Wednesday 29 December 2021

And Then There Were Vampires


I've just finished "Switch Bitch" by Roald Dahl and although only 140 pages it was difficult going. Like going back fifty years, full of racism and misogyny and yes some unexpected twists but not a nice read at all.

Then I picked up one I bought from Pandemonium in Whitby by Fiona MacDonald "Vampires, A Very Peculiar History" and I thought it would be something I would dip in and out of, but it is both a fun and interesting read, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Lots of anecdotes and explanations and some great archaic fonts used in my copy.

So music has to be Blue Oyster Cults "Nosferatu", though I am sure there are lots more vampire and bloodsucker based songs.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Never Ending Story - My Directory
  2. The Never Ending Music - My Music Directory
  3. The Never Ending Poetry - My Poetry Directory
  4. An Owl In A Towel - A Beautiful Book by Lesley and Cheryl
  5. Three Reasons Why I Love Settle - Scaleber Force, The Hoffman Kiln and Castlebergh Crag
  6. The Accidental Book Helping a Great Vocal Friend Resulted In Me Publishing My First Book

Wednesday 22 December 2021

LIGHT and Darkness and The Switch Bitch


After finishing "The House on the Borderland" by William Hope Hodgson with I still found an incredible ride through a cosmic horror in an Irish ruin.

I then picked up "LIGHT and Darkness" by friend Ana Radulescu which is an excellent easy to read contemporary fantasy. It was 160 pages and I went through in three days which is fairly fast for me. If you like fantasy with lots of contemporary hooks you should buy it , link at the bottom.

I also started "Switch Bitch" by Roald Dahl , and while it is sort of clever , it is very much of it's time and consists of four stories and I have only just reached the third one. It is only 140 pages long and plays on the final twist to the story , but actually getting there is an awful pain. This is no "Charlie and The Chocolate Factory" but I will finish it and probably never pick it up again though I think I had read it before.

Also this week I published my first book , as a result of checking out how easy it would be to self publish an ebook for my good friend Lesley Leatherdale(who wrote The Owl In The Towel (see below), so we will work to get her new book published when she gets some free time,

All the important links are down below.

I am gonna lead with the Heptones "Book of Rules" because I like it and it is semi appropriate.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Never Ending Story - My Directory
  2. The Never Ending Music - My Music Directory
  3. The Never Ending Poetry - My Poetry Directory
  4. An Owl In A Towel - A Beautiful Book by Lesley and Cheryl
  5. Three Reasons Why I Love Settle - Scaleber Force, The Hoffman Kiln and Castlebergh Crag

Friday 3 December 2021

Unsighted

Today I woke up with a bloodshot sore left eye. If I wear my twenty year old glasses all day get a bad headache , they are fine for a couple of hours, but I was going out to Northallerton for the day. So decided I would have to go with glasses as there was no way a contact lens was going in that left eye.

On the bus going round a corner I heard a noise, as though something had dropped and hit the floor but couldn't see a thing , but noticed the name of a local chip shop as we drove past, looked ahead and thought it looked a bit blurry. I then realised that my glasses had dropped off , and that was the noise I had heard. I looked again and found them under the seat but thought, I wonder if I can get through the dau =y with no glasses or contact lenses.

It turned out I could , and my sore eye feels great , fully recovered. The only slight issues were having to get closer to signs to read them and being more careful crossing the road, but I know what I can do if this happens again. 

We'll go with Eric Clapton's take on Sonny Boy Williamson's "Eyesight To The Blind" from Ken Russell's film of the Who's "Tommy". Clapton didn't want to finish the take so shaved his beard off. Ken Russell's make up crew restored it in no time.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Never Ending Story - My Directory
  2. The Never Ending Music - My Music Directory
  3. The Never Ending Poetry - My Poetry Directory
  4. An Owl In A Towel - A Beautiful Book by Lesley and Cheryl
  5. Three Reasons Why I Love Settle - Scaleber Force, The Hoffman Kiln and Castlebergh Crag



Saturday 13 November 2021

The House On The Borderland


I am now re reading "The House on The Borderland" by William Hope Hodgson , and only thirty pages in to a 170 page book and I think that he must have indulged in some mind altering substances. This is probably what drew me to the book in the first place.

I wrote a short piece on him on Vocal here.

The protagonists have just delved into the found manuscript and  something strange has happened to the author , scaring his dog and sending him far out of the solar system and with a worrying encounter with horrific swinefolk.

