Being a rationalist at heart (though not always behaving in a rational way) I strongly believe in the importance of facts, evidence, logic, causality, fair-testing, etc. When it comes to persuading people to think and feel in a particular way, or just draw their attention to some new way of looking at something, fiction wins over facts. It's the head v heart thing. All the facts in the world won't always make people shift their strongly held position, but a simple story that presents characters and life in a different way is very affective and effective.
When I wrote The Badgers of Beechen Cliff, I wasn't necessarily trying to change hearts and minds. It's the classic set-up of the too-powerful against the weak, Goliath encountering David. See for yourself. Let me know what you think or write a review.
Sunday 30 June 2013
Saturday 29 June 2013
Free Kindle App
Just a reminder: you don't need a Kindle to download The Badgers of Beechen Cliff. The Kindle App, which enables you to download books to your own phone, PC or other device is free here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=dig_arl_box?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html/ref=dig_arl_box?ie=UTF8&docId=1000493771
Friday 28 June 2013
Do Bath Badgers Travel Well to USA, Canada, Germany and Brazil?
Local interest in my latest children's story set in Bath, The Badgers of Beechen Cliff, is increasing with Bath Mums acceptance of an article. (http://www.bathmums.co.uk/news.php/2251.htm) and the possibility of a review in The Bath Parent magazine.
Do other countries and cultures feel the same way about animals in a fictional fight for their own survival? How do I extend interest to USA, Canada, Germany and Brazil? This is, after all, one of those 'underdog' stories that might have wide appeal.
Do other countries and cultures feel the same way about animals in a fictional fight for their own survival? How do I extend interest to USA, Canada, Germany and Brazil? This is, after all, one of those 'underdog' stories that might have wide appeal.
Wednesday 26 June 2013
Wimbledon
No time for writing today. Off to Wimbledon tomorrow for the first time. Centre Court should be exciting, even though we won't see Murray play. There is a chamce of Serena Williams or Laura Robson, however.
And while I won't be doing any writing, nonetheless, I don't walk around without my eyes and ears. There are always characters and conversations to observe and make a mental note of.
Very happy to see my first ever review of The Badgers of Beechen Cliff has 5 stars. It's a start.
And while I won't be doing any writing, nonetheless, I don't walk around without my eyes and ears. There are always characters and conversations to observe and make a mental note of.
Very happy to see my first ever review of The Badgers of Beechen Cliff has 5 stars. It's a start.
Tuesday 25 June 2013
Rock 'n' Roll and Badgers
I'm not usually in the Beechen Cliff area on a Monday night, but it was my singing evening. A few of us get together to sing old rock 'n' roll numbers - anything we can harmonise to. Choir isn't the correct collective noun; it's more of a bunch of friends having a good time singing. Last night, the venue was Bear Flat, which means, afterwards, walking home down the steps through Beechen Cliff woods.
Just after ten last night, there was still a bit of light in the sky, but dark enough for the badgers to be out. I could hear quite a bit of scuffling. Every time I moved, of course, the noise stopped. They were listening to me as much as I was listening to them. I didn't think I'd see any, until I got to the end of the steps. A badger was sitting right there. Practically on the spot where I have one on the front cover of my book. It didn't hang about for long, of course. Gave me a bit of an old-fashioned look and waddled off - in no great hurry.
Just after ten last night, there was still a bit of light in the sky, but dark enough for the badgers to be out. I could hear quite a bit of scuffling. Every time I moved, of course, the noise stopped. They were listening to me as much as I was listening to them. I didn't think I'd see any, until I got to the end of the steps. A badger was sitting right there. Practically on the spot where I have one on the front cover of my book. It didn't hang about for long, of course. Gave me a bit of an old-fashioned look and waddled off - in no great hurry.
Friday 21 June 2013
Bath Wildlife - Badgers, Peregrines and the rest
We're very lucky in Bath. For such a busy, tourist-packed city, it's full of wildlife, if not in the centre, then only a short walk away.
The peregrine falcons of St. John's Church, of course, are city-centre dwellers, sometimes gracing the sky over Widcombe and settling on the weather vane of St. Matthew's Church. We often see one from our back garden. Round the corner, along by the canal, the allotments have been home to a small group of deer. Whether they'll still show up this year, since the felling of a small copse, I don't know. But there are a few around. I did see one strolling down Rosemount Lane in broad daylight as casual as you please.
