Hi Hollis, apologies for not checking your blogs sooner, i trust the painkillers are befriending you now andcan focus on your creative side more. As a sometimes poetry scribbler and book lover i'm always keen to support those with literary ambitions like yourself. unfortunately i don't have kindle access to read your earlier novels , but congrats on that big achievement, and hope the new novel is progressing well; interesting line on the epilepsy inclusion, my partner Lisa suffers with it and i work as her carer, her brother has it too. Have you ever tried hypnosis for your nightmares? At least, as you say, they do supply some good horror plot ideas! I've suffered with depression for some years now which affects concentration etc and so i haven't been as creative as i'd like to be. I think i was last published in the late nineties when i wrote some magazine articles. I've also had poetry read out on local radio before. I find rhyming far easier to construct than storylines! I often talk in rhyming couplets as it feels like a second language, good thing lisa understands me! I, too, love horror fiction/films; my hero is Poe, poetry and stories, he was my early inspiration, as is British writer M.R. James. One of my fav films 'Night of the Demon'('Curse' in America)is based on a story of his. I've read a few Stephen King's incl. Salems Lot though not as many as i should have as he is probably the successor to Poe's crown. Well, i will listen to some more of your chapters Hollis and chat again soon. Take care. Ian xx
Hello Ian.... Very good to hear from you. I would love to read some of your writing. I am so sorry to hear how much epilepsy affects you as well. What a terrible condition it is and I wish your loved ones well. I appreciate your reading my blogs. If there are any questions that I can answer, please let me know. I am currently reading "An Adultery" by Alexander Theroux, which I did not like at the very beginning but is actually becoming a pleasure to read by part two of the three part novel. I would love to hear you input on the new novel that I am working on including epilepsy. If you send along your email, I'll send you a chapter or so if you would like to read it and reply back. I have been so tired lately, but my mind is becoming keen again and I am trying to write everyday. I adore Poe and other gothic writers. Horror has always been my very favorite genre and I am always trying to develop new ways of telling horror stories. You can check out my novels on Lulu, if you would like to purchase them. "The Ever" is a historical haunted house story and "The Control Room or the demands of Heather" is a poetry collection. Give word to me if you do read them, as I would love to hear what you thought. Thank you so much Ian! Hollis
Hi again Hollis,how are you feeling today? Feel free to swear at me if feeling angry with the pain! I heard there's been some shootings going on in your state with fatalities, i hope no-one you know was affected. In an ideal world guns would not exist, but that's another debate for another time. I managed to listen to you reciting some of your poems Hollis from 'The Control Room'; you like them short, like pulling an evocative sentence from a paragraph, or a telling observation from a passing event. Excellent! I couldn't find a 'rewind' button to study them more so will endeavour to read them in print someday soon. Your 'authors note' from 'The Ever' is amazing; i learnt a heck of a lot about you and why you write as you do, your demons and therapeutic outlets to cope with them when you realise they're with you for life, to 'control the monster' in your freedom of literary expression; i think it will make me read/watch horror in a new light from now on, thank you! Your dad being bi-polar explains a lot about his behaviour, and your gradual forgiveness of him says everything about you Hollis, a role-model daughter. I will check out Lulu and hopefully subscribe and read the novel soon. Do you set novels in environments/locations your familiar with? I think i would find that easier if i set to write one. You reminded me of Holden Caulfield a little when you talked about not wanting to talk phoney to people(in retail)! I do know what you mean there. Working with animals, as i did in my previous job however, is just the opposite; you can bond with them without faking anything and they love you better for it. That's how i met Lisa, i was her dog walker! Well, i thought i'd sign out with one of my poems for you to read Hollis which won first-prize on local radio many years ago, it reflects my pagan interests and love of nature and is called 'The Rites of Spring': The winter Goddess kneels at spring's cold throne, embraces his infant heart, ignites the pale-blue flame, her crown on the wind full-flown.For light and dark are two lovers parting(she to the hallowed lakes); the spring God, fair of gold enchanting, breathes and softly wakes. And his fire grows in the daffodil's eye and the heather's white-flecked hair; in the butter-kissed gorse and primrose sky, and the Oak King standing fair. Her lover and son that lay dead in the shrouds of a weeping yuletide moon, now born to a land that drinks of the clouds and bursts in springtime bloom. For the horned-God is goat-foot Pan, green-shepherd to the satyr-flock; king of the hunt and love-chase ring over field and mountain rock. And the egg that splits on Eostre's day by the heat of the Sun God's love, in turn shall banish all earth's decay and illumine the sky above.
What a beautiful poem and thank you so much Ian!!!! I appreciate your comments and the fact that you are listening to my podcast...such an honor. I am just about to do another for tonight and I also just posted a recent blog, so feel free to comment if you like. You seem like a very good person and a great writer at that...the world is lucky to have you. I am more of an internal writer. Yes, I use the surroundings but only when I have to and when they are important to the story. I try to make every word count and not use anything that isn't needed. Otherwise, it all becomes a bundle of waste that doesn't make any sense and I don't want to ever do that to my readers. Yes, there maybe twists and turns but things will not be used just for the sake of using them. I am feeling better everyday. The doctor said that in two weeks, I should be good as new (even better than that...:)}. Please check out my books in print on Lulu and let me know what you think. I am always up for input. How will I ever grow as a writer, if I don't have input? Days have been long here, but I am trying to come to terms with the fact that I can no longer have children and with the fact that my surgery changed my life forever. I think that children were just not in the cards for me and in the end, that's alright because my work is my child and I have fuzzy children (my rescue dogs) to keep me company and to love. I hope to feel better soon. I'll mention you in this week's podcast. Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you again soon. Send my love to you and yours. Hollis
Poetry and parts of The Ever, thoughts about life as it goes and
hopes for input.
