Giving You an Irish Historical Thriller

Set in Ireland of 1920. The small village of Cafgarven is caught up in the crossfire of a bitter exchange of gunfire. The local village priest is soon left in a dilema. Two men from each side need his help.

Go get today: In print and Kindle  The Black and Tan Summer

#LOL Jonathan Pie: Reporter's New Way of Presenting News COLD! HARD! TRUTH!

Jonathan Pie decided upon a new way of presenting the news. He does it by simply telling the truth. How bad is that? It will make you laugh and then it might make one think; "Hey wait a minuet; he's telling the truth."

It just goes to show how presenting the truth can vary from one concept to another, yet it is still the same old truth.

If this guy did present daily news on national TV, I bet we would all watch it. LOL.

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Best New SciFi Adaptation Book of Thunder Child Blazing Her Way Into Fantasy Legend.

New Sci-fi books are always looked out for. Good sci-fi books are in the realms of the reader opinions. For good or for bad, best new sci-fi books can only be hoped for by the author. Therefore, keep readers happy and hope for good sci-fi book reviews.

War of the Worlds Adaptation Retro Science Fiction Novel (The Last Days of Thunder Child)

The "Last Days of Thunder Child" by C.A. Powell, is a pastiche story from H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds; It shows us the original story from the fresh perspective of the ship's crew.

Here's an interview with author C.A. Powell: 

Fantascize.com: What's the novel about? 

Powell: The story takes place on board a small Victorian battleship cruising around the coast. They get semaphore reports but can't believe the communications they are getting. The only hear stories can see the huge and unusual amount of shipping. Being aboard a boat allows the reader to stay detached from the situation for a long time and cling to normality. However, all the time there is the knowledge of the realization of an approaching doom. 

Fantascize.com: How did you come up with this idea? 

Powell: It started from an idea at a writing class --an exercise, and I developed it from there. I live close to Maldon in Essex, UK, and like early Victorian ironclads. Plus H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds is one of my all-time favourite sci-fi novels. 

Fantascize.com: What did you like about War of the Worlds in particular?

Powell: The mayhem and uprooting of everyday life. It is suddenly vanquished for an apocalyptic world overnight. The social normality of things vanish and survivors have to adapt or perish. 

Fantascize.com: What's the most challenging part of writing a sci-fi novel?

Powell: Trying to view a world completely different from the one we live in yet moving through the story with your own values and conditioned social beliefs. 

Get "The Last Days of Thunder Child" on Amazon.com now

Would the Kingfisher Make an Appearance?

Once again, my wife and I decided to go over the bird hide at Mania in Cambridgeshire. It was a pleasant day and we had our coffee flask all made up. With camera, binoculars and a telescope, we set off.

On the way, we saw a Red Kite but could not photo it because we were moving along a country lane with a car close behind.

Upon reaching Manea we parked the car by the lock gates and began to walk along the bridle path to the hide. The one my wife always enjoys sitting in. As we entered the hide we were welcomed by a retired gentleman from the Yorkshire/Lancashire border. He said he was a Yorkshireman from West Riding. But back in the early 1970s, the local government decided that his village was now in Lancashire. Something he was not keen on and was quick to say the council or government was thinking of putting the original boundaries back to make his village, once again, in Yorkshire. He was a very sociable man and had obviously travelled far from his northern home to come to the Manea bird hides. He was on holiday with his wife and another couple who were keen country walkers or ramblers. He also told us that his village was next to the very place where Last of the Summer Wine TV sitcom was made.

He asked us about Welney bird centre and when it was that the floodplain would be allowed to flood for the winter. This is because it brings in flocks of various migratory wet warbler type birds.

We replied that we did not know exactly when the floodgates would open for the floodplain, but Welney, which is about 5 miles away, had staff at their bird watching complex. They would know. He seemed excited by this and asked more questions about the various wet birds he might see there.

We spoke at length and of the various raptors, we see at the fen in front of our bird hide. We also spoke of a vibrant blue Kingfisher that we had seen. The man seemed very interested in the Kingfisher and asked when and where we had seen it. We replied that it was in the very hide we were all in and it was roughly in the afternoon time. Again he got excited because he said that kingfishers were territorial and would have a set pattern of flight.

I did not hold out much hope of this but after about half an hour the man spotted the kingfisher and alerted my wife and me to the creature’s presence. I managed a few shots at a distance and selected a couple for the blog.

The man chatted for about another hour in which we saw raptors in flight. He then decided to give Welney a try as he was down on holiday. His wife and friends were still out and about rambling allowing him more time for further bird watching. He had a few hours to go before collecting his walker companions so he bade us goodbye and went off to his car along the bridal path and presumably off to Welney, where we hoped he would find an abundance of the wet birds he was looking for.