The book wont take me long to finish but his whole canon is available on Amazon Kindle for 99p although there are annotated and illustrated versions available for a little extra.

Music i have gone for Beautiful and Brave by the excellent Dead Eyes Opened who don't seem to be available on Amazon but are on Bandcamp where they will get more of your money if you buy here.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Never Ending Story - My Directory
  2. The Never Ending Music - My Music Directory
  3. The Never Ending Poetry - My Poetry Directory
  4. An Owl In A Towel - A Beautiful Book by Lesley and Cheryl
  5. Three Reasons Why I Love Settle - Scaleber Force, The Hoffman Kiln and Castlebergh Crag

Wednesday 10 November 2021

DeepFake - Bellingcat Move Forward


 I have now finished  "We Are Bellingcat" by Elliot Higgins and in the final chapter it brings up the actuality of Deepfake . This is how video can be amended to show and prove that something happened when it didn't. Apparently there is video of Barrack Obama insulting Donald Trump aggressively and vehemently whish he never did. There are shallower versions in which speech can be altered to make it seem as though the subjects were drunk or maybe had some illness.

We are in a world where anything can be altered to suit the narrative of who has the technology, but luckily organisations like Bellingcat are countering this with lots of forward thinking initiatives but it requires commitment and dedication. You can check out their interesting resource page here but if any of this interests you get yourself a copy of the book.

Music is Midnight Oil's latest "Rising Seas" and my next read is "The House On The Borderland" (Once More) by William Hope Hodgson.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Never Ending Story - My Directory
  2. The Never Ending Music - My Music Directory
  3. The Never Ending Poetry - My Poetry Directory
  4. An Owl In A Towel - A Beautiful Book by Lesley and Cheryl
  5. Three Reasons Why I Love Settle - Scaleber Force, The Hoffman Kiln and Castlebergh Crag

 

Sunday 7 November 2021

The Problem With Attention To Detail: Bellingcat


On the final chapter of  "We Are Bellingcat" by Elliot Higgins and it has just been dealing with the pressures on the organisation and individual members in investigating crimes using their open source method. The nature of the work is incredibly intense , and because it involves war crimes, images and videos on social media and a lot more this can result in PTDS for some investigators.

I wont go into the details and would suggest you read the book to see what this incredible team are doing.

The final sentence in the "Mice Catch Cat" is very pertinent , not just to Bellingcat  , but to other organisations and teams that I know are developing.

"While it's true I could do little to stop an attack, our opponents can do nothing to stop what we are becoming"

Bellingcat are a force for good as are the people that I speak of, and I have just found there is a film here

Appropriate music is Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" , Peter Garrett being an active ecological politician as well as still fronting the band.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:


  1. Three Reasons Why I Love Settle
  2. Keep Me In Your Heart For A While - Warren Zevon
  3. Five Funny Facebook Friends - Stalwarts of The Stand In Newcastle
  4. Become A Vocal Facebook Group Member And Bathe In The Positivity
  5. A True Folk Hero - Nic Jones


Sunday 31 October 2021

Belling on Halloween


 I am really enjoying "We Are Bellingcat" by Elliot Higgins, and just getting amazed by their methods which are essentially a meticulous attention to detail. On instance was tracking down a Russian War criminal though the Russian disinformation and obfuscation by finding a name and mobile phone number on an insurance application.

Thing on this when you fill informs and especially those one offs to find out what kind of potato you are and the like.

I would highly recommend this book to everyone for pointers and how investigative journalism has been turned on it's head.

It is Halloween and published a Halloween playlist here on Vocal if you would like to check it out. When I see all the costumes and creatures out on Halloween I think how would people react if these suddenly became real. Now that would be interesting.

My friend Ana has just had a book published , "Light and Darkness" which you can check out here.

Musicwise as it's Halloween , we are going with "Hellraiser" by Ozzy Osbourne ad Ian Kilmister which I never knew existed but it ghosted in on me, and I really like it.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Never Ending Story - An Index of All My Vocal Writing
  2. A Halloween Film Evening
  3. A Waterfall of Clouds
  4. The Witch's Promise
  5. Waiting For The Green Light - The Genius of Bill Hicks



Saturday 23 October 2021

Still Belling The Cat

I am a slow reader but am halfway through "We Are Bellingcat" by Elliot Higgins, and it is absolutely fascinating

The Bellingcat organisation are a group of individuals who's main modus operandi is minute attention to detail in order to ascertain the truth in the case of War atrocities. They are experts in nothing but the extreme high accuracy of their work has now made them a goto organisations for Police Forces and governments.