Along the top, Greenway Lane, round about Devonshire pub closing time is where to see badgers. You might argue that on the way home from the pub is when you're likely to 'see' all sorts of things. But it is where the Lyncombe Vale and the Beechen Cliff badgers rendezvous. Luckily for the Beechen Cliff crowd, at least, they are well away from farm land, so should face no threat from the cull.
The peregrine falcons of St. John's Church, of course, are city-centre dwellers, sometimes gracing the sky over Widcombe and settling on the weather vane of St. Matthew's Church. We often see one from our back garden. Round the corner, along by the canal, the allotments have been home to a small group of deer. Whether they'll still show up this year, since the felling of a small copse, I don't know. But there are a few around. I did see one strolling down Rosemount Lane in broad daylight as casual as you please.
Along the top, Greenway Lane, round about Devonshire pub closing time is where to see badgers. You might argue that on the way home from the pub is when you're likely to 'see' all sorts of things. But it is where the Lyncombe Vale and the Beechen Cliff badgers rendezvous. Luckily for the Beechen Cliff crowd, at least, they are well away from farm land, so should face no threat from the cull.
Thursday 20 June 2013
Badger Culling in the News - Bath Chronicle
In the Badgers of Beechen Cliff, I used a fictional device of having badgers, since they are in the news so much at the moment, read about themselves in the local paper, the Bath Chronicle. If they couldn't read it (well that would just be silly!) they might be able to recognise black and white pictures of other badgers. If they didn't know what it all meant, they would be able, at least in this fictional setting, to put that information alongside the experience of a badger who had had first-hand experience of the cull.
If you want to see for yourself if it works, follow the links. In the meantime, on the right, you'll find an illustration from the book.
If you want to see for yourself if it works, follow the links. In the meantime, on the right, you'll find an illustration from the book.
UK
USA
GERMANY
Tuesday 18 June 2013
Badger Football
Last night there was some scuffling going on outside the front door. I'd already heard the milkman go squeaking by in his electric delivery wagon. Through the narrow gap in the curtains, I could see two badgers tussling with the bottle of milk that had been delivered. It was on its side and seemed to be being passed from one badger to the other as each in turn stood on its cylindrical shape, making it shoot off. It was only when it was scuffed backwards by one of the creatures - obviously playing in a defensive position - that the bottle struck the wall and smashed, spilling milk everywhere. Glass all over the footpath. The milk was quickly licked up. Game over, scoreless draw, and, luckily, no red cards and no injuries.
Friday 14 June 2013
Visit Bath, UK - Off the Tourist Trail / Besuchen Bath, UK - Aus der Tourist Trail
An enormous number of visitors pass through Bath in the south-west of England and experience some beautiful architecture and Roman remains. I'm lucky to live in a modest Georgian house, built in 1820.
Tourists won't always see some of the delightful places off the beaten track, although yesterday I did direct a German couple to Prior Park. But there is also - if you have the time - an amazing skyline walk, another route along the canal towpath past my allotment, as well as Abbey Cemetery with its headstones from the Boer and Crimea Wars and amazing views of the city.
Let me know if you need more information.
Eine enorme Anzahl von Besuchern durch Bath im Südwesten von England passieren und erleben eine schöne Architektur und die römischen Überreste. Ich bin glücklich, in einem bescheidenen Haus im georgianischen Stil im Jahre 1820 erbaut leben.
Die Touristen werden nicht immer sehen einige der reizvollen Orte abseits der ausgetretenen Pfade, obwohl ich gestern ein deutsches Ehepaar zu Prior Park hat zu lenken. Aber es gibt auch - wenn Sie Zeit haben - eine erstaunliche Skyline Spaziergang, ein anderer Weg entlang des Kanals Leinpfad an meinem Zuteilung sowie Abbey Friedhof mit seinen Grabsteinen aus dem Boer und der Krim Wars und herrlichem Blick auf die Stadt.
Lassen Sie mich wissen, wenn Sie mehr Informationen benötigen.
