From the handwritten notes of Lisa Robinson

7 July

My job is being made redundant. My boss, Prof Thompson, said the company was retrenching all the executive secretaries and replacing them with new advanced voice recorder and audio editor technology.

“Most of the scientists and researchers elected to implement the new system which will record their work and transcribe it using the speech to text technology,” he said.

Anxiety clutched my heart at his words, but I forced a smile and said: “I understand why this technology is the popular choice, it will give them a lot of flexibility with the recording process. They will have the ability to quickly start and stop their recordings, add individual notes, upload their recordings to Dropbox, GoogleDrive or Onedrive or any other cloud storage provider and download recordings by USB cable or WiFi sync to their laptops. I can see its appeal.” Lisa’s smile trembled slightly at the thought of losing her salary and having to go through the pain of looking for a new job. It was not easy with her existing skill set which were becoming obsolete in the current fast-changing job market.

“Jeff and I were talking about you, Lisa. We have been impressed by your positive attitude to learning new things and developing your career. We would like to recommend you for retraining as a data analyst by the firm if you are prepared to undergo the skills upgrading over the next couple of years. If you are agreeable to this, we thought you continue to work with our team and assist with analysing the results of our findings and collating our conclusions. You will also be responsible for assisting me with the compliance and other reports I have to prepare on a monthly basis.”

My face lit up with pleasure at the compliment. “That would be great, Prof Thompson. I would love to continue to work with Jeff and you and I would welcome an opportunity to learn new skills that will make me more employable, now and going forward.”

“That great news, Lisa. We are looking forward to working with you in your new role. Thia will contact you about enrolling in the first six-month course at the end of August. Until then, you can work as an assistance to Jacques and start learning the ropes.”

I cannot describe in words my relief and pleasure at this turn of events. The words “one door closes and another opens”, a favourite saying of my mother’s, popped into my mind.

I wonder how much of this surprising offer is Jeff’s doing. I have always known he really likes me, even though I am married. My mother would say he is sweet on me. Prof Thompson is a lovely man, but he is so ditzy, I can’t see him thinking up this scheme on his own.

This post was written for Sue Vincent’s weekly write photo prompt. You can join in here: https://scvincent.com/2019/06/27/thursday-photo-prompt-open-writephoto/

What Amazon says

When swallowed, some souls gift insights, wisdom, a path to understanding. Others unleash power, proficiency with a sword, and indifference to death. One soul assimilates with ease. But swallow a host of the dead and risk a descent into madness.

Estranged from his family over the murder of his wife, young Raze Anvrell wields his fists to vent his rage. Then a chance at a new life beckons, and he retreats to the foothills of the Ravenwood, the haunt of unbound ghosts. He and his mentor build a freehold, a life of physical labor and the satisfaction of realizing a dream. They raise horses and whittle by the fire until the old man dies, and Raze swallows his first soul.

When his brother reaches out, open wounds begin to scar. But the tenuous peace won’t last. While those who rule the Vales yield to the lure of their ambitions, slavers of Ezar roam the countryside, hunting for human chattel. While one man manipulates the law, another heeds the souls of violence howling in his head.

Raze too listens to his soul’s whispers, and as danger intrudes on his quiet life, he has no choice but to return to his father’s world and join the fight.

***
In this completed series, epic fantasy blends with the wisdom of old souls to create a unique coming of age story of courage and honor in the midst of evil. Slavery is pitted against freedom, anger against forgiveness, and a desire to live peacefully against the necessity to take up the sword.

It’s a story of bitter estrangement and broken hearts, of deception and unfettered ambition. For Raze Anvrell it’s a journey of violence, redemption, and his soul’s growth as he transforms from a reckless youth into a man with a rich legacy of souls.

Magic, politics, love, and madness collide in this fantasy adventure. For lovers of beauty and battle, and complex characters willing to risk everything in the fight for their souls.

