Authors Electric

  In the ninety-nineties, Mike got a job in Jamaica and I came along as his “trailing spouse.”   This was a term for ex-pat wives who accompanied their husbands on a posting and who were not there to work, or pursue their own career but purely to be supportive. It might be a very old fashioned, pre-feminist position but I took it as an opportunity to take a break from teaching in a very challenging school and also as a chance to do some writing. Working as a consultant for Grace Kennedy, the largest firm on the island, meant that we had to live in Kingston, a very different experience from the sand, sea and pina coladas that family and friends might have envisaged. Because of security issues our apartment was in a gated community with guards who kept an eye on anyone who came in or out. Going into town was discouraged, apart from to the supermarket and as for Down Town, or the local markets, no middle class Jamaican ever went there. No one walked anywhere either because it...

Writers sometimes talk about poems as though longer automatically means deeper. We admire ambitious epics, book-length projects, and intricate sequences. There is certainly a place for all of those things. But every now and then a tiny poem arrives and quietly reminds us that a few words can carry an astonishing amount of weight. Take this poem, "Second Grade," by Merilee Johnson: That's it. Three lines. Eight words. And yet, the poem opens an entire world. I immediately find myself wondering about the child in the poem. Was she shy? Outgoing? Did she look forward to hearing her name each morning? Was the bus driver teasing, greeting, or celebrating her? Was it a song repeated every day, becoming part of the rhythm of childhood? The poem never tells us. Instead, it trusts us. One of the remarkable things about very short poems is how much they rely on the reader. Longer works often have room to explain, develop, and elaborate. A poem like this succeeds because it provides...

  'Sula' in Scotland ‘There’s little point keeping old boats alive if their stories are forgotten,’ said Robert Armstrong, when I apologised for my eagerness in inviting myself to visit him. Robert is a boatbuilder working on the west coast of Scotland. His home is Sula , a 24’ 5-ton Bermudan sloop, built in 1939 by David Hillyard in Littlehampton, Sussex (as Mistrale ). She’s his home, his mobile workshop and his transport.  When I invited Francis and I to visit them, Robert was immediately welcoming though he couldn’t be specific as to where they might be: ‘Everything I do is weather and tide dependant so planning beyond a few days never works out for me […] but wherever Sula is moored you're welcome.’ For me, Sula is Barnacle Goose, ‘Barney’, the yacht my parents owned 1951-1957, in the first years of their marriage.   They’d bought her in Rye, fitted her out in a mud berth, then sailed her home to the River Deben in Suffolk. My father was building up his business ...

'Sula' in Scotland  ‘There’s little point keeping old boats alive if their stories are forgotten,’ said Robert Armstrong, when I apologised for my eagerness inviting myself to visit him. Robert is a boatbuilder working on the west coast of Scotland. His home is  Sula , a 24’ 5-ton Bermudan sloop, built in 1939 by David Hillyard in Littlehampton, Sussex (as  Mistrale ). She’s also his mobile workshop and his transport.  When I invited Francis and I to visit them, Robert was immediately welcoming though he couldn’t be specific as to where they might be: ‘Everything I do is weather and tide dependant so planning beyond a few days never works out for me […] but wherever  Sula  is moored you're welcome.’ For me,  Sula  is  Barnacle Goose,  ‘Barney’, the yacht my parents owned 1951-1957, in the first years of their marriage.  They’d bought her in Rye, fitted her out in a mud berth, then sailed her home to the River Deben ...

  The search for tools to make my writing easier continues. I’ve put the idea of a custom built word processor built around a Raspberry Pi to one side for the time being, partly due to time (or, more accurately, my lack of it) and partly due to practicalities – realistically, I’d need a 3D printer to design a case for the hardware, and some way of connecting a screen and keyboard. It’s doable, but I don’t have the time or money to invest in the equipment, or learning how to use it. Instead, I’ve gone in a slightly different direction. My wife recently changed her phone – she went to the dark side, as I call it, and now has an iPhone. Of course, this doesn’t play nicely with any of the existing kit so the Garmin is going to be replaced by an Apple Watch, and she’s already got an iPad. This is often something we joke about – I used to teach on Macs, many years ago, and tried an iPhone once – their stuff is not for me, as I like to tinker and do things my way; but I’ve ...

There are many things in life which polarise people. Off the top of my head, I can think of politics, religion, climate change. Opinions on these things can make or break friendships and other relationships. How many times have I read online: If you vote X, then unfriend me immediately and similar statements. I have friends of all persuasions and their opinions on most things are all part of what makes friendships rich and interesting both online and in real life.  In the online literary world – well, social media anyway – the controversy of the month seems to be artificial intelligence. People come at this from all angles. Some hate any use of AI in any shape or form – it’s stealing, it uses too much water, it’s cheating, and they can go on and on about saving the planet and the livelihoods of every creative persn living on it. Others see it as the future and why shouldn’t they use all the help they can get, they don’t have any money and don’t see any problems.  The reality,...