Something New – I Wrote Your Name

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creative, dreams, fantasy, hope, I wrote your name, inspiration, loss, Love, Memory, poems, poetry, verse, writing

I wrote your name

Upon a page

Within a book

To keep it close to me,

I locked it up

Inside a safe

Within my heart

So no-one else could see,

I wrote it with

An ink so black

Indelible 

So it would never fade, 

And kept it with

My treasure trove

Of precious gifts

Safe deep within the shade,

But then one day

I took it out

With gentle hands

And held it to the light,

And felt my eyes

As sorrow fell

Fill up with tears

As it had left my sight.

A quick review…

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Adventure, Book, Chris Hall, E-book, fantasy, Review, South Africa, Spirit of the Shell Man, story, writing

Another book review appears to have escaped!

I hope that my review of ‘Spirit of the Shell Man ‘ by the wonderfully talented Chris Hall encourages you to check it out.

Spirit of the Shell Man is a wonderfully told and difficult to put down sequel to the fantasy/adventure Song of the Sea Goddess. In it, we are re-introduced to the central characters of the prequel, and their personalities continue to be developed with wit, skill and humour. Yes there are many references to the previous story, all of which link perfectly, and with continuity, for anyone who has read ‘Song…’ . What stands out in this story, however, is the quality of writing which ensures that this is not merely a sequel but also stands on its own two feet as a work in its own right.
Spirit of the Shell Man is a thrilling and compelling adventure story which combines both action, fantasy and a touch of mythology, and yet is rooted very much in the everyday lives of a group of people living in a small community in South Africa. Chris Hall’s characters are rounded and interesting and her attention to detail in her descriptions allows the reader to fully visualise every scene. There are twists and turns a-plenty here which will keep the reader on their toes and guessing right up until the story’s fulfilling conclusion.
Highly recommended.

Song of the Sea Goddess by Chris Hall

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Adventure, Allegory, Amazon, Book, Chris Hall, fantasy, Knidle, Novel, Review, Song of the Sea Goddess, story

This is not something that I would normally do (but who knows what the future holds), but I have just finished reading this wonderful book by Chris Hall and wanted to share my thoughts:

Part fantasy, part adventure and part allegory, Song of the Sea Goddess is an imaginative and eloquently told story about the unfolding of the lives of a group of seemingly unconnected characters following one bizarre event.

Chris Hall develops each character through individual chapters that slowly become interwoven and lead towards an unexpected climax. Particularly enjoyable is how seemingly random events show up which give a wonderful insight into the past lives of several of the characters. Indeed each character comes to life as the story unfolds and, as most of the book is written in the present tense, the reader’s connection with them develops in a sort of ‘real time’.

The chapters themselves are relatively short which works very effectively to help the reader to internalise their understanding of the characters and their relationships. 

I don’t want to go into plot detail as each event is important to the overall story and needs to be discovered by the reader, but expect plenty of twists and turns with each page. 

So often, I find, story endings can ‘tail off’ a little, but this is far from the case here; Chris’s ending is as strong as her opening and leaves a satisfying feeling on the reader.

I would heartily recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a fantasy adventure with its feet firmly planted in reality.

To Dream of Alice

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creative, dream, fantasy, hope, Idealism, inspiration, Love, poems, poetry, To dream of Alice, verse, writing

To Dream of Alice

To gaze into those eyes

Blue swirling pools of dreams

Of futures woven in prayer

Strands of darkness – arms

Wrapped, shrouding visions

Of lives beyond reach

Out of imagination

Spirit casting in the

Swimming ocean of fancy

To bathe in the beauty

Of romantic visions

Perfection perceived in idealism

Of desire to bask on the

Hallowed shore of your life.

Taken from the collection ‘Falling Sleet’ (available via the links below):

Falling Sleet – a collection of poetry

LULU

AMAZON

BOOK DEPOSITORY

ABEBOOKS

ALIBRIS

EBOOK

Casual Hands

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creative, fantasy, Memory, nostalgia, poems, poetry, thoughts, Truth, verse, writing

I remember

The Sun on our backs,

Shirts tossed aside

Like gum

Deserted by its flavour

Which hung on our lips

As bitter-sweet future memories,

Ones we could as yet

Not see,

Nor wish to have

On endless days,

Days which built the frames

From which we’d have

The clearest view

Or merely hang,

Clothed in success

Or failure

For all to see,

Not realising that, as

In childhood’s garb, we pass unnoticed

So our shadows would fade

In time’s relentless passage.

I remember

Days that stretched far

Beyond the hours

Swept aside by casual hands,

Days in which the rooms held promise

And the ceilings were so high,

And my hands held

All that I knew,

And I forget the things

I buried in the yard

Hoping that they would stay

Beneath the earth and rock,

Not realising that their ghosts

Like the silence of the night,

When even the sweetest dreams won’t rise,

Would haunt the shadows

That I could never set free.

I remember

A Sun that burned

Only in tales

That I’d wished were true.

Steampunk Story

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clockwork, fantasy, fiction, short stories, Steampunk, Vernian Process, writing

So, technology fails again (one dead computer). Got me thinking of an idea for a Steampunk story – ‘The Clockwork Man’- about a man whose electrical impulses cause circuitry to crash. He then has to devise/ invent and construct mechanical and clockwork devices to make living his life viable. Of course this is fine until his electrical impulses become so powerful that they begin to make humans close to him ‘crash’ too…Here an idea is borrowed(read on) and he has to ‘re-make’ the woman he loves to incorporate a clockwork heart.
This owes a lot to ‘Her Clockwork Heart’ by Vernian Process probably the first( and the best) Steampunk band – go check them out.
Anyway, this is not really my genre, so the idea’s there if anyone wants it!