My review

I was attracted to this book by its unusual title. Soul Swallowers, what could that mean? I was amazed and delighted to discover that its meaning is quite literal and one of the themes of this book is the ability of the people in the author’s beautifully constructed fantasy world to physically swallow the souls of others, friends or foes, and acquire their characteristics, skills and abilities. I enjoyed how the author explored this aspect of the book and illustrated through her characters how the swallowing of souls impacted on the swallower, changing their personality if the soul was a contradiction to their own nature and causing internal turmoil. If the soul was a good fit, the swallower would benefit hugely from this process and the two souls would eventually meld and become completely harmonious. I found this concept unique and compelling.

The author has created a world in conflict and explores the possibilities for good and evil when one culture is consumed by another. Ideas and cultural policies that work well with a conqueror in this case the Ezar, are often badly transposed and their implementation manipulated for personal gain by the representatives of the conquerors and by the leaders of the conquered, who want to retain their positions of power under the new regime. The concept of slavery depicted in the Soul Swallowers and how its initial implementation by the Ezar is twisted in the Vales to the advantage of ruthless and unruly slavers clearly demonstrates this abuse of power. The uncaring attitude of the Vale leadership highlights the distrustful and back stabbing environment that emerges in such situations. As with other brilliant works of fantasy that draw analogies with real life happenings, the influences of Tolkien’s experiences in World War 1 and their influence on his series Lord of the Rings come to mind, the author has done an excellent job of creating a world which shares interesting ideas and thoughts on problems and issue that we are currently facing with integrating cultures in our current global world.

The main character, Raze Anvrell, is the son of one of the Vale leaders who rails against his father’s wishes for him to marry the daughter of a neighbouring Vale leader and bring about an alliance of their two families. When Raze discloses that he is already married, which results in the murder of his young wife, he turns his back on his family and disappears, building himself a life on a rural farm in the Vales. The growth of Raze’s character is intriguing to experience as he goes from being a bereaved, but rather spoiled young man, to developing into a kind and compassionate man who cares for the welfare of others. Raze’s path leads him to discover that you cannot always walk away from a bad system and sometimes you have to take a stand against it.

A fascinating and well written book and one I would recommend to readers of fantasy.

Purchase Soul Swallowers

Winner of last weeks giveaway for Double Blind by Dan Alatorre

Thank you to all of you who participated last week and wrote a comment. I put all your names in a hat and Greg drew out Marjorie Mallon of Kyrosmagica. Congratulations, Marje, I will be in contact with you to send you your prize.

I have been over at Sue Vincent’s fascinating blog, Sue Vincent’s Daily Echo, with a post about climbing boys and my short story featuring them in the forthcoming murder mystery anthology, Death Among Us. Thank you, Sue, for having me over.

About climbing boys

During the 1700s and 1800s, mainly male children often performed an occupation known as a climbing boy or chimney sweep. Many of the climbing boys were orphans, and in Great Britain many came from workhouses, and some were as young as 3 years old. As the child needed to be quite small to climb up the chimneys of the time, most climbing boys outgrew this occupation by the time they were nine or ten years old, although due to poor diet, some worked until they were as old as fourteen years.

The life of a climbing boys was dangerous as they climbed hot flues that could be a mere 7 inches square, although 14 inches by 9 inches was a common standard, and they could get jammed in the flue, suffocate or burn to death. The children developed raw, red skinless patches on their bodies from climbing up and down the stacks. These only went away when the climber developed calluses or the skin was hardened by their master applying an application of strong brine, which was placed on them in front of a hot fire.

The boys also frequently fell, and this resulted in deformed ankles, broken legs and twisted spines. Eye and respiratory problems also plagued climbing boys. The deadliest condition that affected climbing boys was called chimney sweeps’ carcinoma which was caused by the fact that soot is carcinogenic, and the boys slept under the soot sacks and were rarely washed. Chimney sweeps’ carcinoma is a cancer that results from squamous cells which form on the surface of the skin and the lining of hollow organs in the body and line the respiratory and digestive tracts. Warts on the skin of the scrotum, caused by the irritation from soot particles, developed into scrotal cancer which ultimately invaded the abdomen and killed the sufferer.

