I need fire. The moon. Stars. I need to feel the night and the crisp air against my skin. I need to release my darkest thoughts. Let them fly away like ash risen from still-glowing embers, like wood smoke drifting into oblivion. But the very thing that fills me with peace, brings dread.
© Sarah Doughty
Author of Revolutionary novels. Buy them before they’re banned!
Source: Becky Akers
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
The UK “is part of Europe, and always will be,” says Boris Johnson, a leader of the Brexit campaign. Wait. How can you be part of something and not appoint a dictatorial, authoritarian, meddling, pillaging central state – a completely artificial creation having nothing to do with the real history of Europe – to manage it?
It’s called freedom. That’s how it works. It means the absence of external political restraint on shaping the future.
In the days following the British vote to leave the EU, we’ve seen apocalyptic panic among the opinion classes. The New York Times has published a long series of freak-out pieces about the end of the “postwar liberal order.” Except that there is nothing (classically) liberal about a distant bureaucracy that aspires to centrally plan every aspect of economic life.
Another writer worries that “we will have fewer people coming here, enriching our culture and our lives. There will be fewer opportunities. We will have less of a chance to explore the world for ourselves.”
Huh? No bridges have been blown up. Britons can still buy plane tickets. People from abroad can still visit and work. It’s not even clear that immigration will change that much. It really depends on what politicians in the UK do next. An untenable political union is under strain and that is all. Now Britain can actually make some political decisions for itself.
But here is the silliest thing I’ve yet seen. Try to wrap your brain around the claim in the Times that Brexit “may just wipe out laissez-faire economics.” If there is no European-wide government authority, “where does capitalism go now?”
Capitalism? Does the Brussels bureaucracy really embody the essence of the capitalist spirit? What can the writer mean?
Well, you see, Reagan and Thatcher were “globalists,” and the global order was cobbled together in the postwar period under the influence of John Maynard Keynes, who had saved capitalism from being discredited by the Great Depression, and therefore laissez faire (which means leave it alone) owes its very existence to the man who wrote “The End of Laissez Faire.”
Or something like that. There’s no sense in trying to explain all these frenzied mind dumps because they make no sense.
Latent Hobbesianism
Having read a hundred articles warning of the coming Armageddon, I’m trying to understand the underlying source of the mania. True, there were plenty of unsavory types supporting Brexit, people who were driven to leave the EU by racist and xenophobic motives. They might imagine a new and more pure Britain is possible and desirable.
But, this is hardly news. It is not possible for democracy to function without an ugly underside. And people support good policies for bad reasons all the time.
That said, there is something deeper going on here. Some people just cannot imagine the possibility of order emerging without government planning. If there is no central state that can bind everyone, forcing good behavior and unity, surely the results will be an atavistic and chaotic mess. Life will become, in Thomas Hobbes’s words, “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short.”
There is a certain tradition of Enlightenment thought that imagined that government serves the one great purpose of cobbling together order in place of the war of all against all of the “state of nature.” Without Leviathan, we would be slitting each other’s throats, and unable to figure out any other way of living. The state, in this view, is the wise planner that can rise above the people’s base instincts and tell us what is best for us. In the most extreme rending of this story, all things must be either forbidden or mandated, with nothing left to chance.
(This same perspective explains so much of domestic politics. People who can’t imagine order without imposition always end up favoring power over liberty.)
Hobbes Was Wrong
Brexit doesn’t establish economic and civil liberty for Britain. But it gives those ideas a chance.But is this really the history of Europe? Remember that Hobbes wrote during the English civil war when vying for control of the state was indeed a violent undertaking. This was not because human beings are incapable of figuring out a better way, but because there was a state there to control in the first place. It was responsible for the moral hazard that unleashed the violence.
The bigger picture of the middle ages through World War I was of small states minding their own business, with people free to move, and trade relations growing ever more sophisticated. States were limited by borders in their geographic jurisdiction and in their internal political power by legal and cultural restraints. The right of exit and the decentralization of power made it all work.
F.A. Hayek was fond of quoting John Baechler: “The first condition for the maximization of economic efficiency is the liberation of civil society with respect to the state…The expansion of capitalism owes its origins and raison d’être to political anarchy.”
By anarchy, he didn’t mean everyone going bonkers. He meant a lack of a centralized authority. The result is not the end of laissez faire but its institutionalization in political habit. That doesn’t mean a turn against “globalization.” It makes international cooperation essential for survival.
Brexit doesn’t establish economic and civil liberty for Britain. But it gives those ideas a chance to escape the EU’s subversion of the classical idea of what Europe is all about. Yes, a post-Brexit Britain could screw it up, especially if the extremes of right and left prevail against an emergent libertarian third way. Brexit is a beginning, not an end.