They are attacking the obfuscation of the governments behind the atrocities with far less resources that  the people they are now actually supporting. Every war attrocity is a target for them and they are now worldwide.

I know I am telling you nothing about what they do , but just get yourself a copy of the book and be genuinely shocked and awed. Bellingcat have turned investigative journalism upside down.

The music is The One World Orchestra (effectively the KLF) from the first Help album for Warchild.

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. John Martin - The North East’s Greatest Ever Artist
  2. Ich Bien Ein Ausländer (I Am A Foreigner)
  3. Being A Man
  4. Know What's Frightening? Xenophobia
  5. The Benefits of the Windows Clipboard

Tuesday 19 October 2021

Belling The Cat


 My friend Julie lent (is that the past tense of lend) the book "We Are Bellingcat: An Intelligence Agency for the People" by Elliot Higgins. It is a decent size and the print is a good size for my old eyes , but it is slow reading for me because you really have to read every line.

There are only six chapters but the second one about the genesis of Bellingcat is almost sixty pages , a third of the prose in the book. 

This is the blurb about it , I was gonna try and tell you but this does it far better.

 "Bellingcat, the home-grown investigative unit, is redefining the way we think about news, politics and the digital future. Here, their founder - a high-school dropout on a kitchen laptop - tells the story of how they created a whole new category of information-gathering, galvanising citizen journalists across the globe to expose war crimes and pick apart disinformation, using just their computers."

It is thoroughly absorbing and frightening but amazing that a group of people who's main investigative tool is an incredible attention to detail can actually bring such essential news to our intention in a world swathed with absolute disinformation.

An appropriate record is "John Walker's Blues" by Steve Earle from the album "Jerusalem".

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are a few of my stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Doors of Perception
  2. Too Lazy To Learn
  3. Days
  4. Remembering Sophie Lancaster
  5. Heart as big as Liverpool


Sunday 10 October 2021

The Thurber Album Addendum

Well I have finished "The Thurber Album" and it is going straight to a charity shop. It's dry and 95% boring. Some good lines.

This is an experiment in seeing if my Vocal links will be picked up

Also my friend Keith's fave Mungo Jerry song is "You Don't Have to be in the Army To Fight In The War" so we will go with that

I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are my top ten stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Operation
  2. Lady of the Water
  3. Words With Friends, Our Vocal Connections
  4. So You're A Racist Now MikeyDred
  5. The Vocal/Facebook Pen Name Directory
  6. Mountain Climbing
  7. Become A Vocal Facebook Group Member And Bathe In The Positivity
  8. Your story has NOT been approved
  9. Snackwallahnelle
  10. Home
All these are well read and loved , and you never know you may enjoy them.

Friday 8 October 2021

The Thurber Album

I am currently reading "The Thurber Album" by James Thurber which I probably bought because of his funny but misogynist line "A Won's Place Is In The Wrong" , and to be quite honest I am not too impressed. It is the sort of book you would be given by a particularly obnoxious English teacher.


Admittedly I am more than half way through it and will finish it and there were two instances that brought a smile to my face.  


"On his death bed he was asked if he forgave his enemies , he replied I ain't got any , I licked 'em all"

and

"He instructed the students that they didn't need to take notes, at which points forty of them got out their fountain pens and wrote that down.


My friend Julie has just lent me (is that the right form) "We Are Bellingcat - An Intelligence For The People" , which I am chomping at the bit to read , but need to finish "The Thurber Album" first.

Although it has nothing to do with this post I've included Mungo Jerry's "Lady Rose" because I think it is a beautiful song and I love it.


I am not sure if you are aware of my writing on Vocal but these are my top ten stories if you would like to sample them:

  1. The Operation
  2. Lady of the Water
  3. Words With Friends, Our Vocal Connections
  4. So You're A Racist Now MikeyDred
  5. Mountain Climbing
  6. Home
  7. Your story has NOT been approved
  8. Sonnetwo
  9. Snackwallahnelle
  10. Why Write?
All these are well read and loved , and you never know you may enjoy them.


Sunday 26 September 2021

So Behold The Man


I cannot believe I have not posted in here this month , but Vocal has become my priority writing platform now. I finished Homage to Catalonia" by George Orwell about his experience in the Spanish Civil War and then read "Behold The Man" by Michael Moorcock.

