While I was in Llandudno the other day I was asked where I was going to spend eternity. The lady who asked me the question came from Eccles originally, but lives in North Wales now, apparently spending much of her time distributing religious leaflets to random strangers.
The circumstances were a bit odd. I was sitting on my wife's disability scooter while she toured a shop, and I was just quietly minding my own business and watching the world go by. Consequently the lady sneaked up on the blind side and there was no getting away.
She was quite a nice woman though and even with the Black Dog sitting on me I am far too much of a gentleman to tell nice old ladies to **** off. The leaflet was short and to the point and it confirmed my long held suspicion that to get into heaven one has only to accept Jesus. I did that quite a bit ago and it appears no further action is necessary as it's all down to God's Grace and nothing to do with what we actually do. It's always pleasant to have one's opinions confirmed in writing though. (That's why stupid, bigoted newspapers sell more than the intelligent ones.)
I can recommend Llandudno's main shopping street as a locus. The last time I was there I got addressed by a lamp post, this time by a former resident of Eccles acting as an agent for Jesus. Next time perhaps someone will try to sell me a copy of Socialist Worker. I can hardly wait to find out.
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Thursday, 5 August 2010
Progress Report, August 2010
Still hoping to complete the MS by end of this year, though it will be a push. It will be nothing like what was originally planned, but it will still be a serious novel around Richard III. I have not got a title. I am no longer happy with either of the previous working titles and so will have to come up with something else. The present title in the heading is 'Richard Novel' and I don't think that will cut the mustard, although it is to the point.
During the process I have produced a whole pile of 'rejected' stuff, some of which I am quite pleased with but simply doesn't fit into the present scheme. This will probably form the basis of a second book in due course. For the purpose of reference I am calling this 'Norfolk Novel'. It is likely to be quite light-hearted but not as way out as Alianore Audley. That is to say it won't have any deliberate anachronisms in it and it will be a straight piece of HF, albeit light-hearted.
The third main project for about a chapter has been written is my Richard the Second and Anne of Bohemia thing which I have been promising to do for some time. Working title - This New Spring of Time.
I have pretty well scrubbed round everything else, despite the attractions of Urraca of Zamora and Sir Thomas Fairfax. Although both intrigue me as characters, it is unlikely I have enough life left to do the research necessary to write what I should like to write about them.
So, after TNSoT I shall almost certainly retire from novel writing for good and focus on critting and making models of obscure pre 1914 railway wagons in 7mm/ft. scale.
During the process I have produced a whole pile of 'rejected' stuff, some of which I am quite pleased with but simply doesn't fit into the present scheme. This will probably form the basis of a second book in due course. For the purpose of reference I am calling this 'Norfolk Novel'. It is likely to be quite light-hearted but not as way out as Alianore Audley. That is to say it won't have any deliberate anachronisms in it and it will be a straight piece of HF, albeit light-hearted.
The third main project for about a chapter has been written is my Richard the Second and Anne of Bohemia thing which I have been promising to do for some time. Working title - This New Spring of Time.
I have pretty well scrubbed round everything else, despite the attractions of Urraca of Zamora and Sir Thomas Fairfax. Although both intrigue me as characters, it is unlikely I have enough life left to do the research necessary to write what I should like to write about them.
So, after TNSoT I shall almost certainly retire from novel writing for good and focus on critting and making models of obscure pre 1914 railway wagons in 7mm/ft. scale.
Monday, 21 June 2010
Wolf Hall
Wolf Hall by Hilary MantelMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
This book proved to me - much to my surprise - that it is possible to write a historical novel in the present tense without it becoming unreadable. The quality of the writing probably had something to do with it, but after struggling a little bit at the start I was drawn in.
Thomas Cromwell may seem an unlikely hero. He's almost invariably the deep-dyed villain of any novel in the era so it's a pleasant change to see things from his POV and he comes across as a very sympathetic character. In fact he seems to go out of his way to accommodate people. Thomas More, for example, gets thrown lifeline after lifeline, which of course he rejects.
It is sometimes just a little hard to work out who is speaking. There's a lot of conversation in this, and the author likes her personal pronouns. 'He' is however, not always Thomas Cromwell in these exchanges.
One oddity - it's stated that Elizabeth Woodville gave Edward IV a (remote) claim to Castile. News to me. It may be true, but if so it was vastly inferior to his own claim, which he made in heraldry from the start of his reign. (See the Edward IV Roll for proof). La Woodville had many qualities, but claims to thrones was not one of 'em.
This apart no historical issues jumped out of me, and the author juggled a very large cast of characters with great success. Having said all that, I still don't like present tense for HF and beg and plead with all authors out there to refuse to use it!!!
I do recommend the book, and I don't think it's a hard read. In fact, if it's classed as a literary novel, which it seems to be, it's a lot more accessible than most of that genre.
