R.D. Hale's Blog, page 3
June 1, 2017
May 24, 2017
April 24, 2017
New Political Facebook page
I have created a new Facebook page dedicated to progressive politics. I intend to up my admittedly lame blogging efforts and share them on the Facebook page, too. The page is growing fast and my aim is too make a real difference, tackling the right-wing bias in the UK media and helping the spread of democratic socialism at home and abroad. This matters, so please give my page a Like and Share!
https://www.facebook.com/ABetterFutur...
https://www.facebook.com/ABetterFutur...
Is Jeremy Corbyn too left wing?
Is Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party too left wing?One accusation continuously levelled at Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party is that their policies are too left wing, and therefore unworkable, but does this claim stand up to scrutiny? Certainly, you will find few in the media willing to tackle their policies head-on.
The mainstream media regurgitate empty platitudes and then cite 1970's Britain as an example of why Corbyn is out of touch, but there are several points they omit. In this article I will discuss a few:a) The most successful government in our country's history was Clement Attlee's Labour government, and it was also the most left wing.At a time when Britain had a deficit of 250% of GDP, Labour invested in infrastructure, gave us the NHS and public housing, achieved FULL EMPLOYMENT and turned that huge deficit into a BUDGET SURPLUS. How is this possible? Doesn't left wing ideology always lead to mass unemployment and a huge deficit? Well, actually, no. History proves otherwise. Added to that the fact that under Tory rule, public services suffer, wages stagnate, and wealth get shifted upwards to the 1%, it is a wonder the Tories get any votes at all.
So how DO the Tories get votes? Well, firstly, they tend to have the media on their side. A handful of billionaires control 90% of the information we receive and inevitably support the PM candidate who sucks up to them. Just look at how Tony Blair and David Cameron befriended Rupert Murdoch, the man whose newspapers have backed the winning candidate in every recent general election. This is no coincidence.
But surely the public aren't stupid. They're not just going to vote for who they're told to, are they? Well, human psychology is a strange thing, and there are techniques which can manipulate otherwise smart people. The key is to play on emotions of fear and anger, create common enemies, then repeat the same platitudes over and over. The more a person hears something, the more likely they are to believe it is true. And the more emotionally affected they are likely to become.
In recent years, we have been told our woes come from the EU, Muslims, and immigrants. We're constantly fed negative stories about these groups, and although some stories may have an element of truth, context is almost always lacking, meaning the consequences are exaggerated and the positives are minimised. We are then told that the Tory party will save is from these enemies and that the other parties would surrender, that they are weak, ineffective, treacherous even.
We're rarely told that immigration provides a net economic benefit, that immigrants contribute more to the system than they take from it, that they're significantly less likely to claim benefits or commit crimes, that they keep many of our services running, that you're more likely to win the lottery than be the victim of terrorism, that Muslims up and down the country, and worldwide, are working to tackle extremism, that Muslims themselves are the biggest victims of terrorism, that EU membership has greatly improved workers' rights, environmental protections, etc., and that Europe has actually done a much better job of tackling elitism than Britain, with significantly lower levels of inequality, less corruption, and better public services. It is OUR approach that is the main problem, not theirs.
We are allowing the elite to drive down wages, despite the fact Britain is WEALTHIER than ever before. Since the recession began, ALL new money that has come into the country has gone to the richest 1%, making them drastically richer than they already were.
Britain has seen the second largest collapse of wages in the developed world, just behind the basket case economy of Greece. In most developed countries, wages are increasing. Our public services are being sold to foreign companies and governments who are profiteering while allowing the quality of services to suffer.