You can read the rest of this article here: https://scvincent.com/2019/06/24/guest-author-robbie-cheadle-climbing-boys/

I have been a little less active on my blog this weekend. The reason for this is that I am now proof reading Though the Nethergate. It is a bit more of an effort than I expected as a lot of the thoughts of my characters throughout the book are not in italics as they need to be. I expect it went wrong somehow in the copy and paste process. I am being meticulous in checking that I catch them all as part of my changes. It is a time consuming process and I have spent a good few hours doing it this weekend. I still have 150 pages to go over the next week.

As I go along, I have been creating a few new picture advertisements to help advertise this new book. Let me know what you think of these two:

From the diary of Jennifer Saunders

14 June

It has been an incredible few weeks. John arrived home for three weeks of annual leave on 30 May, just in time to participate in the global reference and vote in favour of the implementation of a new world government. The atmosphere at the polling stations was festive with everyone exciting about the prospect of change and action finally being taken on a global basis for the climate change and other issues facing our planet.

My spirits were high as we both joined in the singing and jubilation while we waited in the queue. One enthusiastic chap was attempting to compose a new world government national anthem, picking out chords on his guitar and singing lustily.

The voting process went fairly quickly with the on-line voting going off without a hitch. The only hiccup was having to have our identity documents physically checked by volunteers. This will be the last time this process is performed physically. The world government has plans to insert identification microchips into all citizens hands so you’ll just wave your hand over the scanner and the rest of the process will be automated. Isn’t progress great?

When the results of the poll were announced on 5 June and humanity was advised that the new world government would be implement, the partying went on all night in the usual British tradition of huge street parties. John and I spent a bit of time celebrating with our neighbours but at 12 P.M. we both faded and retired inside to bed. John is a light sleeper so I was worried that the on-going noise would keep him awake. The fact that he fell into a deep sleep within minutes indicates how exhausted he still is even after a week of being on holiday.

His most recent assignment was in MidWest of the USA which is suffering multiple tornadoes and flooding. There have even been a few instances of snow.

He showed me the most poignant picture of a man and his dog in a canoe, paddling down Highway 61 in Missouri. The bottom of the canoe was packed with sandbags which he was using to try and hold back floodwaters from the Mississippi River. The sight of man and his best friend in this struggle against the forces of nature brought tears to my eyes.

I have taken a similar amount of time off work and am also delighted to have the break. My hours have been extremely long again and my latest assignment didn’t run smoothly at all.

Despite the heavy rains and flooding that is currently taking place in the UK, we have being having a wonderful time exploring some historical sites that are new to us and taking long rambling walks in St James Park.

It is strange to me why John isn’t stationed in the UK to help deal with our own flooding emergencies. The flooding here has caused widespread disruption with roads, railways and hospitals being flooded. There was a bit of flooding here in London with some railway lines into the city being closed as authorities struggled to cope with a month’s worth of rain in a single day.

John had an exciting piece of news which he shared with me after swearing me to secrecy. “I’ve been invited to go for an interview to be part of the new world government military and strategic rescue task force,” he said. “If I get the job, I’ll be trained in military technologies. I think it will be a great extension of my current skills as a rescue operations team leader.”

“What does that mean, John?” I asked.

“There has been a concern among governments for quite a while that with the potential increase in world-wide unemployment due to increasing automation, combined with the economic and societal impact of climate change, will lead to fragmentation, segregation and social unrest in an increasingly hyper-connected world. Just think about it,” his voice rose with enthusiasm for his topic, “social media platforms can be used by trouble makers to share controversial and anti-establishment views among like-minded groups of people. It can effectively be used to narrow people’s sources of news to those that share similar interests and viewpoints creating increased polarisation.

The new leadership recognises this threat and is of the view that future conflicts are likely to come from non-government sources and will definitely include a cyber-dimension. It makes sense because no modern opponent will pass up the opportunity to disrupt, confuse or destroy their enemy’s sensors, communications and decision-making capabilities. They are planning to form a group of elite military teams to help deal with any potential conflicts as they arise. There are going to be different areas of specialisation including threats posed by drones, autonomous weapons, nanomaterial’s, biological and biochemical weapons, wearable devices and distributed energy sources.”

I gazed at him. I had never thought about modern technology posing a threat in this way before. “Which area are you interested in?”

