Lance Greenfield's Blog, page 70

A Doubtful Sound

This evening, I am at The Louisiana in Bristol with a few friends and family, and a big bunch of fans of A Doubtful Sound. My grandson, Ollie, is the drummer. It is ear-splitting Rock, but good quality. They are a New Zealand band, resident in Bristol 

Here’s a YouTube clip from two weeks ago. 

 

Blogging – One Year Later

I officially started my blog on 16th November 2014, but the original objective was to raise visibility of my debut novel, Eleven Miles, which was published on the 16th of December.

Since then, I have made so many good friends on WordPress. I have learned a lot, especially by participating in Blogging 101. Most of all, I have had a lot of fun exploring other blogs and posting a variety of posts and pages on my own blog.

I am particularly proud of my time-traveling Coach Tours, which have proved to be very popular. The latest, number seven, visited the Shandu Summer Palace, where my tourists met Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. In the words of one of my friends, “it was a hoot!”

If you like quotes, you really should join Silver Threading’s (Colleen Chesebro) Writer’s Quote Wednesday. Not only is it a lot of fun, but the other participants always give you a lot of food for thought with some of the wonderful quotes that they bring to your attention each week. Why not join us?

Many of my followers have also enjoyed the very short snippets that they find on my Titbits tab. They only take a few seconds to read, but they are guaranteed to make you COL (chuckle out loud). Take a look, if you haven’t already, and leave as many comments as you wish.

As the year draws to a close, I look back at my New Year Resolutions for 2015. I am very close to achieving all of them, but I could do with your help. Because I looked like over-achieving, I came up with a revised list in mid-February. My original target was to have 100 followers of my blog by the end of 2015. I was already at 92 in February, so I changed the target to become 250. I currently have 245 followers.

Perhaps you, my dear friends, would be so kind as to pick on one of my posts that you particularly like, and share it with your own followers?

My thought is that this action will bring the five that I need to meet my goal will soon come flocking to my door. Go on! Give it a go!

Thanks for help, and may I take this opportunity of wishing you all the best for 2016.

Blogging me, blogging you and having great fun together!

Writer’s Quote Wednesday – Age and Enthusiasm

Image credit: silverthreading.com

Today I celebrate my sixtieth birthday. When I was at school, a thirty year-old looked very old to me. Today she looks very young.

I don’t feel as if I am sixty. I feel as full of enthusiasm for life as I did when I was sixteen. Thinking about it, I am probably even more motivated now than I was when I was a teenager.

I am still a child. Ask anyone who knows me.

I still love to play [field] hockey every Saturday. I have been playing since I was seven. My team-mates often tell me that I will eventually get it right if I keep trying.

I run almost every day. When I don’t run, I row my machine in the garage for at least four kilometres. I love my job and interacting with my colleagues around the world.

I enjoy writing and will soon publish my second novel. Check out my first: Eleven Miles.

I enjoy time travel more than I ever did, especially now that I have perfected my coach. I delight on taking my tourists to times gone by to meet some of my oldest acquaintances. Please join me on my latest coach tour.

I don’t have any real secret to maintaining my motivation and enthusiasm. Sub-consciously, I have been following Aldous Huxley’s advice for decades, and I shall continue to do so.

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which means never losing your enthusiasm.”

Aldous Huxley

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Lance’s Coach Tour #7

It seems to have been a very long time since our last tour, when we visited Queen Boudica as she prepared to go into battle, but it is really only a single click on the control for my newly installed chrono-coils. The tip that Eloise gave the Iceni Queen that day, certainly cut the invading Romans down to size the next day!

Welcome aboard the birthday bus!

Today is my sixtieth birthday, so I am pleased to see so many of my old friends coming along to join me on our seventh time-traveling coach tour. And it’s great that some of you took the trouble to bring along a few of your own friends to share the experience.

Welcome aboard, one and all, friends old and new. We are going to have a palatially magnificent time together today.

I was tempted to drop in to re-visit Ludvig van Beethoven as he shares my birthday and I am sure that he would have enjoyed another of Teagan‘s lovely cakes. The combination of cherries, mascarpone and marsala certainly settled his mood after we’d delighted in hearing his third symphony last time we saw him in Vienna.

Then there was a thought that we might visit another birthday boy: Arthur C Clarke. But he had a lot on his mind when I saw him at the weekend. MGM were pushing him for final copy of 2001: A Space Odyssey, which they believed could be the greatest movie of the ‘sixties. Of course, we now know that they were right, but I couldn’t tell him that, could I?

In the end, I couldn’t ignore the vote.

“Today, ladies and gentlemen, by popular demand, we are on our way to Shangdu, which some of you will know as Xanadu.” As I announce that, the ever present Howard strums a chord on his guitar and bursts into an impression of Olivia Newton-John. I wish he’d change the tune, but all the passengers join him.