In short, we are being shafted, but we allow ourselves to be distracted into believing we're tackling the 'real enemies' - the EU, Muslims, and immigrants. And if the Tories win, this strategy will, of course, not lead us into prosperity because it was never meant to. They will simply find other groups to demonise and we will allow ourselves to be distracted all over again.b) The nations leading the world on human development tend to be more left wing than Britain.Arguably, the five most left wing democracies in the world are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, and Canada. Here are the top fifteen countries on the UN Index of Human Development for 2013:
1. Norway
2. Australia
3. United States
4. Netherlands
5. Germany
6. New Zealand
7. Ireland
8. Sweden
9. Switzerland
10. Japan
11. Canada
12. South Korea
13. Hong Kong
14. Iceland
15. DenmarkWith the exception of the United States, Hong Kong (and possibly Switzerland) these countries are unquestionably more left wing than the UK. That's twelve of them, with the leader Norway being significantly to the left of Britain and a model example of democratic socialism in action. Not only that, but if you go through the Index, category by category, you will see socialist nations leading the world in health, education, social mobility, business opportunity, and so on. The next time someone cites non-democratic Venezuela as an example of why democratic socialism cannot work, show them this, and then remind them that such a strawman argument is no different from citing Somalia as an example of free market capitalism.c) All of Labour's policies have proven successful elsewhere. Here I will discuss what are arguably the five most contentious policies:Policy 1: £10 an hour minimum wage.
The Tories would have you believe that a high minimum wage is a job killer. Try telling that to Denmark, Switzerland or Australia who have the highest minimum wages in the world, but low unemployment. Also, look at the US where minimum wages vary by state. The states with the highest minimum wages perform better. Why? Simple economics.
Economies work better when the people at the bottom have more money in their pockets. It gets them away from government dependency and enables them to spend, which puts more money into the economy, in turn creating more jobs and helping small businesses grow. The only losers in this scenario are the billionaires who have to cut their own disgustingly high bonuses in order to pay their workers a fair wage.Policy 2: A national investment bank.
It is no coincidence that the countries which invest most in small businesses have the most thriving economies. This concept has proven particularly successful in Germany, which is the model I understand Corbyn is looking to emulate. Either, we can have a country in which large corporations dominate and billionaires extract our excess money, or we can have a country where the ordinary guy can get ahead, and where everyone benefits.Policy 3: Nationalised rail network.
Firstly, this is not unaffordable as some would have you believe, nor is the state inherently too inefficient to run a rail network. At present, almost all of our rail network is run by the Dutch, German, and French governments! We can renationalise rail companies, one by one, for free, as their licenses expire. And then we can put an end to poor services and sky high prices. All across Europe, you will find better rail services, and almost all of these are state owned and run. Some European countries are profiteering from our rail network and putting their own people first. Isn't it time we put a stop to this?Policy 4: Increasing childcare.
How many times have single mothers been demonised for claiming benefits? By increasing free childcare, we can make it easier for women to work, providing a boost to the economy, and reducing state dependency. At present, the free childcare we offer is much lower than in many other countries. The Swedes get extra tax credits to defray the cost of child-rearing, plus access to regulated, subsidised day care facilities that stay open from 6:30 in the morning until 6:30 at night. The Danes and French benefit from similar arrangements. We are the second most expensive country in Europe for childcare and this only provides an obstacle for working mothers. Let's change this.Policy 5: Progressive taxation.
The Tories will tell you that high taxes for high earners will simply drive businesses abroad, and yet the countries with the highest upper tax rates are doing just fine. Denmark's upper rate of tax is 52% and it is ranked the best place in the world to do business. In the 1950's, the US and UK had an upper tax rate of 90% and their economies thrived. While no-one is suggesting we go that high again, a few extra percentage points on the upper tax rate would certainly ease the burden of those hit hardest by austerity. After all, we're in this together, aren't we?
The mainstream media regurgitate empty platitudes and then cite 1970's Britain as an example of why Corbyn is out of touch, but there are several points they omit. In this article I will discuss a few:a) The most successful government in our country's history was Clement Attlee's Labour government, and it was also the most left wing.At a time when Britain had a deficit of 250% of GDP, Labour invested in infrastructure, gave us the NHS and public housing, achieved FULL EMPLOYMENT and turned that huge deficit into a BUDGET SURPLUS. How is this possible? Doesn't left wing ideology always lead to mass unemployment and a huge deficit? Well, actually, no. History proves otherwise. Added to that the fact that under Tory rule, public services suffer, wages stagnate, and wealth get shifted upwards to the 1%, it is a wonder the Tories get any votes at all.
So how DO the Tories get votes? Well, firstly, they tend to have the media on their side. A handful of billionaires control 90% of the information we receive and inevitably support the PM candidate who sucks up to them. Just look at how Tony Blair and David Cameron befriended Rupert Murdoch, the man whose newspapers have backed the winning candidate in every recent general election. This is no coincidence.