Why is Daniel Hannan Writing A Letter of Warning to America? (Sometimes Politicians get too wrapped up in trying to teach and decide they no longer need to learn.)

Good and Bad from Mr Hannan's Interview

Mr Hannan made very good points about the positives of the USA and its ideology. We have all been lucky enough to prosper under the protective shadow of U.S. domination or influence. The world would be a sorry place without the USA. Many of us should realise that fact. The U.S gets scant recognition for this, but many of us outside of the U.S. are lucky for her existence.

Some things are hard to stomach, but much of what Daniel Hannan said is true concerning work ethics. I'm unsure about some of what he implies about governments in Europe. I cursed and cussed in my younger years while working under Thatcher's leadership. However, today I have what I have because of reluctantly doing my hard work (or what I thought was hard.) So I know I've been wrong with some of my more left wing views in the past. In this area, I must concede some ground to Mr Hannan's logic about work out put. 

He did, however, go on to mention something that made me pause with puzzlement. He said three Americans produce what four Germans would produce. Germany is a powerhouse economy in the EU and is prosperous? Maybe Germans enjoy a better standard of living from the work place. They are also renowned for quality production and a good national economy. Therefore a four German crew must be doing something right as well as the three man American crew. Perhaps he meant Europeans in general.

National Health Service

Today I'm different in my outlook of younger years and find much of what Mr Hannan mentions to be very stimulating. I do enjoy soaking up what he says, but I then have to sit back and think. I'm not in agreement with him about the U.K. National Health service. It is flawed, but we must try to continue and maintain it. I'm not a left wing person or socialist today. I would say I'm slightly right of centre concerning mass migration issues and benefits, but some things are worth keeping and paying for. Our National Health Service is one such thing.

I do think a American National Health service might be a good thing for a large number of U.S. citizens. I just can't agree with Mr Hannan's more negative reason concerning UK national health.

Such a U.S. Health Service will be flawed and open to abuse by peoples who do not contribute via National Insurance tax. (i.e. people outside U.S. trying to come into country and gain free health service) The U.S. would need to look at protocols to stop such abuse. There will be many problems reported. Look at the negatives of the UK Health system and make a better one. When Mr Hannan talks about British people complaining of trolleys in corridors, he is right on many occasions, but I can point out the millions of good things the British National Health Service does for its citizens. The good far out weighs the bad. If Mr Hannan only reports the problems and not the benefits we get an economical truth, and I'm afraid Mr Hannan is presenting a very economical truth on this national health service issue.

I think what I'm trying to say is that no one ideology is complete right or wrong. There will always be good and bad policies. I think he is right that the EU is full of its own self importance but can't deal with things collectively - yet. It makes lots of mistakes, but also gets lots of things right. Its evolving and making mistakes as opposed to remaining the same old, same old. The world has lots of options and lots of paths. The U.S. and the EU and the world will continue to adapt and evolve. The UK might be better off outside the EU and it will do well inside long term. I don't think either path will be catastrophic.

I don't think Daniel Hannan's book should be a letter of warning to America. The EU might find its way with some good ideas yet, but there will be a lot of bad ones too. Anyone looking in can decide for themselves. 

Mr Hannan also went on to say about care in the community and its draw back on certain issues concerning the lack of watching out for ones elderly neighbours and so forth. He complained that such things were put upon government and social services. Surely better government should be doing these things at local level answerable at higher level? Is this not what our better evolving society should be about? It is true that we have created such institutions that he might like to call bureaucratic bodies. These bureaucratic bodies have been formed with good reason, but people or neighbours still keep a look out too. He act as though this has suddenly stopped and we have all become automated and uncaring citizens. He neglects some of the old complaints about nosey Parkers taking too much of an interest in other people's business and so forth. I know this sounds pathetic and weak, but we do complain about unqualified people sometimes - don't we? I feel he is always giving just half a presentation wrapped up as a whole circumstance and then these are only the bits he wants us to see in order to win his point of view.

There are so many swing and roundabout issues and to claim the moral high ground on rather economic truths will always be around for development of political ideology. It sells books too, but if Mr Hannan wants people to vote for him, he needs to know he is the servant of his electors. Sometimes politicians get too wrapped up in trying to teach and decide; they no longer need to learn.

My One Big Brit say is this:

A national health Service can be a very good thing for millions of people, but big institutions will always have problems. Complaints about a trolley bed in an over crowded corridor can be made to look bad and immense. People should be held accountable in any Health system's failing for such things. However, (and this is a very BIG 'however') The amount of health care that the people of the UK's health system receive is extremely good. It is a little too easy to make it look bad, but the UK electorate rightly cherish it.

