Category Archives: short stories

Must Be Funny In A Rich Man’s World

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Sometimes I think that it would be far easier for me as an author where I to be fortunate enough to possess an independent income relieving me of the necessity to engage in paid employment. I leave my flat at around 7:30 am and usually get home between 6:30-7 pm by which time my brain wants to rest and, if I do write the tiredness sits on my shoulders like some giant succubus but without the delightful distractions offered by that mythical creature. On occasions I am able to shake off that guileful demon and write (much of my collection of short stories, The First Time was written in those long, dark winter evenings after work). While I felt a great sense of satisfaction after having spent several productive hours writing into the late evening, on the morrow my body and brain cried out in protest. Consequently most of my writing (other than blog posts) takes place during the weekend when I can sit undisturbed plugging away at my stories.

A good friend who is retired frequently spends the entire morning writing. I am envious of his ability to do this. Long gone is the necessity for him to spend a large portion of his day working for others. My friend is the master of his own time which he uses to good effect.

I would love to be able to write for 4-5 hours a day knowing that I had an independent income to sustain me. No concerns about the need to earn money to pay the bills, just the joy of writing filling my mornings. Having said that my participation in the world of work gives me a wider perspective on the world. There have been writers (some of them great) who have possessed independent means relieving them of the necessity to work. However participation in the hurly burly of society as opposed to being cloistered in the library of one’s house on a country estate furnishes the author with a broader understanding of the world with all it’s foibles, but if anyone wants to leave a landed estate to me in their will I will, reluctantly accept the bequest (it would be rude to do otherwise)!

Kevin

The Wonderful Team Membership Reader Award

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I was surprised and delighted to be nominated for the Wonderful Team Membership Reader Award by Manchester Flick Chick, http://manchesterflickchick.wordpress.com/.

The rules of the Award are as follows:

 

  1. The Nominee of the Wonderful Team Membership Reader Award shall display the logo on his/her post/page and/or sidebar (being blind I have yet to get a sighted friend to help me copy the logo).
  2. The nominee shall nominate 14 readers they appreciate over a period of 7 days. This can be done at any rate during the week.
  3. The nominee shall name his or her Wonderful Team Member Readership Award Nominees on a post or on posts during the 7 day period
  4. The nominee shall make these rules or amended rules keeping to the spirit of the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award known to each reader he nominates.
  5. The nominee must finish this sentence and post: “A great reader is .”.

 

 

http://atopsyturvyworld.wordpress.com/

http://seumasgallacher.com/

http://thestoryreadingapeblog.com/author/thestoryreadingape/

http://judysp.wordpress.com/

http://kevs-domain.net/author/cooper1963/

http://300stories.wordpress.com/

http://bottledworder.com/

http://belsbror.wordpress.com/

http://adventuresinlowvision.wordpress.com/

http://interestingliterature.com/

http://mcwatty9.wordpress.com/author/mcwatty9/

http://laurie27wsmith.wordpress.com/author/laurie27wsmith/

http://storyshucker.wordpress.com/

http://emilyspoetryblog.com/author/emilyardagh/

Many thanks to everyone who follows or comments on my blog both those named above and the many others, I appreciate you all.

Reading Blind

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Growing up as a blind person in the 1970s and 1980s there existed extremely limited opportunities for a visually impaired  book lover like me to slake my thirst for books. Then (as now) only a fraction of the books available in print could be found in braille so if you wished to read Wuthering Heights then all fine and dandy, however if you wished to enjoy the latest thriller there was virtually no possibility of obtaining it in braille.

I supplemented my reading of braille books by listening to spoken word cassette versions of the classics together with books of more recent vintage such as Where Eagles Dare. However many of these recordings, although often professionally read where, for all that abridgements of much lengthier books. While some books no doubt might benefit from being abridged many others did not but, as a blind reader I had, by and large to make do with what was available.

The Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB) offered (and still provides) a talking book library of full length works ranging from the classics to the latest detective stories. Again, however only a relatively small proportion of the books available in print found their way onto the shelves of the Talking Book Library. All this changed with the coming of the e-book and, in particular the invention of the Amazon Kindle.

