Authors Electric

"If they're everywhere, then where are they?" Enrico Fermi probably didn't intended to coin an iconic paradox with his 1950 wisecrack, but it haunts us well into the space age despite astronomical projections and scifi tropes from Star Trek through the X-Files. The " Pope of Physics " and A-bomb enabler remains as famous for it as for his building of the world's first nuclear reactor under a Chicago football stadium in 1942.   Seek and ye shall find. Sure enough earthly UFO sightings are as plentiful lately as during the mid-century "flying saucer" heyday. Back then the US government kept track of sightings under its widely contested " Project Blue Book ," terminated in the '90s.    No solid evidence of alien visitors was ever found, according to Blue Book's records. But discoveries of earth-like exoplanets that could support the evolution of life have abounded exponentially in recent years thanks to the power of today's e...

I am starting my blog on the day after the terrorist attack in Westminster, once more full of thoughts about life, death and the little deities we invent in order to make sense of our existence on this small planet. The guy who did this clearly thought his life was worth sacrificing in order to murder a few of the people he imagined were offending his god by not actually believing in him (although the latest evidence suggests that he actually enjoyed hurting people regardless of their beliefs or lack of them, and had already been banged up for GBH.)       I t seems to me, however, that if you're a real god, one who'd actually created universes etc etc, you'd be somewhat above being offended by the manners of mere mortals . But then, gods need believers, otherwise, like Peter Pan's fairies, they might cease to exist (cf Terry Pratchett's "SMALL GODS")  Mr Pratchett, regrettably no longer with us, always got these things quite uncomforably, but alwa...

Oh the Grey Grammarians! There's a little story circulating among my colleagues on Facebook, about a school visit by one of our children's authors. The class of ten year olds had been asked to write a story, and one child began a sentence with: "Lucy dashed towards..." "Now that's a good place to insert a fronted adverb," the teacher suggested, and changed the perfectly good sentence into: "Quickly, Lucy dashed towards..." The author took it out, explaining that 'dashed' clearly described quickness and speed, but afterwards she was conscience-stricken - after all, the class teacher was the authority, not her. It seems that the Grey Grammarians have recently taken over the teaching of basic English, and have invented new definitions that defy comprehension by colleagues who are literary critics, lecturers and, yes, professional writers. Some of us have re-named the 'fronted adverbial' into 'full fronted adverb' (as in...

This information applies to those of us who DON'T live in the US - or as we are prosaically known by Amazon etc ALIENS.   So if you are an alien, read on.  I've put it up just in case there is anyone out there who still does not know that if you aren’t on the ball then selling either books (Createspace) or ebooks (KDP) on Amazon in America will result in them taking 30% of your royalties… I thought I’d just run through this little lesson in confusion. It's not simplez. You do have to keep your wits about you, but then it's saving you money so... Step One.  In order NOT to pay tax to the IRS (that’s the US Tax service) you first have to register with the IRS.  Yes, I know… what can I say? It is the most ridiculous thing in the world but then if you don’t, you’ll be giving 30% of everything you earn to the US Tax system. And since you are already giving at least (probably) some 30% to Amazon (and therefore corporate America) you may want to think twice before g...