Tag Archives: reading

Dublin’s Writers Museum – A Guest Post By Maja

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Many thanks to Maja of The Thoughts And Life Of Me (http://thethoughtsandlifeofme.com/author/masgautsen/) for the below guest post. I have always wished to visit Ireland and Maja’s article rekindles in me the desire to do so.

Kevin
Dublins Writers Museum
I was over the moon when one of my favourite bloggers asked me if I wanted to do a guest post on his blog. Then I realised I had to both come up with something to write about and then I have to actually write it (what have I gotten myself into?). I ended up deciding to give a recommendation for a great place to visit if you are a fan of literature.
Ireland’s Capital Dublin is one of my favourite cities. I’ve been there quite a few times both as a regular tourist and to go over to visit friends and family. Some of whom think I should get a job with their tourist board seeing as it never rains when I’m there so I might be a little biased. As a tourist there are loads to do and see. Dublin has the nicest pubs, the Guinness Museum, the Jameson Distillery, if you decide to do a hop-on-hop-off tour of the city you’ll get to ride through a city that has a lot of literary history.
Right off O’Connell Street, the main shopping street in Dublin on 18 Parnell Square North is the Dublin Writers Museum. It’s inside a lovely Gregorian house. The moment you get in there you are hit with an atmosphere at all the literary genius that the museum presents to you and the artifacts they have collected since opening in 1991.
360 degree view of the gallery
I plugged in the headphones I was given when I got in the door and I immediately entered the magical world of the Irish writers. You wander through the history, life and works of Irish writers like Keats, Yeats, Beckett, Stoker, Joyce, Swift, Wilde, Doyle and many many more. They truly have a wonderful collection of different artifacts from the different writers and the voice-over gives you a lot of information about the writers and the times they lived and did their writing in. The collection of artifacts are mainly downstairs, and here there is also a little cafe. Upstairs there is a wonderful room filled up with shelves of books and a lovely gallery where they sometimes hosts literary events.
I want to end my post not only urging you to visit this lovely little gem of a museum if you should find yourself in Dublin with some time on your hands, but also with a poem that never stops striking a nerve with me:
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths,
Enwrought with golden and silver light,
The blue and the dim and the dark cloths
Of night and light and the half-light,
I would spread the cloths under your feet:
But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
I have spread my dreams under your feet;
Tread softly because you tread on my dreams
-William Butler Yeats
Source: http://www.dublintourist.com/details/dublin-writers-museum.shtml, http://www.visitdublin.com/dublin-a-to-z/details/dublin-writers-museum/31258/#53.354366|-6.263985|16, http://ireland-calling.com/he-wishes-for-the-cloths-of-heaven/

There Is Some Corner Of The British Library Which Is Forever Dalliance

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On returning to London on 13 July, one of the first letters I opened was a document from the British Library’s Legal Deposit archive acknowledging receipt of my book, “Dalliance; A Collection Of Poetry and Prose”. As explained in my post of 15 May 2015 (http://newauthoronline.com/2015/05/15/legal-deposit-what-is-it-and-are-you-covered/), since 1662 legislation has required that a copy of every print book published in the UK be deposited in the British Library thereby ensuring the preservation of the written word for future generations. In 2013 this requirement was extended to electronic publications in the UK. Its good to know that in some small way I have contributed to the cultural heritage of these islands (he said smiling modestly)!

The Mystery Of Disappearing WordPress Followers

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Over the past 12 months or so I have noticed something peculiar about WordPress. Today I received a notification that my blog, newauthoronline.com has a new follower. I am, of course always delighted to welcome new readers. However the latest recruit turned out to be someone who has been following this site for some considerable time. I know this as the blogger in question has liked and commented on my posts and I distinctly recollect receiving a previous notification of them following.

Today’s incident is by no means the first time this has happened. I recall one person who regularly liked and commented on my work suddenly disappearing. The person in question was still blogging but was no longer reading my posts. Had I said something with which they so profoundly disagreed they had ceased to follow me? All was explained when I received a communication from the blogger in question saying that I had, for some reason disappeared from their Reader and they had now added me.

Now it is possible for people to accidentally click on the unsubscribe link. However given the number of instances where someone who I know is already a follower suddenly refollows my blog I can only conclude that a WordPress glitch is at the bottom of this mystery. Has anyone else experienced the mystery of the disappearing (only to reappear) follower?

 

Kevin

When The Party’s Over

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When the partys over and deflated balloons litter the floor,

Will you in joyous tones cry out for more?

As the final guest, their face a mask slinks out the door,

Will you in a hearty voice exclaim, “this way of life I adore?”

When lingering odours of celebration sicken and appall,

Will you with equanimity the night’s events recall?

 

 

Heels And Skirts

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Heels and skirts,

Man’s sense does him desert,

Heels and skirts.

Heels and skirts,

Nothing can his lust avert,

At the sight of heels and skirts.

Heels and skirts,

Money thrown upon the dirt,

Stupidity will always hurt,

Heels and skirts.

