TIME FOR A BREAK

Over the last month I’ve felt the need to take a break from blogging and feel I must now do so. How long it will be, I don’t know. If people want to keep in touch, I’m still active on Facebook and Twitter and would love to see you. I’ve been blogging now for four years, with 1,100 posts, 27,000 comments and 660,000 hits and have thoroughly enjoyed it.
Any new visitors may still enjoy my Magazine Posts below and the hundreds of stories, essays and poems linked from my sub-domains on the strip above. To my faithful readers, I need more time to concentrate on my book writing, but believe me I have enjoyed the journey with you here on Beyond the Blog. Thank you, and in time honoured fashion, I leave, for now, with some flash fiction.

THE JESUS CODE

Fiction: He stood in the chamber. He’d cracked many codes; dug many
a site to get there. Now he held the Holy Grail. Was it the famed
chalice or the blood of Christ? He scraped out the dried blood of the
spear wound. It had been both. And the geneticists were ready for the
Second Coming.

A FATHER’S SON

Fiction: He’d come to terms with his father being a murderer. It had
taken time. So much abandonment as his father went on the run,
evading police. For many years he’d searched, trying to come to terms
with his loathing. But now, as he looked upon his father’s body, he put
down the gun and cried.

ONE MIDSUMMER

He would sit on midsummer nights and dream, three witches close by.
He had been told of his family’s past; of the blind uncle; of the
conspiracies and murders; of the loves and tragedies. He himself had
only been born as his parents were revived after their suicide attempt.
Young Will knew he had many a tale to tell.

3 GHOSTS + 1

He sat by the hearth listening to the chimes. The first ghost appeared
telling of so much affluence and goodwill lost. The second ghost told of
poverty, sickness and squalor. With the third he learnt of future
darkness, despair – destruction of his world. But still!! ‘Bah, humbug,’
said the banker. And now … the poltergeist comes …

NANO-NO

Horror: They went ahead, despite the warnings. Nano tech was to be
the new tech, and that was that. The lab did a good job in
development but never considered the probes could become lonely …
congregate … grasp consciousness. Soon all they needed were hosts.
Now they were banging on the doors. They really shouldn’t have built
the lab by a graveyard.

© Anthony North, 2010

SOLITUDE

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
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GURU TONY

Microfiction: As the deer’s head was
mounted on the wall he knew he didn’t
need to fear the horrors in life. Just
the horror writer.

SOLITUDE

Solitude is a strange place. It can be good or bad; desired or imposed.
If bad or imposed, it is a terrible place, yet if good or desired it is a
place where you can know yourself. Yet are you ever alone in solitude?
Clearly we are cut off from the frenzy of society, but alone with
yourself, you can be opened up to the vibes below what we
experience. If a bad place, this can release your demons, but if a good
place, you can be as one with everything. Desired solitude is anything
but lonely.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: The Coalition is about
to start officially measuring happiness in
Britain – this from a govt who no one voted for!
It may seem a good idea, but beware – as utilitarianism
showed, put 4 strangers in a boat with food for 3, happiness is
increased by throwing one overboard.

BRIT NEWS: Following Druidism gaining official status, a handbook
has been produced for the Metropolitan Police advising how
to respect the rights of other pagans. I think this is
good but some pagans are suspicious of this.
The way they’ve been treated,
I don’t blame them.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

APPRENTICE

Boo!!!! … Look, why won’t you scream?
This isn’t some kind of silly dream,
You’re awake and I’m a ghost,
I’m not supposed to be scared the most!
Oh well … I guess it’s just a learning curve,
New to this game – I’ll find the nerve

FLASH 55 – FIRST NIGHT

Fiction: The boy sat atop the grave in the dark and was frightened. It
was a new experience but he knew he couldn’t see his mommy any
more. Suddenly an adult appeared, and another. They took his hand. It
was his first night as a ghost, but the others comforted. He’d find
peace in the afterlife.

PEERLESS

All alone, the killing done,
A Devil had been behind that gun,
Only souls exist there now,
The killer taking his final bow,
Peerless, yes, but not for long,
Driven mad by their vengeful song

© Anthony North, 2010

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REFERENDUM

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

POLLY TICKS

Microfiction: The movie got it wrong.
We needed 7 to beat the bandits.
They sent one. Magnificent! Well, if
it’s worth doing, do it yourself.

