So who am I?

Welcome.

triomocks

I’m Frank Parker and I am a writer. I didn’t used to be. Like many people I always wanted to be. On several occasions during my career as an Engineer I produced stories that I submitted to publishers. I even had a writing job once. It involved talking to small and medium sized businesses and writing up profiles for a regional business magazine. To make any money you had to sell advertising to accompany the articles. Selling is not a skill that comes naturally to me so that job did not last long.

I returned to Engineering, working on chemical plants, refineries and power stations throughout the North and Midlands of England. In 1997 I joined a defence contractor as a project administrator, a job that saw me through until retirement in the autumn of 2006. I came to live in the Irish Midlands so as to be near my son and his family. And, now at last, I have the freedom to write.

Novels

So far I’ve self-published 5 novels and two collections of short stories. You can find out more about them here. My stories have also appeared in anthologies published independently in County Laois and internationally by best selling author Dan Alatorre.

Politics

I have also pursued a lifelong interest in politics. Between 1985 and 1991 I served as a councilor in North East Lincolnshire. So you should not be surprised to find posts on my blog commenting on current affairs from a broadly Liberal point of view. The environment and the damage we are doing to it, from agri-chemicals and air and water pollution to climate change, has always been a matter of concern to me. As a councilor I argued the case for the local authority to purchase timber products only from sustainable sources.

History

Since 2013 I have been studying Irish history in an attempt to gain a fuller understanding of the turbulent relationship between that country and its near neighbour. It began when I discovered that among the leaders of the Norman invasion of Ireland in the 12th century were a number of individuals with a prior connection to the county in which I was born and grew up, Herefordshire. That discovery lies behind my historical novel Strongbow’s Wife which describes the invasion and its aftermath from the point of the view of the woman who married one of the most powerful of those leaders. You will find articles about some of the people and places involved by clicking the Hereford and Ireland History tab above.

For the past few years I have been researching the background to the period in Irish history usually referred to as The Great Irish Famine. This work was prompted by a friend and together we published a book on the subject entitled A Purgatory of Misery. Called to Account is set in the famine years in West County Clare and based on the period spent there by Arthur Kennedy. It was published in the summer of 2020.

You can read more about me in this interview on Mercedes Fox’s blog, on Chris Graham’s website and on Denzil The Book Owl where he also reviews A Purgatory of Misery. And there’s this at Smashwords.

Finally, you can find out much more about my past from the series of posts entitled Monday Memories!

55 thoughts on “So who am I?”

  1. Pingback: bloggers thanking bloggers | Finder's Keepers

  2. Hello,

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    Liked by 1 person

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      2. Thanks for that jina. Having books written and available via Amazon is all very well, but it needs an enormous marketing effort to bring them to the attention of potential readers. That’s something I’m not so good at. Good luck with your own endeavours.

        Liked by 3 people

      3. Persistence is the key here. Promotion of oneself is hard, and it takes time. I was advised to promote myself, my book, create a fuss around it before I even published – this, of course, was the advice of an agent at the time I was querying around. But then I realized that if I’m doing all the work alone, I might as well go indie.

        Liked by 3 people

  7. Pingback: Technology – Guest Post… | TINA FRISCO

  11. Not sure how to contact you, Frank. I was in the middle of replying to your comment on WP, when they removed you and the comment! I would love you to read Nine Lives as you gave such a lot of help with Lazy Days, but Nine Lives is a thriller, so not sure if that is your cup of tea. If it is, how would you like it delivered? I am flexible with the deadline, so no worries there.

    Liked by 3 people

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  14. Frank I probably disagree with you on everything, but very much looking forward to following your writings. Smiles and humor seem to be a way around nasty political disagreements!

    Given you’re an engineer with experience in refineries and power plants, maybe you can answer this question I’ve posed everywhere.

    It’s been doggone COLD here in the US for the past 2 weeks. I’m not so silly to say this disproves GLobal Warming or Climate Change though. Weather is weather.

    However, when it gets this cold, we human beings need heat to keep warm and ultimately stay alive.

