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Antony

Christmas Card Letter: 2012

By Books & Authors, Friends & Family, Happiness & Joy, TechnologyNo Comments


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Monday 19th November 2012

Dear Reader,

Another year passes us by, time flies by so quickly doesn’t it? For me this year has been a mix of passive times with periods of immense activity. In January I bought myself an iMac (see iMac Part 1 & iMac Part 2), promising myself to write creatively more often. In April I went to watch Steps to relive my youth with mum, Ian & Jodie.


(Above left to right: Ian, Mum & Jodie. Steps Logo on MEN screen. Jodie & Mum.)

In May I had two weeks of annual leave and celebrated my birthday at Alton Towers. If you’ve never been to Alton Towers…you must go; it’s a brilliant day out. During my time off I also visited Chester Zoo for Steve’s Birthday and visited Steve’s family in Hastings.


(Above left to right: Steve in Giant Turtle Shells. Two Cheetahs sunbathing. Me, Steve’s Friend & Steve in Masks at the gift shop.)

My Degree in Nursing results were released in June and I got a Upper Second (2:1) Honours. I felt a sense of achievement and a sense of relief that it was finally over after I previously had to put the final module back a year.

Sye came to stay in July for the Summer. With his arrival I felt a renewed level of motivation to get things done. He returned to Uni. in Salford in the Autumn, it was good having him to stay but I am glad that he’s back where he wants to be.

I had a day trip to Liverpool in August with my good friends Chrys & Simon. Chrys being a proper scouser (minus the accent) showed us round the beautiful city and for the first time I understood why people love the city: the architecture, the culture (music) and the seemingly relaxed nature of the people.

Just before the day trip to Liverpool I started experiencing some severe back pain. After seeing my GP I had an x-ray, was given some painkillers and was referred to Physio. My back’s still causes me some grief now, but the combination of co-codamol and physio exercises have massively reduced the amount of pain I experience.

Having continued to blog throughout the year including several book reviews, I was surprised in September when I had caught the eye of a Publicist (who works for several publishers). This Publicist, from Publishers Group UK asked me if I would review one of their books. I had a bit of a confidence crisis, as I had absolutely no confidence in my writing but Sye encouraged me to go for it. So I did…

The Publicist was that pleased with my review that he sent me another five books to read and at one point stated “a career as a book reviewer beckons!” This was a huge complement and has given me a little more confidence around my writing.

About a week or so ago, I was approached by a Publicist Manager for Headline publishers who have asked me to review a copy of Fuse the second book in a trilogy.

Among my plans for next year is to develop my writing further. But for now I’m focusing on Yule and Christmas. Things are changing this Christmas; for the first time ever Mum is working on Christmas Day, I am off work for the whole Christmas period and I am going to attempt (with Steve) to make Christmas Dinner. Ha ha should be fun at the very least.

Have a joyful festive period,

Antony, Dylan & Russell (the cats)

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Sunday 9 December 2012

A Modern Memory Box

By Happiness & Joy, History, Technology, Thinking2 Comments

A few years ago I wrote about Memories explaining that I keep a shoe box of trinkets (birthday cards, christmas cards, valentines cards, gig ticket stubs, letters, the odd photo, etc.) for every year that passes. These Memory Boxes ended up in the attic because there was so many of them and they were taking up to much space. Up in the attic I forgot about them, until recently when I went up into the attic for something else and I saw them. I realised I don’t look at them as often because of the number of boxes and number of items in the boxes, but then I had an idea…

I bought a scanner and painstakingly scanned every item onto my iMac. Then I set up a screen saver:

In the end I scanned in over nine hundred items, but it was worth the time and energy invested. Now every time my iMac goes into screen saver mode I see the wonderful letters, cards, ticket subs, etc. and my memory is triggered transporting me into the past – usually to a time filled with happiness and joy. My iMac has become my Modern Memory Box, which I hope to add to often.

Write soon,

Antony



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Monday 3 December 2012

Book Review: The Trees in the Field by J.E. Knowles

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
Publishers Group UK kindly sent me a copy of Trees in the Field by J.E. Knowles to read. The book begins well introducing the reader to Senator Raybelle McKeehan and Dr. Tomas Jefferson.

Raybelle McKeehan is a Senator for Tennessee in the US Administration. Since a very young age she’s had her eyes set on being President. Consumed by this goal she’s never had time for a partner, family or anything else outside of politics.

