My Best Novels
I’ve written a number of novels. These are a few of my favourites:
Goofin’ With the Cosmic Freaks
An ‘On The Road’ for the sixties.
In the UK:
In The USA:
Danny’s Story
The tale of life in bedsit land in the sixties.
In the UK:
In the USA
Bodies in a Window
A novel centred round the illness and death of my father.
In the UK:
In the USA:
Reflections from a Ditch
An experimental novel about a car journey, an accident and life.
In the UK:
In the USA:
I have written a number of books about religion. I do not think religion has been a positive force in human history. I believe it to be a fiction created by man to try to explain the mystical, spiritual and unknown aspects of the universe, life and death.
They are, in my opinion, mysteries that are not captured by the dogma of any religions. All religions have been used for power, hate and accruing of wealth. They are not among man’s best ideas.
These are my best Antitheist Books:
In the UK:
The Antitheists Dictionary
A humorous set of definitions of religious terms.
The Book of Ginny
A novel about a religious cult.
In the USA:
The Antitheist’s Dictionary
A humorous set of definitions of religious terms
The Book of Ginny
A novel about a religious cult.
Growth
Growth! Growth! Growth!
The mantra from behind.
Growth! Growth! Growth!
Raising profits from the blind.
More! More! More! More!
We’re exhorted to consume.
More! More! More! More!
Planting seeds for all our doom.
Forest and chimp pay the price.
Elephant and tiger pick up the tab.
Climate and weather change in a trice.
Generations down the line suffer the stab!
Growth and more
Both have a cost.
Those who rake it in
Are not the ones who lost.
Opher 16.6.2018
We are madly careering ahead putting short-term profit in front of long-term loss. Relentlessly growing in numbers. Relentlessly chopping down forests. Relentlessly killing off wildlife. Relentlessly polluting. Relentlessly destroying the very ecosystem on which we depend.
More and growth are the things that will kill us.
I for one do not wish to live in the sterile hell we are creating out of our greed and stupidity.
The Trail of Tears
They took all the land
When they discovered the gold.
The treaties were worthless
That had not even grown old.
They drove them away
On a great march of shame.
Thousands died on the way
Though they weren’t to blame.
All they received
For their misery and suffering
Was a measly promise –
A peace offering.
Opher 28.6.2018
The genocide practiced on the Native American Indians was a stain on the USA.
They lied over treaties.
They used smallpox infested blankets.
They deliberately exterminated the plains bison to starve them.
They stole their land.
They hunted them down and killed women and children.
Even in the twentieth century they stole their children to educate elsewhere.
Finally they forced them onto reservations and force-marched them hundreds of miles in the snow on a Trail of Tears on which thousands died.
Take Heart Too
Take heart from those who see the bigger picture
And realise they are minor players
Within a mighty stroke of luck
That gave us eyes to see;
For they are aglow
With understanding
And see each second
As a gift.
Opher 16.6.2018
I wrote this as an adjunct to the previous piece. It always seems amazing to me that evolution has provided us with the brain, consciousness and senses with which to glimpse this most amazing universe. What a stroke of fabulous luck! We should celebrate every second of it.
Consciousness is a thing of wonder.
What if there were no conscious beings to witness the majesty of this cosmos? What a waste.
Nothing is Surplus
Nothing is surplus
Nothing wasted
Nothing less
Nothing greater
From virus to dinosaur
It is all a piece
Within a giant jigsaw
Opher 23.6.2018
I am always amazed by the way nature interlocks. Evolution has filled every niche with the right choice. They are so complicated and sophisticated. Everything has its place.
More time than we can imagine has created such a wonderfully intricate jigsaw.
What distresses me most is the cavalier way we dismantling it.
Take Heart
Take heart from the ones whose hearts are large,
Whose eyes see with soft glow
And whose hands caress and care.
For they are the ones who know
That they live within a mystery,
On a journey within wondrous lands
Where everything is a marvel
And everything has worth.
Take heart from those who see and care
And adore all that they behold
For they would build and love and feel
And so turn everything to gold.
Take heart from the ones who appreciate
That everything has its place
From sun, moon and mountain
To gnat, flea and worm.
Opher 16.6.2018
We opened our eyes into a beautiful universe. We came from nothing and will return to nothing. In the meantime we have all this and we take it for granted. It is so wondrous.
There are those who can see that wonder all around us. Those are the ones we should take heart from. They are living.
There are those who would look to build, to make things better, to provide a pleasant word or helping hand. They are the ones we should take heart from. They are worth so much more than the mindless nasty types.
There are those who realise the incredible wonder of every living thing. They see the amazing wonder of our evolution and our place within the spectrum of life. We should take heart from them.
So here’s to the positive forces that live among us!
These are a few of my best books on Rock Music:
My Best Books on Rock Music in the UK:
In Search of Captain Beefheart
The Blues Muse
Rock Routes
In the USA – My Best books on Rock Music
In Search of Captain Beefheart
The Blues Muse
Rock Routes
Elsewhere in the world please visit your local Amazon.
Why not give one a try?? Thank you!!
If anyone is looking for a good Sci-fi novel to read here are a short-list of my best:
My best Sci-fi books in the USA:
Ebola in the Garden of Eden
Green
Starturn – Intergalactic Rockstar
Sorting The Future
My Best Sci-fi in the UK:
Ebola In The Garden Of Eden.
Sorting The Future
Green
Starturn – Intergalactic Rockstar
Elsewhere in the world please check your local Amazon.
Why not give them a try?
Brexit Blues
I’ve got the Brexit Blues
And the Trump grump
Being fed the toxic news
By the great orange chump.
Divide and rule
The faithful get their dues.
Dismantle all that’s good
The victors get to choose.
Billions gone
At the stroke of a pen
Through the caustic lies
Of power-mad men.
I’ve got the Brexit Blues
And the Trump grump
Being fed the toxic news
By the great orange chump.
Opher 23.6.2018
We’ve been led up the garden path by power-mad men who have duped us with their lies.
They work on fear and hate, target certain groups – immigrants and Muslims this time – and create division.
Their actions will cost us dear. Already Brexit has cost us billions. It will make us all the poorer.
This is the face of the new populist fascism.