REFERENDUM

I dislike referendums. The idea of giving everyone a vote on an issue is
a form of direct democracy. France tried a variation of it once,
resulting in the Terror and Napoleon. Further, the majority always get
its way, thus removing minority rights. The best, though still imperfect,
form of democracy is representative, where we elect Parliamentarians
to decide for us. However, every ‘rule’ has exceptions, such as
constitutional changes. These should be decided by referendum, and
to deny them is undemocratic. A case in point is the referendum in the
UK in the early 70s regarding joining a European Economic Community.
We voted yes, and since then it has extended to the political, with
large slices of sovereignty transferred to Europe without referendum.
In this sense, every UK government since the late 70s has been
undemocratic.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: So Britain signs defence
treaty with France, sharing nuclear research,
aircraft carriers, support and joint task force – or
should that be farce? An obvious cost cutting exercise,
just wait until support services are so intertwined that one can
veto any action by the other.

WORLD NEWS: Waterboarding is not torture and saved Brit lives,
says Bush. He says his job was to save lives. No, more
than that. It is to uphold standards of civilisation
and decency, too. He forgot that. No
wonder, after his Presidency,
the world was bushed.

FUTURE ZONE

What’s ahead … and Beyond!!!

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

ECHOES

To feel the pains of my birth,
Every experience on planet Earth,
Experience old age whilst still young,
Remember things yet unsung;
It’s good to be trapped in my time,
Echoes of all just do not chime

FLASH 55 – KILL TIME

Fiction: They’d done it! They’d worked out how to send people back in
time. But no sooner had someone gone back than they reappeared
dead. Or rather, murdered – shot, knifed, strangled – you name it.
They suspected another organization, going back to kill them. They
never figured on a temporal ban – that time orchestrated their murder
itself.

QUANDARY

In a quandary – which route to take,
Starship captain must be a fake,
Negotiating star systems is maybe fun,
But galactic navigation is certainly no pun,
And now he’s lost, in a black hole he sinks,
His Universal Positioning System is on the blink

© Anthony North, 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

QUESTIONS

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
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PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Microfiction: As she looks to the future,
the path of life seems so daunting. Yet
though the world stays the same, the
child grows to meet it.

QUESTIONS

Our knowledge is based upon the answers we get from our enquiries. At
least, this is what we think. Of course, what we class as knowledge is
dictated by those in charge of our knowledge structure, for who ever
controls our knowledge defines our society and the way we think. And
the best way to retain such control is to make sure they only ask the
questions they want – for it is the question itself which defines the
answer.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: According to a study
the internet now makes up 7% of the UK’s
income. The financial sector is 9%. When we think
of the fortune given to the banks, and the Recession that
followed, maybe we should realise they are not quite as important
as we’re made to believe.

HEALTH NEWS: Expert says alcohol is as dangerous as heroin. No. We
have more of a choice with alcohol, so abuse is more down to
the person than the substance. But this idea is following
a trend of the new bad. Alcohol use is tied to male
bonding, which expresses the local. This is
counter to globalisation, so has
to be bad.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

PAUSE

Darkest night, shadows rule,
No time, now, to act the fool,
See him coming, keep very still,
Silent pause before the kill,
Loot in hand, quite a pest,
Now you pounce! Another arrest

FLASH 55 – THE PC PC

Fiction: The politically correct police constable made great inroads into
fighting crime in town. It began with murder. Arresting the perpetrator,
he realized what a deep psychological effect it had had on him. So
disturbed, how could he be prosecuted? And what of other ‘crimes’?
Soon the town prison was empty, the town renamed an asylum.

ADVENTURE

This is the ballad of Gayle and Fred,
Everyone remembers them with dread,
A great adventure they went on one day,
Three shops robbed, two people to slay,
They really thought they could not fail,
But Fred’s now dead and Gayle’s in jail

© Anthony North, 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

POETRY

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
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BLOGGER BARD

Microfiction: Little Angel’s first
party. Long white dress so boring
though. Add pointy hat, broom,
black cat. Preacher will love
the Baptism.