    THus my question. How do we heat our homes on PV panels alone???

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. The same way we did before the discovery of mineral oil – vegetable oil, wood. In other words probably not solar PV. But, bear in mind that by the use of batteries, or other energy storage devices, you can collect the sun’s energy during the long summer days and then use it later.

      Liked by 2 people

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      1. You said “The same way we did before the discovery of mineral oil…” man do I ever wish people on your side would be as honest when it comes to the idea of going off of fossil fuels. We’d have to go back to old ways of living.

        Whether that’s good or bad, is a value judgement. But the idea that we can live as we do today, with our high levels of consumption, and still be “green” is simply a fallacy.

        You simply can not consume say 25kWh/day, if one’s only source of electricity is PV, even with a decent battery bank. No more hair dryers, space heaters, even coffee pot. (which is why I use a French Press for my coffee by the way!) No more any kind of warming appliance. Not with PV, batteries or not.

        Which is why I shudder at the ignorance that’s out there about PV, in particularly.

        Liked by 2 people

      2. Our children or grandchildren are going to have to, when we’ve used it all up – that’s if they survive global warming. Isn’t it time we thought about conserving the Earth for those who come after us?

        Liked by 1 person

      3. Again, those who are truly concerned better not fly, take cruises, use warming appliances etc. There are truly few people, in my estimation, who live the concern they claim. By that I mean, going back to an 1800s lifestyle where we consume less than 1000kWh/yr. Which is actually STILL 30% MORE than an average Indian consumes today.

        Soooo easy to express fear and concern. So hard to live it in reality though, especially when one is accustomed to the comforts Western Civilization provides.

        No idea if this is you or not. Frankly, i don’t care. I just chuckle when I see a “concerned” citizen taking multiple overseas flights, and cruise vacations. Something’s gotta give.

        Liked by 3 people

  15. I absolutely agree. I do not take ‘multiple overseas flights’ or ‘cruise vacations’. And, for the record, I grew up in a stone built cottage without electricity, piped water supply or telephone. I think that experience has made me – and most of my post WWII generation – a lot more careful about our use of resources. A pity we failed to pass on those values to our children.

    Liked by 4 people

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  16. Man, stone built cottage without electricity, piped water or telephone! Wowza! Yup, you can definitely talk to the talk because you walk the walk

    My parents were hippies and lived on an island off the coast of maine. The first house I grew up in I think had an outhouse. I was pretty young. This was the 70s. Also we didn’t have TV until I was probably 8 or something. They tried to make a go of it, ‘back to the land’ et al, but life happens.
    However, i’ve always had an appreciation for nature, the beauty of it all. Protect it. Don’t waste, Composting etc.

    Looking forward to following your blog. don’t feel a need to comment back.

    Liked by 4 people

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  17. Thank you for the comment on my website about my short story. I am not clever with the web and wasn’t sure if I replied on my own site whether you would see it. At least here, I know you will. best wishes.

    Liked by 3 people

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  19. I can only dream of a date with my favorite writer. He was an Irish man in the 1600’s I’ve not yet been to Ireland though I have ancestors from there. However, the author I speak of did make a Modest Proposal…

    Liked by 3 people

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  20. Frank is a retired engineer who now writes about various subjects including the environment and the relationship between Ireland and England. Check out his work here. #HistoricalFiction
    #writing #liberal

    Liked by 3 people

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  21. Hello Frank. You commented on one of my comments so i wanted to get in touch. I’m retired too (architect) and I share your interest in energy, the environment, etc. but my focus is on the scam and delusion of religion and resurrection. The monotheists don’t give a damn about the earth or life on earth because they believe the world is going to end. And they pray that it will happen during their life time! Good luck with your retiring years and I hope the trip so far has been a good one. GROG

    Liked by 3 people

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    1. Thanks Grog! I agree 100% with your views on religion – all religions. I’m well into my retirement now and thoroughly enjoying it, thanks to a combination of good luck and thrift during my working years.

      Liked by 2 people

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  23. Hi Frank,

    My name is Isabel and I work for a start up called Buk.io. I recently had the pleasure of reading your Medium article “The Persecution of Strong Women”.