But surely the public aren't stupid. They're not just going to vote for who they're told to, are they? Well, human psychology is a strange thing, and there are techniques which can manipulate otherwise smart people. The key is to play on emotions of fear and anger, create common enemies, then repeat the same platitudes over and over. The more a person hears something, the more likely they are to believe it is true. And the more emotionally affected they are likely to become.
In recent years, we have been told our woes come from the EU, Muslims, and immigrants. We're constantly fed negative stories about these groups, and although some stories may have an element of truth, context is almost always lacking, meaning the consequences are exaggerated and the positives are minimised. We are then told that the Tory party will save is from these enemies and that the other parties would surrender, that they are weak, ineffective, treacherous even.
We're rarely told that immigration provides a net economic benefit, that immigrants contribute more to the system than they take from it, that they're significantly less likely to claim benefits or commit crimes, that they keep many of our services running, that you're more likely to win the lottery than be the victim of terrorism, that Muslims up and down the country, and worldwide, are working to tackle extremism, that Muslims themselves are the biggest victims of terrorism, that EU membership has greatly improved workers' rights, environmental protections, etc., and that Europe has actually done a much better job of tackling elitism than Britain, with significantly lower levels of inequality, less corruption, and better public services. It is OUR approach that is the main problem, not theirs.
We are allowing the elite to drive down wages, despite the fact Britain is WEALTHIER than ever before. Since the recession began, ALL new money that has come into the country has gone to the richest 1%, making them drastically richer than they already were.
Britain has seen the second largest collapse of wages in the developed world, just behind the basket case economy of Greece. In most developed countries, wages are increasing. Our public services are being sold to foreign companies and governments who are profiteering while allowing the quality of services to suffer.
In short, we are being shafted, but we allow ourselves to be distracted into believing we're tackling the 'real enemies' - the EU, Muslims, and immigrants. And if the Tories win, this strategy will, of course, not lead us into prosperity because it was never meant to. They will simply find other groups to demonise and we will allow ourselves to be distracted all over again.b) The nations leading the world on human development tend to be more left wing than Britain.Arguably, the five most left wing democracies in the world are Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, and Canada. Here are the top fifteen countries on the UN Index of Human Development for 2013:
1. Norway
2. Australia
3. United States
4. Netherlands
5. Germany
6. New Zealand
7. Ireland
8. Sweden
9. Switzerland
10. Japan
11. Canada
12. South Korea
13. Hong Kong
14. Iceland
15. DenmarkWith the exception of the United States, Hong Kong (and possibly Switzerland) these countries are unquestionably more left wing than the UK. That's twelve of them, with the leader Norway being significantly to the left of Britain and a model example of democratic socialism in action. Not only that, but if you go through the Index, category by category, you will see socialist nations leading the world in health, education, social mobility, business opportunity, and so on. The next time someone cites non-democratic Venezuela as an example of why democratic socialism cannot work, show them this, and then remind them that such a strawman argument is no different from citing Somalia as an example of free market capitalism.c) All of Labour's policies have proven successful elsewhere. Here I will discuss what are arguably the five most contentious policies:Policy 1: £10 an hour minimum wage.
The Tories would have you believe that a high minimum wage is a job killer. Try telling that to Denmark, Switzerland or Australia who have the highest minimum wages in the world, but low unemployment. Also, look at the US where minimum wages vary by state. The states with the highest minimum wages perform better. Why? Simple economics.
Economies work better when the people at the bottom have more money in their pockets. It gets them away from government dependency and enables them to spend, which puts more money into the economy, in turn creating more jobs and helping small businesses grow. The only losers in this scenario are the billionaires who have to cut their own disgustingly high bonuses in order to pay their workers a fair wage.Policy 2: A national investment bank.
It is no coincidence that the countries which invest most in small businesses have the most thriving economies. This concept has proven particularly successful in Germany, which is the model I understand Corbyn is looking to emulate. Either, we can have a country in which large corporations dominate and billionaires extract our excess money, or we can have a country where the ordinary guy can get ahead, and where everyone benefits.Policy 3: Nationalised rail network.