POETRY

I’ve been writing for over a quarter century and only tried poetry about
three years ago, so I’m a writer who also writes poems. I’m totally
untrained in any writing form so I don’t always follow rules. And to me
this is good, especially for poetry, for to me writing is simply a matter
of communication and expression. As long as something is expressed,
and someone wants to read it, you’re a poet.

I’m now on Facebook

WORLD NEWS: The disclosure by
WikiLeaks of the reality of the Iraq campaign
makes painful reading, with the Pentagon ignoring
torture and lying about not having records of deaths. I
usually worry that disclosures can put forces in danger, but this
is dependent upon authority being honest.

BRIT NEWS: The term ‘social cleansing’ is being used to describe
the govt’s bonfire of the benefits as it will drive the poor
into ghettos away from the affluent. The Lib Dems
are already traitors to their ideals and the
Tories are confirming the ‘nasty’ party.
They both risk the electoral
wilderness, leaving the
UK a one party state.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

FANCY

What do I fancy writing today?
What fanciful ideas will waylay,
The thoughts buzzing around my mind,
What fanciful fancy will rise from behind?
Poems are often reality based,
Yet a fancy is illusion, contradiction chased

FLASH 55 – BLOCK

Fiction: He lived for his writing. So when writers’ block began to strike,
it was obviously serious. At first, it lasted only a short while before an
idea came, but then it seemed another idea would never come. But
just in time, a spark! So he put the gun down … would keep his brains
… for now.

MASQUERADE

Halloween can be great fun,
Dressing up daughters and sons;
Sending them out to have a lark,
Reflections of what once was dark;
But are we glad those ways are gone?
A time when man and Earth were one

© Anthony North, 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

ORACLE

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GURU TONY

Microfiction: A sickening sense of
humour they had at the Drugs Rehab
Clinic. Come to the 1940s retro party
– free coke! At least it quenched.

ORACLE

The Oracle at Delphi once foretold a great victory. The recipient went
off to the battle and came back defeated. He should have asked which
side was to win. This is the problem with Oracles. The information is
always incomplete – which suggests just exactly what ancient oracles
were. Rather than some supernatural process, they can better be seen
as think tanks. And even today, the success rate hasn’t improved.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: Universities will soon
be able to charge students up to £10,000
tuition fees. The days of anyone going to uni are
over. It was just a blip of affluence, with the upshot that
now, only the rich will make it. Amazing how 13 years of so called
social mobility reversed social mobility.

BRIT NEWS: So the defence review leaves holes in our defence. Two
carriers will be built but will be aircraftless for a decade. The first, HMS
Queen Elizabeth, will be mothballed when the 2nd, Prince of Wales,
comes into service. Prince Charles please note – this may be as close
as you get.

BRIT NEWS: Half million jobs to go (and the rest); BBC budget cut
16%. Most govt depts cut by 19% over 4 yrs. Retirement
age up. Welfare cuts deep. And that’s just the start.
Small govt is maybe preferable. Bu there was
a definite feeling of glee in the Tories
that they can do it so quickly.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

GRACE

How graceful it was to see her there,
Perfect beauty, loving stare,
Taking away the sadness within,
Seeing her ghost cannot be a sin;
And then she was gone without a trace,
Yet reinforced memories interlaced

TATTOO

Fiction: It was that simple. He put a tattoo of a beautiful blonde on the
guy’s arm and that night he met the love of his life. How it worked, the
tattooist had no idea, but suddenly his tattoos made things happen.
He never liked one guy, but knew he’d love a tattoo of a snake.

EMERGE

Trying to think; can’t get out,
Need a voice to scream and shout,
Be a person just like you,
I’m gonna be there in a moment or two!
Lots of experience on which to be fed,
From the clutter inside your head

© Anthony North, 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

NATIONHOOD

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

POLLY TICKS

Microfiction: As the builder bricked her
in, she realised she really should have
paid the bill – especially as his name
was Poe.

NATIONHOOD

Nationhood is often frowned upon today. After all, nations make war,
don’t they? Yes, if we think only of nation in terms of politics. But a
nation is more than this. It is also about culture – and it is often here
where the person finds meaning in life. Perhaps we should remember
this, for there’s an adage that if you don’t love yourself, you can’t
love others. I think this is also true of one’s culture.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: Human Rights
Commission finds inequalities in
British society. Of course it does. A fully
equal society is not possible. Everything we do
disadvantages someone. This is why we developed
compromise; an attempt to find balance. The only way to
be fully equal is for no one to do anything.