I received my first Kindle, as a Christmas present in 2011 and it opened up a world of print literature which had, hitherto been barred to me. My Kindle possesses a text to speech facility which enables me to have most of the books in the Kindle store read aloud. A few authors/publishers do not enable the text to speech facility but most do.

For a long time the Kindle app for the Ipad was inaccessible but this has now changed and my poor Amazon Kindle languishes in a cupboard feeling most unloved while the Kindle app on my Ipad is used on an almost daily basis. With Voiceover (Apple’s screen reading software) it is extremely easy to navigate around my Kindle library, to select and listen to books. The disadvantage to the Kindle iPad app is that it is not possible to purchase books although one can send an e-mail to yourself or add the title to your wish list as a reminder that you wish to purchase a title.

Amazon has recently released two further Kindles both of which the RNIB have reported as being even more accessible than my ancient Kindle, http://www.rnib.org.uk/livingwithsightloss/reading/how/ebooks/accessibility/amazon/Pages/kindle_devices.aspx#H2Heading1.

The world has certainly come a long way since I sat, in the school library lost in Palgrave’s Golden Treasury. I can still recollect the feel of the cloth bound volumes the braille worn down by countless fingers. I still read braille and enjoy doing so, however vast vistas of literature have been opened up by the Kindle and other similar devices which would, until recently have been beyond the dreams of visually impaired people.

For my Amazon author’s page please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

Keep The Cat In The Bag

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On Friday evening I was enjoying an excellent curry and a good bottle of red wine in the company of one of my oldest friends. While I never intentionally tune into other people’s conversations, on occasions one simply can not help doing so and Friday evening was a case in point.

“It isn’t her fault that her mother was a prostitute” a lady sitting with a group of people announced in a voice which carried across the restaurant.

“So will you use this in your next book?” my friend asked in a low tone.

“Its amazing what you overhear and, if I did use it no one would have their identity revealed” I replied.

As it happens neither my friend nor I where acquainted with the people in question and the statement quoted above, if used in a story would not in and of itself breech the privacy of the speaker unless of course I was acquainted with the histories of the individuals to whom the lady refered and I used this knowledge in a future plot. This would, of course be ethically wrong and has the potential to land me or any other writer in hot water of the legal kind where I or any other person to be so unethical as to use personal information without the explicit permission of those concerned.

Watch what you drink for when the wine flows it is amazing what people will let out of the bag!

Who Chooses Your Books?

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Recently my friend Brian and I where enjoying a pint or two in my favourite local when the conversation, as so often happens turned to books. Brian argued that a powerful minority of reviewers and literary critics largely determine the choices of the book buying public. If an influencial reviewer rates your work highly you are, as an author far more likely to prosper than if the same person provides a bad review or ignores your book.

I believe that my friend is correct upto a point. The kind of review an author receives in a leading national newspaper or periodical (assuming he receives one at all) can exert a powerful influence on the book buying public by (firstly) drawing the writer’s work to their attention and (secondly) by influencing the public in favour or against the book. However I believe that my friend is overly pessimistic as, with the rise of the great leviathan (Amazon) and other e-book retailers the world of reviewing and literary criticism has been democratised in that anyone can now leave a review. So if lots of Jo Blogs and Joan Smiths leave positive reviews on Amazon an author’s work is likely to prosper. Having said that I am sure that if the same author has his or her book slated in the press this will, quite possibly impact negatively on book sales.

The rise of e-books has also expanded the reach of authors across the globe. Until very recently a writer wishing to publish either had to be offered a contract by an established publisher or pay to have their work printed privately. With the birth of e-books a book can be published on Amazon today and within a matter of hours be available in most (in some instances) all of Amazon’s online stores. Of course this is by no means the end of the story as, once a book is available the challenge of getting people to look at your Amazon author’s page (let alone buy your books) begins.

In conclusion my friend, Brian is right in that positive reviews by influencial critics in mass circulation newspapers and magazines can greatly influence the purchasing habits of the reading public. However the rise of Amazon and other similar outlets does enable ordinary book lovers to post reviews and by so doing assists, to some extent in democratising the world of literary criticism.

