By the Blood of Brethren and Blackguards – PART 2
PUTER (HOCK) Meyor Puter Bones rubbed his temples and gazed out of the window of his city hall office as he waited for the morning …
By the Blood of Brethren and Blackguards – PART 1
CAI Cai Leman’s father used to say the men of Trintan were not ones for expressing their feelings. According to him, feelings were for women, …
INTRODUCTION TO ‘By the Blood of Brethren and Blackguards’
I’m very excited to release excerpts of the aforementioned novel on this blog. Nine instalments will be posted on Thursdays between June and August. No …
Sprinting to the end
My lull since my last post has not been a quiet time on the writing front – far from it, in fact. I’ve found sometimes …
Into the unknown
Over Easter, we did some island-hopping in Greece and ended the tour in Santorini, which is one of the proposed sites for Atlantis. The topic …
Easter writing update
My recent blog entries have covered quite a mixture of topics – from wild food and foraging to AI and general relativity – reflecting my …
Wild food, I think I love you
Since moving to the countryside, I’ve taken an interest in foraging. This started with the discovery of marsh samphire growing in the tidal lagoon near …
On the origin of ghosts
I’ve come to realize that ghosts are real. Not in the sense that the souls of the departed hang about in old buildings, scaring the …
Do you remember your first time?
I’ve just come to realize that what I thought was my first time was – in fact – not my first time. I thought I …
Forest bathing and the health benefits of trees
I’m a huge tree fan. That is, I’m enthusiastic about trees – not that I specifically like huge trees. I don’t really mind their size. …
AI, fiction, and creativity
A human wrote this post. There. Just needed to clear that up. I researched, spent time digesting the subject matter, and then drafted and revised …
Watching the ships roll in
Singaporeans often refer to their island as the ‘little red dot’ – because when highlighted on a map it appears as nothing more than, well, …
Writing, writing and more writing
As I get used to 2023 life in the wintery wilds of Wales, the year has started with a bang on the writing front, with …
Sea glass or arse glass?
Christmas brought the usual mix of greed, gluttony, and sloth, but we also spent a good deal of time enjoying some favourite locations of North …
Merry Christmas, Mr Williams
As a family, this is our first cold Christmas in a long time (and for our son, his first winter Christmas ever). For the last …
Burnout in a blaze of glory
Like many households, December for our family is frantic, and burning the candle at both ends leaves us exhausted. The kids have one Christmas event …
Sharpen your saw
In the business and self-help book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, habit 7 is sharpening the saw, which, of course, isn’t intended literally. …
Let them lead the way?
Our house overlooks an estuary, which fills and empties each day, according to the tide. When out exploring, one must be careful to avoid high …
Red squirrel, evil squirrel
We’ve had sightings of red squirrels snaffling seeds from our bird feeder in recent weeks (please forgive the fuzzy phone pic). The flame-haired little critters …
Let there be light (please!)
It’s nearly five months since we relocated back to the UK from Singapore, and the household is now edging its way into its first winter …