Dr. Tomas Jefferson works in Chicago and is more interested in microbiological organisms than people. Microbiological organisms are simpler she concluded after her girlfriend Alicia decided to leave her. However she does see patients including some in a Street Clinic for the homeless.

Raybelle and Tomas are simliar in the sense that they are both completely obsessed with their work. What differs is their reasons for this obsession: Raybelle’s ambition to be the President and Tomas wants to be respected (as she’s a black doctor). Tomas is also using her work as a way of avoiding her feelings about Alicia leaving her.

The link between Raybelle and Tomas is Dennis, Raybelle’s brother. Dennis is a homeless army veteran who Tomas meets at one of her Street Clinics. Tomas gets to know Dennis in the hopes of studying a disease he’s carrying. Meanwhile in Washington Raybelle is asked to investigate the standards of care army veterans are receiving.

When Dennis dies Tomas rings Raybelle to tell her. Raybelle asks Tomas to help her with the investigation to which Tomas agrees. I found Tomas dropping everything to go to Raybelle in Washington unbelievable. No doctors I know (and believe me I know a few) would be able to drop their workload at the drop of a hat to help a politician. Let alone one who doesn’t work for their state.

Mid way through the book the pace of the story becomes very slow. Raybelle & Tomas are unwittingly being “played” by two other politicians in relation to the standards of care investigation; I found this unbelievable as the book gives the impression that Raybelle has been a Senator for a number of years.

In this part of the book Raybelle & Tomas also get to know each other better and there is a really enjoyable chapter where Raybelle takes Tomas to her home town. There are however several internal monologues from Raybelle & Tomas that I found frustrating; they added nothing to the characters, their development or the storyline. The internal monologues felt like page fillers and I began to feel that the story could have been told in half the number of pages.

The book ends on a high; in the last few chapters the pace of the story picks up and so does the action. I won’t give the storyline away but the last few chapters are an addictive read.

Trees in the Field by J.E. Knowles is essentially a politically themed story centring around the US military, corruption & money making. It has two lesbian main characters, one whose just realising she’s lesbian (Raybelle) and one whose openly out (Tomas).

If you’re interested in US political stories then you’ll enjoy this book. Trees in the Field by J.E. Knowles is available to buy on Amazon.

Write soon,

Antony

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Sunday 2 December 2012

Book Review: Into The Flames by Mel Bossa

By Amazon, Books & Authors, ReviewsNo Comments
The kind people at Publishers Group UK sent me a copy of Into the Flames by Mel Bossa to read and review on my blog. It’s written in the perspectives of the three main characters: Jamie, Dance and Neil.

Jamie or Dr. Jamie Scarborough to his patients is a psychiatrist. But poor Jamie suffers with his own mental health – he has severe anxiety (which at times lead to panic attacks) with a bit of OCD thrown in. He’s recently split up from bisexual Basil his partner of five years, leaving behind Basil’s sisters twin children Mallory and Marshall.

Dance is an eccentric, loveable and very intelligent compulsive liar. He’s homeless and the only family he has is a twin brother Seth whose desperate to become a woman named September. September however has an eating disorder so can’t get the psychiatric pass to allow the surgery.

Neil is a fire fighter who has been suspended due to putting his colleagues life at risk. Neil is a loner with his only family being an old dog that has to be put down by the vet. Neil’s poor mental health worsens after this trauma, making him unstable, neurotic and a very sinister person later in the book.

Jamie, Dance and Neil all have mental health issues in this story, the root cause of which is childhood trauma. This heavy subject matter made Into the Flames difficult to read at times, but what encouraged me to read on was the genuine care and compassion that I felt for the characters.

The story was slow to get going and initially focused on the characters issues rather than the characters and their development. I’m not sure if this was deliberate from Bossa, wanting the reader to care about the main characters to the point of us wanting to rescue them. Bossa also took her time in building the links and associations between the different characters which also encourages the reader to read on.

Towards the end of the book tension builds and you become hooked. Neil starts to have a neurotic breakdown becoming dangerous and Dance disappears. Will Neil harm anyone? If he does will it be physical or psychological torture or both? Where has Dance gone? Will he be OK?

Bossa uses the twin connection cleverly throughout the book and for more than one of the main characters. The story concludes traumatically but leaving the reader with a sense that everything will be OK in the end. I did feel sorry for Matt (one of the minor characters) who I felt was a loose string that could have been tied up at the end.

Overall the story is well written with the use of the characters perspectives being pleasing; it is obvious that Bossa has a lot passion for writing queer literature. Into the Flames is available to buy on Amazon.

Write soon,

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Monday 26 November 2012
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