Why Reinvent the Wheel

Posted this a while back. Let’s see if it is greeted with apathy once again!

Have We Had Help?

Take a long hard look at the Orion space vehicle. Seem familiar to you? It should. Think back to when the Apollo programme to send men to the moon happened.

Since the Space Shuttle was retired due to the shortsightedness of those who hold the purse strings in America, in effect their space program virtually ground to a halt. Now NASA has decided to readopt the old nineteen sixties Apollo technology, minus the colossal Saturn Five rocket. Why? What’s the point of taking such a retrograde step, when with a little imagination, they already have the basis for what they are proposing in an already proven space vehicle – the Space Shuttle. All it needs is to be modified for the long flight to Mars.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-12-03/why-nasas-orion-spacecraft-looks-so-familiar

Let’s face it, America can not do it alone. If it is to be achieved then it must become a combined operation, encompassing the…

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Sally’s Cafe and Bookstore – Author Update – Jack Eason, Sacha de Black and K.D. Dowdall.

Sally is as good as her word when it comes to spreading reviews…

Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life

Welcome to the Friday edition of my Cafe and Bookstore Update, with news from authors on the shelves. The first author with a new review is Jack Eason with his historical novella Autumn 1066.

About the book

Down the centuries the British Isles has always been seen by invaders as a legitimate target for exploitation. This novella concerns the last few weeks of Anglo-Saxon occupation, ending on the 14th of October, 1066. In Autumn 1066, author Jack Eason gives a great sense of ‘place’, of detail. The reader is right ‘there’ in that poignant year, marching, shivering with September cold (as ‘…no warming fires were allowed lest ‘enemy spies would soon spot their approach.’) From the very first few lines, Eason, practising his unique drycraft, begins to weave his particular brand of magic on his reader.

Eason glamour’s with well-crafted dialogue, drawing his reader into the time and into the…

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…time to spend a little timely time with my pal Author, Glen R. Stansfield…

More blether from that man. 🙂

Seumas Gallacher

…my great pal, and fellow scribbler, Glen R. Stansfield, he of the crime writing prowess that produced Fishing for Stones, and Harry, is also on the verge of launching a cookbook, a superb culinary compilation, Around the World in Eighty Dishes, which comprises a series of feature articles which first appeared in a local publication here in Bahrain in the Middle East… in the Guest Post below, Master Glen has a few thoughts for us on the issue of ‘time’… enjoy…

Glen R. Stansfield

Time – We all know what it is, or do we? Try to define time and you may find yourself struggling, yet it appears in our everyday conversations. Examine some of the sayings about time and you start to get an uneasy feeling that we don’t really have a grasp of it – not yet, anyway.

For instance, when we do things to save…

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The Curse Of The Writer Strikes Yet Again!!!

On finishing one MS only to start another, back in December 2014…

Have We Had Help?

Valles Marinaris aka the Great Rift on Mars

Damn it to hell and back! The curse of the writer has struck once more. A couple of weeks ago, another pure science fiction story announced itself from the farthest reaches of my mind. I swore black and blue that when I published my adventure novella Cataclysm in November, that I would not contemplate another story until next year. So much for good intentions. My mind is already working overtime once again.

When an idea invades a writer’s consciousness, what can he or she do about it but go with the flow, or be driven crazy. We all have our various ways of tackling the problem. Yes, you heard me right, I did say problem. Because until a writer has exorcised the beast from his or her mind, they will know no peace. So what I have to do is get writing…

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Smorgasbord Afternoon Video – Dancing Dog.. Size does not matter.

Love this 🙂 xx

Smorgasbord - Variety is the spice of life

This baby might not be the lightest of contestants but is as light on her feet as feather…it is all in the rhythm….what a cutie..

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A glowing revue…

…for what is after all nothing more or less than an extremely short book by anyone’s standards. Mine included…

~~~

4.0 out of 5 stars Autumn 1066 Be Taken There… An engaging novella.

15 April 2018

Format: Kindle Edition

I received a copy from the author in exchange for a fair, unbiased review. This is not my usual genre that I read but nevertheless I enjoyed this short novella and would recommend it to readers who enjoy historical fact/fiction and people like myself who appreciate a well written and researched story. I would say that its strengths lie in the accuracy of the historical terms used, the sense of brutality of the time period coupled with the human interest aspect of the story – an uncle, Aldred wishing to protect his young archer nephew Cynric from harm and possible death during battle. There is also a breathe of humour in the novella which gives a wonderful sense of the jibes of men, the tenderness and greenness of a young man going to battle and how the very young can surprise us too. On reflection Jack Eason has packed a heck of a lot into a very short novella and this demonstrates his ability to write a thoroughly engaging narrative. Highly recommended.

~~~

Guess who the review is from?

None other than the brilliant YA author Marjorie Mallon

Thanks Marje 😉 xx

Why do we bother to write?

More on writing…

Have We Had Help?

It’s a damned good question – why indeed?

Writing is a thankless task. To begin with it helps if you have masochistic tendencies. Without a doubt it has to be one of the most disheartening things to engage yourself in these days. Right from the start everything is stacked against you. From the assortment of literary critics, conventional publishing’s gatekeepers and literary agents, not forgetting the trolls, all of them only too happy to trash the product of all your hard work – which is why so many of us prefer to self-publish. But even going down that route has its drawbacks. Then there is the fact that unfortunately we’re living in an era when the majority of the population these days struggle to read anything longer than a tweet. Before you start screaming at me, yes I can hear your hackles rising from here over that last sentence. But…

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