At least one impediment is out of the way. That’s progress.
As a boy on the streets of Nigeria, Rocky Peter Ajoku had to eat food from trash cans. He drank water from pot holes and broken pipes. Today he’s an American musician. Brad and I saw him featured on American Idol last year. When Brad found him on Utube a while back, he suggested I feature him as one of my “courageous ones.”
Rocky’s young life involved a great deal of child labor. Born in Oklahoma, he moved with his mother to her village in Nigeria when he was two. His mother became unable to care for him and he ended up on the streets, supporting a younger brother, scavenging for food. Music was a comfort for him. “It gave me hope,” he said.
Later their abusive uncle enslaved them to work on his farm. After four years, Rocky reports:
I left his house. Then I served random strangers as an indentured servant. I used the money I made to pay for middle school. By freshman year of high school, I was completely independent and worked in farms and construction sites to raise money for school and food.
Rocky also convinced other street children to teach him to speak English. In his late teen years, he successfully immigrated back to the USA.
Now you can get all exercised by the cruelty of child labor and say this should never happen. In principle, I agree. But then reality sets in. This was a young boy with few options, who overcame poverty by working so he could afford an education and a plane ticket to his country of birth where he had a chance to pursue other, better options.
Rocky says one of his greatest ambitions as a boy was to save up his money and buy a wheelbarrow. A boy with a wheelbarrow could bring water or other goods to the markets in a town, and build up his own business. In economic terms, Rocky sought to increase his capital — human capital through education and physical capital with a wheelbarrow.
In the direst of circumstances, Rocky never gave up. He wasn’t waiting around for someone to come save him. He was saving himself, day by day.
Don’t get me wrong. Child labor is cruel and we should find a way to make it unnecessary, but I admire that he didn’t give up and he didn’t wait around for some government agency to “rescue” him. And, I think making the activities he used to get himself out of those circumstances illegal does not help the solution. That just would have limited his options to begging in the streets.
Rocky Peter’s problem growing up was poverty. His solution to that problem was work. For all the unfairness of that situation, there is a whole lot more dignity in wheeling a barrow full of water to a construction site than there is in begging and eating out of garbage piles.
Today’s interview is with crime and historical writer John Holt, who has been a guest on the blog before. Welcome back to the blog, John. Tell us something about yourself.
I was born in Hertfordshire too long ago now as to make very little, if any, difference. Since 1980 I have lived in Essex, in a small town about 40 miles northeast of London, with my wife Margaret, my daughter Elizabeth, and Missy our cat who adopted us a few years ago. I spent many years as a surveyor working in local government, including many years as a Senior Project Manager with the Greater London Council. Then in 1986 I started my own surveying practice. In 2004, I suffered a heart attack, and I finally retired in 2008. In April 2012 I was diagnosed with a cancer. After several tests this was confirmed in the October of that year, and I started treatment in the November. In January 2013 I started an eight week course of radiotherapy. Although I will still be monitored for the next four years, there has been no sign of the cancer for the last 12 months.
At what point did you know you wanted to be a writer?
I guess, like many others, I had wanted to write a book for a long time, but I could never think of a decent, reasonably original, plot. It was during a holiday in Austria in 2005 when a plot finally presented itself. We stayed in Grundlsee, in the Austrian lake district. The adjoining lake, Toplitz, was used by the German Navy during the war to test rockets. As the war ended many items were hidden in the lake. There were rumours that gold bullion had been placed in the lake. Twelve months later “The Kammersee Affair” was published. Six novels, and 3 novellas followed.
Tell us about your writing process.
It’s hardly a process, hardly scientific. I can’t just start at page 1 and gradually work through to the end. I don’t have a set time for writing. I just write whenever I think of something to write. I don’t see the point of sitting down every day at such and such time, and then just staring at the computer screen because I can’t think of anything. I might go days with nothing, then quite suddenly a whole string of ideas, events, scenes, etc, will come to mind, generally in the middle of the night. Then I have to fit them in the manuscript in the appropriate places.
That is a process in and of itself and if it works for you, go for it. What is your favorite genre … to read … to write?
That has to be crime. I love the old gangster movies, the film noir from the 1950’s – Bogart, Edward G, Cagney, great actors, and great stories. I always wanted to recreate that style with my books. Sadly, I soon realised that I couldn’t do it, so I (hopefully) developed my own unique style. Of the 8 books that I have to my name, six of them are crime novels.
What are you passionate about?
I am very much against animal cruelty, and for many years I was Chairman of the local branch of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Health reasons forced me to give that up, but I still speak out about animal cruelty wherever, and whenever I can.
What is something you cannot live without?