Sherry, Barb, Tess, David, Sheila and Yvonne strike up in perfect harmony. Olga, Hugh, Kathryn and Colleen are soon singing along too.

As the bus rolls out of Victoria Coach Station, I make an additional announcement which has the effect of raising the excitement even further. “If I have set the dials correctly…”

“And you usually do!” shouts Lucie.

“….. we will be arriving in Kublai Khan’s famous Summer Palace during the visit of the Venetian traveller, Marco Polo!”

Victo Dolore jumps out of her seat, screaming in delight. “This is a dream come true! Are you serious, Lance?”

“I most certainly am. Now fasten your seat-belts, we’ll be there and then in just a few minutes.”

Our bus accelerates smoothly and the landscape around us becomes a blur.

Some of the newcomers are wondering if we are really going to Shandu.

“WHERE we go is not the most amazing thing about these trips,” explains coach tour veteran, Ritu, to some of the newcomers. “It is to WHEN we go.”

This worries her audience.

“Do you mean that we could end up in any time? Or any place?” asks Jennifer, fearfully.

“Oh. Don’t worry. Lance knows what he’s doing. He built this coach from scratch. He knows every nut and bolt of it. Furthermore, he knows all of the characters that we visit as if they are all his old friends. You’ll see.”

The Court of Kublai Khan

Marissa, Karin and Chuck breathe a sigh of relief as the bus slows to a halt. It seems that we have hardly left twenty-first century London. In fact we have arrived almost eight hundred years before we departed.

The doors open with a swoosh and the passengers disembark into a magnificent hall. The floors are marble. The pillars are marble. The distant walls are marble. The multiple colours are dazzling.

“Wow!”exclaims Kamal, who has always had an eye for true beauty.

Kublai Khan

As a distinguished-looking man, in garb that is very strange to the recently-arrived travellers, approaches, all of the people in the large hall bow towards him.

“Welcome Lance. Thank you for bringing so many guests to my feast today. I know that you promised me, but I was fearing that you would turn up alone.”

Vashti links arms with me and hugs me as I reply to the regal figure. She is in awe, and she wants to be close to me. This is an amazing experience for all of us.

“Esteemed Kublai Khan. I was honoured to be invited to your very special feast. as I told you, this is an historic occasion which will be recorded for all to marvel at for many centuries to come. The least I could do was to bring a few of my friends to meet you and your guests.”

“It is I who am honoured, friend Lance. Not only do I welcome you, the great time-traveller, but we also have another esteemed guest in our midst. All the way from Venice, may I introduce the greatest trader of our time, Marco Polo?”

Marco Polo

He steps aside to reveal his guest.

I look around my tourists. I can see that they are all extremely impressed. Their normal, continual chatter has been silenced as they realise the enormity of the occasion. As Lance has just told the great Khan, this is a truly historic occasion. They can hardly believe that they are a part of it. If video and social media had existed in those times, they knew that they would have been recorded and viral, right at that instant.

Kublai Khan claps his hands. Servants appear with tables and a feast appears, seemingly from nowhere. It is magical. All of the guest, including the passengers on my bus, sit themselves on the large cushions and start to tuck in to the wonderful dishes.

“Is that real gold?” Sylvia asks Lance, pointing at the glittering, spiced rice.

“It certainly is!”

The food and wine flow. The travellers admire their fine surroundings. Huge silk curtains hang from the ceiling. Magnificent statues surround the revellers. Queries reveal their identities. Some are the brothers and uncles of the Khan, but the most revered, by far, is the statue at the head of the hall. It is none other than the grandfather of our host, Genghis Khan himself!

Dancers and acrobats entertain us as we eat and drink.

Kublai Khan and Marco Polo are fascinated as Howard produces his guitar and plays a jolly 1960’s tune and all of my passengers join the chorus. It is certainly a merry event.

Sadly, the feast is over too soon and I usher my guests back onto the bus.

We all enjoyed the food. We all enjoyed the drink. We all enjoyed the entertainment. Most of all, we all enjoyed meeting two of the thirteenth century’s most famous characters.

“Now THAT is the way to throw a party!” exclaims Jeannette, with massive conviction.

As we whizz back, or should I say forward, to modern London, the excitement continues. On thing that we all have in common is that we are all bloggers. Everybody is thinking the same thought: “I can’t wait to share this with my blogging followers!”

Supplementary to that thought, they are processing to the front of the coach to suggest future destinations for Lance’s Coach Tour Number Eight and beyond. Where and when would YOU like to go?

Tell me!

