Review - Critical Pursuit by Janice Cantore

A fast-paced, page-turning thriller with solidly believable and sympathetic characters, Critical Pursuit will appeal to most readers of crime thrillers. The added theme of two characters' parallel journeys towards regaining lost faith adds to, without detracting from, the work; there is nothing offensively 'preachy' about the book to put off those who don't share Cantore's beliefs.

The writing is solidly competent and beautifully finished, rich with detail about police life, but never descending into boring lectures about procedure. I'm adding Ms Cantore to my list of 'reliables'.

Review - Sex, Lies and Corned Beef Pies! by Georgie Ramsey

It is not often that I discover a writer who does the kind of writing that I do myself. There's Tom Sharpe, there's Terry Pratchett, there was Kingsley Amis, but on the whole the comic novel is a rare animal. So it was with great, great pleasure that I turned, with increasing speed, the opening pages of Sex, Lies and Corned Beef Pies!

The bumbling protagonist, her seriously disturbed neighbours, a sweet old man and a lovable curmudgeon of a cat, all entwined in a tale of love, betrayal, self-discovery and cooking, combine to make this a novel that anyone whose sense of humour hasn't been surgically removed is bound to love. I read it in a single day and could hardly put it down.

Sex, Lies and Corned Beef Pies is due to release on 14 February.

Same Sex Marriage, Civil Rights, and the Necessity of Public Debate

I have often spoken (although not previously in this blog) to the ongoing debate about same sex marriage. And I've always regarded myself as being on the side of the good guys. Yes, I would say, obviously a gay person should have the same rights as every other person. No, I would say, one couple's marriage can't affect another couple's marriage (provided everyone behaves himself, but that's another story.) And I've never questioned my basic premise that the argument itself was a good thing. I've always felt that the debate, like that about black people's rights, would, and ought to, continue until we as a society got our act together and stopped discriminating against random groups of people.

But I've recently been forced to question this. In a very moving speech, which can be found  here,  this man raises the interesting question of whether it is even appropriate for the debate to be taking place.

First, of course, I had some prejudices of my own to overcome. I'm pretty sure I'm not homophobic, but one can be prejudiced in many ways. In my case, I found I had to mentally kick myself for marvelling that a person with enormous, peroxide hair and a huge padded bosom, dressed like Dolly Parton on a bad day, was capable, not only of having penetrating insights, but of expressing them articulately. It's a wakeup call for me, not to judge people by their outfits, as I am all too often guilty of doing. Mind you, there is some justification for it, and I'll discuss that later, in another post. Anyway, in the instant case, this man, identified in the article as Panti Bliss, raised the question of whether it is even appropriate for there to be discussion about whether one section of society should have civil rights. He reports that he feels oppressed by the debate. By the fact that I, and people like me, feel we have the right publicly to express views about whether he, and people like him, have a right to be treated fairly and equally.

This made a great impression on me, and I've thought a lot about it, but in the end I find that, with the greatest of respect, and sympathy, for Mr Bliss, I must differ.

Of course, on the surface, it shouldn't be appropriate for this debate to be taking place, any more than it is appropriate today to be arguing about whether black people should have to sit at the back of the bus. If everyone were treated fairly by our law, it wouldn't be an issue, and no one would be talking about it except a few mad people who would be identifiable by that very fact as hard core bigots.

I am reminded of an incident, many years ago, when my dog caught his dewclaw on something and ripped it half off. It had to be cut, and cutting it was going to cause him agony, if only for a moment. I hated the fact that he was hurt, and I hated the fact that I was going to hurt him some more. But it had to be done, because the cold fact was that the claw was ripped, and it was going to catch on things and cause him more pain, and it was already hurting him. It just had to be fixed.

Did I cut the claw? Yes, I did (well, I had the vet make a house call and do it, but I had plenty of money back then). It was the right and necessary thing to do. 

As with Fionn's claw, the cold fact is that everyone today is not treated fairly and equally by our laws. Homosexual people can get married, if they are prepared to deny their sexuality and marry someone other than the person of their choice. That in no way corresponds to the right, freely enjoyed and taken by granted, that a straight person has to marry whomever he likes (given consent by the other party).

This state of affairs doesn't just affect people who are prevented from marrying each other. It doesn't just affect gay people. It hurts all of us, every day, because we are forced to live in a society that isn't properly civilised. We all, every one of us, have a stake in this. And we need to fix it. And the pain that is caused in the process, such as Mr Bliss's feeling of oppression when he reads yet another letter to the editor in his morning paper, is, although regrettable, something which must be borne. Again, by all of us. Because at the end of the day, we are all living in this society together, and what hurts one of us hurts us all. The true debate is not really just whether gay people should be able to marry one another. It is whether we should all be able to marry whomever we like. Or sit where we like on the bus, or be airline pilots, or adopt children. It is about whether we are to move forward and be truly civilised, or whether we prefer to remain half-civilised techno-barbarians.