On this one fundamental note of National Health Care, I could never allow myself to vote for anything led by Daniel Hannan. He has a lot of very good ideas and views that he skillfully puts across. His notion of a failing British NHS is not one of them.

Doctor Who Trip Down Memory Lane.

On a complete whim, I bought the Doctor Who story; Face of Evil on Wednesday. I had taken my Dad to the hospital and went for a walk about the town centre in Romford, Essex. It has changed so much since I last went there.

Anyway, in one of the large DVD and CD outlets, I found myself wondering around the display area. I don't buy many DVDs now days because I watch so much on Netflicks. However, I do like British dramas. I think its the one thing we are rather lucky with. 

Old retro Doctor Who is one of my favourites because it takes me back to my childhood and youth. I suppose it has a nostalgic feel for me. I'm not too fond of modern day Doctor Who because I find the stories too fast paced. Even though the special effects are so much better.

To my surprise I found a huge horde of old retro Doctor Who. There were so many there - even ones like the Tenth Planet and The Moonbase. From Willaim Hartnell, Patrick Troughton, Jon Pertwee and, of course Tom Baker. It was about this time that I lost touch with the show. It was during the Tom Baker and Leela times. I started work and was going out with mates - a coming of age time when TV watching was no longer too high on my list of priorities. 

I do remember liking the Leela stories though, because I thought she was one of his best companions and I remember, most of all; her first story - The Face of Evil. It was a continuation of another story known as Planet of Evil, which featured Sarah Jane Smith (Elizabeth Sladen) as the Doctors companion. 

In the Sarah Jane Smith story the Doctor and his companion come across a group of human space travellers who have crash landed upon a planet. I don't remember too much about the story because I watched it some time ago now. In the second story with Leela (Face of Evil) the Doctor visits the planet several hundred years in the future. In this time the shipwrecked off spring of the original story have fallen back into primitive and tribal ways. The descendants of the survey team are a tribe known as the Severtean (corruption of survey team etc) Their enemies live in a barriered realm where the wrecked space ship is. These enemies are called the Tesh (Corruption of Technicians.) All have become primitive and they worship a God called Zohannon. 

Zohannon is the computer who is riddled with phsycological problems from the passed when the Doctor tried to reprogramme the computer during the Planet of Evil story hundreds of years prior. All this makes for a good mystery for the Doctor to solve with the help of Leela, the outcast Severtean warrior.

I think Leela was a big hit with Who fans because Doctor Who came on after the football results when there was a large young male audience watching the weekly British religion of football. Then Doctor Who follows with the dashing Leela skimily dressed as a leather clad, primitive warrior woman, while male testosterone is already bubbling away because of the national tribal obligation.

The scifi story stirred a few memories and so I bought it - watched it - and thoroughly enjoyed the story and the great ending as Leela decides to join the Doctor in his Tardis and go upon more made adventures, gallivanting around the universe in various times and dimensions etc. Well worth a watch.

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Did I see a Male Montagu's Harrier or Hen Harrier?

My wife and I went to the bird hides in the Fenland of Manea, just across from Ely cathedral. We often go here and I have done a number of blogs concerning looking for birds of prey at these hides. It was a very fine late September day with clear blue skies. Therefore Carole and I decide to take a quick drive into the Fenland village and out towards the bird hides once again.

Upon a gate post along the dyke, Carole caught sight of a bird of prey perched and surveying its surroundings. At first we thought it was a common buzzard. It was not a marsh harrier, which always seem to be about this part of the fen. As I looked more closely I could not make out if it was a Hen Harrier or even a Montagu’s Harrier.

We were in a marshy or watery habitat and Hen Harriers prefer treeless moorland. The fen does not have many trees but it’s not moorland. Therefore, I wondered if it was the rarer Montagu’s Harrier. They are very similar to a Hen Harrier and are only summer visitors. They migrate in late September or early October. They are scarce and only breed in small sites in Eastern England, which is where the Fenland is. This bird had all the grey trimmings of a male Montagu’s Harrier, but it could have been a Hen Harrier instead. It was at a fare distance and I took many shots.

The harrier kept flying from the gate post onto the soil and then back. At one time another hawk landed on a post further up by another bird hide and I got a few shots of both.

In the end, I decided to try and move closer for better shot. I managed a few yards along the bridal path once coming down the bird hide’s steps. Then the hawk got spooked and took off. As it went into the clear blue sky I managed to get a few more shots.

If anyone with such knowledge could confirm what type of harrier it is, I would be grateful. I’m thinking it might be a Montagu’s Harrier but I can’t be sure.

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