Firstly, this is not unaffordable as some would have you believe, nor is the state inherently too inefficient to run a rail network. At present, almost all of our rail network is run by the Dutch, German, and French governments! We can renationalise rail companies, one by one, for free, as their licenses expire. And then we can put an end to poor services and sky high prices. All across Europe, you will find better rail services, and almost all of these are state owned and run. Some European countries are profiteering from our rail network and putting their own people first. Isn't it time we put a stop to this?Policy 4: Increasing childcare.
How many times have single mothers been demonised for claiming benefits? By increasing free childcare, we can make it easier for women to work, providing a boost to the economy, and reducing state dependency. At present, the free childcare we offer is much lower than in many other countries. The Swedes get extra tax credits to defray the cost of child-rearing, plus access to regulated, subsidised day care facilities that stay open from 6:30 in the morning until 6:30 at night. The Danes and French benefit from similar arrangements. We are the second most expensive country in Europe for childcare and this only provides an obstacle for working mothers. Let's change this.Policy 5: Progressive taxation.
The Tories will tell you that high taxes for high earners will simply drive businesses abroad, and yet the countries with the highest upper tax rates are doing just fine. Denmark's upper rate of tax is 52% and it is ranked the best place in the world to do business. In the 1950's, the US and UK had an upper tax rate of 90% and their economies thrived. While no-one is suggesting we go that high again, a few extra percentage points on the upper tax rate would certainly ease the burden of those hit hardest by austerity. After all, we're in this together, aren't we?
July 11, 2016
Sky City: Sister of a Rebel Soldier
So, R. D. Hale, or 'idiot' to the people who know him, has decided to write another Sky City book - this one a spin-off absolutely no-one was asking for.
As if Hale's previous efforts were not enough, he thought he would inflict more of this 'biopunk' nonsense onto the world. The voices must really be taking hold, because he has not only convinced himself he inhabits an imaginary planet called Eryx, but he now thinks he is a female - the sister of Arturo Basilides, no less. I mean, talk about identity crisis.
Since Hale's last effort, things had appeared to be looking up for him. He had another (human) child, his personal hygiene was improving, he was talking to himself in a politer manner, showing glimpses of mental stability, and now this...
To be honest, I am not sure why I am even bothering. If you are one of the three people who have read this far, then you already know what lies in store. And you are probably looking forward to it. Yes, you are that weird.
So, without further ado, read on, 'enjoy' this mess entitled: Sister of a Rebel Soldier, and do not say I never warned you...
http://www.amazon.com/R.-D.-Hale/e/B00I3LN8IE/
As if Hale's previous efforts were not enough, he thought he would inflict more of this 'biopunk' nonsense onto the world. The voices must really be taking hold, because he has not only convinced himself he inhabits an imaginary planet called Eryx, but he now thinks he is a female - the sister of Arturo Basilides, no less. I mean, talk about identity crisis.
Since Hale's last effort, things had appeared to be looking up for him. He had another (human) child, his personal hygiene was improving, he was talking to himself in a politer manner, showing glimpses of mental stability, and now this...
To be honest, I am not sure why I am even bothering. If you are one of the three people who have read this far, then you already know what lies in store. And you are probably looking forward to it. Yes, you are that weird.
So, without further ado, read on, 'enjoy' this mess entitled: Sister of a Rebel Soldier, and do not say I never warned you...
http://www.amazon.com/R.-D.-Hale/e/B00I3LN8IE/
June 5, 2016
The Release of Sky City: The Wrath of Arturo
Sky City: The Wrath of Arturo has been officially released. To celebrate, it is free to download this week at Amazon. Check out the blurb and link below:
**The Watty award-winning series continues**
'Don't you remember? You were their little experiment. Half boy, half monster. Horrific, isn't it?'
My name is Arturo Basilides - teenage slum dog turned rebel soldier. A smart mouth and sense of invulnerability have got me this far, but the plague they sent changed everything. The pain of losing a friend destroyed the best part of me. When another was taken, I was offered unlikely redemption and ascended to the stars for the sake of unrequited love.
Life is not easy for any slumdog but none can claim to have survived what I have: abandonment, imprisonment, torture, death... I was never told the price of reincarnation. And I am no longer human in body or mind as I float above this wretched planet I must return to. War is imminent. I do not know whose side I am on. Or what happens next...