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Book Info

Every High School has their social outcasts. The band nerds, the math geeks, the chess club, the girl that chews her hair, but at Butler High, even the creepy nose picker in the chess club is more popular than Caleo Anima. No matter what he did, his pale skin, snow white hair, and piercing blue eyes always made him an easy target. He used to think that the only way things could get worse would be if someone found out that he was gay, but that isn't even the tip of the iceberg of problems after a mysterious stranger shows up and changes Caleo’s life forever.

Hidden amongst our society, a secret and magical race of people known as ‘Leeches’, have been engaging in civil war for decades. Both sides are desperately searching for a weapon with unlimited power that will give them the advantage they need to rule their world. This wouldn’t mean anything to Caleo, except for one problem...He is that weapon!

Forget making it through High School. Caleo has bigger problems! As the search for him goes on, the world is quickly crumbling around him. He's now fighting for his life and the life of what little family he has left. With the help of new friends, he has little time to try and master his newly found powers as he tries to figure out who he can trust, who is trying to use him, and who just wants him dead. One wrong step and being the awkward pale outcast will be the least of his worries.

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What if you knew the exact date and time the world will end, what would you do?

Sam Tucker was faced with that dilemma when he began getting visions of the Earth's demise. Luckily for him, he was able to save his family and as many people as he could before the tragic event occurred, and he did so with the help of unknown visitors. With Earth now destroyed, Sam, his family, and thousands of other lucky survivors must live the rest of their lives on a faraway planet in a Dome that simulates life on Earth. But Sam's mind can't seem to rest as a few questions arise. Why did the aliens save them? How did they know about Earth's sure fate? And exactly what are they hiding?

Emma Tucker begged for an escape from her boring life but never in a million years did she think it would come at the destruction of Earth. Living on a new planet and finding it difficult to get rid of her rebellious habits, Emma finds herself making friends with a member of the alien race and it soon develops into an unexplainable love; a love that is more dangerous than she could ever imagine. While her father is searching for his own truths, she has no idea that she is stumbling on a truth of her own.

Told from the point of view of both Sam and Emma, author Nova Sparks takes readers on a journey to discover love, fate, faith, truth, and the mystery of the DOME!

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Flash Fiction as therapy - a present help in time of bullying

A short while ago, I encoutered vicious internet bullying from a group of people in the Amazon forum. It was distressing, but it's in the past, and I'd put it behind me. But James Crawford's post yesterday, which I am sure struck a chord with most, if not all of us (more about that later!) made me remember it, and I've decided to share something major that I learned from the experience.

When the bullying was at its height, I took what, for me, was the right step - I sought help from a trusted friend. That's thing one of course, as James made so clear yesterday - it's a mistake to suffer alone when you're bullied. You need the support of your friends. Anyway, my options were limited as far as direct contact went - in the middle of the night, in a remote country place. But ah, the Internet. I called up my good friend Kriss Morton in Alaska.

I knew that Kriss would be supportive and provide some balm for my wounded spirit, but as importantly, I knew that she had considerable experience with Internet bullying. Just as I expected Kriss was immensely supportive and also had practical suggestions for what to do about it. I started to feel better. Just being reminded that someone cares about you is vital.

Then, to take my mind off it, she offered to do an author interview with me for her literary blog, Cabin Goddess.

Anyone who's done one of Kriss' author interviews knows how much fun they are. It's not your same old, same shit different day list of questions. As I worked through the interview I felt even more better - because of course focussing on work does have that effect, almost always. And then I came to the kicker question, which is really the subject of my post today. There was the option to write a piece of flash fiction.

Flash Fiction, for those who don't know, is a super-short story that's written to a time limit. I'd always dismissed it as just a silly party game, but this night I decided to try it. Kriss challenged me to 500 words in half an hour, with the key word Darkness. I wrote the story which appears below.

Well that was a revelation. Of course it's well known that old wounds and scars can be healed in the process of writing a novel. But I wasn't prepared for the instant, first-aid fix that writing this short piece gave me. For anyone who writes, I believe this is a very, very powerful tool in dealing with any kind of negativity.

Here's the piece I wrote:

Darkness

Dieter hit <POST> with a flourish and settled back in his chair, smiling. That would send her off to cry in her little bedroom for sure. Stupid bitch. He’d a short way with n00bs. That’s what they were for, to be abused. Dieter had been posting in the forum for a year now, and had racked up an impressive 57,326 posts, qualifying himself as a Senior Elder in the forum’s ranking system. Everyone in the forum respected him. He had lots of friends who agreed with everything he said. He was a God! He hit the Track This Discussion button. He’d get alerted in his email whenever anyone posted. He couldn’t wait!

He switched back to his email screen. There were fourteen automatic reminders from the forum. Good – things were jumping this afternoon! Great stuff!

Someone had responded to his attack on her original post, pointing out that he was in error. Dieter’s brain went momentarily blank with rage. How dare they! He was The Dietz! He had to be kowtowed to! Well, he’d fix her little red wagon. She’d soon learn not to talk back to The Big D!

