Theology of Hate
I can’t help looking at what is going on in the name of religion around the world and wonder why as a species we never learn. I think perhaps that is expressed in these few lines penned today….and trust me, I have in mind all organized religions at one time or another or in some place or another…. The sky is falling The end of the world is nigh Follow me or you will die Hell’s fires are waiting And unless you follow me You’ll surely burn eternally What I want to know Is what makes you my judge and jury? A pious fanatical pervert What I want to know Is how you can be so incredibly arrogant? So bloody intransigent I see nothing in your actions That reveals the
Read More »The Visitor
It was some strange time in the morning So early it was still night and without sunlight The air was so cold and you could hear a pin drop I shivered involuntarily and tried to sleep But there it was again The deepest of sighs rattling like a death breath My blood ran cold I strained to listen hearing the loudness of total silence But there it was again A scraping rustling sound scratching along the hallway My heart palpitated At any moment now that door will begin to open At any moment now I will scream with all my lungs And there will be nothing there Nothing there at all And I will lay and pray That the morning sun rises soon illuminating my room And ensuring that my
Read More »Buyer’s Confusion
I am in the market potentially for a bike. The Czechs love to cycle and there is much to see on a bike here and lots of bike paths and routes and so on. Its a bikers’ paradise. Additionally, I just seem incapable of losing any weight whatever I do so I figure cycling more may help keep me fit, healthy and slimmer. But boy, how difficult it is to buy a bike! There seems to be around 20 odd brands and all of them make bikes in every category with minor differences and so my entry level bike choice probably numbers one of 30-40 different bike models and brands. Its no use asking the shop people which is the best value as they won’t tell you to go to
Read More »Ice Symbols
Finally we have some snow here in Prague. As I look out of the window today of the room that serves for my office, it is that beautiful grey sky, leaden with intent, snowflakes falling gently and undisturbed whiteness everywhere. I love such days. Its forecast to be this way for a few days too so maybe we will get some sledging in before it all melts. Snow is marvelous if you think about. Unique crystals of the stuff that show the miracle of creation in every flake. A warm blanket of cold stuff for Mother Earth. Initially perfect in every way. I say initially because it melts eventually turning into freezing cold puddles of brownish mess. Before it melts, it gets hardened and compacted and covered with yellowish patches
Read More »The Biggest Con in History
I have a short temper. I do! I have to work on it at all times. If there is one thing that will invariably get me to blow my top, its the topic of Global warming. I think many who know me also know this. The idea being propagated by well funded propaganda machine is that somehow we are headed to disaster if we keep polluting the planet with CO2 – a greenhouse gas – that has already warmed the planet up and is responsible for any outbreak of bad weather we see and, in a few more years will reach tipping point and we will all fry in a horrible planetary death event…. OK – that last bit is exaggerated but you get my drift. Not only is this
Read More »This Sickness
A couple of days ago I remarked on how people who create fear-based fantasy stories and call them factual news seem to get a lot of traffic. It seems people like to read nonsense stories about Alien invasion, Government conspiracy, Government cover-ups and so on whether they have any factual substance or not. Seth at Apocalypse-How.com calls this doom fiction or doom porn and he is right. Gullible folk want their daily fix of fear. I guess most people simply don’t think or analyse news stories at all and simply believe everything they read even if it simply doesn’t make sense. They even grow protective and emotional over their beliefs such that to try to explain that a comet is really just a comet somehow make YOU the illogical person!
Read More »Things That Went Bump in the Night
Growing up and leaving my version of Neverland, things took a turn for the worse. I guess it started around age 12 or so and maybe peaked at 17. Nights became sheer living hell at times as I lay in my bed scared to death. It started innocently enough in seeing a ghost. The man dressed as a Cavalier was sat at a desk writing, got up abruptly and walked out through my bedroom wall. My brother who I shared a room with saw him too. It went a bit pear-shaped after that though. Strange noises…. bangs, cracks, deep sighs, all unexplainable. Then footsteps. I hated the footsteps. Listening to ghostly footsteps moving closer and closer and closer…. Doors opened by themselves, things vanished inexplicably to turn up equally inexplicably
Read More »Who Wants An Apocalypse?
Is it just me that grows weary (understatement) of those people who are all of the time posting end of the world doom and gloom stories? The internet is rife with these scare mongers (who half the time are promoting their recent book on the same subject and surely don’t believe a word of their own nonsense but rather hope that you will buy their book and line their posckets). Many are ‘born again’ types who seem to believe they will be bodily removed from the Earth as the rest of us die an ugly and prolonged death for our sins. The arrogance of these people is unbelievable. Let’s get something straight. For as long as history has been written, people have been seeing the signs of the End. Yet,
Read More »Promotion and More Promotion
As I have said before I think, the average book doesn’t sell too many copies. In 2004, 950,000 titles out of the 1.2 million tracked by Nielsen Bookscan sold fewer than 99 copies. Another 200,000 sold fewer than 1,000 copies. Only 25,000 sold more than 5,000 copies. This is pretty old data but I couldn’t find anything more up to date in the 30 seconds that I tried…. It just shows you though. They say – they being my publisher – that you need to promote and promote and promote…. They do some of this work but I do the lion’s share. But, I am feeling guilty. For the next 2 and a bit weeks I will be on vacation and I won’t lift a finger on the book (collective
Read More »The Last Observer’s First Chapter
It is short but it sets the scene….. Chapter 1 A Dead Psychic There was something remarkable about Michael Kent. His crystal-clear and deep-set blue eyes, sunken into a pale and haggard face, seemed to penetrate into the depths of your very soul. He appeared to be capable of reaching inside of you so that he could search through your entire contents without first having had the courtesy to ask. Michael was a well-known psychic in those parts. Locally famed, and at the same time loathed, for his apparent ability to help the local constabulary solve unsolvable crimes. Yet now he was an unsolvable crime himself. Kent had been found dead just outside of his favorite pub, the Rose and Crown. The back of his head caved in like a
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