"Behold The Man" combines Heath Robinson Time Travel with the crucifixion and at 124 pages is a fairly quick read which I did really enjoy. There is a little explicit sex but no actual erotica in there. The synopsis reads thus:

"Meet Karl Glogauer, time traveller and unlikely Messiah. When he finds himself in Palestine in the year 29AD he is shocked to meet the man known as Jesus Christ - a drooling idiot, hiding in the shadows of the carpenter's shop in Nazareth. But if he is not capable of fulfilling his historical role, then who will take his place?"

Next up is "The Thurber Album" by James Thurber , a very old Penguin edition . He came out with some good one liners but will see how this pans out.

I have been tasked with reviewing "Workingman's Dead" on Vocal because of this review of Terrapin Station , one of my favourite albums.

I am doing this just before I go to hospital, Because there is zero quality control , it will be very short, but I was worried that the blog was going to miss it's first month in over a decade, but this is here now.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I will include a full copy of "Workingmen's Dead" for your perusal.

Monday 30 August 2021

Here In Catalonia

 I am currently reading George Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia" and am shocked how I have drifted into it , ensnared by Orwell's excellent writing. It's about the Spanish Civil War and everything about this book says a big no to me. Boring ,  1930s War commentary about something that I have no interest in at all.

Then I opened the book.

The text was huge almost unparagraphed slabs , only 250 pages but I wasn't going to get through this. 90 pages later and it is a truly excellent read . It brings out the total boredom of war and just as you are getting as numb as Orwell was the bombs drop , the bullets fly , the lack of resources , the dirt and filth , you are in it.

And it is very readable , I am just surprised how good it is , maybe it is just me.

So to go with it I've included Greenslade's "Catalan" from "Time and Tide".

One of the good things about posting on my own blog is there are no limitations or quality control (as you may have noticed , but you can check out my Vocal writing here , which is subject to quality control.

Tuesday 24 August 2021

On The Border

Woke up this morning to thick fog. 

I was dreaming , there was a guitarist and Cher , and he was playing in various styles and she told him to play like Carlos Santana, I thought there is no way he can just play like Carlos Santana without the right guitar and amplification set up.

He started to play and I thought it's nothing like Santana , it sounds like birdsong. This went on for a while and I then realised it was my alarm clock which wakes me up with birdsong. It's the first time for me , I think , that real life and dreams have meshed together so closely . I really don't know if that is a good thing. Is this real life or is it just fantasy indeed?

Obviously the multi style guitarist got me thinking of "Guitar Jamboree" by Chris Spedding , he is a brilliant guitarist but it's just a novelty song.

I finished Tony Hawks' "Piano In The Pyrenees" which turned out to be more about his attempt to build a swimming pool while integrating into the local French community , culminating in meeting up with a former lover. I hope it worked out.

Next book I've nipped over the border with George Orwell's "Homage To Catalonia" about his experiences in the Spanish Civil War. It is grim and the pages are huge blocks of text making for difficult reading but it is providing an insight into what happened then.

Now to work.


Saturday 14 August 2021

The Piano Is In The Pyrenees


I am half way through the book "A Piano In The Pyrenees" by Tony Hawks, and while it is extremely entertaining , the piano got there after a hundred pages without too much trauma, apart from a Luton Van meeting it's demise. The thing is it's a bit like writing a 500 page book on the titanic and a hundred pages in it's on the bottom of the Atlantic. I suppose the film did start a bit like that.

Anyway this is just one of Tony Hawks books (all worth a read and great fun) and some fun stories about an English man relocating to a house in the Pyrenees , the scrapes he gets into and the characters he meets.

The weekend is here and I am not sure what is going to happen. 

I am working through "The Killing" on BBC iPlayer and , if this is really the right word , enjoying it. In the past I have worked so many people who will not watch a program with subtitles, they really don't know what they are missing do they?

As I mentioned "Titanic" I've included "The Unsinkable Ship" from "White Star Liner" by Public Service Broadcasting.

Sunday 8 August 2021

More Dreams and The Accidental Button Press


Yesterday I got my new contact lenses and there was a letter saying which lens went in which eye, which I duly followed. After giving my eyes hydration via and eye bath I put the lens in my left eye and it was very blurry but thought it will settle down. I prepared the right eye one but the left eye was still blurry , it wasn't going to settle down. Then I swapped the lens in my left eye to my right eye and I could see perfectly immediately. The letter had got the lenses the wrong way round , so now my sight is perfect.

