Mark Cantrell's Blog, page 43
August 11, 2015
BLOG: Nine Worlds Geekfest 2015
First Contact made in the Nine Worlds of Geekdom
Mark Cantrell ruminates on his first venture into the weird and wonderful world of the science fiction and fantasy convention
THE phone rang. Sara asked me to get it, so I brushed aside my weird feeling of unease at using somebody else's mobile and took the call. It was Matthew; he was out there among the Nine Worlds and needed some navigational assistance to guide him to Inspired Quill's base camp among the vendors.
This was the Ni...
August 5, 2015
BLOG: Nine Worlds And Counting
THIS is a first for this author.
Barring any last minute hitches, in a few days I'll be joining the Inspired Quill crew at the Nine Worlds Geekfest to soak up the sci-fi ambience – and flog a few books, too.
So, am I looking forward to diving into the fray? Of course. Am I a tad nervous? Absolutely.
I've been to industry conferences and conventions before, but they were far removed from the world of science fiction, fantasy and all th...
July 18, 2015
NEWS: UK's First Indie Lit-Fest Seeks Sponsors
Hey, buddy, spare a dime for a red-hot Indie-fest next year? THE organisers of a new West Yorkshire Indie literature festival have appealed for donations to help cover the costs of the event.
Follow This Publishing, based in Bradford, and Cillian Press, are hoping to hold the UK's first Indie literature festival in the summer of 2016.
With a target of around £1,500 to get the festival up and running, the organisers are looking to find individuals and businesses willing to spo...
BLOG: Time's Running Out To Avoid Dystopia
Frankie Boyle and the sell-by date dystopia The point of dystopia is to challenge the now, writes MarkCantrell, but after years waiting for his novel Citizen Zero's now-time to arrive, along comes this...
THIS was quite a startling headline to encounter in my tweetstream the other day, what with being the author of a dystopian novel and all.
Ov...
June 21, 2015
POEM: Time Waits For No Mortality
By Mark Cantrell
Deeper
In the crushing depths,
Slow-motion plunge
Into the dark unknown,
The pressure squeezes,
Bones, and muscles, lungs
And brain; perception freezing
In the drowning force.
Below, waiting,
The Abyss,
Shadow mouth open,
Ready to swallow
This sun-kissed exiled morsel.
Arms wide,
Legs kick in feeble strokes,
Lips drawn wide in airless cry,
Drifting ever deeper,
Another victim drowned
In the Ocean of
Time.
Mark Cantrell,
Manchester,
22 November 2006
Copyright (C) No...
June 13, 2015
POEM: Don't Spill It!
By Mark Cantrell
Half full you say?
Nay,
That cup is empty,
For I have supped deep
Of the bitter brew of life,
Down to the very
Dregs,
Until nothing but the froth
And suds still cling to that cup’s
Rim and sides.
I might lick them, you may say,
Taste but one lingering afterthought
Of living’s liquor,
Before the suds congeal and dry
To crusty rime,
But I’ll have none of that!
I have drunk the cup of life,
Had my fill,
So let it stand and desiccate,
For I’ve imbibed enough
Of so...
May 31, 2015
POEM: Colourful Yorkshire
By Mark Cantrell
Yorkshire's rose is white;
White on blue,
That's the flag.
But Yorkshire folk
Come in every human hue,
There's no colour bar
On Ilkley Moor bah't 'at.
We're Yorkshire folk through and through,
The white rose folk,
Tykes one and all.
Mark Cantrell,
Manchester,
2 April 2015
Copyright (C) April 2015. All Rights Reserved.
May 24, 2015
PROSE: Words Make Telepathy
Synapses of the Soul By Mark Cantrell
HERE in the cold night, when the world is quiet and the distractions of the day are hidden in shadow, the writer sits to think.
He has nothing now to divert him from the words, but the smoking cigarette and the steaming mug of coffee. For the dedicated writer, these are no distractions; they are essential components of the writer's craft. Both work to stimulate mind and brain, encouraging the two in their symbiotic and mysterious process of generati...
May 17, 2015
POEM: Grave Attraction
By Mark Cantrell
A graveyard
Is such a depressing,
Delusive place.
All that space
Wasted on the dead.
All those corpses
Mouldering
Beneath the grass.
Their headstones mark the vanity
Spot, in weathered and mildewed rock.
Names and dates,
Engravings etched
In epitaphs and declaration:
Look at me! Look at me!
See who I am!
See who I was!
Remember me!
Such conceit,
This futility.
So, I ask you, corpse,
Who were you?
I see nobody
Now...
Mark Cantrell,
Stoke-on-Trent,
24 July 2007
Copyright (C)...
May 9, 2015
BLOG: Saved By The #VEDay70
My father, Peter Cantrell, was in the army when VE Day – Victory in Europe – took place.
That was 70 years ago, and with the country currently celebrating the anniversary, I thought it was an apt occasion to share this second hand reminiscence.
My father served in a light cavalry regiment, the Inns of Court, driving armoured cars. Like many old soldiers, he's said little about his time in uniform, just little snippets here and...
