If not now, When?
Women seem to be losing the race to be chosen to oppose the most mysogenistic, narcissistic man ever to hold office since the fall of the Roman Empire. Continue reading If not now, When?
Tag: sexism
Men With Power and the Women They Disrespect.
Today another extract from Transgression seems appropriate in view of recent allegations concerning MPs and the young women who work in Westminster. During the 1987 general election in Britain a woman comes to a local journalist in the constituency of a Conservative MP seeking re-election. This extract has been edited to fit the space but contains her allegations and his response. I had no ‘inside knowledge’ to inform this imagined scene. However, I had often enough witnessed the way some men – too many, in fact – behaved towards women in the workplace and it seemed to me when I … Continue reading Men With Power and the Women They Disrespect.
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.
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
Playing the Trump Card
Back when I first started compiling tenders for Engineering contracts, we used to add 10% to cover what we called ‘contingencies’. This was meant to cover all the things you hadn’t thought of, or that might go wrong once you actually had to perform the contract. By the end of my career I was working on high value defense contracts. In place of the arbitrary 10% contingency, these included a far more scientific analysis of ‘risk’. A database was maintained in which was listed all the things that any member of the team thought could go wrong, along with the … Continue reading Playing the Trump Card
Transgression: The Sequel.
I am not expecting to have the sequel to Transgression ready for publication before the summer of 2016. Those who have read Transgression will, I am sure, be pleased to know that a sequel is underway. Here is a preview of the first page. If you’ve not read Transgression yet, then maybe this will arouse your curiosity. The narrator is the wife of Douglas, the Member of the British Parliament whose transgressions are the subject of the first book. I’d just poured myself a glass of my favourite red when my phone whistled, signalling the arrival of a text. I … Continue reading Transgression: The Sequel.
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
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