Tag Archives: Dragons Rule OK
Slack Use of Language
First of all, apologies for no post last week, but I had visitors and didn’t manage to find the time.
I have noticed a decline in the use of the English language for a while now. It is especially concerning in people who should have an excellent knowledge of the language. People such as Radio and TV correspondents, journalists and well-educated experts.
On Sunday there was a news item on Radio 4 about another eruption of the Icelandic volcano that’s currently active. I was on my way out of the kitchen when I heard the ‘expert’ say a word that made me turn back and ask, “Did she just say ‘vigourent’?”
My nephew, who was staying with us, said, “Yes, she did.”
Vigourent!
From an ‘expert’.
I looked it up, thinking it might be a word I don’t know, but it doesn’t appear to be.
This morning, on Sky’s scrolling news, it said, “The Princess of Wales has been seen in public for the first time after her operation at a Windsor farm shop.”
It would have been slightly better with a comma after ‘operation’, I think, but not much.
What’s wrong with, “The Princess of Wales has been seen at a Windsor farm shop for the first time since her operation”?
Syntax has gone. The latter happens all the time. Ambiguous statements.
As to making up words–yes, I know Shakespeare did it–it confuses the issue. When The Bard made up a word, it was obvious what he meant from the context. And he was William Shakespeare! An expert in the use of words.
Finally, there’s a confusion amongst some people as to when to use the past participle. (This is often amongst sports reporters). I hear , ” He has went,” or “She has ran,” and other similar things all the time.
Grrr!
How do you feel about the slack use of language? Let us know in the comments box.
Thank you for reading.
The Wolf Pack Characters
I’ve been having fun with Microsoft’s free image creator. Diana Wallace Peach posted some she made using it on her site, Myths of the Mirror. I thought I’d try to create something of the characters from Book 1. The Wolf Pack.
Here they are:
This is the half elf mage, Carthinal. He is an apprentice at the beginning of the book, just about to take the tests that will let him enter the ranks of mages. He is someone whom the ladies all go for. He has some feelings that he is inadequate, although he becomes the leader of Wolf, the name the group give to themselves.
The elf, Aspholessaria, known as Asphodel. She is a priestess of the goddess Sylissa, whose remit is life and healing. At the beginning she is a novice. She is strong-minded and will always follow her conscience, no matter what the consequences are to herself. That is the reason for her being sent from Bluehaven to Hambara where there is a stricter leader.
The dwarf, Basalt. Met on the road to Hambara. He has a somewhat grumpy exterior, but inside he is caring. He left his homeland when he was cheated out of his part of the family mine’s inheritance by his brother and wife. An excellent metalsmith, he can also carve wood.
Fero. He is a ranger from south of the Great Desert. He was turned out of his home when he refused to follow his father in his sandal-making business. A man of the outdoors and wild places, he cannot live for long in a city. His skin I would have liked to be a little darker, but not black. A bit like someone from India, or the middle east.
Davrael is the son of the chief of the Swooping Hawks tribe. He is a Horselord, and has lived all his life on the plains beyond the Western Mountains. He and his wife, Kimi, eloped when their parents refused to allow them to marry.
This is the nearest I could get to Davrael. His facial tattoo is actually a hawk with wings over his brows, head down his nose and talons on his cheeks, giving him a rather scary appearance.
Kimi is Davrael’s wife. They were married after they eloped. She is a settler, belonging to a group of erstwhile wandering Horselords who decided they could breed better horses if they didn’t wander.
She is a rather plain girl, tiny in stature with brown hair and eyes. Davrael calls her ‘Little Mouse’. She can’t get over how she has won the love of Davrael.
Randa is the only child of Rollo, Duke of Hambara, and heir to the duchy. She considers all beneath her except others of the nobility, and especially foreigners and other races. Hence there is tension in the group, especially since she thinks she is the natural leader and not Carthinal. She is an excellent horsewoman and is the only one who can ride and control her beautiful black stallion, Storm.
