#BlackLivesMatter

Sometimes you really want to say something, to make a post that causes people to stop and think. Maybe to even change someone’s mind along the way, although for some people you do have to wonder what kind of a mind they have in their heads in the first place.

We all know the pain the world is in at the moment. We all know that a virus is stealing lives at a frightening rate. We all know of the horror of George Floyd’s life being taken from him for no reason other than the colour of his skin. When this terrible event happened I wondered what awful crime this man must have been stopped for to deserve such violent treatment. Was he holding up a bank? Was he threatening someone else’s life? It must have been something truly serious yes? Oh… actually not so much.  He was suspected of using a fake $20 bill… if he had been a white man would he have received the same level of treatment (or rather mistreatment), sadly I think we all know the answer to that one.

I can’t pretend to know how it must feel to be on the receiving end of racial abuse, to know that some people will judge you based on nothing more than the colour of your skin. I can’t even start to imagine how a person learns to live with that treatment.

I guess that means I’m lucky. Lucky to have been born with the “right” coloured skin. I didn’t choose it, I didn’t do anything to deserve my good fortune, I didn’t work hard to be accepted by the world with my pale coloured complexion. I did nothing. So why does my skin tone make me safe when another persons does not?

I am glad to say I have never understood racism. I find it hard to get my head around the fact that people can judge a whole group of people with no real reason. Yes, there are bad black people, just like there are bad white people, and bad people of ever race, creed, religion and race. People are people. Good, bad, happy, sad… we are all made from the same building blocks of life and in a time of such global crisis we need to support each other more than ever.

I only meant this to be a very brief post, I wanted to share a couple of pictures I snaffled off social media because one of the most irritating things I’ve been seeing lately is the whole All Lives Matter thing… it just makes me want to shake people, to make them see that they just don’t “get it.” Are these people genuinely thinking that this makes it an all inclusive statement and are just not realising how dismissive it actually comes across? I hope so. I hope when I see it that it comes from a good place, but I’m sure that on occasion it doesn’t … so these pictures seemed to explain it far better than I ever could.

 

Thank you for reading 🙂

Captain Tom Moore

I’m sure you’ve heard of Captain Tom Moore by now… but if not just read on because wow – how he has captivated the UK – and the world – is truly astounding.

At 99 years old this gentleman should be sitting, with his feet up, deserving a life of comfort that he has deserved. But instead, when the world became gripped in the cold clutches of a terrible virus, Captain Tom decided, rather than sit by he would try, in his own small way, to actually DO something.

So Captain Tom, frail and unsteady on his feet, decided to walk. Aiming to walk 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday, and he had the hope that a few people would donate and help him raise £1,000 for the NHS.

As I write this Captain Tom has raised over £27 million!!

On Thursday 16th April, Captain Tom completed his final 10 laps out of his 100. But people kept donating… and so Tom has continued walking – raising money and, as importantly, raising our spirits in a time when we need something to make us smile.

Well done Captain Tom – keep walking!

And if you want to donate:  https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/tomswalkforthenhs

Love this version of a familiar song in his honour 🙂

 

… and breathe

The world has gone a little crazy hasn’t it. Who knew, as we ushered in a new year just a few short months ago, that this is what we had to look forward to.

Who knew that there would come a time when we are actively told to stay home, to not work, to not even leave our own houses unless we really need to. Who knew that something as small as a virus would bring the world to a halt and fill us all with a level of fear we never expected.

Grandparents can no longer have visits from their grandchildren, children cannot visit their parents, friends remember fondly meeting up with friends.

But at the same time, we are lucky in ways that we have never been before.

At no other time in history could we still see each other, still talk and be together, as if we were in the same room. Technology is allowing those isolated from the world to still reach out and make contact with those they love.

In this terrible time it is easy to let fear take hold of us, to worry for ourselves and for those we love, to imagine the worst and not be able to hope for the best.

We can get so consumed with surviving that we forget to live.

So just stop. Take a breath. Look up at the bright blue sky and notice how much bluer it is without the streaks of white from countless planes. Breathe deeply and notice the scent of spring flowers on the warm breeze. Listen to the song of the birds and the buzzing of the bees.

