November 10, 2015
The UK has many national treasures besides the Crown Jewels–the Queen, the National Health Service, Wimbledon, fish and chips–scrapping any of these would be unthinkable, yet there's another national treasure that's constantly under threat–our public libraries.
I loved going to the library as a child. It never worried me that I was expected to be quiet, I was too enthralled by all the worlds I could enter on the shelves, even though the nearest library was little bigger than my living room. The mobile library came to the village primary school, and I was privileged to be one of the children that the headteacher chose to pick which books the school would have for the next term. I can remember some of them still.
Libraries are havens from the hurly burly of life outside, a welcome break from work at lunchtime, a place to browse through information you can rely on and discover topics and lives you never knew existed. There's peace to study and write, and local information that will never make it to the net, notices of local events, clubs and groups. There are knowledgeable librarians to guide your search for information and suggest books you might be interested in, saving time and frustration and introducing you to authors you might never discover otherwise. Plus, there are talks, signings, storytelling and much more. All this is free, so everyone, no matter what their background or interests can take advantage of everything they have to offer.
Libraries are places that allow you to travel to exotic places or fight supervillains in safety and comfort. You can keep the Crown Jewels, but libraries are priceless.
Posted by K. S. Dearsley.
October 31, 2015
In case you hadn't noticed, tonight is Hallowe'en. If you thought about it three or four months ago, you could now be celebrating winning a ghost story competition or having an article on the scary season accepted. If so, congratulations! There are certain themes and events that are popular every year, yet it's all too easy to forget about them until it's too late. Bonfire Night is less than a week away, and while it might still be possible to write something for a competition about it, there...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
October 16, 2015
I couldn't decide what to blog about. It's been that sort of week. I haven't been blocked exactly, I've just had so many odds and ends of things to do (such as emails to respond to, like the one from Bruce Harris letting me know that Writing Short Fiction appears to have found a new editor) that I feel as if I haven't really done anything.
Indecision is a real killer for any sort of writing. Sometimes it might be choosing between two words that apparently are equally apt that brings you to...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
October 10, 2015
Today I've got good news and bad news. First, the bad news. The excellent Writing Short Fiction site, which is full of news and tips, may soon be no more due to the ill-health of the man behind it, Bruce Harris, who has decided he needs to save his energy for his own work. Unless someone offers to take it over in the next week or two, it will go. Find out more at
http://www.writingshortfiction.org.
The better news is that Plasma Frequency Magazine is probably going to be resurrected. The m...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
October 2, 2015
This is a difficult blog to write, because I can't say what I want to. For the time being I have to keep Mum and zip it. It's a shame as I'm bursting to tell you the news. I won't even be able to drop hints just in case–you readers are a clever lot and might be able to guess if I give you a clue.
I suppose I could tell you what hasn't happened. I haven't won the Booker Prize or suddenly shot to the top of the best-seller lists. No one's begged to buy the film rights to Discord's Child ye...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
September 11, 2015
It's okay, you can put your earplugs away, it isn't me who's singing but the Iyessi. I'm happy to say that I've now completed a new series of Iyessi songs to go with
Discord's Apprentice. As with the lyrics for
Discord's Child, there's one for the prologue and each chapter. Some are happy, some are serious, some you could dance to and others are gentle. Not that Ro would experience them that way. Hopefully, readers will enjoy them.
Of course, the songs are an optional extra, which is why ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Coming Soon
August 31, 2015
I had already written a blog for this week when I came across Neil Gaiman's
lecture for The Reading Agency on 14th October 2013 and decided it could wait. I don't know how I missed the lecture before, but if I did, others who might benefit from Neil Gaiman's words have probably missed it too, so it's worth mentioning here.
The lecture gives reasons why literacy and universal access to libraries are so important. Not least of these is how reading fiction stimulates children's imaginations. ...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
August 25, 2015
I can think of 10 good reasons to read issue eight of Fantasy Scroll Magazine–make that 11.
The magazine contains 10 speculative short stories, including my own offering 'Haze' about how first contact with mankind could be the beginning of the end for a planet's inhabitants. The other stories vary from futuristic tech-based SF to dark fantasy. The one thing they have in common is being irresistible. Once you start reading, you can't stop. You'll find believable characters struggling with...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Reviews
August 17, 2015
Apparently, Christopher Lee used to read The Lord of the Rings once a year. This was a habit he began decades before playing Saruman. He isn't alone. Many people have a favourite book that they read over and over, without it ever becoming stale. If you ask me, the definition of being a successful author is writing something that people not only remember, but enjoy re-reading. Strange as it may seem, not every novel on the bestseller lists has that quality. What is it that keeps readers coming...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
August 10, 2015
I was going to sit down and write this blog last Sunday–that's not yesterday, but the Sunday before–but I made the mistake of sitting down to read a chapter or two of a novel. It was Ross Poldark, the first of Winston Graham's bestselling series set in Cornwall that's now all the rage again thanks to Aidan Turner. After the first two chapters, I thought I'd just read the next one, then the next and before I knew it, it was time to draw the curtains and put the lights on. The following day...
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Posted by K. S. Dearsley. Posted In : Inspiration