 

There were many other bloggers who were on this trip who were not mentioned in my report. The following people shared the fun of our wonderful trip to the Shandu Summer Palace to meet Kublai Khan and Marco Polo:

Donna, David, Alka, Vashti, Francis, Ane, Lia, Itchy Quill, Dominique, Beth, Krissy, Lucy, Nydia, Carrie, Alka, Deborah, Almost Welsh Sarah, Janet, Erika, Wendy Kate, Sally, Tooty Nolan, The Owl Lady, The Crazy Bag Lady, Carol, CC, Bec, Sassycare, Jo, Jane, Diana,  Heartafire, Simple Head Girl, Barbara, Nydia, Carrie, Bec, Jason, Sassy, Amber, Steve, Allison, Vonita, Julz, Faraday’s Candle Sisters, Fiona, Ordinary Wife, Lili, Bridgette, Nunziapier, Izma, Meredith, Charise,

Boikanyo, Razorback, Marianne, Cindy.

Previous Six Coach Tours:

Stonehenge during its construction: meeting the foreman
1920’s New Orleans
Macedonia in 338 BC to meet Aristotle and the young Prince Alexander (the Great)
Syracuse in the mid-third century BC to meet Archimedes
Vienna in 1801 to meet Ludwig van Beethoven
First Century AD Britain to visit Queen Boudica on the eve of a great battle

Review: The Last Kingdom

The Last Kingdom by Bernard Cornwell

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The graphic descriptions in this book, some of them very violent and gory, others depicting the smells and sights of the ninth century, are wonderful. They do what historical fiction should do: bring the history of the age to life.

Cornwell bends recorded historical recorded fact, which is something by which I am never fully convinced, to suit his good story.

Uhthred is the leading character. We witness his development over ten years from the age of ten. He becomes heir to a minor lordship in the north east of England, on the mainland coast opposite Lindisfarne, when his brother is captured and beheaded by the marauding Vikings.

Uhtred is captured and adopted by the very Viking leader who killed his brother. He comes to enjoy the Danish ways and finds them much more exciting than the Saxon and Christian ways. This leads to difficult personal choices as he gorws up. His loyalties are severely tested all the way through, and he is never completely sure of where he should be. This becomes even more difficult after he is summoned by King Alfred the Great.

I cannot tell you much more with out spoiling it for you.

Some of the characters, including Uhtred, develop very strongly, whilst others remain shallow and weak. I fear for the development of King Alfred’s character in particular. As one of the main characters in the entire series, he should have more depth and colour by the end of the first book. He has his own weaknesses and flaws, but these should be part of a rich character development. I actually came to believe that Cornwell disliked the King that he researched, and his prejudice comes shining through. I may be wrong, but my hope is that the weaker characters will build in the second book, which I intend to read very soon.

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No Prejudice – again – Writer’s Quote Wednesday

Image credit: silverthreading.com

I apologize for re-using one of my previous contributions to Writer’s Quote Wednesday , hosted by Colleen Chesebro of silverthreading.com and Ronovan’s Be Wonderful on Wednesday (#BeWoW): (originally posted on 16 September 2015).

However, I immediately withdraw my apology because this quote is even more appropriate today than it was three months ago. I say that in the light of Donald Trump’s outrageous comments this week and many other recent events.

Thank you in advance to all of you who take the trouble to re-blog, re-post, re-tweet and even Press This very important message and the follow up that I posted a few weeks later. 

Original post:

Please forgive me for being a little self-indulgent this week, and also for being greedy.

I feel the need to use one of my own quotes which I feel is very appropriate to the times in which we are living, and especially in Europe. I want to combine that with my own personal life motto which I formulated when I was fifteen years old. So I am giving you two for the price of one, and the price you must pay is just to read this post, so it is almost free.

These follow on from the quote that I used last week from Thomas Edison:

“Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages.”

My own quote for this week is:

“I only have only one prejudice, and that is against those people who are prejudiced.”

Diversity

It upsets me that there is so much open prejudice in the world these days, much of it whipped up by the media and by politicians. I am very happy to have travelled, lived and worked all over the world. I have witnessed much. Being an emotional man, I can be equally stirred to tears by witnessing great acts of kindness as I can by seeing gross cruelty. I make no apologies to regular readers of my blog for repeating that statement.

I am very proud of my step-mother, Sheila Greenfield, who was the founding headmistress of the very first integrated school in Northern Ireland: Lagan College. Her ethos has always been, “There will be no prejudice, of any kind, in my school!” What she is saying does not just cover race, colour and creed, but also covers physical and mental ability and disability. It also covers every other difference between two humans that you could possibly think of, no matter how trivial.

Integrated schooling in Northern Ireland has made a huge contribution to the peace process in that troubled province. My belief is that it is one of the major keys to eliminating conflict throughout the world. So PLEASE, let’s have no prejudice!

