Monthly Archives: August 2015

“The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”, Cover Reveal

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Many thanks to Chris Graham (AKA The Story Reading Ape) for designing the book cover for my forthcoming collection of poetry, “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”. I had originally intended to entitle my book, “We are All In The Gutter, But Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars”. However, on reflection I determined on “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems”. The Wilde quote does however live on as can be seen from the description on the back cover.

PB with text 01 small

I am aiming to publish “The Girl Who Wasn’t There And Other Poems” in September of this year in ebook and print formats.

eBook with text 01 small

You can find details of my previous collection of poetry and prose, “Dalliance” by following these links:

jpg-hr-dalliance-64-page-cover     jpg-hr-dalliance-ebook-cover

Amazon UK   Amazon USA   Amazon CA   Amazon AU

Monster – My Guest Post On “Behind The White Coat”

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Thank you to Victo Dolore from Behind The White Coat for publishing my poem, “Monster” which can be found by following this link, https://doctorly.wordpress.com/2015/08/29/from-the-guest-room/. Please do check out Victo’s blog.

 

Kevin

We Are All In The Gutter, But Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars

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I will be taking a break from blogging over the UK bank holiday weekend. I will be preparing my new collection of poetry for publication. The title is “We Are All In The Gutter, But Some Of Us Are Looking At The Stars”, which is a quote from the great Oscar Wilde. As the title suggests, the collection will be a compilation of some of my darker poetry.

On first reading, the quote is bleak. The gutter suggests the lowest point in the life of man or what some might label “a low mode of living”! However the fact “some of us are looking at the stars” suggests hope or the possibility of change for the better.

The new collection will join my existing book, “Dalliance; A Collection Of Poetry And Prose” which can be found here, (http://www.amazon.com/Dalliance-collection-poetry-prose-Morris-ebook/dp/B00QQVJC7E/ref=cm_cr_pr_bdcrb_top?ie=UTF8).

 

Kevin

The Overwhelming Majority Of Self-Published Work is “Bad” – I Beg To Differ

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I recently came across the following comment regarding the difficulties experienced by authors in getting published, (http://www.derekhaines.ch/justpublishing/i-need-a-publisher-no-you-dont/comment-page-1/#comment-1607). The commenter’s argument is neatly encapsulated by the following quote,

“Here’s the truth: 99.99% self publish because a traditional publisher rejected their manuscripts.

Why? Because they’re BAD!”

 

The above is a  sweeping assertion. How can the commenter possibly know why so many authors find it difficult to get published via established (traditional) publishing companies? Where is the evidence to bolster his case? The plain truth is that he produces no facts in support of this highly contentious statement.

Established big name publishers will, on the whole publish what they believe will sell. What sells does not always correlate with what constitutes good writing. Of  course there are many excellent works published by traditional publishers. However alongside the excellent exists what to my mind at least constitutes pap. The same applies to self-published authors – there is much good work out there which co-exists alongside the pap. I don’t believe that anyone can say, hand on heart that all that eminates from the traditional publishing stable is sweet scented hay while that coming from self-published authors is coated in horse dung. The sweet smelling hay and the manure are present in both stables and its nonsense to contend otherwise.

As  a  self-published author I do, of course have an axt to grind in that I believe my own work is far from being “bad”. I have also read many other self-published authors and poets who’s writing is far from being “bad”. I chose to self-publish due to wanting control over my own work. However I have a  close friend in the off-line (real) world who expended countless hours in firing off letters to literary agents and publishers. He  got nowhere. Hence he decided to self-publish using Createspace. It  may be said that friendship clouds my judgement, however, having read a  considerable portion of his manuscript I can assure my readers that it is far from being “bad”. It  is, in my opinion extremely well written.

I have nothing whatsoever against traditional publishing. What I object to is lazy arguments not supported by evidence to the effect that the vast majority of material emanating from the self-publishing sector is bad, while traditional publishing overwhelmingly produces works of outstanding merit.

 

(Please Note; this post is in response to the comment linked to above. I agree with the post on which the commenter is commenting, it is the comment (not the post) with which I take issue).

Waking Early

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Waking early I lie,

Darkness still shrouds the sky.

One day or night I will die,

There will be no more awakening to the sky.

Is death the final sleep,

Through which no dreams creep?

Or a perpetual dream,

wherein our consciousness forever streams?

Often, when dreaming, I believe myself to be awake.

On waking, I realise my mistake.

But how can I be certain the land of sleep is behind,

That I am not in a dream confined?

I lack the wisdom of a divine,

So can not answers find.

10 Great Facts about Writers and Dogs

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A great post for all you dog lovers out there including myself. I particularly like, “The first draft of John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men was eaten by his dog, Max.” Hopefully the invention of computers and other storage devices precludes this from happening today …! Kevin

Interesting Literature

Short facts about writers and their pet dogs – and the canine figures in the works of famous authors

Fearing attacks from rivals, poet Alexander Pope rarely left his house without a brace of pistols and his dog, a Great Dane named Bounce.

Virginia Woolf’s first published essay was an obituary for the family dog, Shag.

The first draft of John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Menwas eaten by his dog, Max.

Emily Brontë’s dog, Keeper, followed her coffin to the grave when she died and, for weeks after, howled outside her bedroom door waiting for its owner to return.

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Name a Blind Poet

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An interesting short piece regarding blind poets and how their blindness impacts their poetry. Being blind I find that much of my work describes senses other than sight – smell, touch and man’s emotions. Kevin

Poetic Alchemist

I am intrigued by how poets are influenced by their visual sense. This is reflected in their verse, as well as the use of accompanying photographs and other visual artwork. And many of you practice both Taiga and Haiga poetry.

This leads me to wonder about the poetry of blind poets. First, which poets were/are blind? Besides Homer and John Milton, I was at loss to name any others, so I started a small research project.

Please help me build a list of blind poets.

Here are those I have identified thus far: the ancient Greek poet Homer, 17th century English poet John Milton, 15th century Hindi poet Sant Surdas, contemporary Australian poet Michelle Taylor, 9th century Persian poet Rudaki (alledgedly blind), 18th century Irish poet Anthony Raftery, 9th century Arab-Spanish poet Muqaddam Ibn Mu afa al-Qabri, 19th century American hymn writer and poet Fanny Crosby, 19th century Jewish-American poet…

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Lie Down With Dogs Get Up With Fleas

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From the sunlit uplands man’s heart turns.

Those who play in the gutter attract germs.

The birds soar above,

While in the dirt man grubs.

Flowers are trampelled underfoot,

All that is noble is reduced to dust.

The rats scurry away,

They have no stomach to fight and stay.

Why Librarians Don’t Want to Buy Your Self-Published Book

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An informative post for authors wishing to get their books into libraries. Kevin

wrapped up in books

When a self-published author contacts someone in the collection development department at my library, we let out a collective groan. Inevitably, our answer to the request to add their book to our collection will feel personal, which is awkward. It will definitely mean more work for us no matter what, and for acquisitions and cataloging staff as well if we do accept the book as a donation or decide to purchase it.

Librarians don’t want to buy your self-published book, but not for the reasons you think. 

I’ve been thinking about self-published books and their place in libraries a lot recently, as my library has been updating our collection development policy and brainstorming ways to streamline how we deal with requests from authors to include their self-published materials in our collection and how our collection development work complements our strategic goal of supporting content creation in our community.

Then, this weekend…

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