Well, if you promise not to tell anyone, (unless, of course, they wish to make a donation), I guess that would be Chocolate. I am rather partial to a square or three of milk chocolate, or dark chocolate come to that. I don’t like that white chocolate though, and I don’t need the fruit and nuts that you get in some bars, either. No, all I need is the Chocolate. Not that I am a chocoholic, you understand. I can stop anytime I want to, I just don’t happen to want to, that’s all.
You and I have similar chocolate tastes. Who needs stuff in it? When you are not writing, what do you do?
Aside from writing my main interest is photography. Not so much taking photographs, although I do like that. I’m not a great technical photographer, and talk of shutter speeds, exposure, and ISO (whatever that is) leaves me cold, and I rely heavily on the automatic functions of my camera. My main interest, though, is photograph restoration using Photoshop software. Old photographs that are badly marked, or torn, or scratched, I will try to repair as best I can. The software is pretty amazing and apart from the editing facilities, it will also allow for the photographs to be made much clearer than the original.
Wow, what a great hobby! What sort of research do you do for your novels?
Research? Not something that I spend too much time with I’m afraid. My novel “The Thackery Journal” is set during, and just after the American Civil War. It is purely fiction although it does refer to several real people, and real events, especially the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. As a consequence some research was carried out, all courtesy of Google Search. The Internet is a wealth of information, and very easily found. “The Kammersee Affair” is also purely fiction, although there are partial truths within the book, and only limited research was carried out. As for my other novels, they are all fictional crime stories. No research was necessary.
I’m going to drop you in a remote Alaska cabin for a month. It’s summer so you don’t have worry about freezing to death. I’ll supply the food and the mosquito spray. What do you do while you’re there and what do you bring with you? If you’re bringing books, what are they?
That’s a difficult one. I’m not into fishing or hunting, so that would be out. Just as well that you are providing the food. I notice that you are also supplying the mosquito spray, so I guess I might need to some shots before I leave. Okay so there are mosquitoes. What about grizzly bears? I understand that you have them in Alaska. I’m guessing I know, but I reckon they could find a person, all alone in the wilderness, inviting, so to speak. Is there a television, or a DVD player, I do enjoy movies, old movies with Humphrey Bogart, Cagney, you know. I guess sight-seeing would be an absolute must. I mean why go all that way, and just stay in the cabin? Alaska has some incredible scenery, so I’d be there with my camera, snapping away. As for taking books with me I wouldn’t need many, not for a month. I’m a pretty slow reader. But it would certainly be a crime novel, or novels. And one written by another Indie author. I would also spent some time, probably the evenings, writing. It should be ideal for that. I guess there won’t be any neighbours close by having wild parties. So I shouldn’t be disturbed. So when do I go? Incidentally you are paying the air fare as well aren’t you – and please not economy class. I mean, after all, one does have certain standards to maintain …..
You’re in luck. Alaskan mosquitoes are not vectors for any known disease. There are just lots and lots of them. Talk about your books individually.
Well I’ve already mentioned my first novel, “The Kammersee Affair”, and I’ve already mentioned “The Thackery Journal”
My second novel, “The Mackenzie Dossier”, started life as a straight-forward political corruption story. But then something happened. I allowed someone to get murdered. Well two murders in fact. So I needed someone to investigate. I couldn’t use the local police because the police Chief was involved in the corruption. So I created a private detective, Tom Kendall, and he hasn’t gone away since. To date there are five novels featuring Kendall. After “The Mackenzie Dossier” came:
“The Marinski Affair” began as a dull mundane case involving a missing husband. Okay, so he was a rich missing husband, but he was nonetheless, still only a missing husband. The case soon developed into one involving robbery, kidnapping, blackmail and murder.
“Epidemic”is about a corrupt pharmaceutical company that is testing a new drug. Things go wrong, people die. Kendall is asked to investigate the death of a young newspaper reporter. The evidence shows quite clearly that it was an accident: a simple, dreadful accident.
In “A Killing In The City”, Kendall is on holiday in London, when he hears of the sudden death of a fellow passenger.
The fifth novel, “Kendall” is a prequel telling how Kendall started as a private detective, and his first case involving phone hacking.
November 2013 my brother was killed in a traffic accident, and my writing came to a full stop.
Then in February 2015 someone suggested that I do shorter stories. Over the following three months I produced three novellas featuring another private detective, Jack Daniels. The first was “The Candy Man” (a slang term for a drug dealer); then “A Dead Certainty” set at a racing stables; and third was “Trouble In Mind”a case of blackmail and murder.
I am currently working on two more Kendall novels. One, I hope will be published in about August. The other sometime round the middle of 2017. I am also currently arranging for my novellas to be translated, through Babelcube. To date “Trouble In Mind” has been translated into Portuguese, Spanish and Italian; “The Candy Man” has been translated into French and German, and should be available soon. It is also being translated into Dutch; Spanish; Afrikaans; Portuguese; Norwegian; and Chinese.