BRIT NEWS: The Guardian claims Met Police want to make it harder
for public to take legal action against officers. As officers of the law
they should understand the law, its safeguards and dangers. This kind
of attitude in our senior police chiefs makes me shudder and worry
about my freedom.

BRIT NEWS: GCHQ warn that critical services such as the
power grid and emergency services face threat of
cyber attack. This has always worried me. Is
our dependence on computers a matter
of putting too many eggs in one
basket? Should the machine
stop, so do we.

FUTURE ZONE

What’s ahead … and Beyond!!!

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

CHAMPION

He’s the champion of humanity,
Survived disaster, all decree,
While stellar wars and chaos raged,
He conquered it, unfazed;
Now he has all he can receive,
Except …
New Adam needs an Eve

FLASH 55 – HYPER

Fiction: The drive worked! It really did!! It took me right out of the
universe – allowed me to travel anywhere, instantaneously, and then
back in again. We had been freed from spacetime. And, man, what a
buzz! It was just soooo incredible! Fantastic! EXHILERATING!!!! And I
was so incredibly high …. No wonder they call it hyperspace.

UNLEASH

Nowhere and everywhere, interlaced,
Non-dimensional, not even space;
‘Twas a singular event when it sang,
It became a huge Big Bang!
Which set in motion a future that thinks,
Hurriedly before Heat Death sinks

© Anthony North, 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

MIND MODELS

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
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PROF ISAAC GALISTEIN

Microfiction: She’d scared all the
passengers away. After all, trains
crash don’t they? She knew this
from the first time she’d died.

MIND MODELS

I play with mind models. I construct ideas in my head and see how the
world would operate if they were true. It is not belief, for at heart I
accept that the only truth is there isn’t one. Rather I use reason. It is
a discipline that is dying in the modern world. Things either have to be
due to belief or science provable by data. It leaves a conflicting gulf
where mind models should be.

I’m now on Facebook

SCIENCE NEWS: Google has launched
a prize for lunar exploration. Great idea. Get
private enterprise involved as much as possible.
But I like companies like Google for another reason.
They’re big, certainly, but they are not so much producers
as facilitators. This is what Big Biz should do – provide a blank
canvas and support for small biz to thrive.

BRIT NEWS: Child Benefit for high earners to be scrapped. The idea
of universal benefits for all is gone. I hope this isn’t the beginning of
getting rid of all such entitlements. As long as it is only high earners
who lose it, fair enough, but a word of warning: keep off the State
pension! There’s a pact between governed & leaders in the UK.
Don’t break it.

RELIGION NEWS: The Druid Network in England & Wales has
been given charitable status by the charity Commission.
This does, in effect, give Druids official status as a
faith. Could we finally see other minority faiths
accepted? This is a very good move, if a
couple of thousand years too late.

THE CRIME POST

It would be criminal not to read it

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

LONELY

No one wants him, I suppose it’s fair,
Always shunned by those aware,
His life is misery and nothing more,
No one to love or adore,
Got plenty of money but he’ll end up beneath,
That’s the price of being a thief

FLASH 55 – THE PLAN

Fiction: There are no super crooks – just lots of petty villains who get
together for a big job; hence the incompetence. But Bellamy had to
get this one right. That’s why he kept suggesting changes to the point
that they’d missed the window for the job – which was why he was
such a good undercover cop.

ENVISION

He sees a life beyond these bars,
But might as well go to Mars,
Entrapped behind their sturdy form,
In a nightmare room that is his norm,
Trapped through the years, tingling nerves,
No matter how much booze they serve

© Anthony North, October 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

LEADERSHIP

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
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BLOGGER BARD

Microfiction: He threw his daughter’s
fantasy book off the balcony. ‘Flying
horses don’t exist,’ he said. Later a
flying Daddy was spotted.

