The Realm of Katherine Vick

  A Strong Statement Well, I’ve actually written a blog but I’m afraid that yet again it is because I am angry about something. So just like the rest of the world, what do you do when you are angry about something? You rant about it on the internet. Of course. I hate the way the world is right now. I’m aware that is a strong statement. But I do mean it. Because what the hell is wrong with people at the moment? Perhaps it’s just the perception as filtered through the media and internet, but it feels like everyone is so full of self entitled nastiness. Even right down at the most basic level – I found out yesterday that a lovely little volunteer run community café on a remote island in the Outer Hebrides, a café I had a very nice lunch in only a couple of months ago, is being sued by some vile woman because they asked her not to bring her dog in after she let it wander into their kitchen. I mean – what the hell? And then, at the next level up, we have what is being done to ...

Note: Still reduxing I'm afraid folks. This one is a few years old but still worth saying. Unboxing Society Anyone who has read my books (and if not, why not?) may have noticed I’m not a fan of stereotyping. I am in fact strongly in favour people breaking free of the expectations society places on them on the basis of their birth and upbringing and (within reasonable legal bounds obviously!) being exactly who they are. Some people might even describe my characters as “living their best life” or “being their true selves.” However – I wouldn’t . Because, dear reader, I despise those two phrases as they are used in this day and age. To me, they are merely an emphatically stated gateway for stepping straight from one stereotype box and into another. To me they represent not freedom but a whole new set of rules. They represent that society is boxed up. Allow me to explain. Society has always come in boxes. Historically, there was the male box and the female box, the rich box and the po...

Note: I have chosen this for reblogging just because I think it still very much needs to be said... 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 ...

 Note: I'm reduxing this blog because sadly, this still very much needs saying... The Dangers of Insecurity and Ego I’m afraid I’m angry with the world again. But to be fair, there’s a lot to be angry about at the moment… I’ve always suspected that at the heart of the majority of human beings is an innate insecurity, an uncertainty about one’s place in the world, one’s position in the tribe, what kind of person one is going to be, that nags at us all deep down. This can manifest in many ways, in the need to find a societal box to fit into, in the need to de and re-box, in anger, in self loathing or self embrace, in reassurance or kindness, in malice and hatred, and, in some, in the need to heavily bolster one’s ego and feel powerful in order to make that frantic, insecure voice go away. And this is the territory of the school bully. That thing the parents of a bullied child will say – it’s not you, darling, the problem is theirs – you know what? It’s true. It’s hard to believe and ...

Note: It feels a relevant time to redux this particular blog... The Cult of Charisma I’m not big on big personalities. Now don’t get me wrong, if they are decent people, good luck to them. The problem I have is the way in which society latches onto a big, charismatic personality to the detriment of all else, decency included. Because in this media driven world, it does seem to me as though being big and loud and passionate and exciting, someone who can make a splash on the front pages and some juicy, news-content selling headlines seems to outweigh whatever they actually happen to do . A big personality can get away with murder in the way a quieter soul cannot. And this is something that seems to permeate society. Take relationships and the great dramatic (not sure I want to call it romantic) trope I call the thrill . It happens over and over again in TV drama, soaps especially – a person in a stable, loving relationship, with a stable, loving partner abandons it all for a splashy, pas...

Note: I am reduxing this blog in honour of a kind lady I have been alerted to whose lovely reviews of my books on a Facebook reading group have resulted in a small flurry of sales. I'm very, very grateful to her. :) ------  I like reviews. Anyone who knows me from my fanfiction days will know that. I’m happy to admit it. It’s an odd feeling, but a nice one, that little buzz of validation from a total stranger, often living hundreds of miles away. It is someone you will probably never meet and never know but yet they have taken the time and trouble to spare a few words to make your day. They  like your writing . And for someone of an insecure and anxious disposition, that makes a massive difference. Writing is an odd pursuit in that most of the time it is done in total isolation. And much like those hopeful youngsters singing in their bedrooms before applying for The Voice or X-Factor, a writer can never really be sure if they are actually any good at it until they sling their ...

  Be More Dullard You may have noticed – to be fair it is hard not to – that I often use this blog to vent my frustrations at the state of the world in which we live. I’ve never tried to hide it – I ain’t subtle and have long been prone to a bit of ranting now and again in an effort to express my inner exasperation at what is going on around me. What I also hope people have noticed – if not, I may have been too subtle, though somehow I doubt it! – is how much of that frustration also worked its way into my novels, in a wide range of forms that it would probably take a skilled literary analyst a number of years to tease out but a member of my close circle who knows me well will spot in about ten seconds. I have been told by those in the know that my books positively reek of me.   But rather than wait for some miraculous and highly unlikely time when someone will consider my books worth analysing or indeed pull them apart for you myself, I shall say this – if there is one t...

  Note: Totally forgot to post anything this month, mostly due to some appallingly poor service from a business incapable of fulfilling the basic function of moving an item successfully from their warehouse to my home without damaging it - three times. Therefore this redux seemed appropriate... On Treating People as Things It's another serious one - I'm afraid I am quite cross with the state of the world at the moment. Sorry folks... As I recently quoted in my blog on AI, a character of the late, great Terry Pratchett once said - “Evil begins when you treat people as things.” I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. Indeed, I’ve thought about it a lot over many years, as anyone who has read my book may have noticed, given treating people as commodities who exist only to serve a purpose for others is one of its major themes. But as I said in my blog on AI, when I stated I feared it would be used to enhance man’s inhumanity to man, in this modern age, the idea of a person as ...

 Life continues to batter me, alas so it is a redux once again. And although I only posted this one last year, I think it is important to say it again. 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 think...