I had a really odd dream , our work team were having a meeting in a classroom on the corner of the West Road and Clayton Street (it's a cake shop in reality so that might say something). There was my team and a Facebook friend Les who shares a love of Greek Mythology as demonstrated by this story

Ola by boss was writing in chalk on a blackboard and I was having real difficulty seeing , took my glasses off , no difference , but still had contact lenses in. Then walked out and visited a couple of record shops with another friend Sarah , who's birthday party I attended a couple of weeks back. Now there's only one record shop in that direction , Beyond Vinyl , although Vinyl Guru is the other direction  but there are the Amnesty Bookshop and Kazbats Den. I didn't buy anything and told Sarah that I needed to get back to work.

I then woke, washed , showered , and when I picked up my phone , the Marvin Gaye song "We Can Make It Baby" came on via YouTube. I have never heard before , it is quite good , but a sort of end to the dream sequence.

Nigel Blackwell of Half Man Half Biscuit in one of his songs wrote that and unusual thing in a dream would be going for a loaf of bread. in the song "San Antonio Foam Party" but all the lyrics are here and they are a literary treasure trove.


Saturday 7 August 2021

A Piano In The Pyrenees


As you can see the posting to this blog has dropped significantly since I started posting on Vocal here , so my writing has increase but not here. 

This is my first August post and it is the first day of the new Football season , and Preston North End (my team) are playing Hull City. They signed Jamie Thomas after he impressed in a friendly against Bamber Bridge so I really hope things go well for him.

Book wise I picked up "A Piano In The Pyrenees" by Tony Hawks (not the skateboarder) about buying a house in France and getting his piano there. This is a bit more sedate and gently funny , than my recent books "Maroc" by Daniel Easterman and "Nightworld" by F Paul Wilson, both excellent but I felt I needed something a bit gentler.

He is responsible for lots of humorous books based on odd premises.

Also you can see this is very short, but you can follow the Vocal link if you want some more.

Music wise I have have been listening to a lot of different things but lets go with Matthew E White's "Rock and Roll Is Cold"


Wednesday 28 July 2021

We Really Need Some Fun

Everything that I am watching or reading seems to be very dark. There may be good final conclusions but the journey is very dark indeed. The book I am reading "Maroc" by Daniel Easterman seems to introduce characters just to be offed and the bad guys seem to get away with whatever they want.

Then I have started "The Killing" on BBC iPlayer and that is a Scandinavian Noir and from the title you are probably aware that the overall premise in not too good, but it is absorbing and drags you into it although it pulls no punches.

"Ragnarok" on Netflix is again Scandinavian , and dubbed (much prefer subtitles) but generally the dubbing works , and I am on to series two where against the odds the controlling baddies have started getting some comeuppance and there are a few humorous one liners , it is in the same universe as "American Gods" , and although it is not obvious early on the Norse Gods / Giants war becomes more and more significant and with the proto Thor / Loki / Odin characters  it is very watchable.

I need to pick up on a short comedy although Ben Miller is rather excellent in "Professor T" and I still have "Wellington Paranormal" so with that and the music I listen to I can hedge myself against the dark things that I am watching and reading.

Today I have been listening to a lot of Julian Cope and Teardrop Explodes so I will share the excellent "Try,Try,Try" from "20 Mothers" with you , in what is possibly my last post this month on Seven Days In.

Sunday 18 July 2021

The Heat and The Radio

Yesterday was the hottest day of the year and today looks like it's going to be similar. I've read that a cold shower is good for you so now when I get in the shower I don't wait for the water to heat up , juts let the cold water hit me that lasts for about 30 to 40 seconds. I know that's not an image you want it your head , fat old bloke in a shower, but that's what I do. This morning however the unheated water was actually lukewarm so hardly the normal kick I get out of it.

Also this weekend I have actually put the radio on (I have a preference for 6Music) and am currently listening to Radcliffe and Maconie and enjoying it. While working from home I have moved from listening to the radio to my own music collection , partly because the 6Music DJs don't play stuff that interest me as much. I did use to listen to Ken Bruce mainly for PopMaster  as a lot of the music is stuck in a particular time zone.

Generally 6Music does bring in new music , but sometimes has an enormous eclectic sweep like if you listen to Cerys Matthews. The benefit of listening to the radio is that you are there with people and also stand a chance of discovering new music , whereas with your own music collection you seldom discover anything new (but you do) and you are alone , but that is your own choice.

So keep cool to day and we'll go with "Too Darned Hot" a Cole Porter by Ann Miller from "Kiss Me Kate" based on Willam Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew".



Monday 5 July 2021

Comprehension

 A fifth of the way into "Nightworld" by F Paul Wilson and it is now clear why The Adversary Cycle is six books and not four. You could probably read "Nightworld" as a stand alone book but you would be continually asking who is he , and what is that and how did that happen and how did he know that.