She decides to follow Carthinal and his friends when they leave Hambara to search for Sauvern’s Sword, which is prophesied to be needed soon to save the country.
Thad is a very young thief, around 15 years old, from the Warren, the poor quarter in Hambara. He met Carthinal when he stole a figurine from the mage. Carthinal managed to persuade him to get it back.
Thad followed the group because he felt he was in danger in the city.
This is the main cast of The Wolf Pack. I was reasonably pleased with the results, although they are all rather handsome. If I was disappointed in any, it would be Kimi as the picture is a little too pretty.
If you want to have a go, here’s a link. It’s great fun.
https://www.bing.com/images/create
If you would like to find out about the adventures of these people, click on the book cover, The Wolf Pack, in the side bar.
How I became a writer, and some of the books that led me here.
Image by Lubos Houska from Pixabay
I’ve always been a writer, although I didn’t understand that until late in my life. I wish I had realised earlier, but I didn’t. Nothing I can do about the past, but I can make up some of the time now.
I’ve always loved stories from being tiny. I can still remember my favourite story. It was about two little pandas called Pink and Ponk. I can still quote the first few lines, but I do remember the story quite clearly.
Later, when I could read myself, I devoured Enid Blyton books. Early on it was Noddy and The Faraway Tree. Later I loved Shadow the Sheepdog. I remember that the first ever story I wrote was about a dog, inspired by this story. I was only young–probably about seven or thereabouts – because my spelling was a bit dodgy. I spelled ‘of’ as ‘ov’ , all the way through.
I also really enjoyed her Famous Five books, and the Adventure series. And although I read a couple, I was never really enthusiastic about Mallory Towers books.
Another book I loved reading was Black Beauty, about the life of a horse. It told of his life from his early days with his mother, through different owners, some good, some bad, to his retirement.
When I graduated from the children’s section of the library, I discovered Jeffrey Farnol and Mary Webb. Later, I read many Agatha Christie books, and other books in that genre, and I loved Georgette Heyer and other historical novelists.
Of course, there were the classics. I always loved the Brontë sisters’ books, especially Wuthering Heights.
I remember making a little fairy out of grass and telling my younger sister stories about him/her.
At school, I loved it when we were given a title, or first line to write about. I can’t remember any of the stories I wrote then, but in my teens I wrote a very bad romance that I read to my friends. They said they liked it, but I suspect they were just being kind.
At Teacher Training college, I began my poetry writing. I had my first ever publication in the Manchester University Institute of Science and Technology magazine. The poetry era ended until I was teaching in 1990 when I wrote a poem for the staff Christmas party. I had to write one every year, by popular demand, after that. Sadly these have all been lost except the one in the UMIST magazine.
I loved reading Science Fiction, too and read all the well-known writers.
Then I found Fantasy. A young boy, by the wonderful name of Fred Spittal, asked me if I’d read The Lord of the Rings. He was reading it, but said I should start with The Hobbit. I found it in the college library and from then was hooked on fantasy.
I won’t go into all the fantasy books I’ve read. It would take too long.
Since writing Book 1 of my Wolves of Vimar series, I have published almost a dozen books. I have also drifted into historical fiction and begun writing poetry again. My first published poetry book is called Miscellaneous Thoughts.
So you see, I have always been a writer, but didn’t know.
Do you remember books that influenced you as a child? Tell us about them in the comments section.
Spring Cleaning–A poem.
Image by congerdesign from Pixabay
Not my favourite job to do, but when the sun shines in, it makes the dust more noticeable. So it’s a job that has to be done.
And the satisfaction at the end makes it all worth while.
Spring Cleaning.
The sun is now shining making everything light
So it’s time to make our homes shiny and bright.
Let’s pick up our dusters and polish all day
Till every speck of dust goes away.
We’ll clean all our paintwork and make it as new
And polish silverware so your face you can view.