“If I get selected, I’ll ask to focus on lethal autonomous weapons. I’ve always been interested in robotic weapons and this may be my opportunity to develop that interest. “

“When is your interview?”

“Early next week. I hope to hear the outcome before I leave to re-join my team. I have to give three months’ notice and the world government expects to have formed its primary structures by October and will be announcing its plans for significant changes by the end of this year. They want the military forces in place before the announcements go out in case there are any adverse reactions that need to be dealt with.”

Why did he bring up his leaving? It’s going to be hard for me when he goes again. I assume he’ll be going back to the MidWest as that situation is not yet over. I’m not going to think about his leaving now. I’m just going to enjoy the next few precious days we have together.

This post was written for Linda G. Hill’s weekly SoCS prompt: Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “leaves.” Use it as a noun or a verb. Have fun! You can join in here: https://lindaghill.com/2019/06/21/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-22-19/

Thank you to James Cudney, prolific drama and cozy mystery author, for this amazing review of Death Among Us, an anthology of murder mystery short stories by ten authors, including me. If you enjoy books, do visit Jay’s lovely book, he writes reviews daily of all the amazing books he reads and has a great selection of his own books too.

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

My favorite book genre is mysteries. With so many wonderful authors and series, it’s often difficult to decide what to read next, especially when you’re looking to expand your horizons with something new. That’s often why I’ll turn to an anthology of short stories, as collections allow you to sample a dozen or so writers who hold a vast array of experiences and styles. This month, I took a chance on one called ‘Death Among Us,’ published in July of 2019 and edited by Stephen Bentley. In this fantastic collection, readers are exposed to ~10 authors who have each contributed 3 stories. What’s even better is that the three stories are generally connected to one another, so it’s almost like reading a mini novella several times over.

Prior to each author’s stories, there’s a lively and informative intro about what readers are getting themselves into. The writer will tell us if the stories are connected by the same character or a similar murder plot, a continuation of the previous tale but with a twist, or something even more dastardly and thrilling. I enjoyed this aspect of the anthology, as often in these types of books, each author only has a single story. With three, we get a better feel for their voice, style, and tone. The collection kicks off with the award-winning editor’s ‘The Rose Slayer’ stories, where homicide cops trace a killer who leaves behind a calling card. It spoke to me for many reasons, but to watch the transition from the first to the second and the last story, I felt like I could understand the motivation and operating procedures / boundaries of the heroes (and possibly the serial killer too!).

Another favorite is Robbie Cheadle, an author who’s participated in another short story collection that I’ve read as well as written many children’s books with her sons. What a vastly different style across her entire inventory of books and stories… to kick off with, in ‘Justice is Never Served,’ we have a woman who murders babies! Then there are the chimney sweeping killers (not what you’re thinking either!)… Cheadle delivers just the right amount of gore and thrills without going over the top, as the topic could be quite difficult to swallow. The best parts of her three stories are how they are all based on some sort of true story… which makes the tale even more horrific. She’s definitely cultivated her talents in these three tales, and I hope to see a full-length horror novel from her one day.

Carry on reading here: https://thisismytruthnow.com/2019/06/21/book-review-death-among-us-by-stephen-bentley-editor-of-the-anthology/

From the notes of Patricia Hurley – 15 November 2024

The lasts stop on the tour of the new residential development was the food distribution centre. Residents of the development would be able to collect monthly food parcels from here.

“Hi, I’m Jane,” said the perky, young social worker who was facilitating a delivery of basic foodstuffs. “The food centre is where residence will collect their monthly food rations. These will comprise of basics like tea, coffee, sugar, dried milk, canned goods, cereals, biscuits and soya products. All the small items people need to make their lives comfortable and pleasant. The residence will also collect their monthly coupons for the canteen which will serve all lunches and dinners.”

“I noticed there are no shopping facilities in the development,” said Jack, a community psychologist. “Where do the residents purchase additional food if they want it?”

“They can’t,” said Jane. “Only light meal preparation is allowed in the apartments and residents may not bring food from external sources into the development. Food is to be prepared, cooked and clean up centrally in the most energy and resource efficient way. All food provided to residence will be artificially created and will contain all the healthy nutrients needed for a healthy diet.  There will be no junk foods and all meals will be free of harmful ingredients. The world government does not support self-inflicted health problems such as obesity, and is taking steps to limit people’s choices in that regard.”

