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The Joy of Tropes

  The Joy of Tropes As anyone who has read my novels may be aware, I like to play with tropes. I like to try at least to puncture expectations and point out the kind of plots and characters a narrative tends to rely on with big fat signposts. I don’t like to let the obvious and predictable pass by without comment. Sad as it sounds, that’s my idea of fun. ;) But – and here’s the thing – I point them out while trying to adhere to a satisfying narrative structure myself. Stories where the bad guys win and everyone dies horribly do exist, but they aren’t much fun for the audience – there needs to be the escape, the payoff, the triumph in order to leave the reader smiling and satisfied. There needs to be victory over adversity, a price or a heroic sacrifice to make the moment hard earned – an easy victory is no fun either, there has to be some drama or strife. That is what makes a tale worth telling. So while I poke at tropes, oddly enough I don’t actually have that much objection...
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The Importance of Thinking Twice

  The Importance of Thinking Twice We live in a reactionary world. That’s simply the way it is now. Someone says something or does something and around the world people React. They get quite fervent in their reactions and the reaction builds and then suddenly it becomes a Thing. But I do wonder how many of these Things would not develop in the way they do at all if people just stopped and thought twice . Because it isn’t the first thought you have that matters. It’s the second . The great Sir Terry Pratchett has beaten me to this insight, of course, in his Tiffany Aching books. But I shall do my best to clumsily articulate it all the same. Our first reaction to anything is instinct. It’s born of our culture, our upbringing, our influences, our religion, even deep, primal emotions – it’s the thought that comes without even thinking about it. So, for example, if you grew up in a time when or a place where, for example, homosexuality was considered unacceptable then one’s first...
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Citing the Nazis

 Citing the Nazis It is a fact universally acknowledged that if one invokes the Nazis in an argument, that argument is lost. Everyone knows that, don’t they? Bring up Hitler in an online thread and that thread comes to an end. Compare someone to a Nazi and you are the one who ends up looking ridiculous and extreme. Putting something modern day alongside the Nazis is considered the ultimate in overreactions. And in the vast majority of cases, that’s true. But at the same time, there is a tremendous risk in dismissing all such comparisons with such instant contempt. Because if we aren’t careful, we might end up forgetting one of the most important lessons that history can ever teach us – how people with extremist, dangerous views can work their way into power. For anyone who has it available to them, I would strongly recommend watching the first series of the BBC documentary series Rise of the Nazis because while it is a hard and sobering watch, it is also a lesson in the dang...
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The Importance of Example

 The Importance of Example What is a good relationship? It’s a big question and the answer will differ from person to person. Some folks will draw on examples, good and bad, from within their own family to decide what it is in a partner that matters to them. Some will take an answer from their culture, their religion, their society. But some, poor souls, may decide to take their answer from the example of film and television and that is the point, I fear, where things may start to go wrong. Because using something designed to be dramatic (often melodramatic) created for the purposes of entertainment as one’s example, consciously or not, is not the way to a happy and fulfilling future. Take the British soap opera EastEnders. When it started, forty years ago now, it was known for its gritty realism and tackling social issues. It addressed matters like alcoholism, domestic abuse, HIV, gay relationships, PTSD, racism and drug abuse. I used to watch it regularly, long ago, but aband...
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On My Fifth Publishiversary...

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 Well, here we are - a whole five years today since The Disposable first became available for all you lucky peeps to buy. ;) It was a strange old time for me - I'd just had an operation and was laid up, COVID was just kicking off and the world in general was a very odd place to be and in all of that, I was trying to plug a book! It was hard to imagine what life would be like down the line - and to be fair, I wouldn't have imagined the world would be as it has become lately - but one thing I am very glad of is that my four book Plot Bandits "trilogy" of The Disposable , The Merry Band , The Narrative and The Taskmaster is out there in the world. :) For while I haven't exactly been setting the publishing world alight, knowing that Fodder, Flirt, Shoulders, Dullard and Pleasance and their friends are out there for other people to get to know (and hopefully love!) as much as I do gives me so much satisfaction. That they exist and live in other people's heads apa...
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The Importance of Human Thought