Then wash all the curtains and clean all the floors
And see if we need some more paint on our doors.
‘Spiders beware, don’t you build any webs.
We’ll knock them all down with our brushes,’ I said.
Sweeping and polishing all of the day
Until the last smidgen of dirt’s gone away.
Now stand back and look at all we have done.
A shiny and perfect home. We have won.
Have you done any spring cleaning yet? I’ve washed my dining room curtains and cleaned out my kitchen cupboards. Still a lot more to do!
A Message About Human Effects on the Earth.
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
I have just watched this video (click on the link to view) and decided to share it with you all.
I have been thinking things along these lines for a long time now. We have treated our planet very badly since the Industrial Revolution, exploiting its riches for financial gain.
For thousands of years, people worked with the natural world. They might not have had loads of concrete goods, but they respected nature. Animals were not considered to be something inferior to be exploited, or destroyed if they came into conflict with us. Nor considered expendable if we needed their land.
The message given in the Old Testament from the story of the Creation has helped to create this situation. There, we are told that humanity was given dominion over the other animals. This has led us to believe that we are something other than those animals; separate and special.
We are NOT.
The way we are going on, and exploiting everything on the planet, will bring about not only the demise of other living things, but also our own. Yes, Climate Change is something we need to sort out. It is dangerous to life on the planet, but it’s not the only thing. The entire way we live is the danger, and I don’t see how we can sort that.
The only way is to change our whole idea of economics. Can you see that happening? I can’t.
Please type your thoughts in the comments box. It will give me great pleasure to hear what you have to say.
A French Chateau in the English Countryside
Just before Christmas we visited Waddesdon Manor, near Oxford. It is an amazing place. It is certainly a French Chateau in the English Countryside.
It was pouring with rain when we arrived, and we had a long walk from the carpark up to the house. The path wound its way through silhouettes of soldiers, sailors and airmen to mark remembrance day.
The house belonged to the Rothschild Family and was donated to the National Trust in 1957, and it is run by them and the Rothschild Foundation.
Built between 1874 and 1889 by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild as a weekend home for entertaining, it contains many treasures. Baron Ferdinand bought the estate from the Duke of Marlborough, but it had no house, park or garden, being an agricultural estate.
Baron Ferdinand wanted to build a house similar to the chateaux in France. I think he succeeded.
On Baron Ferdinand’s death, the estate passed to his sister, Alice, who continued to add to the treasures to be found there.
You can see from these pictures I took, that the rain did stop and the sun came out!
Sadly, the pictures I took inside are not good. Many are blurred for some reason, so I’m not going to post them, but trust me, it’s an amazing place. If you are ever near to it, I suggest you visit.
The Rothschild family was originally from Frankfurt and rose to prominence first in the 18th century. They managed to establish a successful banking business that was continued through Mayer Amschel Rothschild‘s five sons who went on to establish businesses in England, Italy, Germany, Austria and Germany.
On their coat of arms, in two quarters, are fists holding five arrows. This is symbolic of the five sons, we were told at Waddesdon. They, like five arrows fired from a bow, went on to establish their banks in the five different countries, mentioned above.
In the village of Waddesdon is an inn called The Five Arrows. We stayed there and found it excellent, with wonderful food. I would recommend it to anyone.
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If you would like to receive an exclusive, free short story by me, called The Haunted Table, simply click the link. This will take you to the page where you can download it.
Maria and Tom have bought an antique table for the old cottage they have bought. When they hear strange noises in the night that sound like crying, they worry their house is haunted, but the sounds seem to come from the table.
They set about trying to find what is causing the disturbances. The answer is stranger than either of them had thought.
(Clicking the link will add your email address to my email list, but don’t worry, you can unsubscribe immediately if you wish. Nor will you get any spam. I only send out an email each quarter, or if I have any exciting news–like a new release.)
Memories of past winters
With this energy price crisis, I thought about when I was growing up. What sparked this was when a woman on the radio complained about her children being cold in their bedrooms when they were getting up in the morning.