Sky City is a sci-fi action adventure with light elements of fantasy. It is set in a near future alternative reality, where science is indistinguishable from magic and oppression is near-inescapable. Technology has created a newer, 'superior' form of human and genetically engineered monstrosities are as terrifying as anything encountered in your nightmares.
The underclass have been underestimated and as they fight back, the boundary between freedom fighter and terrorist becomes increasingly blurred. Meanwhile, the drug-induced haze of a traumatised mind places a question mark over the meaning of reality.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014EDYVDK
**The Watty award-winning series continues**
'Don't you remember? You were their little experiment. Half boy, half monster. Horrific, isn't it?'
My name is Arturo Basilides - teenage slum dog turned rebel soldier. A smart mouth and sense of invulnerability have got me this far, but the plague they sent changed everything. The pain of losing a friend destroyed the best part of me. When another was taken, I was offered unlikely redemption and ascended to the stars for the sake of unrequited love.
Life is not easy for any slumdog but none can claim to have survived what I have: abandonment, imprisonment, torture, death... I was never told the price of reincarnation. And I am no longer human in body or mind as I float above this wretched planet I must return to. War is imminent. I do not know whose side I am on. Or what happens next...
Sky City is a sci-fi action adventure with light elements of fantasy. It is set in a near future alternative reality, where science is indistinguishable from magic and oppression is near-inescapable. Technology has created a newer, 'superior' form of human and genetically engineered monstrosities are as terrifying as anything encountered in your nightmares.
The underclass have been underestimated and as they fight back, the boundary between freedom fighter and terrorist becomes increasingly blurred. Meanwhile, the drug-induced haze of a traumatised mind places a question mark over the meaning of reality.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B014EDYVDK
Sky City: The Rise of an Orphan part 1 - Permanently Free
Sky City: The Rise of an Orphan part 1 is now Permanently Free at Amazon, Smashwords, and other e-stores.
Check it out at the following links:
http://www.amazon.com/R.-D.-Hale/e/B0...
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
Check it out at the following links:
http://www.amazon.com/R.-D.-Hale/e/B0...
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/vi...
February 19, 2016
Right Wing Bullshit
I refuse to accept the hypocrisy of right wingers, and the naïve accusation that highlighting ideological differences is divisive. If you choose an unreasonable stance, you are the one that’s divisive, not the person who dares to challenge you.
Any speech that disagrees with conservative ‘values’ is automatically branded hate speech (like mine recently was for highlighting the rise of plutocracy). Yet, when the right wing indulge in real hate speech, whether that be racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, or whatever, they cry freedom of speech and whenever someone objects, they claim their rights are being violated! Are they really so unable to see the double-standard, or are they just blinded by selfishness and hatred? I really don’t get it.
To give an example, boxer Manny Pacquaio was recently criticised for calling gays ‘worse than animals’. This is surely hate speech to any reasonable mind, but not to readers of the right wing Daily Mail. In their article on the subject, most of their readers whined about how Pacquaio’s freedom of speech had been violated because he has been dropped by Nike for ‘expressing an opinion’. Clearly, they don’t understand how freedom of speech works – Pacquaio was free to speak, and Nike was free to respond however they deemed fit.
I keep hearing how the left wing and the right wing are guilty of the same sins, yet the left wing protest hate speech and the right wing defend it, the left wing protest war and the right wing clamour for it, the left wing insist we help the poor and the right wing refuse. To point these things out is not divisiveness, it’s reality.
Conservatives so often brag about believing in hard work and earning your way, as though they’re part of some exclusive club, but when you point out that every working person is, in fact, hard-working (because they’d otherwise be out of a job), and that the system serves an elite few at the expense of workers who actually create the wealth, you’re accused of being lazy, a scrounger, or worse. It would seem these people would like us to return to Victorian times, when there was no minimum wage or workers’ rights (sorry, I mean, red tape), when poverty was rife and social mobility was non-existent.
You don’t get to put up barriers to education, forcing people into enormous debt, and then watch them struggle when they’re expensive education does not translate into success in the job market, and then accuse these people of being lazy, as I have seen many do. You don’t get to say a living wage is bad economics, when all of the evidence suggests otherwise, when higher minimum wages lead to increased consumer spending and a healthier economy.
