I've released my first audiobook..

I've released an audiobook.


I've updating my short experimental ebook, 'The Owl Flies at Night' and had it auto narrated. It's an audiobook bargain at £1. 

This is not the annual free Halloween story but it is a fictional modern ghost story, using an unreliable narrator in the tradition of Poe's 'The Tell-Tale Heart'.

Available on Google Play/Books.

This is the trailer I made...

And here is the Google link: The Owl Flies at Night audiobook

Why I write Halloween short stories...

I'm just putting the finishing touches to this year's Halloween story which is called 'A Sermon of Life' and which will appear here on October 31st.

Sometimes I get a little flak for these annual short stories. So I wanted to make my defence, or apologetics, here to combat the worst of the criticism...

FAQ

"Why are you celebrating Halloween? Isn't it a celebration of all things evil? There is enough evil in the world already."

I love Halloween. I've always liked it and to me it is not so much a celebration of evil as an attempt to enjoy all things scary. Although there are excesses in society - it can be fun. I really look forward to writing my Halloween story every year. I genuinely enjoy doing it. It's not even as if I write gory stuff - a lot of it is traditional ghost story, often with a mix of spirituality in there.

"Well, where is the spirituality? As far as I can see, you are just writing ugly things. Why not write beautiful things?"

I do, sometimes, write more aesthetically pleasing things, but remember, these are supposed to be scary adult ghost stories. The spirituality is mostly drawing from the Bible and from other aspects of Christianity. As far as I can see, the Bible and this faith are an absolute gold-mine for scary and sometimes even horrific things. Few people say that the Bible is an ugly book because it mentions hell, demons and suchlike. I'm contributing back to the people for free. It's an act of service.

"You are totally obsessed with the topics of the afterlife and the last judgment. Change the record. Sing a new song."

Mainly because there is a fear which accompanies thoughts about the final judgment and life after death. In a way, the writing is also a form of therapy, or simply asking the question 'What if'?

"In all your writing you are telling rather than showing and I've lost count how many times you've used an intrusive narrator. If you want your work to be read then you have to obey the writing rules. Also, you write caricatures, characters which have no depth. No-one is totally good or totally evil. It's just not realistic!"

Guilty as charged. Can I carry on writing now?



Here is the trailer for this year's story. If you want to ask any questions not covered here, please feel free to ask in the comments...

Why does God allow suffering? Is it because there is no good God?

This is the one question which is asked in any discussion about God and I have one answer...

I don't know.

This is to do with the question of suffering which cannot be adequately answered by any human being. This is to do with why God, should he be good, chooses to allow some things to happen. Put it this way - neither Einstein nor any of the greatest philosophers or theologians have been able to answer this question, so why do you think some random blog from some obscure writer will? This also means that you don't know either.

I'm not sure it is possible to prepare for physical or mental suffering beyond making sure there is access to pain relief. It is also hard to alleviate suffering with words alone.

God can defend himself on this one. It 'appears' as if God has made a choice not to heal, or not to answer certain prayers for now. This does not mean it will be the case for eternity. It has to be enough to recognise that the pain and suffering is not caused by God, but only allowed by him for now. There is literally little other choice for those suffering. But the question is still valid and legitimate.

Because there is still a choice there made by God, even in the allowing. I believe that he holds the responsibility and accountability for this decision. That means that neither you nor I need to defend his honour on this question.

Neither the Book of Job nor the rest of the Bible answers this question and Job deals with it explicitly. The answer to Job is that he should look to nature and the awesomeness of God's creation and God's greater might above all that. However, Job (and the reader) is not actually given an answer. The only answer Job gets is a future compensation for all the suffering he has experienced. And pain relief of a kind, in the form of God's presence.

The best that could be said is that Christ suffered too and so lived his life under that same tyranny of suffering, and the shadow of death. If you think about it, it would be very hard for a God who never suffered to hold any kind of authority or credibility on this question if he had not lived as a human being.

So you and I can make what feels like a great response to the question of suffering - one which maybe defends God's honour and which seems to answer the question... or one which does not. There should be no value judgement in that. Even if that answer is: 'There is no rhyme or reason to it and it happens because he doesn't exist. There is no good God'. But this is also an answer which is similarly unsatisfying for many.

The next time you and I are suffering (which will happen, even if it is not happening now), all these answers (maybe even this one) will be blown away like chaff - because when you suffer, you don't necessarily want an answer, you want the pain to go away and you want coping strategies if you have to endure (which is usually the case).

The individual who suffers may say some outrageous things and that's okay, because suffering and pressure does not cause a person's true colours to come out. True colours only come out when a person is in relative ease and luxury. And since when was saying something seemingly odd or outrageous indicative of a person's value as a human being? True colours only come out when you are pain-free and in a season of happiness.

So, why, if God is good, does he allow suffering?
I do not know the answer to this question. 

The human condition is such that we are largely compelled to ask it and live without adequate answers.

Get the pain relief in and make it accessible to all.

Think happy thoughts.

Goodbye Queen Elizabeth

 

Many people have been affected by the death of Queen Elizabeth.

The newspapers and websites are filled with material which has long been prepared. There is something comforting about that - in the idea that there has been some kind of plan in place for years. That Operation London Bridge is there to smoothly keep the cogs and wheels of Britain and the Commonwealth running. Goodness knows if there are any other plans in operation. 

The BBC will stop all comedy for some reason – because when you grieve, laughter is not acceptable to some. We live on a strange island.

There were many worse monarchs than Queen Elizabeth. Of course, when a monarch dies, everyone is a royalist to some extent. Freedom of expression has its limits after all, for both republicans and royalists. She surely won the award for being the most popular monarch.