    I’m reaching out to you because I think the Medium integrated features on our platform would be a great fit for your style of writing and the subject matter you write about. We make it easy for writers like yourself to directly link parts of literature into your article.

    I’d love to talk with you about this further! Please let me know if you’re interested and in the meantime feel free to take a look at this Medium article demonstrating the capabilities (the quotes from the book as well as the wikipedia article are deeplinked to buk.io):

    View at Medium.com

    And feel free to browse our platform yourself: https://buk.io

    Again, it was a pleasure reading your piece and I hope to hear from you soon!

    Best,
    Isabel Chi

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  24. Hello,

    I am having issues checking out your site. I cannot find any information pertaining to your book. I hope you can offer me some help. Sorry to bother you.

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Hi Adriana. If you click on the tab “Publications” you will see all my books listed. Clicking the thumbnail book cover image should take you to the appropriate Amazon sales page.

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  25. Hi—
    I came to thank you for your “like” of my comment on Gary’s “Shake My Head Hollow” blog. But I am most impressed with all the things you’re doing in your retirement, and I plan to read further. Thus, I shall follow you imminently.

    As you mentioned climate change, I have taken the liberty of providing the link to my newest post, which happens to be on this topic. I sense some commonality in world view here, Councilor.
    https://annieasksyou.com/2019/08/19/its-here-its-real-and-weve-got-to-talk-about-it-together-2/

    Cheers,
    Annie

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

    1. Just read your article which is excellent. I also like what you are attempting – a rational, fact based, approach to the many problems we face. I will follow your blog with interest. You may notice that lately I have restricted my blogging to a brief autobiography under the ‘Monday Memories’ collective title. My more political pieces I now contribute to Medium where I hope to reach a larger audience.

      Liked by 2 people

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  27. It is a pleasure — and inspiring — to learn a little bit more about your personal history. I also love reading the comments. So many different streams of ideas! I particularly appreciated the one about how difficult it is to reduce our habits of consumption. I don’t have a car, and I walk or ride my bike or take public transportation to travel from point A to point B. And I almost never fly anywhere. Once or twice a year I use some accumulated credit card miles to travel by train to make music in NYC. However, I am using electricity (and all the resources that went into making my laptop computer) in order to respond to you! Deep sigh. The predicted — and un-predicted — consequences of our over-use of fossil fuels will continue to wreak more and more havoc around planet earth. The fires in Australia!!!!! Amazing how deeply in denial most of us are about the increasing chaos that lies ahead. Another deep sigh… I look forward to reading more of your thoughts — past, present, and future — on your blog. I also look forward to reading any blog post about “the environment and the damage we are doing to it, from agri-chemicals and air and water pollution to climate change, (which have) always been a matter of concern to (you). “

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Dear Mr Frank Parker and Mr Will McMillan,

      I read the following about Frank and decided to respond here with a long comment to both of you:

      I have also pursued a lifelong interest in politics. Between 1985 and 1991 I served as a councilor in North East Lincolnshire. So you should not be surprised to find posts on my blog commenting on current affairs from a broadly Liberal point of view. The environment and the damage we are doing to it, from agri-chemicals and air and water pollution to climate change, has always been a matter of concern to me.

      I am delighted that all three of us care about the Earth and the state of environment degradation and global ecological crisis. I enjoy your conversations here. Thank you, Frank, for writing your excellent “About” page and sharing your stories and achieving the many callings of your life.

      There may be no hope for humanity on Earth as we continue our wasteful and non-sustainable existence plus over-populatiion. As for the future of humanity and migrating to other extra-terrestrial world(s), I have the following to add. Let SoundEagle quote just a paragraph from one of my fellow bloggers by the name of Robert Elessar as follows:

      Of course, as physicist and pioneer of quantum computation David Deutsch argues beautifully in his book The Beginning of Infinity, we humans—and our descendants, whether biological or technological or both—have the potential really to become significant on a cosmic scale. As he also points out, there is no guarantee that we will do so, but there appears to be nothing in the laws of nature that prevents it. It’s up to us** to decide.