The real leeches in society are those that horde the wealth of the nation into private offshore accounts, who buy politicians and see a 5000% return on their investment in terms of tax breaks. Economies work when the money is circulating - the more hands it goes through, the more jobs can be created, and the better the standard of living for everyone. If you obsessively focus on the individual rather than the collective, you cannot have a healthy system, and the irony is, the individual will suffer without necessarily knowing it. Too many are grateful for the pittance they’re allowed to have.
The only, I repeat, the ONLY nations on earth that are even close to eliminating poverty, achieving good education, social mobility, and healthcare for all, are the ones adopting left wing social programs. These are the nations with the hardest working and most productive workforces, nullifying the ‘socialists are lazy scroungers’ argument. These are the nations with the highest levels of personal happiness. These are the nations that value their citizens, rather than demand everyone is worked into the ground for a pittance in a system they have no voice in. It’s time the UK and US caught up, and the only political leaders that understand this are Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. A vote for these men, is a vote for something better, a vote for the people.
Any speech that disagrees with conservative ‘values’ is automatically branded hate speech (like mine recently was for highlighting the rise of plutocracy). Yet, when the right wing indulge in real hate speech, whether that be racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, or whatever, they cry freedom of speech and whenever someone objects, they claim their rights are being violated! Are they really so unable to see the double-standard, or are they just blinded by selfishness and hatred? I really don’t get it.
To give an example, boxer Manny Pacquaio was recently criticised for calling gays ‘worse than animals’. This is surely hate speech to any reasonable mind, but not to readers of the right wing Daily Mail. In their article on the subject, most of their readers whined about how Pacquaio’s freedom of speech had been violated because he has been dropped by Nike for ‘expressing an opinion’. Clearly, they don’t understand how freedom of speech works – Pacquaio was free to speak, and Nike was free to respond however they deemed fit.
I keep hearing how the left wing and the right wing are guilty of the same sins, yet the left wing protest hate speech and the right wing defend it, the left wing protest war and the right wing clamour for it, the left wing insist we help the poor and the right wing refuse. To point these things out is not divisiveness, it’s reality.
Conservatives so often brag about believing in hard work and earning your way, as though they’re part of some exclusive club, but when you point out that every working person is, in fact, hard-working (because they’d otherwise be out of a job), and that the system serves an elite few at the expense of workers who actually create the wealth, you’re accused of being lazy, a scrounger, or worse. It would seem these people would like us to return to Victorian times, when there was no minimum wage or workers’ rights (sorry, I mean, red tape), when poverty was rife and social mobility was non-existent.
You don’t get to put up barriers to education, forcing people into enormous debt, and then watch them struggle when they’re expensive education does not translate into success in the job market, and then accuse these people of being lazy, as I have seen many do. You don’t get to say a living wage is bad economics, when all of the evidence suggests otherwise, when higher minimum wages lead to increased consumer spending and a healthier economy.
The real leeches in society are those that horde the wealth of the nation into private offshore accounts, who buy politicians and see a 5000% return on their investment in terms of tax breaks. Economies work when the money is circulating - the more hands it goes through, the more jobs can be created, and the better the standard of living for everyone. If you obsessively focus on the individual rather than the collective, you cannot have a healthy system, and the irony is, the individual will suffer without necessarily knowing it. Too many are grateful for the pittance they’re allowed to have.
The only, I repeat, the ONLY nations on earth that are even close to eliminating poverty, achieving good education, social mobility, and healthcare for all, are the ones adopting left wing social programs. These are the nations with the hardest working and most productive workforces, nullifying the ‘socialists are lazy scroungers’ argument. These are the nations with the highest levels of personal happiness. These are the nations that value their citizens, rather than demand everyone is worked into the ground for a pittance in a system they have no voice in. It’s time the UK and US caught up, and the only political leaders that understand this are Jeremy Corbyn and Bernie Sanders. A vote for these men, is a vote for something better, a vote for the people.
January 18, 2016
A review of Darkly Wood by Max Power
A girl discovers a book entitled: The Tales of Darkly Wood based on a woodland near to where she lives. However, she soon discovers the tales contained within may not be as fictitious as she assumed. What follows is a grisly, yet strangely charming horror book that will appeal to teens and adults alike.
