I read an article by David Mitchell yesterday about veganism, and it really got me thinking. He made the argument, in a very wishy-washy but not unclear way, that vegans are obviously in the right. Well, obviously. Vegetarians are in the right too. Meat-eaters obviously in the wrong. But, we do like to eat meat. We like sausages. We’re used to it. It’s what we grew up with. So, well, what then? Then the obvious step is to try and be better. For a while Su went vegetarian and her health suffered. I tried soy milk for breakfast but it …
Foul beans…
Saw this in the shop today. You have to walk a very fine line between superior and foul.
Trying my damnedest…
For the past couple of days I have been trying my damnedest to join Amazon uk’s marketing scheme. My word, they don’t half make it difficult. First I signed up for an Amazon Advantage Account. Then I used that to sign up for the AMS Marketing account, waited a day, and got rejected! In the rejection they sent me a link to the Amazon US marketing scheme with the advice that I ‘re-register’ with a new email. But my US AMS ads are working fine! I want to be in the UK AMS! I emailed their contact person. We have …
A good teacher :)
Yesterday a student told me, after a discussion of other teachers in a Personal Tutorial session, that I was “a good teacher”. Aww… That is always nice. The obvious reaction is- “Oh yes, do tell me more…” But you have to hold that reaction in – can’t appear too eager. Instead you give a restrained smile, say thank you, and usher them out the door before you start grinning. I had it from other students the previous week. They rather undercut their message of appreciation though by afterward saying- “You’re the only teacher who lets us go early.” Ha! I’ll …
Writing Update 2018 week 49
Today I almost finished my 2nd thriller! It’s a helluva feeling to put the capstone on a book. Euphoric, really – even more so because I woke up with a real sense of unease about the story this morning, which carried through until I wrote this pivotal scene. I’d pushed things to a really grim extreme yesterday, left on a cliffhanger. I still have my doubts that people would want to read this degree of horribleness. Today I closed it out, and yes, it feels good. Just desserts reverberate back throughout the story – leaving the reader in no uncertain …
Story Craft #21 Research!!
As a science fiction and fantasy author – which is all I ever wanted to be until recently – I never once thought about going out into the world to do primary research. Other sf/fantasy authors don’t talk about it. You don’t have George R.R. Martin explaining how he went to mental asylums and wrote letters to psychopaths in order to better write Ramsay Bolton. Tolkien’s research was entirely his own enormous invention. That approach always appealed to me enormously. You just make it up. Yes, I would get inspiration from an interest in science, history and politics – but …
Doctor Who series 11 episode 8 & 9 – reviews
The last couple of Doctor Who episodes haven’t had bleeding-heart Social Justice Warrior plots – the kind of stories that led someone on ‘Have I Got News For You’ to call the show ‘lectures in Social Justice’ – and I’ve been quite happy with that. Don’t get me wrong – I love the Social Justice stories. Rosa Parks stands as very powerful TV. But all that worthiness can be exhausting, and we needed a break. Episode 8 The ‘Witchfinders’ offered that very nicely. Yes, of course, abuse of witches is a social justice issue, but not a very current one. …
Fantastic Beasts 2: The Crimes of Grindelwald – Review
Saw The Crimes of Grindelwald today, and very much enjoyed it. J.K. Rowling certinaly knows what she is doing. It plays with such a different tone from the Harry Potter movies. Like a thriller, jumping around these exotic locations, with spies and spy agencies and grand, epoch-shaping forces in the mix. She’s remarkably good at inserting real stakes, and real hurt, into her characters and their backstories. She makes us feel it. The theory in back of the story is a little murky, though. In Harry Potter we had that with the Elder Wand and the two other Deathly Hallows, …
Brexit voters are real…
In the last few days I’ve been having a few Brexit discussions on Facebook, after a childhood friend posted a pro-Brexit stance. I approached it in the softest, most respectful way I could, and got pretty respectful responses back. It’s made me think. Not to change my Remain position, but to actually respect the pro-Brexiters. 2 and a half years ago, the Leave vote came as a shock. I, amongst many, couldn’t believe it. ‘You want to do what to us? But why?’ WHY? No good answers ever came, as far as I could see. Why do this? I don’t …
Boris Johnson sighting!
This morning coming in to work I saw Boris Johnson at Euston Square station! That wild yellow hair is so distinctive. My first instinct was to cat-call him somehow, but I restrained it, which I’m glad of. He looked so vulnerable there – surrounded by largely-liberal Londoners, a few of whom were goggling and wondering if it was him. Maybe if I’d thought more, I would have asked for a selfie! But if had cat-called him, what would I say? Probably something about whether his fantasy dream of Brexit is coming true. Close your eyes and wish upon a star, …