“And what happens if they break the rules?” enquired Jack.

“They will be transported to a prison development in one of the endangered areas.”

“Endangered areas?”

“Oh, those places that are being most impacted by global warming and are high risk for natural disasters.”

On the bus back to central London, Elizabeth and I discussed our visit. “I think the world government has done a fairly good job with this programme. They seem to have thought of every need the residents will have from healthcare to schooling, as well as entertainment,” Elizabeth said. “There are some strict controls being put in place, but maybe that is not a bad thing. Too much rope has allowed people to hang themselves in the recent past so some enforced discipline may be appropriate.”

“Yes, I think you are right,” I said, but my lips were playing service to the words. Elizabeth’s early comment about the lack of genetic engineering laboratories, Jane’s comments about the food regulations and the impersonal persona of the entire development disturbed me. Squashing the unemployed and unemployable people of the world into a housing estate, even if it was a state-of-the-art one, just didn’t seem like the right thing to be doing.” It’s so white and unappealing. That place would make the most resilient of people depressed. People’s human rights are also under threat.

If you missed it and are interested, you can read a bit more about the development here: https://robertawrites235681907.wordpress.com/2019/06/15/socs-social/

This post was written for Sue Vincent’s weekly write photo prompt. I chose choices for my post. You can join in here: https://scvincent.com/2019/06/13/thursday-photo-prompt-choices-writephoto-2/

From the notes of Patricia Hurley – 15 November 2023

“Each building consists of five thousand identical 72 m² apartments, each with an open plan kitchen, dining and living area, one bathroom comprising of a shower stall, a wash basin and a toilet and two bedrooms,” extoled the guide, who introduced himself as Sam. “Solar photovoltaic systems power each building, but the lights and hot water in the apartments is centrally controlled so as to prevent excessive use by tenants. Showers are limited to 5 minutes a day per resident of the apartment. Each apartment has its own large screen TV which will air a selection of programmes and other entertainment provided free of charge by the world government.”

“I can’t believe there are hundreds of these developments being built all over the world?” I said aloud.

“It is rather astonishing,” said the guide with noticeable pride. Five thousand people will be housed in each of these apartment blocks with a total of five hundred thousand people being housed in each development.”

Sam led us into the building and into an elevator on the ground floor. He punched the button for the 50^th floor.

The corridor was painted whited and the protective flooring was a dull brown. Sam withdrew a card from his pocket and scanned himself into one of the apartments. Slipping the card into the electricity activation slot on the wall, he said: “Isn’t it great.” The bright LED lights illuminated the tiny room dominated by a huge TV screen on the wall.  Sam grabbed the remote control attached to the wall and flicked a button. The dark screen lit up and a menu popped up showing the selection of available programmes. For your viewing pleasure, played across the top of the screen in large text. There was a choice of three news programmes, over thirty reality shows and a selection of soap opera style shows.

There’s nothing on the list that will stimulate creativity or innovation in any way.

“Are these all the options?” I asked.

“Yes, isn’t it enough? There are fifty channels to choose from. I don’t know why we need three news channels, but some people might like it. Very generous if you ask me.”

I smiled at this poor, misguided youth. “Yes, it is certainly very generous.”

He flicked another switch on the remote and another menu appeared. I squinted at the small incons displayed on the screen and realised that this menu set out a vast selection of social media choices. All the current favourites were featured including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, WeChat, Tumblr, Twitter, Skype, Pinterest, WordPress, Facetime and many others.

“The buildings all have free Wi-Fi twenty four hours a day. All of the occupants of the development will be able to access the network using either their television or their iphone. Did you know every occupant will receive a free iphone? These will be upgraded every three years.” The glee in this voice was unmistakable. Our guide was one hundred percent sold on the development.

Sam held up the remote for general inspection by the group. “Look how nifty this remote is? You can type text messages on it just like a cell phone. You can also send and receive emails, if you want to.”

“I’ve saved the best for last.” Sam flicked the third button on the remove and a list of games came up. “All the newest games will be available to residents. It is unbelievable awesome.