What do you want readers to think or feel after reading one of your books?
There are no hidden messages in my books, no moral judgements, no profound or deep, meaningful, statements. All I want is for the reader to enjoy my story, to be entertained, and at the end feel satisfied that my work was worth reading.
That’s enough for any story, I think. What influenced your decision to self-publish?
In general terms there are only three ways of getting published. The first, and by far the most appealing is the traditional route. Publishers have a bidding war to publish your novel; you get a six figure advance, followed by a film deal in Hollywood. (Ok, remember I’m a fiction writer). The second, and by far the worst way of getting published, is going down the vanity publisher route whereby you pay them a vast sum for the privilege of them publishing your work. I quickly realised that the traditional publishers did not have the ability to recognise talent when they saw it; and I also realised that the vanity publishers were only interested in receiving a huge fee. That left me with the third option – self publishing.
What do you find to be the greatest advantage of self-publishing?
Self-publishing is now so easy, and at no cost. Whilst that is a good thing, it can be a double edged sword. Because it is so easy there is, I’m sad to say, a lot of rubbish being published.
Conversely, what do you think self-published authors might be missing out on?
Publicity without a doubt. And exposure. As an Indie author I need to do all of the promoting of my books. This is made even harder when you consider the costs of advertising
Do you believe that self-published authors can produce books as high-quality as the traditional published? If so, how do you think we should go about that?
Certainly being traditionally published also means a professionally designed book cover; and professional editing and proof reading; which should result in the production of a high quality book. Many self-published authors are unable to afford professional editing, or proof reading services. I do my own editing, and my own covers. Nonetheless, I see no reason why a self-published book could not be every bit as good as a traditionally published book. Take note of books published by mainstream publishers – the quality of the cover – learn lessons and implement them. Make sure the book is the very best that it can be.
How do readers find you and your books?
Links:
The Kammersee Affair – http://t.co/aFfYsPFUPM
The Mackenzie Dossier – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008U6STIQ
The Marinski Affair – http://bookShow.me/B00AFW98D8
Epidemic – http://amzn.to/1aWAOOj
A Killing In The City – http://www.amazon.com/Killing-City-Tom-Kendall-Book-ebook/dp/B0093N363S/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
Kendall – http://bookShow.me/B00LGZYZHW
The Thackery Journal – http://ow.ly/s9hPG
The Candy Man – (http://www.amazon.com/Candy-Man-Jack-Daniels-Novella-ebook/dp/B00TWCF53O/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
A Dead Certainty – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UP2S4EC/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
Trouble In Mind – http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VI9ZK3O/ref=series_rw_dp_sw
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/john.holt.98031506
Twitter – https://twitter.com/JohnHoltAuthor
Amazon – http://www.amazon.com/John-Holt/e/B003ERI7SI/ref=dp_byline_cont_ebooks_1
Look for an interview and maybe some discussion of Virtual Fantasy Convention.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
But this response ignores the real relationship gay and ethnic minority populations have had with police. It’s a history of violence, targeted specifically at queer and brown bodies.
When we discuss privilege in America, we rightly point out that straight, white, cisgendered, male Americans have the tremendous advantage of not being directly negatively impacted by institutional, systemic racism, sexism, transphobia and homophobia.
But what we don’t discuss often enough is how American law enforcement privileges the lives of straight, white, cisgendered, male Americans over the lives of others.
Those who dream of a utopia in which only the police have guns must reckon with the reality that to disarm everyone but the police puts marginalized communities at the utter mercy of American police departments who have proven themselves to be more than happy to violate black and queer bodies, and court systems which have proven themselves unwilling to hold them accountable.
https://www.facebook.com/events/739137499559852/
Welcome to the Reader’s Corner event page for Virtual FantasyCon 2016. This page is for Fantasy Readers to gather and chat with each other and the participants of Virtual FantasyCon 2016. It is not for promotion, perse, but there will be a thread with links to interviews done by some of the authors and showcased on the Virtual FantasyCon 2016 website.
Keep an eye peeled to this event page, as we will be having games, and such, along with information leading up to the kickoff of the Virtual FantasyCon 2016 event, and info on this year’s newest thing, Virtual FantasyCon awards.
So sit back, kick up your feet, and rest a spell, while enjoying all things Fantasy!
Today I am interviewing a character from Mirklin Wood. My fellow blog hoppers are also interviewing characters from their respective works. You might enjoy checking them out. WordPress: <!–…
Nada como tus ojos para sonreir
Leon Stevens is a poet, science fiction author, and composer. Writing updates, humorous blogs, music, and poetry.
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