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RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 1 month ago
I think it depends how optimistic or pessimistic you are about the pandemic. Considering how long it takes between drafting a novel and seeing it in print (if it gets that far), if you take the optimistic view the whole thing will be over by then, it’ll no longer be a part of contemporary life, and nobody will worry much whether you’ve included it…[Read more]
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RichardB posted an update 6 years, 1 month ago
Last night, beginning at about one in the morning, chaos erupted as over 3,000 young people (police estimate) converged on our quiet little village, making their way to an illegal rave on the mountain behind us. Judging by the number of parked cars choking the streets, most of them are still there. On so many levels, more than I can be bothered to…[Read more]
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RichardB posted an update in the group
Things that go bump 6 years, 1 month agoI noticed that over half the entries in the last challenge had some sort of paranormal element. Mine didn’t, but since I’ve always loved ghost stories…
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I’ve entered six of these now and four of them have had some sort of supernatural aspect. This one definitely ought to be up your street
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RichardB replied to the topic Susie in the forum Blogs 6 years, 2 months ago
I wasn’t 100% certain that the (very) occasional references I found on the Net were to ‘my’ Susie until I found that photo. Susie isn’t exactly a rare name; neither is her given name, Susana, not in Spain. And though her surname may be exotic in Britain, she’d told me it’s common in Catalonia, where she was born.
On her last day at the pub I gave…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic Susie in the forum Blogs 6 years, 2 months ago
I don’t want to come on like a rampant egotist, but within hours of my posting this latest blog Ath’s new challenge appeared, and all the excitement has pushed my blog out of sight way down the wall. So this blog is another thing that’s going to go…………..BUMP.
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RichardB started the topic Susie in the forum Blogs 6 years, 2 months ago
When you’re in your mid-thirties with three young children, when your life, which not so many years before was right on the edge of falling apart, has finally settled down, just about the last thing in the world you could possibly need is to fall in love with a barmaid fourteen years your junior. But then, Susie was no ordinary barmaid.
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RichardB replied to the topic A Want of Discipline: Abergele, 1868 in the forum Blogs 6 years, 2 months ago
That, of course, is because, while ”snwcr’ is one of the many words the Welsh have borrowed from English and re-spelt (rather entertainingly) phonetically in Welsh, ‘heddlu’ (hethly) is a real Welsh word. But the Welsh for policeman is ‘plismon’, and for policewoman – wait for it – ‘plismones’.
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RichardB replied to the topic A Want of Discipline: Abergele, 1868 in the forum Blogs 6 years, 2 months ago
Ath: ‘Herald of Free Enterprise’, Grenfell Tower…
Libby: When we first moved to Wales we did a Welsh language course for a couple of years. It’s a hell of a hard language to learn (for example, there are at least a dozen ways of turning a singular noun into a plural and there are no hard and fast rules, so you have to remember each noun’s…[Read more]
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RichardB started the topic A Want of Discipline: Abergele, 1868 in the forum Blogs 6 years, 2 months ago
Up until the grouping of 1923 the London and North Western Railway, whose principal route was what is now called the West Coast Main Line from Euston as far as Carlisle, was the giant of British railways: indeed, at one time it was the largest commercial undertaking of any sort in the world. It was also, in its origins, one of the oldest,…[Read more]
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RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 2 months ago
Oh, and for most of the story it’s a man alone in a boat. Ought to be right up your father’s street.
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RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 2 months ago
What about that perennial fave of mine, Hemingway’s ‘The Old Man and the Sea’? It’s quite short, the plot and language alike are stripped down and simple, yet it’s so moving.
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Oh, and for most of the story it’s a man alone in a boat. Ought to be right up your father’s street.
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RichardB replied to the topic The $2,000,000 Guitar in the forum Blogs 6 years, 3 months ago
Sadly, I have heard today that Peter Green, without whom this blog wouldn’t have been written, has died at the age of 73.
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RichardB posted an update 6 years, 3 months ago
Something to celebrate on a grey, miserable day – at least it is where I live.
Some of you may remember me posting not long ago about the explosion that destroyed (and I mean destroyed) a house in Seven Sisters, just down the road from me, and how the neighbours (one of whom happens to be a retired firefighter) went in straight away, before t…[Read more]
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Such things as this are good for my own disillusioned heart to know as well. I can never be reminded too many times, people aren’t all bad. Thanks for sharing.
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RichardB replied to the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 6 years, 3 months ago
Not too challenging, Kaz, if you do what I did and go to abebooks.com. When I looked there were quite a few copies available from various sources.
As for fantasy speaking to human reality, a lot of the tide of stuff that’s come pouring out since LOTR opened the flood-gates simply doesn’t. As a matter of interest here is Le Guin herself’s rather…[Read more]
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RichardB replied to the topic The ultimate story/narrative arc in the forum
A place for Stupid Questoins 6 years, 3 months agoI’m another one whose eyes glaze over at charts, grids, questionnaires and all the rest of it, and find the idea of forcing a story into a set framework very inhibiting. I’d come to suspect that lack of a coherent framework in my writing was one reason I’ve never got on the road to publication, but when I applied the 7 Cs to my last effort it…[Read more]
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RichardB started the topic Richard's Literary Byways: The Beginning Place, by Ursula K Le Guin in the forum Blogs 6 years, 3 months ago
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that this is the second book by Ursula K Le Guin that I have featured in these blogs. This is not a coincidence. I apologise to no one for my admiration of her writing: I believe that she deserves to be ranked, not only as a great writer of sci-fi and fantasy, but as a great writer full stop. I once (or…[Read more]
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A lovely blog, @richardb, and I wholeheartedly agree with your summary of le Guin – she is absolutely one of my favourite writers. I loved her as a young thing and my admiration has only deepened as my own writing journey progresses. Ive never read this and will seek it out – thank you!
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RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 4 months ago
*Did* Diodes have got nothing to do with it.
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Poor family – what devastation. BUt it’s life affirming to hear of the community response. 🙂
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RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 4 months ago
More community spirit: a local councillor who lives close by started a support fund, setting a target of £10,000. It was reached in less than 36 hours (yes, I diod chip in).
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*Did* Diodes have got nothing to do with it.
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Poor family – what devastation. BUt it’s life affirming to hear of the community response. 🙂
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RichardB posted a new activity comment 6 years, 4 months ago
Not quite as thought-provoking, I contend, as the birthday I had a month ago. I have reached my three-score-and-ten, and am now officially An Old Man.
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Well, many happy returns. Definitely a landmark – positively biblical.
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Oh Richard – saw it on the news last night. Had no idea it was your village. I can’t understand why people would be so selfish and inconsiderate when so many are doing their best to avoid catching/spreading this blasted infection.