Power successfully generates a sense of eeriness, and mystery, and I imagined the narrator reading to me in a deep, spooky voice. The word choices are beautiful with effortless description that brings to mind the likes of Dickens and Poe. The author shares with us the tiniest details: the history of the town and the woods, every inhabitant and their relationships, their idiosyncrasies. This makes the reading experience very real, but sometimes difficult to follow. It is hard for authors to be ruthless with their own work and this is where a good editor is important. The comma placement, in particular, was sometimes questionable, and there are minor grammatical niggles such as an excess of exclamation marks.
One point I must emphasise above all others, is that Power has created a distinct voice, which is perfectly suited to the genre. This in itself makes the book a pleasure to read and suggests the author has much potential. Darkly Wood somehow succeeds in feeling both gothic and modern at once, and bears that: I-must-see-what-happens-next quality.
Rating: 4 stars
Book Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DL0PMU
Power successfully generates a sense of eeriness, and mystery, and I imagined the narrator reading to me in a deep, spooky voice. The word choices are beautiful with effortless description that brings to mind the likes of Dickens and Poe. The author shares with us the tiniest details: the history of the town and the woods, every inhabitant and their relationships, their idiosyncrasies. This makes the reading experience very real, but sometimes difficult to follow. It is hard for authors to be ruthless with their own work and this is where a good editor is important. The comma placement, in particular, was sometimes questionable, and there are minor grammatical niggles such as an excess of exclamation marks.
One point I must emphasise above all others, is that Power has created a distinct voice, which is perfectly suited to the genre. This in itself makes the book a pleasure to read and suggests the author has much potential. Darkly Wood somehow succeeds in feeling both gothic and modern at once, and bears that: I-must-see-what-happens-next quality.
Rating: 4 stars
Book Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004DL0PMU
January 15, 2016
A review of Futurescape: Terraforming Earth - Phase 1
Futurescape: Terraforming Earth - Phase 1: The Plagues Era, to give its full title, is book one in an epic cyberpunk saga by science-fiction writer Dean C. Moore.
Rake Cunningham is a detective in the not-too-distant future who has cybernetically-upgraded himself, primarily to improve his investigatory skills. Rake signs up for his latest upgrade only to stumble across a corporate conspiracy to cull the population and create a Utopia for the elite. Facing impossible odds, Rake enlists the help of Doc Holiday, a lady with expertise in human augmentation, who is possibly the only person equipped to take on these evil, transhuman CEOs who have technology more advanced than they bargained for.
Moore has created a futuristic world dripping with authenticity, so much so, one has to ask the question of whether the author has first hand experience of the subject matter. Is he a time-traveller? A foreseer? Futurologist? Who knows?
The technological advancements are described in technical detail and their applications are bizarre yet believable. One of Moore's key skills is in identifying the previously unidentified paths that mankind's unrelenting progress is leading us down. As such, little within this story is predictable and much is thought-provoking.
Scenes play out in a dialogue-heavy manner - exploring how the augmentations bring out the best and worst in humanity - and they often end in scenes of violence: gory, wonderfully imaginative and over all too quickly. The approach would translate perfectly to the big screen, but is not always so effective at creating a movie in the mind. That's not to say there is not some fantastic description, there is, but for my money not quite enough in a genre where world-building is a key element.
The word choices and writing quality are immaculate, but the pacing is too often too fast or too slow. Moore's approach is to create maximum shock value by hitting the reader with a brutal scene when they least expect it. However, in practice, this sometimes means re-reading a sentence to confirm what just happened. No build up, minimal description, just one masterfully-crafted sentence which shows all we need to know, but fails to let the reader savour the moment.
Reading a Moore novel is like eaves-dropping on a conversation between philosophers and futurologists with a wicked sense of humour. You will be educated, you will be shocked, you will be given food for thought and you will laugh, and occasionally you will be reminded you are following a story. Stalwarts of hard sci-fi will be more than used to this approach, some will even point out this is precisely what they are looking for, although they may be surprised to find an author that ditches the image-heavy approach of William Gibson or Hugh Howey.
When all the ingredients come together, Futurescape can be a mesmerising experience, and with better structure and pacing it could have been a classic. As it stands, it is a very strong entry into the genre and one that I highly recommend.
Rating: 4.5 stars
Book link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B016IT2S2Y