LEADERSHIP

Don’t we just love our leaders! Well, in most cases, no. We live in a
world where we vote for them and we still can’t get it right. Why is
that? Maybe it’s to do with the caliber of people who go forward for
leadership. They all seem to think they know what’s good for us. This
is what leadership should NOT be about. It should be about asking
what is needed, and then trying to provide it. A leader should
facilitate, not dominate.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: Left wing Ed Miliband
just wins the Labour leadership over his
older brother, David. The unions sealed it. The
parliamentarians won’t be happy. And Britain lines up
for an old style ideological battle with the Coalition but with
no stable sides. So, Kid Brother, we’re watching you.

HEALTH NEWS: Scientists identify a genetic defect that could cause
migraine. So many breakthroughs coming, but I often wonder if we’re
placing too much in our genes. Culture, environment and upbringing are
being left behind. But also our free will to choose. Does genetics
absolve us of blame?

GREEN NEWS: Comprehensive study of plants around the world
shows 22% of species are at risk. From societies to ideas
to nature we are destroying diversity. Yet only by
having plenty of options does evolution
continue. I guess that means
we’re devolving.

RATTLER’S TALE

A Voyage of the Imagination

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

***TRY

We always do it to gain entry,
Thrive as we can in our country,
Indeed, it’s all quite elementry (?),
It even works writing poetry;
We don’t really need to ask why,
It just always ends when we try

FLASH 55 – THE WALK

Fiction: He always walked tall. It was his way. When he met his love
he walked even taller. Work did, of course, interfere with their
relationship. But even after returning from the war, wedding plans were
made. It took six months to walk tall again for the wedding – and so
different with prosthetics. But he prevailed.

SOAR

Do rocks soar in space?
No atmosphere – negative grace;
They certainly soar coming through the sky,
This you definitely can’t deny,
Crashing more violent than any war,
Terrible to see what Dino saw

© Anthony North, October 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel

KINSHIP

Microfiction Monday, ABC Wednesday, more prompts below
Try my Paranormal Flash now!

GURU TONY

Microfiction: The tanker sailed without me.
I’d gone green, you see. It crept upon me
slowly. We all have our reasons. Mine
began with sea sickness.

KINSHIP

Kinship is a vital aspect of society. In feudal times, marriage and
extended kinship was the anchor to power. Even in Mafia, such ‘kinship’
is at the heart of its success. Sadly, though, kinship is being degraded
nowadays. We are all ‘individuals’ instead. This is an error, for as well
as being a way to power in the past, it is also a defence against
power. It was a level of influence between state and individual. With
family in decline, the influence of the state becomes total.

I’m now on Facebook

BRIT NEWS: As Britain’s party
conference season begins we’ll see
a glimpse of the new round of politics. A
coalition govt announces its spending review in
October. Is it necessary or ideology? Unions are becoming
vocal. Labour’s new leader will soon be known. Interesting times.

GREEN NEWS: UK Energy Secretary says there is an important place
for nuclear power. No, no, no!!! Big Biz is only in the green dabate to
prove alternatives inadequate so they can go totally nuclear. It has to
as Big Biz requires big, expensive systems to exist. Alternatives are
cheaper and small biz friendly, so Big Biz would be out.

CRIME NEWS: UK watchdog blames retreat of police from streets
for rise in anti-social behaviour. It’s more than that. The
police removed themselves from community, allowing
yobs to rule, and people to think of police as
other than them. They have failed
to do their job.

READ WITH MUMMY

The Magazine Post with a gentle hint of horror

One Single Impression
Friday Flash 55 – Writer’s Island
One Shot Wednesday

MONUMENT

A monument to all the ghostie tales,
Lightning flash, ectoplasmic trails,
All our horrors turned to stone,
Don’t sleep by here unless you atone,
Nightmares will come and ghosts will flock
Afterlife, entombed within the rock

FLASH 55 – THE SÉANCE

Fiction: ‘I’m telling you, it was rubbish,’ said Jenny as she returned
home to her husband. ‘The medium went into a trance and made
contact, but I knew it wasn’t right. The messages were all wrong.’ ‘So
she was a fake,’ he said. Which was true. Her husband hadn’t been
contacted by anyone since his death.

WHIMSY

Scratch your cheek, tug your hair,
Whenever it’s done, don’t despair,
Don’t know it’s happening ’til it’s done,
That’s why it’s so much fun,
And immediately you decide you did imbue,
When it was me, the ghostie behind you

© Anthony North, September 2010

Try my Pictures of Life, a novel