      Furthermore, SoundEagle would like to add that the culture of expansion and exploitation as well as the ever-burgeoning population seem to be both the crux of, and the bottleneck to, our becoming significant on a cosmic scale.

      Since the human species has not (always, adequately and/or consistently) been a good custodian of the environment and the Earth (not to mention countless wars, atrocities, resource depletions, species extinctions, environmental degradations and so on, plus an area of rainforest as big as 100,000 football courts is being cleared or destroyed everyday), there is no assurance that once the human species migrates to another planet, the same problems would not again surface and plague us, perhaps at an even quickening and/or devastating pace as a result of better and greater expansion, production and technology. We would indeed export our baggage and problems to other worlds!

      Another blogger, Matthew Wright, commented to SoundEagle on 16 July 2013 at 11:39 pm as follows:

      I think if we went to Mars, we’d deal to it the same way we’re currently dealing to Earth. Richard Attenborough summed it up when he referred to us as the ‘scourge’ of the planet. Caused an outcry, but it seems to be true. Jared Diamond has published a good analysis of it, if a little deterministic for my liking. The reason would seem to be a faulty survival mechanism – hard-wired techniques for maximising resources that worked when we were on the ragged edge of extinction in the ice age, but now serve to create problems.

      Perhaps we could also liken humans as cancer cells on the petri dish that is Earth.

      Extinction is a euphemism for extermination, considering how many and the manner in which members of many endangered species have met their fate and untimely end.

      99% of all species that ever appear on Earth are already extinct since life began.

      The average lifespan of a species is one million years. The human species (counting the early hominids) has lasted six million years. Extinction is the rule; survival is the exception.

      Even if humanity were to survive and later conquer other planets, there will be no guarantee that humanity will not repeat its mistakes and export its problems to other extra-terrestrial worlds.

      As you probably already know, we are already in the midst of the Sixth Great Extinction. If you are interested, the main issue is twofold: speciesism and anthropocentricism. Until we critically deal with the main issue, even environmentalism in all its diversity may not suffice to turn things around, as discussed in my multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary post entitled “SoundEagle in Debating Animal Artistry and Musicality” at http://soundeagle.wordpress.com/2013/07/13/soundeagle-in-debating-animal-artistry-and-musicality/

      Being simultaneously witty and serious about a number of outstanding issues, the said post actually ventures far beyond whatever its title may suggest or mean to any reader, especially in the very long “Conclusions” section. Please note the ISEA Model that I have devised to analyse and describe the Instrumental, Spiritual, Pro-Environment and Pro-Animal/Plant perspectives.

      May you find this late autumn and the rest of the year very much to your liking and highly conducive to your writing, thinking and blogging!

      Liked by 1 person

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    2. Dear Frank and Will,

      I would like to inform you that you might need to use a desktop or laptop computer with a large screen to view the rich multimedia contents available for heightening your multisensory enjoyment at my blog, which could be too powerful and feature-rich for iPad, iPhone, tablet or other portable devices to handle properly or adequately. May you enjoy the said post to your heart’s content!

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  28. Thanks Will. Most of my political writing these days is posted over on Medium. You may have noticed also that I have begun reblogging a series of posts from a couple of USA based bloggers concerned to do what they can to ensure a more hopeful outcome to the Presidential election in November this year than the reinstatement of the incumbent.

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  29. Pingback: Rosie’s Review-A-Book Challenge #RRABC Frank Reviews THE MEMORY by @judithbarrow77 | Rosie Amber
  30. Pingback: Rosie’s Review-A-Book Challenge #RRABC Frank Reviews THE MEMORY by @judithbarrow77 | Judith Barrow

  31. Hi Frank. Firstly thank you for liking some of my blogs! And also for the lovely review of my father’s novel Landfall. I think you will enjoy his other novels; particularly The Devil to Pay, given your interest in Irish history. If you are interested in where my father got his love of language and history you might enjoy my last blog My Grandmother’s Words. I look forward to reading your work. Best Alison Ryan

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