tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post2210608326622321277..comments2024-03-26T23:41:10.319+00:00Comments on Authors Electric: The Rage of the Fleas by John A. A. LoganKatherine Robertshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17196712319655603442noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-13672563610948418872015-11-15T10:03:03.521+00:002015-11-15T10:03:03.521+00:00Thanks, Julia (I don't know, I'd make a fa...Thanks, Julia (I don't know, I'd make a fair bet that you might well have waded in if you were there...)John A. A. Loganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03613779477853664598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-14068743091272369152015-11-14T08:30:09.894+00:002015-11-14T08:30:09.894+00:00Brilliant, sad, very disturbing. Reading it I want...Brilliant, sad, very disturbing. Reading it I wanted to wade in. If I'd been there, probably not.<br />julia joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09773900100240758504noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-56396550143325307062015-11-13T23:52:40.006+00:002015-11-13T23:52:40.006+00:00Thanks, Lynnann!
Yes, I can see why those question...Thanks, Lynnann!<br />Yes, I can see why those questions occurred. In a way, the story does beg those questions...<br />The answers:<br />The gifts came from friends.<br />On the day, those friends were far away (though not too far away to talk to by phone!)<br />Take care,<br />JohnJohn A. A. Loganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03613779477853664598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-60032412937536551642015-11-13T21:59:07.086+00:002015-11-13T21:59:07.086+00:00John...thank you again...as always, for your words...John...thank you again...as always, for your words. <br />Never too many nor too few...just right.<br />Two questions...<br />Where did all the gifts come from?<br />Why are you alone opening them?<br />love and peace...lynnannlynnann50https://www.blogger.com/profile/03749280696170292322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-66966551963969082642015-11-12T15:09:31.502+00:002015-11-12T15:09:31.502+00:00Thanks, Aine (good to see Mr Gray and Mr Burns vis...Thanks, Aine (good to see Mr Gray and Mr Burns visiting also!)John A. A. Loganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03613779477853664598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-79578749367055653612015-11-12T02:18:18.862+00:002015-11-12T02:18:18.862+00:00Most of us don't read Camus, or Nietzsche, or ...Most of us don't read Camus, or Nietzsche, or Schopenhauer, or any other philosopher who focuses on the human predicament. Because to us, there is no predicament.<br /><br />As Thomas Gray said where "ignorance is bliss" existential questions are only relevant to those able and willing to contemplate them.<br /><br />Do you have a problem? John is right. It is an enormous question.<br /><br />The Guardian in the UK and certainly the US papers and what passes for news on the television stations recount daily the callousness pervading our daily lives. Even the beggar on the street with one leg outside the church in my town is ignored by the passers by. And they step over the winos sprawled in doorways, covered with vomit. How many of us will risk giving such a human resuscitation?<br /><br />Thomas Gray:<br /> To each his sufferings: all are men,<br /> Condemn'd alike to groan—<br /> The tender for another's pain,<br /> Th' unfeeling for his own.<br /> Yet, ah! why should they know their fate,<br /> Since sorrow never comes too late,<br /> And happiness too swiftly flies?<br /> Thought would destroy their Paradise.<br /> No more;—where ignorance is bliss,<br /> 'Tis folly to be wise. <br /><br />And Rabbie Burns:<br /> Many and sharp the num'rous ills<br /> Inwoven with our frame!<br /> More pointed still we make ourselves<br /> Regret, remorse, and shame!<br /> And man, whose heav'n-erected face<br /> The smiles of love adorn, –<br /> Man's inhumanity to man<br /> Makes countless thousands mourn!