View all my reviews >>
Monday, 14 June 2010
Not how the Despensers lived
Sometimes one finds something on the internet that's so amazing it just has to be shared. One such is this: Folklore Essay
It's certainly news to me that Humphrey Duke of Gloucester was murdered by Henry V.
I'm also a bit puzzled as to how a man born in 1390 could have a son also born in 1390. I know they started early in the middle ages, but that is going some.
It's certainly news to me that Humphrey Duke of Gloucester was murdered by Henry V.
I'm also a bit puzzled as to how a man born in 1390 could have a son also born in 1390. I know they started early in the middle ages, but that is going some.
Sunday, 30 May 2010
A pain-free way of rasing money for charity
Some of you may know of this already but I am recommending it because it's a new discovery for me: Easyfundraising
You register with the site and pick your charity. I have picked Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue
but there's a wide range to choose from and you can even register a new one.
Now, when you want to buy something online - and again there's a massive list of choices including Amazon, Tesco Direct, Waterstones, P. C. World, etc., etc., - you go through the Easyfundraising site. Then a small percentage (it varies) of what you pay for your purchase goes to your chosen charity. There's no cost to you.
Potentially this could give your charity a lot of money over the year without costing you a bean. Great idea, I thought.
You register with the site and pick your charity. I have picked Tia Greyhound and Lurcher Rescue
but there's a wide range to choose from and you can even register a new one.
Now, when you want to buy something online - and again there's a massive list of choices including Amazon, Tesco Direct, Waterstones, P. C. World, etc., etc., - you go through the Easyfundraising site. Then a small percentage (it varies) of what you pay for your purchase goes to your chosen charity. There's no cost to you.
Potentially this could give your charity a lot of money over the year without costing you a bean. Great idea, I thought.
Monday, 17 May 2010
Injured Greyhound Lucy Lu Needs Your Help
I am sick, absolutely sick, of excuses for humanity who abuse greyhounds.
That was a hard sentence to write, because the temptation to add numerous expletives was overwhelming. But it wouldn't have done any good.
The greyhound in question, a beautiful two-year-old bitch was so badly beaten that she has had to have months of expensive veterinary care. And the good people who are looking after her have to go on Ebay to try to raise funds for the cost.
If you want to read more go into Ebay UK and search on Injured Greyhound Lucy Lu Needs Your Help or go to item http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270580287199&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
If you can bung a fiver into the pot, so much the better. But it shouldn't be necessary, it really shouldn't. The 'people' who caused this suffering should be made to pay, and in an ideal world they should also be chucked in jail for a very long time. Alas, even if they're caught it'll be the usual case of a ten bob fine and 'don't do it again'.
Civilised society? I think not.
That was a hard sentence to write, because the temptation to add numerous expletives was overwhelming. But it wouldn't have done any good.
The greyhound in question, a beautiful two-year-old bitch was so badly beaten that she has had to have months of expensive veterinary care. And the good people who are looking after her have to go on Ebay to try to raise funds for the cost.
If you want to read more go into Ebay UK and search on Injured Greyhound Lucy Lu Needs Your Help or go to item http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270580287199&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
If you can bung a fiver into the pot, so much the better. But it shouldn't be necessary, it really shouldn't. The 'people' who caused this suffering should be made to pay, and in an ideal world they should also be chucked in jail for a very long time. Alas, even if they're caught it'll be the usual case of a ten bob fine and 'don't do it again'.
Civilised society? I think not.
Sunday, 11 April 2010
The Pendle Witches
I am delighted to see that a new novel has been published on the Pendle Witches, Daughters of the Witching Hill by Mary Sharratt. As someone who has long been interested in the subject I look forward to reading this version of the story.
The classic novel on the subject (The Sunne in Splendour of Pendle Hill) is Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill, which is now rather long in the tooth. But it has sold lots of copies and is still worth a look if you're interested.
For factual background my tip is The Lancashire Witchcraze by Jonathan Lumby. It was this account that made me realise just how much of Neill's novel is fictional!
The context of Lancashire in the 17th century is worth remembering. For a start, the population was about one third Catholic, unexceptional in our more tolerant times but seen as a potential threat to the state in the 1600s. Robert Neill's heroes are always moderates in politics and religion and Roger Nowell of Read the investigating magistrate in Mist Over Pendle is a middle-of-the-road Anglican, not particularly devout and, if anything, on better terms with his Catholic neighbours than with the Puritan ones. In reality Nowell was definitely at the Puritan end of the religious spectrum; several of his relatives were Calvinist divines with a national reputation.