Life is hard right now. It is frightening. It is worrying. But it is not going to be like this forever. Hold on to whatever faith you may have. Hold on to the love you share with family and friends. Hold on to the knowledge that this too will pass.

And breathe. Just breathe.

Strange Days Indeed

I don’t often post here on non-writing related matters but sometimes you do just have things in your head that need getting out.

What a time we are living in right now – sadly that phrase is often said in relation to wonderful situations, that is certainly not what we are living through.

I always figured that shows like The Walking Dead (which I love BTW) showed a rather negative view of human nature. Here comes a crisis and the human race turns to an “every man for himself” situation, fighting each other than the disaster (or zombies) that are threatening them.

Now, while people aren’t actually killing each other on the streets, there is definitely an unwelcome shift to selfishness.  I don’t recall ever seeing such empty supermarket shelves as people stock up their own supplies, with no thought for those who are unable to do the same and, as a result, will end up going without. No one should be left without access to something as simple as toilet paper!! (Or food of course).

I would like to think that, when the panic fades, all those random tins of soup that people bought, even if they don’t like the variety, will find their way to charities, food banks, or soup kitchens… but my faith in human nature is lacking a little right now.

This time of uncertainty is leaving us all feeling a little lost and unsure of what to do, we can only hope that “this too will pass”… and in time the world can get back on track.

In the meantime stay safe, but stay kind.

 

 

This too shall pass

When you think the world is being dragged into hell, when the hate seems to be all that there is and when the terror seems to be never ending we have to remember, this too shall pass.

There is a time for grief; our cities, our countries, our world needs to mourn their senseless losses, but let that grief not be fuelled by hate. Hold on to the hope of better times and of better lives.

 

If they try to stop you singing, then sing louder.

If they try to stop you dancing, then dance longer.

If they try to stop you loving, then love harder.

If they try to end your way of live, then live it all the more.

Never let the hate win, that is the way those who spread the hate will win.

 

❤

Another year draws to a close

Here we are again, at the end of another year. It’s hard to believe we are almost in 2017 – how fast time goes. I remember when I was very young wondering if I would still be alive in the year 2000 because it felt like an unimaginable lifetime away, and now here we are almost 20 years into the century.

I don’t know if the world has changed considerably since I was that young thing unable to believe I would see the year 2000, or perhaps I’ve just become more aware of it as I have grown older, but there is no denying that the human race are a strange and complicated species.

We seem to be capable of so many extremes – such utter brutality and cruelty to each other, or to other species we share the world with; such incredible compassion and love to those we care for, or towards complete strangers. It’s just sad that as time passes the cruelty seems to be outweighing the love. We live in a world now where acts of terrorism seem to be almost common place and are almost expected to happen. We can only hope that ultimately these people who preach such hate will be beaten – but even that in itself will require more violence and death. What a world we have created for ourselves.

This year seems to have been heavy with “celebrity” deaths – I don’t really like the world celebrity because these days it seems to be connected to more and more of the talentless who are only famous for being famous. That’s what makes the loss of so many of our old icons all the worse. Who will our children have to look up to – to wish they could be? Justin Beeber? (I assume that isn’t spelt correctly but don’t care about him enough to look it up!) Or how about the Kardashians?? Are these really the people we want the next generation to dream of being? To believe are worth looking up to?  I pity future generations if they never have the likes of Bowie, Lennon, Prince, Victoria Wood etc.. you don’t have to have been a fan of these people to know they made an impact  – a real contribution to the world.

So, yes, 2016 is almost over and we cannot know what 2017 might bring but we can hope that it will bring us more peace and love, and less of the horror that we seem to be able to accept as normal these days.

I wish you all the best – I wish all of us all the best 🙂

 

READ

Welcome to 2016

#RRBC

So, a couple of months ago I started noticing the same hashtag appearing in my twitter timeline. Over and over again – alongside promotions for book and authors I saw this hashtag #RRBC, and before too long I had to find out what it was all about. It seemed to be everywhere… but what or who was it?