They say that as soon as the Queen died, Charles became King. They say this because they rightly fear that the time between the death of a monarch and the coronation of the new one is a time of social instability. Certain forces, the kind of forces that Queen Elizabeth hinted at during her long reign, will become opportunists. People fear terrorism. Instability. Journalists and writers are called on to keep the peace. We are to write words of comfort and words which keep the wheels and cogs of the system oiled.

People will miss her. She received a lot of prayer and was among the world's most well-known Christians. We got used to her.

Perhaps she could have been more proactive. But in the history of kings and queens she was reasonably benevolent. Episodes of The Crown probably did more for her public image than all the PR of the palace.

We are in new territory. So where do we go from here? What can we say to comfort each other? Millions of words will be written from here on. All kinds of words, and those of us who were raised on Spitting Image, with its caricature of Queen Elizabeth, will wonder at some of them.

And all the plans of Government and the other forces, and the long ago written newspaper material and the plans of church and state... and agitators... will swing into motion like a machine.

You want my advice at this time? Do what you have always done. Survive. But don’t carry on as if nothing has happened. Don’t just keep calm and carry on. It's not business as usual. Even in war, the advice was to keep calm and carry on as much as possible. There was some acknowledgment that there would be some significant ripples felt by people. Sometimes you just can’t carry on as normal. 

So survive. Look around. Read the blogs, watch the changes. Think a little about it all. See the royalists, watch how they act and what they say. See the republicans and listen to their complaints about the constraints on free expression. Watch the news, listen to the journalists. Try not to read too much David Icke.

Take it easy Britain, somebody loves you.

Think happy thoughts.

You are invited...

 Free short story coming on this blog: October 31st...

Upcoming Halloween Story 2022

 

Criticism of the Government

The cost of living crisis is really only going to affect the poor isn't it?

I live in a Conservative voter majority area, under a Conservative MP. I am always irritated, in discussions, when defenders of Her Majesty's Government say things like, 'You shouldn't judge our PM, he is doing the best he can and you are no better. He is trying his best in difficult circumstances and we should move on from Partygate because there are more pressing issues'.

It isn't a judgement so much as a simple fact that the Government have a lot more responsibility and are in a position of power. Even the Bible says that those who are in leadership should be held to greater account. But the defence of the PM is that he made a few mistakes (weirdly the breaking of arbitrary house of commons rules about lying, considered to be a greater scandal than the fact that he behaved hypocritically).

'But some citizens also broke the rules during the pandemic, so they have no right to judge.'

It's a non sequitor, it doesn't follow that those in power should be held to less accountability than every other citizen. 

'But he has and he has apologised and now we must move on.'

Except the whole of law and ethics is that people are held to account when they have done something wrong, mostly so that they do not do it again. And Boris Johnson saying, 'Let's move on' (as Tony Blair always did) does not mean that he will not do it again. Specifically, to behave hypocritically in any decision he makes in the future.

'But we all sometimes behave hypocritically'.

Sure we do, but we are not all in a position of power.

Who is to say that as Boris Johnson tackles the cost of living crisis, the train strikes (and why will they not even talk with the unions?) or the war in Ukraine, or the coming crises, that he will not do the same thing again - i.e. not practice what he preaches. Well, at least the Government are being consistent in their hypocrisy. They are saying that they want peace in Ukraine and at the same time supplying arms to the Ukrainians, for political reasons, rather than actually caring. They are also not talking with the unions in the train strikes and saying that the train staff are just being selfish. Some of us don't even have the luxury of unions and the Government will make it very certain that you feel that the inconvenience is making things worse. At least the Government isn't greedy for anything huh?

It is said (in the Bible) that people shouldn't say, 'Why were things better in the old days?' It is never explained why. 'Because it isn't wise', writes the leader of that country.

Except that just sometimes things were better in the past. Just sometimes Governments have been held to account and the level of scandal that is occuring in the present would be seen as nightmarish if it had happened before now. 

I always think that the Tories always allow the worst things to happen. They let things happen which other parties would not let happen. They have allowed all of our demons to reign free. This country was my home. I know people who are suffering so much from the negligence of the Government. But it is a delegated neglect. You won't be neglected should you put a foot wrong. But you won't be helped. This current regime has come back ten times as nasty as before. Specifically in the treatment of the poor, the disabled and patients. No wonder the NHS is in crisis - they are under so much pressure from the Government that doctors and nurses barely have time to think.

'Stop doing down the country, we are a great nation and we may be allowed to host Eurovision.'

Except great nations have ethics. They don't NEED ethics advisers to act as their consciences. They should have consciences. Who knew that they had delegated that role to anyone anyway?

'Quit your whining, are you going to offer up any positive solutions?'

Sure, survive. There is no political hope anymore. All we have is this nasty regime which does not care for the poor and disabled. There is simply no compassion. And that attitude permeates all of society now thanks to our leaders. 

So my advice is to survive the best you can under this oppressive Government. If you are so sure that the PM is genuinely sorry for appearing to lie to parliament (surely not?), or worse from behaving hypocritically, then why should you worry that he will do it again? 

If you even dare to criticise them, they point the finger at the opposition. But the opposition are not in power. The Labour leader may have broken the rules too, but the difference is that he is not in Government. 

And they will not even acknowledge that part of the problem is Brexit. Because to do so would be to admit responsibility and that is something which the Government perhaps do need an ethics adviser to understand. We are not free yet.

Because their consciences have been seared with a hot iron, and that's why they need to delegate ethics.

Survive.