In addition, Nowell had a great-nephew, Nicholas Starkie, whose children were allegedly possessed by demons as a result of witchcraft. In his community, the gentry of Pendle and Craven, there were several alleged cases of witchcraft, including the 'suspicious' death of Mr Thomas Lister of Westby at a wedding which Nowell attended. Moreover, the 'boss' of the County, William Stanley, Earl of Derby had had an elder brother allegedly murdered by witches.
I am sure there are natural causes for all these events. Lister's death, for example, was almost certainly the result of a heart attack or stroke. But in a world where even King James himself fervently believed in the reality of witchcraft we can scarcely be surprised if an obscure squire like Nowell was persuaded that evil was afoot in his back yard.
As to the 'witches' themselves, they were country 'healers' and 'wise-women', but undoubtedly they believed in their own powers and such was the state of the law that such beliefs and practices were dangerous. It seems likely that some of their 'incantations' were nothing more than mangled versions of Latin prayers.
There is a common misconception that witchcraft was more severely punished in the middle ages. In England at least, this is not true. It was under Elizabeth I and James I that the statutes were tightened to their most severe level, with death as the usual penalty.
Nowell and his fellow magistrates subjected the accused to question and answer sessions. These were not recorded verbatim, and probably not contemporaneously. In effect, Nowell could write down his interpretation of what had been said. For example one woman rode to a meeting on a pony, but in the evidence this animal became a familiar spirit!
It is not necessary to see Nowell as a wicked man by the standards of his time - like some detectives of the 1960s, he 'knew' the accused were guilty, and so provided the necessary 'evidence' to ensure they were convicted. (Despite the rather dodgy standards of justice in these times it was by no means unknown for an alleged witch to be acquitted by a jury.) Nowell probably thought he was doing his public duty by ensuring there were no loose ends.
One of Nowell's witnesses was a nine-year-old girl, another a youth with what we would now politely call 'learning difficulties.' This, with the written 'confessions' Nowell had created from the interviews was quite enough to ensure that all the accused were hanged, most at Lancaster, one at York.
The classic novel on the subject (The Sunne in Splendour of Pendle Hill) is Mist Over Pendle by Robert Neill, which is now rather long in the tooth. But it has sold lots of copies and is still worth a look if you're interested.
For factual background my tip is The Lancashire Witchcraze by Jonathan Lumby. It was this account that made me realise just how much of Neill's novel is fictional!
The context of Lancashire in the 17th century is worth remembering. For a start, the population was about one third Catholic, unexceptional in our more tolerant times but seen as a potential threat to the state in the 1600s. Robert Neill's heroes are always moderates in politics and religion and Roger Nowell of Read the investigating magistrate in Mist Over Pendle is a middle-of-the-road Anglican, not particularly devout and, if anything, on better terms with his Catholic neighbours than with the Puritan ones. In reality Nowell was definitely at the Puritan end of the religious spectrum; several of his relatives were Calvinist divines with a national reputation.
In addition, Nowell had a great-nephew, Nicholas Starkie, whose children were allegedly possessed by demons as a result of witchcraft. In his community, the gentry of Pendle and Craven, there were several alleged cases of witchcraft, including the 'suspicious' death of Mr Thomas Lister of Westby at a wedding which Nowell attended. Moreover, the 'boss' of the County, William Stanley, Earl of Derby had had an elder brother allegedly murdered by witches.
I am sure there are natural causes for all these events. Lister's death, for example, was almost certainly the result of a heart attack or stroke. But in a world where even King James himself fervently believed in the reality of witchcraft we can scarcely be surprised if an obscure squire like Nowell was persuaded that evil was afoot in his back yard.
As to the 'witches' themselves, they were country 'healers' and 'wise-women', but undoubtedly they believed in their own powers and such was the state of the law that such beliefs and practices were dangerous. It seems likely that some of their 'incantations' were nothing more than mangled versions of Latin prayers.
There is a common misconception that witchcraft was more severely punished in the middle ages. In England at least, this is not true. It was under Elizabeth I and James I that the statutes were tightened to their most severe level, with death as the usual penalty.
Nowell and his fellow magistrates subjected the accused to question and answer sessions. These were not recorded verbatim, and probably not contemporaneously. In effect, Nowell could write down his interpretation of what had been said. For example one woman rode to a meeting on a pony, but in the evidence this animal became a familiar spirit!
It is not necessary to see Nowell as a wicked man by the standards of his time - like some detectives of the 1960s, he 'knew' the accused were guilty, and so provided the necessary 'evidence' to ensure they were convicted. (Despite the rather dodgy standards of justice in these times it was by no means unknown for an alleged witch to be acquitted by a jury.) Nowell probably thought he was doing his public duty by ensuring there were no loose ends.
One of Nowell's witnesses was a nine-year-old girl, another a youth with what we would now politely call 'learning difficulties.' This, with the written 'confessions' Nowell had created from the interviews was quite enough to ensure that all the accused were hanged, most at Lancaster, one at York.
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