Not At All Crooked Hillary
I cannot begin to imagine what it must have been like to have to listen to taunts of ‘Crooked Hillary’ and ‘Lock her up’ from her opponents, knowing she had done nothing wrong Continue reading Not At All Crooked Hillary
Tag: Feminism
Saturday Sound-off: Let’s Have Some Perspective on Exploitation.
is it really news that the powerful exploit the vulnerable? Continue reading Saturday Sound-off: Let’s Have Some Perspective on Exploitation.
Kidney Collection: I’d rather be the worst of the best than silent.
Here’s another post from one of my fellow authors on The Box Under The Bed. Her story is a clever tale of a man with a certain attitude towards women getting his ‘come uppance’. Couldn’t be more topical just now. If you are one of the 2500 people who downloaded the digital edition whilst it was free the other day, you are in for a treat. Do please show your gratitude by telling all your friends about it and drop a review on Amazon and Goodreads. Source: Kidney Collection: I’d rather be the worst of the best than silent. Continue reading Kidney Collection: I’d rather be the worst of the best than silent.
Stranger in a Strange Land
Thanks to Stevie over at https://steviet3.wordpress.com/ for nominating me for the ‘Three Quotes for Three Days’ challenge. The rules of the challenge are: Three quotes for three days. Three nominees each day (no repetition). Thank the person who nominated you. Inform the nominees. For my third and final quote I am going to take another from George Bernard Shaw: Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries because you were born in it. George Bernard Shaw. I have been unable to find the context for this quotation, but he had this to say on the … Continue reading Stranger in a Strange Land
Warrior Women of Ireland
Lot’s of heroic Irish women here. When I was researching for Strongbow’s Wife I could find very little information. As Ali says below, so much was written up or re-written to fit the victor’s and the church’s view of events. I know some believe that, after Strongbow’s death, Aiofe became a warrior woman, fighting his cause. I prefer to think that, as an Irish woman, she deplored what her father had unleashed on Ireland and chose, instead, to look for ways to achieve a peaceful outcome. Maybe that’s just the pacifist in me. What do you think? Continue reading Warrior Women of Ireland
The Gender Dillemma
I’ve written before about how I feel comfortable writing female characters. I said I thought it might have something to do with having been brought up without significant male role models. In this interesting article the author points out that, if you worry about writing from the point of view of someone of the opposite gender to your own you are mistaking stereotypes for characters. I am pleased that most of those who have read my book Transgression (you can purchase it by clicking the image on the right) have praised the characterization. The Irish author and playwright John MacKenna … Continue reading The Gender Dillemma
Adoption: a Recurring Theme
I began writing my first novel in the summer of 2010. I had been living in Ireland for a little under 4 years and had been reading about the history of migration of Irish people, whether the consequence of famine, punishment by ‘transportation’ to the antipodes, or simply the search for a better life. One of several books that I read dealing with the subject was a slim volume telling the true story of a young man who, at the age of 19 in 1895, traveled from his family home in the Irish Midlands to North America. After a spell … Continue reading Adoption: a Recurring Theme
Not Asking for It
In my previous post I talked a lot about Roger, the principle protagonist in my latest novel, Transgression. It is time now to tell you a little about some of the other characters in the book. Douglas is a voyeur. A characteristic I am ashamed to say he shares with me. Unlike me, he has the arrogance to believe that he is entitled to go beyond ogling and make unwelcome advances towards any woman to whom he is attracted. He has no compunction about using his power as a Member of the British Parliament to take advantage of the many … Continue reading Not Asking for It
Opposite Sex
All of us who write fiction write in both male and female point of view. Lately I’ve been pondering why I feel so much more comfortable writing in a woman’s voice than in a man’s. My first attempt at a novel length piece, Honest Hearts, started out as the tale of a young man who emigrated from Ireland to North America at the end of the nineteenth century. After spending some time in Brooklyn he joined the Klondike gold rush. I needed to give him a reason to leave Brooklyn so created a young woman for him to fall in, … Continue reading Opposite Sex
Sex in the 1950s
I think I was in my late twenties when I first became aware of the possibility of oral sex. Does that make me unusual? On the contrary, I believe I am typical of my generation. The circumstance of my initiation into the world of oral-genital contact was the showing of a black and white porn film in a neighbour’s living room, sometime in 1969 or ’70. The wives were at a Tupperware party, or something of the kind. My immediate reaction was one of disgust. I could not believe that ordinary folk would behave like that. It seemed perverted, … Continue reading Sex in the 1950s
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