It didn’t take too much effort to discover the origins of RRBC and I quickly landed upon the website of Rave Reviews Book Club.

Ah… so it was a book club… cool! But not JUST a book club. Yes the members read books but really that is just scratching the surface of it… This bookclub is (on a very basic level) by authors and for authors – cause as we all know (or painfully learn) writing the book is actually the easy part. Then you have to get people to buy it – but why would they when they’ve never heard of you?

This is where RRBC really excels.

It gets people names and books out there. No, there is no guarantee of any results – but what you can be sure of is one hell of a lot of support.

What’s the catch you may ask. It’s very simple – you get out what you put in.

If you want the support from the club then all you have to do is offer your support to the other members… let’s face it – why should anyone promote your work if you’re not willing to do your fair share of promoting back?

It took me a week or so of visiting the RRBC website before I decided to take the plunge and sign up and it wasn’t very long before I was seeing my book appearing in my twitter feed with #RRBC alongside it.

Now it’s early days and I’m not going to claim I’ve become a best selling author overnight (I wish), but I can certainly see the benefits of membership and who knows – one day I might be awarded one of the coveted spots of Member of the Month, or Book of the Month, or one of the other ways authors get an extra boost from time to time.

So if this little post has made you wonder if Rave Reviews Book Club is for you – well if you want help promoting your work and you’re prepared to help others do the same then yes it is! If you want to sign up with no intentions of putting some work in to share the work of fellow members then this probably isn’t the place for you – but you’d certainly be missing out!

Now… how about going to buy my book… but if mine doesn’t appeal to you why not check out the others listed on RRBC site – and keep an eye out for #RRBC on twitter – it could be telling you about your next favourite author!!

Planet Purgatory – Book Review

It is time for me to once again tell you about a recent read that I have just finished and enjoyed… if you’re fancying trying out a new author (after you’ve read mine of course 😉 ) you could do a lot worse than give this guy a go.

Planet Purgatory by Benedict Martin

Book Blurb: It’s not every farmer who can claim to have been killed by a whale falling from the sky. Fewer still can say they were brought back to life. But David Eno can.

Impossible? Not when you’re in purgatory. Of course, no one else calls it that. Not even David’s parents. They believe they’re colonists on an alien planet. But David knows, and that’s why he’s made it his mission to find a way out.

It won’t be easy; purgatory is teeming with demons. Fortunately, David has a pair of good-luck charms up his sleeve: a canine companion that’s more grizzly bear than dog, and a rifle that never runs out of bullets. But as he soon discovers, sometimes the worst demons are the ones dwelling in our past, and it’s only after revisiting a childhood tragedy that David can truly begin the difficult task of setting himself free.

Rating: 5/5

My thoughts:  This is the second of Benedict Martin’s books that I have read, (the other also reviewed on this blog), and they really couldn’t be more different. Thankfully this one was equally as enjoyable as the first.

So what’s it all about? Well simply put (not that there is much simple about this tale) the lead character David Eno lives on a strange alien planet with his parents and a creature described as a dog but it is so much more. As if living on an alien world wasn’t weird enough David is convinced that he, and those around him, are not actually on any kind of planet but are, in fact, living in Purgatory!

As well as being inhabited by humans the planet, or not-planet as the case may be, is also home to a selection of strange and wonderful creatures. Whales that live under the ground, demons that aren’t actually very demonic, aliens that prove a very real and constant threat and imps that are mischievous to the point of annoyance.

When David’s home is faced with a new threat he sets out on a mission to save them all, and possibly himself, as long as the cheeky imp Flea doesn’t get in his way.

So, does David save them? Does he find out if he really is living in Purgatory? You know there is one way to find out… read it!

This was a well written, fun, and often strange tale that only left me dissatisfied in one respect… I wanted more! I could happily read more stories set in this strange land, especially if they involved the adorably crazy Flea.

I have to also mention the occasional illustrations that dotted this story, bringing the strange inhabitants of Planet Purgatory to life that little bit more.

A brilliant read by a brilliant author.