Tourists won't always see some of the delightful places off the beaten track, although yesterday I did direct a German couple to Prior Park. But there is also - if you have the time - an amazing skyline walk, another route along the canal towpath past my allotment, as well as Abbey Cemetery with its headstones from the Boer and Crimea Wars and amazing views of the city.
Let me know if you need more information.
Eine enorme Anzahl von Besuchern durch Bath im Südwesten von England passieren und erleben eine schöne Architektur und die römischen Überreste. Ich bin glücklich, in einem bescheidenen Haus im georgianischen Stil im Jahre 1820 erbaut leben.
Die Touristen werden nicht immer sehen einige der reizvollen Orte abseits der ausgetretenen Pfade, obwohl ich gestern ein deutsches Ehepaar zu Prior Park hat zu lenken. Aber es gibt auch - wenn Sie Zeit haben - eine erstaunliche Skyline Spaziergang, ein anderer Weg entlang des Kanals Leinpfad an meinem Zuteilung sowie Abbey Friedhof mit seinen Grabsteinen aus dem Boer und der Krim Wars und herrlichem Blick auf die Stadt.
Lassen Sie mich wissen, wenn Sie mehr Informationen benötigen.
Wednesday 12 June 2013
Tourists to Bath, UK - Map of Beechen Cliff
If you've ever been to Bath as a tourist, you will probably have visited the Roman Baths, Royal Crescent, the Abbey and Pulteney Bridge. You're unlikely to have walked on or around Beechen Cliff. From the centre of town you can see it to the south covered in trees. On the opening night of the music festival in May, they organise a fantastic firework display from Alexandra Park on the top of the cliff. It is an amazing sight.
What you won't see are the creatures that lurk in the undergrowth there. There are a lot of badgers. I'll be walking up the steps to the top of the cliff this afternoon. (I'm teaching a friend up there to play guitar.) I won't see any wildlife during daylight hours, but it was this place that inspired me to write The Badgers of Beechen Cliff.
Check the map at the side. There is a link to the book if you are interested.
What you won't see are the creatures that lurk in the undergrowth there. There are a lot of badgers. I'll be walking up the steps to the top of the cliff this afternoon. (I'm teaching a friend up there to play guitar.) I won't see any wildlife during daylight hours, but it was this place that inspired me to write The Badgers of Beechen Cliff.
Check the map at the side. There is a link to the book if you are interested.
Tuesday 11 June 2013
Free Downloads of The Badgers of Beechen Cliff
If any of anybody out there has downloaded a free copy of this latest book (either on to your Kindle or PC - you can do either)and would care to review it, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks, Jim.
Fictional Badgers and Animal Rights - Free Book (Tuesday 11 June)
You're walking in the countryside or driving along a wooded lane and you spot a wild animal. What do you do?
'QUICK! QUICK! LOOK! OVER THERE!'
You want your children to share that moment of wonder - open their eyes to the delights of nature. I expect your parents did something similar. You see the world through the child's eyes.
It's as simple and basic as that. It's what an appreciation of wildlife is all about. It's where an understanding of animal rights begins.
The other starting point is children's fiction: Tarka the Otter, Watership Down and White Fang, and all the others. I shouldn't mention The Badgers of Beechen Cliff in the same paragraph as those, but it does a similar job. It tries to get inside a secret world and present a different view from the dominant, human one.
There may be a case for culling badgers. There may not. The evidence for and against is in dispute. What can never be in dispute is that whenever we take a casual, callous attitude towards our natural surroundings and the animals that inhabit them, we lose out as human beings.
Download a free copy of The Badgers of Beechen Cliff today.
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Badgers-Beechen-Cliff-ebook/dp/B00D7NV7YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370515930&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
USA: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/278-0314901-8693631?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85Z%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/The-Badgers-Beechen-Cliff-ebook/dp/B00D7NV7YK/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370938651&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=the+badgers+of+beecher+cliff
'QUICK! QUICK! LOOK! OVER THERE!'
You want your children to share that moment of wonder - open their eyes to the delights of nature. I expect your parents did something similar. You see the world through the child's eyes.
It's as simple and basic as that. It's what an appreciation of wildlife is all about. It's where an understanding of animal rights begins.
