Sunday, 30 January 2022

The Talisman


I am halfway through "The Talisman"  by Jonathan Aycliffe and I thought it wasn't one of his best but I am coming to think it may be close to "The Matrix"  one of his most frightening novels.

It is almost a drip, drip, drip of a slowly tightening screw of supernatural threat and horror.

Lots of unexplained deaths that point to a pre-Babylonian statue which may be of the Devil, a "Rosemary's Baby scenario, and a lot more.

Innocents are targets and with a blind wife in an old house, the possibility of malevolent ghosts I am enjoying this excellent tome.

I have just noticed a book of his that I was unaware of "The Silence of Ghosts" which I will have to get a copy of as he has not written a book that I didn't enjoy reading.

For some reason, Kate Bush's "Hammer Horror" comes to mind although that is far lighter in mood than this extremely scary book.,

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
  7. Call Me Les - A Great Friend and An Amazing Writer

Friday, 21 January 2022

The Stone Has Rolled


Suprisingly I got through "Like A Rolling Stone" by Greil Marcus as it was a bit like reading Dylan and jumped around timewise, but was almost stream of consciousness like say Dylan's "Tarantula" . Incidentally I started a book called "MiTarantula" based on Dylan's style but it is currently lying in my writing wreckage but maybe I need to revisit and revise and revive it as I now know how to publish a book on th eAmazon Kindle Publishing Platform.

I am still reading "The Touch" by F Paul Wilson on KIndle and that will probably be a week or two before I complete that and then pick up on "SignalZ" the seventh book in "The Adversary" series.

Physically I have picked up on "The Talisman" by Jonathan Aycliffe a master ghost story teller who also frequents the Oxfam shop that I volunteered at for a few months. This is a reread but Aycliffe is one of my favourite authors in both his guises, the other being Daniel Easterman which is generally more polictical / religion based, but I am shocked none of his work has made it to the big screen.

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
  7. Call Me Les - A Great Friend and An Amzing Writer

Monday, 10 January 2022

The Stone Still Rolls


For my reading, I have now picked up "The Touch" by F Paul Wilson roughly the third book in the excellent "Adversary" series of six books but just found a seventh was added last year called "Signalz". I thought I had "The Touch" so to speak but I must have lent it to someone or borrowed it when I first read it. Again F Paul Wilson's writing is excellent although the technology in the books definitely dates them that is definitely no bad thing.

Physically while "Like A Rolling Stone" by Greil Marcus is still difficult going it is also engrossing and the ways it flits all over the place time-wise is disconcerting but entertaining, Lots of references to the film "Masked and Anonymous" in which Bob Dylan effectively plays himself under the name Jack Fate, then there is the story of the Winchester Mansion built by Sarah Winchester widow of firearms magnate William Winchester, which she believed as long as she kept building it, she would never die. She did, but you can find out more about it here.

One other thing that Greil Marcus touched on was Jimi Hendrix's cover of Bob Dylan's  "Like A Rolling Stone" which reminded me it was actually a simple barre chord progression with majors and minors (well it is the way I play it) so if I can remember the words I may try to do a YouTube version of it, just me my voice and electric guitar for six minutes or so,.

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

Sunday, 9 January 2022

Becoming Infinite Like A Rolling Stone


I usually post on New Years Day and New Year's Eve but due to my writing being more diverted to Vocal this has become generally a commentary on the books I read. I have just finished  Fiona MacDonald's "Vampires, A Very Peculiar History" and it was thoroughly entertaining, far more engrossing than I expected, and also great fun.

I picked up an ebook from a Vocal friend Soleira Green called "Becoming Infinite" and although short, I loved the format and got a lot out of it, and would recommend it to anyone who wants to expand their vision of the Universe. The link is below.

Paper wise I picked up Greil Marcus' "Like A Rolling Stone" which I am finding difficult. It is written in an almost Dylanesque fashion and jumps back and forth in time and I am not sure what the final destination is, but it is not so bad that I won't finish it, but maybe one for the Charity Shop.

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