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-17897366993711059592015-11-11T16:30:26.462+00:002015-11-11T16:30:26.462+00:00Thanks, Valerie (Lydia) - Yes, autobiographical. Y...Thanks, Valerie (Lydia) - Yes, autobiographical. Yeah, a couple of years ago I think the bus driver, or someone on the bus, would have done something to help the bloke lying in the garden across his fence like that - but not now, it seems. <br /><br /><br />Thanks, Ann! - no, sorry, not fictional. I'm just glad I got home without that Demon Dog tearing a piece out of my axxx.John A. A. Loganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03613779477853664598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-17796757802203486052015-11-11T15:58:40.888+00:002015-11-11T15:58:40.888+00:00A fascinating, gripping story but I half expected ...A fascinating, gripping story but I half expected it to be an extract of one of John's novels. I know the world is becoming a horrible place at times, but I've never known people pass by others who are clearly in need of immediate help. I'm hoping it was fictional. Very well written either way!Ann Evanshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09310566139408774783noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-11930235341105071072015-11-11T14:54:45.509+00:002015-11-11T14:54:45.509+00:00Gosh John, what a grippingly written but dystopian...Gosh John, what a grippingly written but dystopian view of your city, is this fictional or autobiographical? I find people in general are very kind and helpful. Also I must say I'm puzzled about why nobody did anything even ring 999 about the man over the fence, the position of his trousers is surely neither here nor there.People often pass out while urinating for example. I often get involved with people I don't know if they seem to need help and so do others I know, though I have a care for my own safety up to a point. What do others think?Lydia Bennethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09328239009863878547noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-57685264445758305162015-11-11T13:36:54.395+00:002015-11-11T13:36:54.395+00:00Thanks, Kathleen - I'm very sorry to hear you ...Thanks, Kathleen - I'm very sorry to hear you have had to go through a terrible situation like that. Yes, it is shocking sometimes to find out how little the police can do...<br />That is a very serious, terrifying thing to experience. <br />It does sound like a "mistake", which is still appalling, but...gives you a route back to some peace of mind there I hope...though I know that is easier said than done. <br />Take care, and I hope/pray nothing remotely like that ever happens again, <br />John John A. A. Loganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03613779477853664598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-69875735117866340752015-11-11T13:08:00.255+00:002015-11-11T13:08:00.255+00:00Thanks, Susan!
Thanks, Postgutenberg (Cheryll)......Thanks, Susan!<br /><br />Thanks, Postgutenberg (Cheryll)...all true, honest!<br /><br />Thank-you, Dennis!John A. A. Loganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03613779477853664598noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-7148546210624012682015-11-11T11:43:49.510+00:002015-11-11T11:43:49.510+00:00I found this very moving John - and sad. You have ...I found this very moving John - and sad. You have nailed, exactly, what life is like in a (non-wealthy) community today. Last week I had three people in the front garden throwing stones at the windows and threatening to burn my house down. The police took them away, but all they've been done for is resisting arrest! It was, apparently, a mistake - the torching was meant for someone else. This is a village of some three and half thousand people and we used to know each other well. But there's no employment now, so many people have left and the idyllic rural location has meant that troubled people from Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle have been moved into empty properties. I have moments of despair. <br />Thank you for a beautiful piece of writing. <br />Kathleen Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07645566938871914385noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-38220278419289718002015-11-11T06:04:02.411+00:002015-11-11T06:04:02.411+00:00Rivetting, John. A terrific essay in alienation. T...Rivetting, John. A terrific essay in alienation. The underlying Kafka-like fear is deeply disturbing and the Blake context is entirely right. The work of a born story-teller.Dennis Hamleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15781139870037634374noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2429560125838989988.post-12244370496509986332015-11-11T05:38:48.871+00:002015-11-11T05:38:48.871+00:00Get away with you, An tUasal Sean Oleoghain! A riv...Get away with you, An tUasal Sean Oleoghain! A riveting read from start to finish, wonderfully well told, as usual ...but if true, means you were only working as a reporter, when you wrote Agency Woman.<br /><br />I do believe the bit about the clothes-free posterior suspended on the fence because no imagination, no matter how wild, could have given us _that_.<br /><br />To think that there must be people who think you live a quiet life in which hardly anything happens, ever.<br /><br />HAPPY BIRTHDAY!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00672765296437920803noreply@blogger.com