Authors Electric

                                                                              Still Sad Music                                                                     A bench at Dove Cottage, Grasmere I was a bit stuck for an idea for this month’s blog but once I began thinking about books and writing the ideas wouldn’t stop coming. In order the ones that seemed most interesting were: a visit to Wordsworth’s Dove Cottage in Grasmere; attending a self-publishing day in Buckingham; and appearing on BBC Radio Belfast to talk about bibliotherapy. My visit to Grasmere with my wife was also a visit to meet up with her sister, Pen, who lost...

I spent much of last month zipping around all over the place, mainly fulfilling long-planned visits to friends we rarely see because they live so far away. This included a lightning five-day trip to Long Island (nuts, I know, but she is a very GOOD friend and sadly on her own since her husband died a couple of years ago).  Coe Hall, Planting Fields Park, Long Island, USA. Now Long Island, as you probably know, is famous for several massive mansions built in various historical styles by nineteenth and early twentieth century industrialists who had made huge fortunes in America’s growing economy. The period is known as the Gilded Age, and some of these houses and the wealthy people who owned them are said to have inspired Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. The families have now long gone and many of these fine houses been demolished, sadly, or (much better fate) turned into museums. Our friend took us to see one, Coe Hall in Planting Fields Historic State Park , a Tudor-style hous...

  Don’t tell me to grow up. It’s never going to happen. Who wants to grow old gracefully when disgracefully is much more appealing?   I don’t mean you should completely neglect all your responsibilities – you should still pay your boring bills and feed your fam – but if growing up means to lose your curiosity about the world, as it so often does, then I’m all out. I believe that if we all managed to retain a little sense of wonder in everything around us, and stopped sneering and complaining, the world might be a better place to live in. Dress the way you want; cut your hair the way you like; have a tattoo; laugh a lot. Trust me, you’ll be happier. Keeping a young outlook will allow you to approach everything with new eyes. And take risks – everything can be an adventure.   I’m childish – I like toys and stupid jokes. I like to dance in the kitchen. I like to sing loudly in my car. I am endlessly curious about anything and everything. I like to keep an open mind. Numerous...

  Writing about them, though?   Hauntings: Nine Haunting Stories   More than happy to write about spooks. I've always loved ghost stories.     Overheard in a Graveyard  "Who weeps on my grave, who keeps me from sleep? Is it you who unearths me to this cold rain, this dark, this wind and all its grief?"   Nightcomers     "I'll tell you a true story -- how my dad met the ghost dog..."   It is a true story .  One my dad often told me.     But 'Cold Silver', one of the other stories, is ghostlier . It's based on old folk-lore, as many of my stories are.       But never mind the quality, feel the width! I can do you book-length occult, ghosts and soul-sucking, as well as short stories...       The Bearwood Witch tells of Brummie witches consulting demons and generally getting up to no good...             While The Ghost Wife is set at the time of the industrial revo...

While I was starting to approach publishers with my early work, I worked in National Hunt racing yards with thoroughbred horses helping to prepare them for racing over fences such as the famous Grand National. Flat racing is also a common sight here in the UK, but racehorses are not always ridden. Harness racing, where the jockey rides in a light buggy or 'sulky' pulled by the horse, bears more resemblance to the chariot races of Ancient Rome which were, by all accounts, far more dangerous an activity than our current racing under rules! Deaths on the track of both the drivers and their horses were common, and you only have to think of movies like Ben Hur to imagine how brutally competitive these races could be. Although no horses died in the filming of the 1959 version starring Charlton Heston shown in this clip (where strict welfare standards were followed), it appears that over 100 horses were shot during the making of the original 1925 silent film, some of them unnecessaril...

Lear and daughters Choices narrow as I approach 90. I see across denial. I find that I must adjust, while struggling to preserve as much as possible of what I find most essential. I see why we ultra-oldsters disturb our juniors. It's not just individual disposition. We rattle their operative mythology. Yet I have no choice but to accept death's proximity -  no choice when I consider the alternative.  At the same time, I find that everyone needs some degree of denial. The feeling of immortality comes with consciousness.  As an outspoken critic of an 80-year-old President who mocks the aged and fakes youth, and for whom denial is a way of life, I don't like admitting to any degree of it.  But I try my best to admit my shortcomings. I'm not a felonious poser and sexual predator. I don't dye my hair, wear makeup and demand flattery from those around me. I continue to write, edit, and publish drafts of my latest novels, essays and short stories with more urgency, but pro...