Care for them all

And now for the motto that I promised to share with you all at the beginning of this post. The event that prompted me to conceive my personal motto occurred on one of the many occasions that I ran away from home as a teenager. I found myself in a South East Asian city outside a beautiful palace. This was the first time that I ever noticed a huge contrast between rich and poor. I cried for about two hours before spending all the cash that I had in my pockets at the market to buy some of these people a few bags of food.

As I made my way home, with my tail suitably between my legs and my eyes still filled with tears, the following came to me:

“One world, one people: care about them all.”

You’ll see this motto repeated at the foot of my profile (About Lance) on this blog.

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Eleven Year Old Granddaughter Asks about Donald Trump

Laughter: Carbonated Grace

Her mom’s reply: My 11 year old asked me why people (Donald Trump) were saying we should deport all immigrants, Hispanic and Muslim, why he wanted to start a database or have people wear numbers, why he thinks we should close our borders to an entire race/culture, why he said such angry and ugly words about people. She said ‘a lot of my friends wear scarves on their heads. They are not bad people, they are nice and my friends’. I have tried to explain to her what’s going on. I have told her both sides. That bad people have done horrific things in the name of a perverted view of a religion. That those things keep on happening all over the world. She has seen some of the news coverage about it. She, in her 11 year old head, is trying to understand something none of us will ever…

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A Smile a Day – Intro

Lance Greenfield:

I love this post.

It falls completely into line with my recent thoughts and my own recent posts. Just perfect and it certainly makes me smile.

Originally posted on Trent's World (the Blog):

Yesterday a friend on Facebook put up a post pretty much telling people to stop being such jerks online. This is a person who doesn’t go off the deep-end with political or (exclusive) religious posts. She usually posts very beautiful photography. Even if it’s a spider (one of her favorites), the photos are gorgeous.  She adds beauty to the world, never hate. I put the following up as a comment on her post (I deleted some personal stuff here):

“There are days I go in search of the kind, compassionate, loving and beautiful. Despite what we sometimes see on FB and elsewhere, there is much more beauty in the world than ugliness, much more kindness than hate or cruelty. Perhaps we should all make it a goal to make at least one person smile every day.”

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Review: A Woman with (no) Strings Attached

A Woman with (no) Strings Attached by Lucie Novak

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book. It was different. It is certainly erotica, but in a different form to that which I have previously read. It is an autobiography of a woman who suddenly releases a sexual side of herself which she never even knew was locked inside her.

Lucie is a family doctor from Prague. Her husband was a bit of a rotter. Her long-term lover, Tom, is a bit of a voyeur and is complicit, from afar, in her sexual adventures. She sets herself up for no-string-attached sex via an online dating site. Tom helps her to define her provocative profile, and even writes some of her correspondence with her online sex partners.

She has some fantastic times, and describes them very explicitly. She also gets into a bit of trouble from time to time, mainly when she ignores Tom’s experienced advice. There seemed to be more sad times in Lucie’s life than good times, but I think that is because, in this book, she held back on telling us about those wonderful parts of her life.

There is quite a lot in the text to make you laugh.

Lucie’s writing style is, and I use the word again, different, but I find it difficult to say how. Perhaps it is the Czech spin on her English. I don’t know. But the little quirks make it attractive to read.

Some of the descriptions of sexual acts are very arousing indeed, and fire up the imagination to very high temperatures. Other descriptions are a little clinical, but then, she IS a doctor!

The only niggle that I had was her repetition of “my sexual revolution.” It became a cliche. I suppose that, to be fair, that’s what this book is about. I did a count of the phrase, and it was only used eighteen times..

In summary, this is a good debut I hope that Lucie will write some more. Maybe she should have a go at expanding just one of her sexual adventures into a full blown novel which is total fantasy. If she does, I hope that she injects more of her wicked sense of humour.

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Book Tuesday: Knitting Can Walk!

Lance Greenfield:

I am grateful to Eloise De Sousa for this post.

Originally posted on Thoughts by Mello-Elo:

Thanks for joining me.

The cover reveal of Knitting Can Walk was launched earlier today and Lance has received a favourable response.

Today, I am proud to present the cover of the book. I designed it myself. Please let me know what you think. The story follows the adventures and misadventures of a teenage boy growing up in Hong Kong in the early ‘seventies. There is plenty of mischief, but at the centre of his story is the greatest achievement of his life.

Knitting Can Walk! will be published on 28th January 2016.

Capturing the spirit of a boy surviving the split of his parents, Lance describes Calum McDougal’s adventures in south-east Asia with his best friend James. Being parcelled off to each parent every couple of months has its advantages as we find out when the boys discover various ways of making money, which brush the lines of legality…

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