Main Character Blog Tour (the article)

I was nominated by one of the most prodigious bloggers on the net, the fantastic Jo Robinson. Not only does she produce highly original work, she very generously shares and re-blogs others that catch her eye. I’m looking forward to welcoming here to the Bingergread cottage so that you can all meet her and I am honoured that she included me in such great company today.

 

What is the name of your character? Is he/she fictional or a historic person? I was in a quandry here. My books are told from the points of view of several people which gives a different slant on events. In the end I chose Riga, my female lead because she is closest to my heart, probably because she is a version of my younger self. She is fictional but like many writers I find that my characters are often a mixture of people I know. Either physically or in quirks and habits they are drawn from real life.

.

When and where is the story set? This is the third part of the Alchemy Trilogy and is set in the near future. In some ways life has changed dramatically. A cheap, easily-produced and limitless alternative to fossil fuels has been found but in exchange the major religions of the world have been banned to stop war and terrorism. This world is still recognisable as our own although most people’s preoccupation is with their energy input and use. Given that the vast majority only paid lip-service to a religion, they are happy to exchange it for free transport and heating etc. The use of magic is widespread and tolerated under the control of the Council of the Wise, paganism in all its forms having slipped through the net when religions were banned. This means that it is seen as just another profession discreetly practised..

3. What should we know about him/her?

Riga is a feisty, independent woman who had a career as a magical assassin in an enclosed order of Black Shaman. During her adventures in Alchemy she fell in love with a priest of the Goddess and in Shaman’s Drum, they finally won the right to be married.

4. What is the main conflict? What messes up his/her life?

At the end of Shaman’s Drum Riga found that she was pregnant, her husband Iamo having made a deal with the Council that they could produce a child, even though magic-users at their high level were forbidden to do so. In exchange they would agree to never use their magic again.

At the beginning of the third book, her entire life has been turned upside down. Never having expected to be a wife or mother, that is the situation in which she finds herself. Most women I know have gone through the “possibility of pregnancy” at some time in their life, either with fear or joy but it had not figured in Riga’s calculations at all. Also, as a magic user she could not use modern technology because her energies interfered with the systems. Now she has to learn to use something as basic as a mobile phone, drive or do any of the things that we take for granted. She is in her mid -twenties but a mere child in the ways of the outside world.

5. What is the personal goal of the character?

I think, given all of the above, never having envisaged motherhood, her goal is to learn to live as a non-magic user and above all, prepare to be responsible for another life. The upheavals in her own life could be likened to winning the lottery but even more stressful.

6. Is there a working title for this novel, and can we read more about it?

At the moment the working title is “Reunion”. This is party because characters who figured in Alchemy but weren’t present in Shaman’s Drum will be returning. There is another reason but I’d prefer to keep that secret. There will be a great many surprises in this final book in the trilogy.

Given the unexpected turn of events, I will be keeping it firmly under wraps but reading Alchemy and Shaman’s Drum will be very helpful to anyone wanting to fully enjoy Reunion. I can say that some of the readers’ favourite characters will be returning and playing a major role in the adventures. Obviously with their new role as parents, Iamo and Riga themselves will change somewhat. Nearer to publication I will, of course, be revealing extracts on this blog.

7 When can we expect the book to be published?

Unfortunately, due to health problems, I have not been able to work on this book as much as I would have liked so I would be very surprised if it were published this year. I think early 2015 would be a more realistic goal.

 

 

Find all my work on Goodreads

My nominations for next week are David W. Robinson, Gina Dickerson, Carol Hedges and Sarah England. 

Other friends may be joining in too – come back and see who picks up the baton.

 

Monday Funnies

ailsaabrahamwp:

Monday funnies – thanks to the Ape and to Jack Eason for these. I am that fool in number 7!

Originally posted on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Meet New (to me) Authors Blog:

The following funnies were contributed by my good friend and author JACK EASON

You can see his great blog by clicking HERE and read my feature article about him HERE :D

MURPHY’S OTHER 15 LAWS

1. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.

2. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.

3. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.

4. A day without sunshine is like, well, night.

5. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.

6. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.

7. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

8. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% probability you’ll get it wrong.