Here are some of my recollections.
Nowadays, we all take central heating for granted. And a wonderful thing it is in many ways. Our homes are, or can be, heated to a temperature we are comfortable with in every room. It was not always like this.
Once, when walking past a house that had recently been built, I was told, “That house has central heating.” On enquiring how one could tell, I was told. “It has no chimneys.”
Chimneys were an essential part of homes at that time (1950s) because the only means of heating was coal. Every room had a fireplace, including bedrooms, although fires were only lit there if someone was ill enough to have to stay in bed. A fire in the living room was commonplace. It heated that room, but others were cold.
Fires need oxygen to burn, and so they drew in air from any gaps, such as under the door, creating a draught; hence the long sausages people put at the bottom of the doors. One thing I do remember is when we had a Baxi fire put in. This was a special grate that pulled air from outside along a tube that opened under the fire. A great invention. The draught could be adjusted so the fire would burn either high or low.
Another disadvantage of having fires was that they need solid fuel. Coal was kept in either a coal bunker or a coal house. These were, of course, outside, and so occasionally someone had to go out to get the coal in. Coal scuttles were filled, of course, but the coal never lasted all evening. And the next day, someone had to go out in the cold to refill it.
Going from one room to another was always a cold experience, and bedrooms were cold. When going to bed at night, it was a rush to get into pyjamas as quickly as possible and under the blankets. Similarly, getting up in the mornings. Talking to friends from that era, they remember, as do I, getting dressed in bed.
I remember, on cold winter mornings, when there had been a frost, there were wonderful pictures on the window. Ferns, flowers, trees, all drawn by Jack Frost in the night. Sometimes the frost was on the INSIDE of the windows! Now we don’t see these pictures. Such a pity as they were beautiful, if transient.
Although I love my centrally heated home, I wonder if we really need to heat all our rooms in this time of economic crisis and with a soaring cost of energy. In ones we hardly ever use, perhaps we could turn off the radiators. It would save us fuel, and money, and also help the environment.
I also wonder if living in a constant warm temperature is actually good for us. We are warm, then go out into the cold. A recipe for catching colds, I think.
I didn’t intend for this to be as long as it is. I apologise. If you’ve got this far, Well Done.
If you would like to receive an exclusive, free short story by me, called The Haunted Table, simply click the link. This will take you to the page where you can download it.
Maria and Tom have bought an antique table for the old cottage they have bought. When they hear strange noises in the night that sound like crying, they worry their house is haunted, but the sounds seem to come from the table.
They set about trying to find what is causing the disturbances. The answer is stranger than either of them had thought.
(Clicking the link will add your email address to my email list, but don’t worry, you can unsubscribe immediately if you wish. Nor will you get any spam. I only send out an email each quarter, or if I have any exciting news–like a new release.)
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Spring. A poem
Dandelions, like gold, cover the meadows.
Newborn lambs frolic in fields.
New leaves on the trees are casting their shadows
And winter’s cold grip quickly yields.
At the edges of woodland the primroses glow
And cowslips their scent fills the air.
Anemones dance when the breezes do blow
And birds sing with never a care.
Then bluebells and campions come into bloom
Their colour the blue of the sea.
The cuckoo, that herald of spring, will come soon
His call echoing over the lea.
The song of the blackbird is like molten gold.
His notes are so pure and so clear.
Hearing him seems to banish the cold
And brings joy to all those who hear.
Robin is nesting, and other birds too,
The hedgehog is active once more.
The young of the deer and the badger and shrew
Play their games as in old days of yore.
The sun climbs higher and higher each day
Giving more of his heat and his light.
It sparkles like stars fallen into the bay.
All smile at the beautiful sight.
Hope and excitement come with each spring morn.
What blessings will come with this day?
New starts can begin once again with each dawn
And send us all hopeful away.
Dragons Rule OK. V.M.Sang (author) 