His fingers flew over the keyboard. Long practice made him adept at composing the most hurtful reply possible. Never mind the facts – it made the n00bs even more fun if you told a few lies. They got all outraged and tried to set the record straight! What a fun day he was having!

He opened another window, went to Google and put in the n00b’s name. Oh, glory, glory, she was a published author! Now he could give one star reviews to all her books and get all his followers to do the same! That would really make her cry. Let’s see, there was a Smashwords link. Ah yes, she’d given an author interview. What could he twist from that to make her squirm? Oh nice, very nice, she’s admitted she doesn’t know anything about promotion. He took a swig of warm, flat Coke, flexed his fingers and began to type. Soon he was lost in pleasure, almost orgasmic with delight at his cleverness.

Suddenly the door to his room crashed open. His mum stood there, swaying slightly. The sickly reek of gin and stale tobacco wafted off her.

“DeeDee, it’s two o’clock. Did you take your medication?”

Dieter sighed. “Just taking it now, Mum.” He wheeled himself down the hall to the bathroom, from long practice avoiding the hall mirror with its cruel reflection of his obese body, lank, greasy hair and acne-spotted face. In the background his mother’s voice faded away….

“And you can get this pigsty cleaned up, God, it stinks in here, you little bastard, if I ever find out who your father is I swear to God I’ll….”

 

Guest post - James Crawford on bullying

My guest today is James Crawford, the author of the Leech series, the first book of which, Caleo, I reviewed yesterday. James is going to talk to us about a subject I feel sure is close to everyone's heart - bullying.

James writes:

I know this may not be a big surprise to most of you but here goes… Hi my name is James Crawford and I was bullied.

They say that which does not kill you only makes you stronger. Well that’s a load of bull. I was always the small skinny kid in school and seemed to have “Easy Target” printed across my forehead. Life was hell. I hated school. 

The range of abuse that I suffered ranged from name calling, property damage, physical attacks, and lastly death threats. All this is even before my fellow classmates knew I was gay. Now I know the “Smart thing" to do was talk to my parents and teachers but like so many of you I was let down. “Boys will be boys” or “they’re just kids, they are not being serous” are just a couple of the excuses the grownups used as they swept the indents under the rug and with every excuse the tormenting increased.

Now let’s not forget about the wonderful advice everyone likes to give. “Don’t take it, stand up for yourself” that got me knocked to the ground a few times. What about the afterschool special “stand your ground and the bully will back down”?  Yep you guessed it, knocked back on my ass with everyone laughing. This advice might be helpful for some, but for a skinny boy these sayings are lies and will just get your butt kicked more.  But don’t worry did you forget “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” … well it didn’t. It made me damaged. My self-esteem levels were at rock bottom. I would avoid looking in mirrors because I couldn’t stand the loser I saw. I would dress in bright ridiculous color camouflage just so that people could pick on my choice of clothing rather than picking on me directly. I thought I was worthless. I hated myself, and thought of “ending it all daily.

There is only one thing that stopped me…it was the love of both my family and the few friends that I had. If it wasn’t for my them  telling me how much they loved me, constantly reminding me of my good qualities, and just being there to talk to, when I needed to know I wasn’t alone. Without them I would never have made it to discover life actually does get better. (Never underestimate how much just being there to listen can do for someone.)

I recently went back through my high school year book and looked up some of the bullies on Facebook. I know it’s not good to measure your success on others’ failures but… that day I wanted to email them all “LOOK AT ME NOW B####es!!!!” but my Mother raised me better than that. (Thanks again for taking all the fun out of things Mom. J) instead I took the high road and sent them a friend request saying “Hi, hope everything is going well” and silently forgave them. 

Well, James, you're a better person than I am - I don't think I could offer my friendship to the people who bullied me at school, even though it's forty years on. What do readers think? Would you accept the friendship of someone who made your life a living hell? Could you do it? Are you big enough to forgive? I hope some of you are.

Book review - Caleo, by James Crawford

I liked this book very much. The action is fast paced and exciting, the world view is original and creative and the characters well developed and likable. The issues around homosexuality, or rather acceptance of homosexuality, gave depth and dimension to what could so easily have been just another action novel, and were handled sensitively and with great maturity.

The work could have been a little more polished and, I felt, could have done with slightly more rigorous editing, particularly in its final chapters, but that said, the author has obviously taken great pains with his work and as an emerging young writer shows immense promise.

The one thing that, for me, detracted slightly from the work as a whole was the cliffhanger ending, a thing of which I disapprove on principle in a novel, which should stand alone, but the main action was satisfactorily concluded, although I did feel it was a little rushed at the end. The emergence of the kitten as an adult nurse was rather sudden and could profitably have been dealt with in more detail. The cruelty of Jack towards the kitten, and the calm acceptance of it by Jack's siblings, was also a jarring note in characters who were obviously meant to be sympathetic.

Overall, a very creditable piece of work and certainly good enough to tempt me to buy the next book in the series.

For those who like to sample new authors risk-free, Caleo will be offered free on Amazon on 5 February.