 The Importance of Human Thought  With apologies to all those in favour of it, I’m going to have a rant about my issues with Artificial Intelligence again. But this is something that isn’t going to go away and I fear that, as so often with the human race, it is something we are plunging into without thinking about the consequences. Because the major consequence, if we aren’t careful, will be to crush our ability for creative thought by giving it all to a computer. I think I can speak for many when I saw that jobs that don’t involve brain work are not very stimulating. Mindlessly copying or inputting data into a computer, repetitive tasks – this is work that pays bills but doesn’t ignite passion or indeed brain cells. Where jobs become interesting, where people become enthused, is where thought is involved – analysis, diagnosis, assessment, creativity, imagination, problem solving, projection, discovery, inspiration, whatever you want to call it, whatever kind of work it ...
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The Dangers of Othering

 The Dangers of Othering You may have noticed from the tone of my blogs of late that I feel like humanity is in a very dangerous place right now. And though there’s probably only a half dozen or so of you out there reading these as I shout helplessly into the void, I still feel the need to do it or I’m probably going to burst with frustration and rage. So my apologies everyone but here we go again… It’s always someone else’s fault. We all know that person, don’t we? Anything that goes wrong in their world, well, it wasn’t their fault, oh no, impossible, it was someone else who caused it, it wasn’t down to them. The dog ate my homework. He pushed me. She wasn’t looking where she was going. They didn’t explain it properly. It wasn’t made clear that wasn’t allowed. I wanted to be there and they were in the way. They didn’t do what I told them to do. They weren’t behaving properly. I wanted to do it, they got in the way. They came over here and took our jobs, it’s not down to me th...
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Happy New Year!

 Hello to you all - I hope all those who celebrate it had a lovely Christmas and I'd like to wish you all a very Happy, Safe and Prosperous New Year. Look after each other, care for your fellow man and above all, be kind. :) There we go - with the sentiment out of the way, I shall now indulge in some hideous self advertising of the type I've been too tired and grumpy to undertake of late. I have these books out, you see, and what better New Year Treat than to give them a try or encourage friends and relatives to do so? And, yes, I do feel ashamed of myself - I'm too goddamn British for all this self advertising! But nonetheless.... The first novel, The Disposable can be found here: UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Disposable-1-Plot-Bandits/dp/1951471024 USA: https://www.amazon.com/Disposable-1-Plot-Bandits/dp/1951471024 The Narrative Must Be Obeyed Everyone in the Taskmaster’s Realm knows how the story goes: the boy of destiny goes on a quest, defeats the dark lord, and gets ...
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Blog Redux - The Cliche Cycle

Life has been kicking my arse again this month - after five years of dodging, COVID finally got me and justified why I'd dodged so hard! - so I am still lacking in blog based inspiration and am yet again rehashing an old blog to keep you entertained. With full awareness of the irony, I have chosen one that is about the horrors of a lack of originality in the media. Yes, I know...;p The Cliche Cycle Brace yourselves. I need a small rant. When, oh when, did making money become more important than making something original and good? Yes, I know, it’s a stupid question that probably can’t be answered. But although it’s hard to precisely put one’s finger on the origin, there is no denying it is definitely the dominant way of things in this day and age. I do wonder, sometimes, if there is a finite amount of imagination out there in the world, people seem so afraid to use it. Or at least, to take a risk. I remember way back in the day, when I was hunting around for a literary agent, I cam...
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Blog Redux - Taking A Long, Hard Look

 To anyone to whom this looks a bit familiar - that's because it is. This is a blog I originally posted back in June 2020 as, thanks to life, the universe and everything, I haven't managed to run up anything new this month and my short stories are getting a bit thin on the ground. So I thought I would offer up a repeat of one of my older blogs for your delectation with my apologies for lack of originality. But I think what I said bears repeating. :) Taking a Long, Hard Look As anyone who has read my work must realise, I have very strong views on life being fair. It really matters to me that everyone has the same opportunities and chances in life, that no one be pushed down or denied on the grounds of their birth and social standing like my Disposables are, or discriminated against for the way they look or chose to live, like Dullard. I think that everyone deserves a fair shot at living or getting themselves the life they want, regardless of who they are. But the world itself do...
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