 

Do Horror Writers Eat Babies – A Guest Post By Francis H Powell

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Thank you to Francis H. Powell for the below guest post. You can find links to Francis’s sites at the end of his article.

Kevin

Do horror writers eat babies ?

Mad eyes

What is your vision of a horror writer? Perhaps a rather aged looking man, with large piercing eyes, bushy eyebrows, their mere presence is likely to frighten away any children? He sits near a crackling fire, with dark thoughts running through his mind, with the sound of Carmina Burana, blaring away from a decrepit ancient gramophone. Every so often, he lets out a loud raucous laugh, as he delights at his own cruel invention in his mind. He has never married, in truth has been a hardened misogynist, he prefers the cruelty men can do to women, rather than engaging women themselves. He dislikes children, their crying, their moaning, the complications they add to life. In fact he despises many things. He has hate running through him. His attitudes have not softened with age, they have hardened. Would you trust leaving your child with him, he writes about Satanism…Surely you would tell your child to keep away, if you were neighbors. Surely horror writers eat babies?

I am not a horror writer as such, however my stories have a very dark side to them. This a bit about me…

I had always wanted to have children. When I got over the age of forty, the idea of having a child seemed a forlorn hope. My friends had long since procreated. What made things difficult was the fact that I’d always had a really good connection with children and had for a long time worked with them.   I got married for the first time aged fifty, and it seemed logical to try to have a child. I did not consider it inevitable that my wife would fall pregnant, you read or hear about so many couples who are unable to have children. When I arrived back from work to be informed by wife she was pregnant, it took time for the news to sink in, it seemed so unreal. Then followed nine fraught months of worry. Such worry I had never experienced before in my life. When my son was finally born, what a relief.

Now a big portion of my life revolves around my son…taking him for walks, going to the play park, taking him to crèche, helping to put him to bed…all the normal things parents do.

One of my short stories in my book Flight of Destiny, deals with a parent’s worst nightmare…a father taking his infant for a walk in the park, goes home only to find the pram empty and the baby gone. The story is called “Snatched”.   Following the discovery of the empty pram, the man not only feels terrible guilt, but also the wrath of his wife. His wife’s behavior becomes more and more extreme. One day she announces the baby has been returned…but she denies her husband, any access. The husband gets more and more frustrated as well as intrigued about the return of their son, while his wife is more and more bizarre and eccentric in her behavior. Things come to a head when the man finally gets to see the snatched “baby”.

Links:

https://www.facebook.com/flightofdestinyshortstories

http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00WSWYVNK

https://twitter.com/Dreamheadz

http://theflightofdestiny.yolasite.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwNl0F6095Q

 

A Gentleman Suitor To His Beloved

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A Gentleman Suitor To His Beloved

 

—

 

 

“My darling, let us sit down upon the grass.

Though the firmament fall, my love for thee tis sure to last.

Other men may betray, but my heart is steadfast.

Let us be quick my sweet, for I must dash”.

—

 

 

The Lady’s Response To Her Suitor

 

—

 

“Sweetheart, the ground is wet and cold,

To recline upon it would quite ruin my clothes.

The heavens show no sign of falling,

Besides, I hear mama calling”.

 

Written Following A Visit To Keswick (Cumbria)

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The following was written a day after having returned from a visit to Keswick in Cumbria. The lake is located at Lingholm, while the brook is situated some 5 minutes walk from the cottage in which we stayed.

 

 

Gentle ripples on tranquil lake,

May your beauty my sorrow take.

Brook that babbles the livelong day,

Thou will wash my cares away.

The Wanderer Returns

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I have just returned from the Lake District (Cumbria UK) which explains my lack of posting over the last 4 days. We stayed in a lovely cottage just outside Keswick and spent most of our time walking and, in the evening enjoying the delights of the local hostelries.

I had fun on the first morning. Being first up I took a refreshing shower. Having finished I reached for the door. Being blind I felt around but no obvious way of opening the door could I find. I ran my hands along the rubber seal which holds the 2 halves of the shower door together but could ascertain no way of opening the dratted shower other than employing brute force and given our accommodation was rented this was not a particularly appealing road to go down! Eventually I discovered a knob in the middle of the door which, when pulled released me from my confinement, (on entering the shower I had pulled the doors shut manually so had not noticed the elusive knob)! Anyway no harm was done and the time spent stewing in the shower meant I barely needed to use the bath sheet which I had placed just outside my prison (sorry shower).

While in Cumbria we visited relatives staying on the Lingholm estate, (http://thelingholmestate.co.uk/house). The estate was built in the 1870’s by the architect Alfred Waterhouse and the author Beatrix Potter visited regularly in the last decade of the 19th century.

Prior to enjoying our evening meal I wandered down to the lake (which is fed by Derwent Water). The profound peace of the place was broken only by the gentle lapping of the water and the convivial conversation of my companions and I.

Lingholm is a magical place to visit and I can understand why Beatrix Potter returned for 9 consecutive years.

Cumbria is a wonderful part of the UK and is well worth a visit but beware of the showers …!