The other starting point is children's fiction: Tarka the Otter, Watership Down and White Fang, and all the others. I shouldn't mention The Badgers of Beechen Cliff in the same paragraph as those, but it does a similar job. It tries to get inside a secret world and present a different view from the dominant, human one.
There may be a case for culling badgers. There may not. The evidence for and against is in dispute. What can never be in dispute is that whenever we take a casual, callous attitude towards our natural surroundings and the animals that inhabit them, we lose out as human beings.
Download a free copy of The Badgers of Beechen Cliff today.
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Badgers-Beechen-Cliff-ebook/dp/B00D7NV7YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370515930&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
USA: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
Germany: http://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/278-0314901-8693631?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85Z%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
Canada: http://www.amazon.ca/The-Badgers-Beechen-Cliff-ebook/dp/B00D7NV7YK/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370938651&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=the+badgers+of+beecher+cliff
Monday 10 June 2013
Badgers v Humans with Guns
The shooting will begin in the next few days. Badgers had better keep their heads down. (The cows, themselves, better keep out of the way because I wouldn't like to be around when men with guns start popping at black and white targets in the countryside!)
I wrote The Badgers of Beechen Cliff, but I'm not a strong animal rights fanatic or anything. I don't like to see cruelty to animals. It's as simple as that. But underneath that simple philosophy is a concern as much for human beings as animals. What do we become if we are so easily prepared to deal with a problem in such a crude way. How can you look at a badger through a lens, and - without needing it for food - kill it.
The main reason for writing the story was to interest young people, and the not-so-young, in the kind of imagined, internal life of animals. Of course, it's anthropomorphising the creatures but maybe that's way we learn to feel for them, to be on their side.
I wrote The Badgers of Beechen Cliff, but I'm not a strong animal rights fanatic or anything. I don't like to see cruelty to animals. It's as simple as that. But underneath that simple philosophy is a concern as much for human beings as animals. What do we become if we are so easily prepared to deal with a problem in such a crude way. How can you look at a badger through a lens, and - without needing it for food - kill it.
The main reason for writing the story was to interest young people, and the not-so-young, in the kind of imagined, internal life of animals. Of course, it's anthropomorphising the creatures but maybe that's way we learn to feel for them, to be on their side.
Sunday 9 June 2013
The Badgers of Beechen Cliff - Watership Down meets The Terminator
Beechen Cliff is a real place in Bath. If you have ever visited our beautiful city, you will have seen the canopy of trees rising to the south. There are badgers there. Lots of them. I often see them in Greenway Lane when I'm on my way to and from the pub on a Thursday night.
I'm not a big animal rights activist but a little bit of live-and-let-live approach to each other and to the creatures that make up our world would benefit us all.
With badgers so much in the news in Britain (they are to be culled / shot because of a possible link between them and diseased cattle) I decided to write The Badgers of Beechen Cliff. It's in the tradition of those animal stories you read as a child. Those that first got you interested in the lives of animals and induced some sense of empathy and fellow-feeling. But it's not sentimental. It's about our lives now.
It's free to download for the next few days. Just follow the link below. If you're prepared to write a review that would be very kind. Telling your friends and their children would be even more considerate.
Any comments about the writing or the illustrations would also be gratefully received.
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Badgers-Beechen-Cliff-ebook/dp/B00D7NV7YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370515930&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
USA: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
I'm not a big animal rights activist but a little bit of live-and-let-live approach to each other and to the creatures that make up our world would benefit us all.
With badgers so much in the news in Britain (they are to be culled / shot because of a possible link between them and diseased cattle) I decided to write The Badgers of Beechen Cliff. It's in the tradition of those animal stories you read as a child. Those that first got you interested in the lives of animals and induced some sense of empathy and fellow-feeling. But it's not sentimental. It's about our lives now.
It's free to download for the next few days. Just follow the link below. If you're prepared to write a review that would be very kind. Telling your friends and their children would be even more considerate.
Any comments about the writing or the illustrations would also be gratefully received.
UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Badgers-Beechen-Cliff-ebook/dp/B00D7NV7YK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370515930&sr=8-1&keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
USA: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=The+Badgers+of+Beechen+Cliff
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