In fact there could be a prequel to "The Keep" but that is just something that stimulates the imagination.

Although "The Tomb" does not refer directly to anything in "The Keep" the links become clear in "Nightworld".  It is similar with "The Touch" , again a sort of stand alone novel , but when you hit "Nightworld" it becomes clear that it is a part of The Adversary cycle.

"Reborn" and "Reprisal" do follow on from "The Keep" but not directly.

But essentially I now comprehend how the six books fit together and am rather impressed with how much I remembered and how much I had forgotten.

Unlike the dreams I have been having recently including  a house with moveable showers filled with ice, and driving in a large van around somewhere that may have been Preston  or somewhere in Scotland but I was unable to go in the direction that I needed due to roads being blocked or bricked up.

But I am not even going to try an analyze that as I have better things to do with my time.

Music wise we'll go with "Hole In The Ground" by The Mekons which is sort of appropriate for "Nightworld".

Friday 2 July 2021

Into Nightworld


I'm surprised that I have got this quickly to the final book in "The Adversary Cycle" by F Paul Wilson, but the books are , for me , remarkably good reads. I am still surprised the the cycle is shown as six books as  "The Tomb" and "The Touch" are tangentially related in introducing characters Repairman Jack and Alan Bulmer who appear in the finale "Nightworld".

While I remember the overall plots of "The Keep" , "The Tomb" and "Nightworld" a reread is a bit like watching a TV or film prequel , there is no jeopardy , although I liked the way that "Gotham" tackled the Joker in a very unexpected twist..

I have not reread "The Touch" yet though I have started it on my Kindle fire , because I do not have a physical copy.

So into "Nightworld I go, while "The Tomb" feels a bit disconnected from "Reborn" (the real second Adversary Cycle book) , "Reborn" , "Reprisal" and "Nightworld" do flow into each other like a single entity, and I expect "Nightworld" to be as good this time round as the first time round.

In more personal news I am still suffering from a cough and cold , though it may be hay fever. As I write this before work I am listening to the soundtrack of the film "Dazed and Confused" which is packed with classic seventies rock although ironically not the Led Zeppelin song of the same name which you would expect.

It also contains the only song worth having by the abhorrent idiot Ted Nugent "Stranglehold" , which I first heard between bands when I saw The Rolling Stones at the first Knebworth concert in the mid seventies.

So I will share that with you this sunny Friday morning.

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Tuesday 29 June 2021

Encountering The Adversary

Possibly an unexpected title given that England play Germany in the Euros tonight but that is not what this is about. This is the least I've posted in a month on this blog for over ten years, it's not that I've not been not writing, but have been publishing on Vocal which has changed the way I write and also actually increased my writing in a year when I said I was going to slow it down. You can see my Vocal posts here.

The benefit of posting here is that I don't need to wait for story / article approval , which may be a good or bad thing, but I should not neglect this blog.

I have been suffering from a cough / cold possible after effects of COVID jab and since Thursday I have lost 3Kg in weight , probably because of my effective total fasting on Thursday and Friday. Yesterday my weight was 91.8Kg which is 202lb or 14 stone 6 lb , I haven't been that low since my early twenties, so I am now thinking maybe one day a week I will try fasting. Today my weight is 92.1 Kg.

So to the point of this article, I am currently rereading The Adversary Cycle by F Paul Wilson and while I know the overall picture I was surprised to find that the publishers push it as a six book series when in reality two of the books are only marginally related. I thought I was going to start what is sometimes advertised as the third book "The Touch" but looking through my collection I realised I didn't have a copy (I think I borrowed it from my mate Steve Kirby about twenty years back) so I ordered a copy on my Kindle Fire.

I am currently on book three of the four, "Reprisal" having read the excellent "Reborn" which soon became obvious was the real follow up to "The Keep" the start of the series (also a Michael Mann film).

When I reread "The Tomb" I was thinking "This has nothing to do with The Adversary" although the hero (or anti hero) Repairman Jack reappears in the Adversary Finale , "Nightworld", 

All the books are excellent trending towards eventually apocalypse mixing mystery , horror and detective genres which some excellent characterisations and given that I am normally a slow reader , this series is one that I will revisit when I am finished.

So I am going to share Mussorgsky's "Night on Bare Mountain" a scary bit from Disney's "Fantasia" which is a good soundtrack for this piece from one of my mums favourite films.