“And,” he said, “there is no restriction on data or downloads, you can use as much as you like for as long as you like. The network doesn’t switch off at 10 P.M. like the lights do. You can watch all day and all night if you want to.” Sounds completely ruinous to people’s health and mental well-being, I thought.

“Don’t you think this system will make people antisocial?” asked one of the tour participants.

“Nah,” said Sam. “It’s great. I don’t have to get off the couch to meet my friends. I can just lie here and chat to them via Skype or Facetime.”

“But don’t you prefer to meet your friends face-to-face,” I asked. “Nah,” he said again. “I’m happy to do it from here.” A reflective look crossed his face. “Of course, my girlfriend can come over sometimes, but not every day. I’ve got a life to live, you know. I plan to go to the canteen for meals and I can see my mates then. The meal menus I’ve seen are not bad and I won’t have to do any preparation or cleaning up.”

There was a stunned silence and the man took this as a cue to guide us out of the apartment and back towards the elevators. When the doors swished open on the ground floor, I dashed out and through the revolving glass doors of the entrance. The cold air outside was bracing and settled my churning stomach. The man’s comments and thoughts, combined with the out-sized residential buildings and their surrounds that made me feel weak and ill. My nausea soon passed, and I was ready to re-join the group.

This post was written for Linda G. Hill’s weekly Stream of Consciousness Saturday prompt as follows: “Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “social.” Use it any way you’d like. Have fun!” You can join in here: https://lindaghill.com/2019/06/14/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-june-15-19/

What Amazon says

In the shadowy area where myth and history collide, an unlikely hero is forced to save the world from an ancient Celtic curse. Dr. Elliot Everett-Jones knows that shadowy area well, having spent most of his life exploring its dimensions as given by a host of unreliable sources and imaginative speculation. Some would say he daydreams over the improbable plots of second-rate Romantic era authors. These fantasies, however, come to life after the discovery of the Cauldron of the Dead.

When the Cauldron produces the evil fireborn, Elliot is forced to confront an army of these mythic undead with nothing but his obscure knowledge and the hope of finding the legendary Lady of the Lake to give him Arthur’s sword. Even more frightening is the idea that he might have to confront his ex-wife, Eleanor.

“The Fireborn” is part joyful romp through history, myth and legend, and part fast paced adventure set in modern England and New York. The entire book, though, revolves around Elliot’s relationships with a large variety of characters. These relationships form the key that may unlock the mystery or lead to utter defeat.

My review

This is a clever and well researched story that superimposes the King Arthur myth on our modern landscape.

Dr Elliot Everett-Jones is the son of a famous archaeologist and his brother, William, has followed in his illustrious footsteps. Elliot was a disappointment to his father as he became a writer of fantasy and historical fiction and was not interested in archaeology to the same extent as his brother. Elliot goes to visit William at his latest dig and discovers that he has made a most unusual discovery of an ancient cauldron. The cauldron has an extraordinary mythical history and is believed to have been created by an ancient king who used it to create an army of invincible super zombies. According to the legend, the zombies, called fireborn, have blue skin and red hair that resembles a flame.

Elliot recognises the cauldron as the one from the myths and, a few days later when it disappears under mysterious circumstances, he predicts the re-emergence of virtually immortal zombies and starts posting warnings on Facebook. When his predictions start coming true, the army comes looking for him. The safety of the world is under threat and Elliot needs to find the modern day Arthur, Merlin and Lancelot if the human race is to be saved from this ancient threat.

I really enjoyed the character of Elliot and sympathized with his difficult childhood as the son that disappointed his father and the demise of his marriage to a woman he still loves. The author did a great job of developing this character and portraying how he develops due to the strange circumstances he faces over the course of the story and becomes physically tougher but more emotionally sensitive and intellectually astute.

There is a wonderful air of old English legend around this tale but it is uplifted and modernised with the inclusion of drugged up henchmen in league with the fireborn, sophisticated technology intermingled with visions and nightmares that become actuality. The author has a vivid imagination and a good knowledge of the Arthurian mythology.

All in a great read.

Purchase The Fireborn