The Write to Life

  No cross-fire hurricane, bad sign, or dancing star accompanied my birth. Flamboyant cosmic portents were strictly forbidden at Liverpool’s Sefton General, a decaying Victorian pile that did hospital impersonations and which served as a recruitment agency for the huge (as in dead big) cemetery conveniently situated next door. Had Mary bowled up to deliver at Sefton General, the angels would have had to wait for Visiting Hours, the shepherds wouldn’t have made it past the front gate and the three dodgy-looking foreigners in fancy-dress would have been reported to the police – ultimately spending the night in the local bridewell while investigations were made concerning stolen gold and illegal substances....

  …….for you – whoever you may be (nice of you to drop by). I’m with Umberto Eco on this (nothing like keeping good company). The master  of semiotics and nuanced sophistication of language dismisses as ‘bollocks’ the idea that writers write for themselves. Writing for yourself is an ego-indulgence that merits only yourself as the reader. “One sheds one’s sicknesses in books”, says DH Lawrence. Sorry, Bert – if that were the case, you could have written a book  on tuberculosis – Lady Chatterly’s Pulmonologist ? Sons and Lung-ers? – and lived a lot longer. I tried this once – writing as therapy – and produced the worst book I have  ever written. One sheds one’s sicknesses at the clinic, not the keyboard (Beethoven excepted) - and on your own time, not the reader's.....

  Life-guiding Proverbs (As I lack Blake’s status/vision/talent, mine are from Hull, not Hell) 

 # Time is endless and Time is relative - especially when you have family round

 # Silence is often the best way to make yourself heard

 # Duality is in all things and such polarities drive the entire Universe - though bi-polar people do not necessarily start with an advantage

 # Sometimes is better than Never. Never is better than Always

 # If you must be moderate, be extremely moderate

 # It's still worth leading a horse to water if you need to drink.....

Novels

Pluto Rising

The Zeus Project

The Crystal Garden

Antica

The Canterbury Series Novels

The Clark's Tale

The Knight's Tale

The Reeve's Tale

The Merchant's Tale

Short Stories

The Virtual Alchemist and other tales