9. It is said that if you line up all the…

View original 124 more words

Read the instructions

 

I completed one of those tests on line recently that proved that although a woman, I think more like a man. Hardly surprising, then, that I have an in-built aversion to reading instructions. I did this with social media. Knowing there was a wealth of information about it out there, including Nicola Morgan’s excellent book “Tweet Right”. I bashed ahead and made just about every mistake possible.

A few years down the line now, I thought I’d share a few of the hints and tips I’ve picked up, learning the hard way. As you probably know by now, I see Twitter and most especially FB as a large party where you mix and mingle with everyone there.

Don’t take it personally. Even when it is directed at you personally, it is far safer to walk away. Those who know you well won’t believe whatever is being said and if you don’t do this you could spend your whole time defending yourself. That is not what it is meant to be about. You wouldn’t start a bar brawl at a cocktail party, don’t do it on line.

If someone chooses to ignore you, that’s their choice. It might be a Twitter or FB screw-up and they didn’t mean to unfollow or unfriend you. If they did, don’t chase them around the net wanting to know why, it’s very undignified and yes, I did it and wish I could apologise to the lady concerned.

If you have causes about which you feel very strongly, think twice about what you share because you will get people’s backs up. It is very much a case of those who stick their head above the parapet get bricks thrown at them. If you are prepared for that, fine.

On the other side of the coin, what people choose to write on their own walls is their business. If you don’t like it, ignore it. If they continually post things that irritate you, change your settings. It saddens me to see people falling out about one remark. You can be friends with people and agree to differ on certain viewpoints. If you can’t – get out of their company quietly without making a big fuss about it.

I sound like an expert, don’t I? Know why? Because even if I haven’t done all those things myself, I’ve seen other people doing it and getting enraged. Social media is just that – social. It’s meant to be fun.

Right!

Wrong X

 

 

An extract from “Alchemy”

 

Professor Sawhele Fielding has a discovery that will change the world. She visits her powerful businessman father, the South African banker, Hansje to discuss it. 

Without another word he led me through the hallway to his study and opened the six-inch thick security door. Facing each other on opposite sides of the large teak desk, he leaned back in his chair and held out his hands expansively.

“Praat, dochtor!”

Yes, Pa, I’m going to speak but you won’t like what I have to say.

Without going into the details of how the discovery had been made and side-stepping the identity of the researchers, I outlined what the catalyst could do, but not its components. I hadn’t even finished doing that when my father’s business mind honed in on the vital elements and he held a hand out.

“Show me the formula, Knoppie.”

“No. Nobody is going to see that, Pa, until I get some assurances from you. I’ve split the formula into three sections and mailed them to three different places. None of them will make sense without the others and I have destroyed the original.”

There was a grudging admiration in his rueful grin as he scratched his jaw.

“Well, you’re your father’s daughter, I’ll say that. How much, Sawhele? Don’t piss about, vrouw – you know exactly what this will be worth to my associates. You know or you wouldn’t be here now.” At least he was honest, but with my background he knew that I would instantly recognise the dangerous value of this formula.

I breathed in deeply and let a silence fall for a few seconds.

“I don’t want money. You know, Pa, that there isn’t enough money in the world to buy this secret. I want something much more than that.”

The pale eyebrows closed together and his eyes narrowed. That was the only response I got.

“Your associates, the Group can do anything. You can topple governments, you can get laws changed. Multi-nationals stand or fall by your “yes” or your “no”. That’s the sort of price I’m looking for.”

Swivelling in his chair to face the window, gazing across the lawns, he didn’t answer for some time.

“This knowledge could so easily get you killed, Knoppie.” It was a casual observation but icy in its delivery.

“Are you threatening me, Pa?”

“No. But a lot of other people would.”

“Well then, I’ll look to my loving Papa to protect me and negotiate on my behalf because…at the risk of pissing you off beyond belief, liefste, I’m not going to arrange for the formula to be handed over until all my demands are met. And if I get killed-off, nobody else will be able to put the pieces together.”

The back of his head was just visible over his chair, still turned away from me and I saw it shake from side to side.

“Fokkit, Knoppie, you have your mother’s arrogance and your father’s acumen.” The chair swung back to face me. “I just hope your deal is worth it.”