For my Amazon author page please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

The First Time By Kevin Morris Free Until Friday 15 November

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For a limited period (10-15 November) I am giving away free copies of my e-book, The First Time which retails for £1.91 in the Amazon Kindle store. In The First Time we meet Becky a young graduate who enters the world of prostitution as an escort in order to clear her debts. The story takes an honest look at why young women enter the world of sex work and the impact of working as as a prostitute. Other stories explore what happens when robots attain the capacity to act like humans. For information on The First Time and my other books please visit my Amazon author page at http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0. To obtain your free copy of The First Time please send an e-mail to drewdog2060 at Tiscali .co.uk (the address is rendered in this manner to defeat spammers). Alternatively you can leave a comment here which automatically notifies me of your e-mail address. Please note, your personal information will be used solely for the purpose of providing you with your free copy of The First Time. You will receive no marketing e-mails! Happy reading!

(please note, this is being posted with the help of a sighted friend due to the recent problems I have been experiencing with my screen reading software (Jaws) and the WordPress interface).

 

Update to my About page

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I have finally got around to updating my About page! You can find the updated page here: http://newauthoronline.com/about/

 

I am posting this with the help of a sighted friend as I am still having problems posting this independently.

Living in a Virtual World

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Sometimes I feel as though I am living in a virtual world. All of my books are available solely in e-book format (there is nothing concrete which my readers can grasp hold of not counting their reading devices of course)!

Other than close friends, family and a smattering of acquaintences who I actually (shock horror talk to face-to-face) all of the communication regarding my writing takes place in the virtual realm (either on this blog, Twitter and, occasionally via Facebook).

Blogging is wonderful and I enjoy communicating online with readers and, of course reading other people’s blogs. However I yearn for something concrete which I, and others can reach out and touch. With this in mind I am considering having business cards produced with the address of this blog together with my contact details printed on them. It will be nice to have something solid to hand out to people as their eyes glaze over while I regail them with information about my books! Seriously the internet is great but there is no substitute for actually talking to people face-to-face about your writing and that business card is, at the very least a useful object for the kids to crayon on if nothing else!

For my Amazon authors page please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

The Importance Of Research

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The ability to express what resides in one’s head in a manner which grabs and maintains the interest of the reader is, in my opinion what makes a good author. Many people have interesting things to say but most of those never go on to write anything or, if they do their work remains unpublished.

As pointed out above it is the capacity of the writer to express himself in an interesting manner which makes a good teller of tales. However in many instances the good author is also marked out by his ability to conduct high quality research thereby rendering his books believable.

I set my long short story, Samantha, in the city of my birth, Liverpool, http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samantha-K-Morris-ebook/dp/B00BL3CNHI. Despite my familiarity with Liverpool it was still imperative that I conducted thorough research. For example part of the action is set in a Whetherspoon pub in the city centre. I have visited the place on several occasions but not being able to recall the name of the pub or it’s location I visited JD Whetherspoon’s website to ensure that my portrayal of the place was accurate.

During the course of Samantha Sam is subjected to a rape. In order to ensure her compliance Sam’s drink is spiked with a date rape drug. Knowing nothing about such drugs I spent some considerable time on medical sites and forums (the latter warnn women about the dangers of date rape), in order to ensure that my description of how Sam was drugged and the effects of the drug where accurate.

While research is vital it can be the lazy person’s excuse for failing to express themselves with originality and flair. I recollect downloading a book from Amazon which purported to be an examination of a particular subject. Having downloaded it I found that the work consisted almost entirely of citations from Wikipedia. As you can imagine I was far from impressed and returned the title to Amazon for a full refund! Anyone can quote chunks from Wikipedia, it is the ability to use source material with discrimination which separates the effective researcher/writer from the lazy so and so who just wants to make a quick buck or book!

For my Amazon authors page please visit http://www.amazon.co.uk/K.-Morris/e/B00CEECWHY/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0