“The end of terrorism?” I said quietly.

“For sure,” he replied after a pause. “The oil-producing countries have a strangle hold on the world at the moment. Cut that and they become powerless, agreed. But how will that end terrorism?”

“Religion. Every bomb that has gone off, every person that has been killed up to now in terrorist attacks, was under the cloak of religion. Ban those and you end terrorism.”

My father didn’t seem at all surprised. His beefy face relaxed back into its normal expressionless pose. His poker face. You didn’t know what he was thinking and he didn’t want you to.

“Well, it has been discussed in private for a long time. As you say, as long as the major oil-producing nations were also deeply “religious”…” he hooked his fingers in the inverted commas sign, “then nobody would risk the backlash. Of course the politically correct lobby and the civil liberties mob would be up in arms but we can over-ride them easily enough.” His grin was like a hyena moving in on a newly-abandoned kill, so I decided the time was right to stroke his ego a little.

“Well, think about it. Your associates have fingers in every pie. The oil companies could transfer their interests from oil processing to methane production and construction firms would be laughing all the way to the bank with the new plants that would be needed.”

“Yes,” he nodded briefly, “and if this catalyst speeds up the process as quickly as you say, the plants could be made to any size. From a small unit to service a village in the veldt to a small town.”

“And the best part of it, Papa, is that the raw materials come from everyone’s waste, human and vegetable. Municipalities could collect all that in exchange for subsidised transport, heating, electricity…the possibilities are endless.”

“So what do you get out of it, Knoppie? Is this pure altruism?”

“The end of religion. That’s all. I know you and your Group can swing it with governments, the United Nations, anyone. I don’t want to know how you’ll do it but I know you can. There will be a lot of resistance, I know that too. But to live in a world that doesn’t depend on fossil fuels and where my children will grow up without the threat of a bomb on the tube or an airliner crashing into their workplace…is worth it.”

“And eventually Professor Fielding will rank alongside Mother Theresa as the saviour of mankind?” He could be very cruel.

“That thought hadn’t crossed my mind and I don’t want any recognition for it.”

“That’s not spoken like a true Fielding.”

“Well, I’m not a pure Fielding, am I, Papa? I’m not pure anything.” My voice was low when I said that and realised it was the first time we’d had a stand-off about my colour. Father ran his hand through his thinning hair and sighed.

“No. You aren’t, dochtor. And that’s not your fault.”

© Ailsa Abraham & Crooked Cat Publishing

Click on the cover of Alchemy on the right to buy your copy. 

 

Thanks

 

It’s a word we use all the time, isn’t it? We say thank you for the slightest thing. We are properly brought up to say please and thank you.

I wish there were a more profound word for thanks. I want to say something more. There isn’t a word.

Yesterday I went to the hospital for my final evaluation and I had masses of good news. If I tell you that my psychological diagnosis is a bit worse than the original one, you might find that strange. I’ll tell you why. Physically I’m in great shape despite the punishment I’ve meted out to my body. That was a great surprise.

Although I’m not in Britain, I get all the news from there and the situation with disability makes me very unhappy. I am registered invalid because of my Bipolar Condition and a deteriorating wonky spine. Over here we take a far more enlightened view of this sort of thing. As the doctors said to me yesterday, “Of course you are an invalid. Let’s be brutal. Who would employ you? Searching for a job would only make your mental state worse and that would be more of a burden on the state.”

Thank you. No, BIG thank you. I hear of people who are blind, hardly able to move and in a wheelchair but they are classified as able to work because they can button up their cardigan. Really? Are we being serious here? There are days when I could go back to my old job of teaching English to adults, my manic days when I am bursting with energy. My lessons would be fantastic. There are also the days when I can hardly drag myself out of bed. The “hide under the covers and cry” days.

No employer is going to accept that. The Social Security accepts that. They know that if I were forced to go back to work I would end up hospitalised in a very short space of time, they save money and give me my invalidity pension.

No, it isn’t funny having my conditions, but it is a HUGE relief knowing that I won’t have to fight the state to just keep a roof over my head.

I know that there are few bad apples that give the rest of us a bad name but from those of us who truly aren’t fit…thank you. Humble, sincere and grateful thanks.

Under the covers and cry day