Hi Hollis, apologies for not checking your blogs sooner, i trust the painkillers are befriending you now andcan focus on your creative side more. As a sometimes poetry scribbler and book lover i'm always keen to support those with literary ambitions like yourself. unfortunately i don't have kindle access to read your earlier novels , but congrats on that big achievement, and hope the new novel is progressing well; interesting line on the epilepsy inclusion, my partner Lisa suffers with it and i work as her carer, her brother has it too. Have you ever tried hypnosis for your nightmares? At least, as you say, they do supply some good horror plot ideas! I've suffered with depression for some years now which affects concentration etc and so i haven't been as creative as i'd like to be. I think i was last published in the late nineties when i wrote some magazine articles. I've also had poetry read out on local radio before. I find rhyming far easier to construct than storylines! I often talk in rhyming couplets as it feels like a second language, good thing lisa understands me! I, too, love horror fiction/films; my hero is Poe, poetry and stories, he was my early inspiration, as is British writer M.R. James. One of my fav films 'Night of the Demon'('Curse' in America)is based on a story of his. I've read a few Stephen King's incl. Salems Lot though not as many as i should have as he is probably the successor to Poe's crown. Well, i will listen to some more of your chapters Hollis and chat again soon. Take care. Ian xx
ReplyDeleteHello Ian....
ReplyDeleteVery good to hear from you. I would love to read some of your writing. I am so sorry to hear how much epilepsy affects you as well. What a terrible condition it is and I wish your loved ones well. I appreciate your reading my blogs. If there are any questions that I can answer, please let me know. I am currently reading "An Adultery" by Alexander Theroux, which I did not like at the very beginning but is actually becoming a pleasure to read by part two of the three part novel. I would love to hear you input on the new novel that I am working on including epilepsy. If you send along your email, I'll send you a chapter or so if you would like to read it and reply back. I have been so tired lately, but my mind is becoming keen again and I am trying to write everyday. I adore Poe and other gothic writers. Horror has always been my very favorite genre and I am always trying to develop new ways of telling horror stories. You can check out my novels on Lulu, if you would like to purchase them. "The Ever" is a historical haunted house story and "The Control Room or the demands of Heather" is a poetry collection. Give word to me if you do read them, as I would love to hear what you thought. Thank you so much Ian!
Hollis
Hi again Hollis,how are you feeling today? Feel free to swear at me if feeling angry with the pain! I heard there's been some shootings going on in your state with fatalities, i hope no-one you know was affected. In an ideal world guns would not exist, but that's another debate for another time. I managed to listen to you reciting some of your poems Hollis from 'The Control Room'; you like them short, like pulling an evocative sentence from a paragraph, or a telling observation from a passing event. Excellent! I couldn't find a 'rewind' button to study them more so will endeavour to read them in print someday soon. Your 'authors note' from 'The Ever' is amazing; i learnt a heck of a lot about you and why you write as you do, your demons and therapeutic outlets to cope with them when you realise they're with you for life, to 'control the monster' in your freedom of literary expression; i think it will make me read/watch horror in a new light from now on, thank you! Your dad being bi-polar explains a lot about his behaviour, and your gradual forgiveness of him says everything about you Hollis, a role-model daughter. I will check out Lulu and hopefully subscribe and read the novel soon. Do you set novels in environments/locations your familiar with? I think i would find that easier if i set to write one. You reminded me of Holden Caulfield a little when you talked about not wanting to talk phoney to people(in retail)! I do know what you mean there. Working with animals, as i did in my previous job however, is just the opposite; you can bond with them without faking anything and they love you better for it. That's how i met Lisa, i was her dog walker! Well, i thought i'd sign out with one of my poems for you to read Hollis which won first-prize on local radio many years ago, it reflects my pagan interests and love of nature and is called 'The Rites of Spring':
ReplyDeleteThe winter Goddess kneels at spring's cold throne, embraces his infant heart, ignites the pale-blue flame, her crown on the wind full-flown.For light and dark are two lovers parting(she to the hallowed lakes); the spring God, fair of gold enchanting, breathes and softly wakes. And his fire grows in the daffodil's eye and the heather's white-flecked hair; in the butter-kissed gorse and primrose sky, and the Oak King standing fair. Her lover and son that lay dead in the shrouds of a weeping yuletide moon, now born to a land that drinks of the clouds and bursts in springtime bloom. For the horned-God is goat-foot Pan, green-shepherd to the satyr-flock; king of the hunt and love-chase ring over field and mountain rock. And the egg that splits on Eostre's day by the heat of the Sun God's love, in turn shall banish all earth's decay and illumine the sky above.
Ian xx
What a beautiful poem and thank you so much Ian!!!! I appreciate your comments and the fact that you are listening to my podcast...such an honor. I am just about to do another for tonight and I also just posted a recent blog, so feel free to comment if you like. You seem like a very good person and a great writer at that...the world is lucky to have you. I am more of an internal writer. Yes, I use the surroundings but only when I have to and when they are important to the story. I try to make every word count and not use anything that isn't needed. Otherwise, it all becomes a bundle of waste that doesn't make any sense and I don't want to ever do that to my readers. Yes, there maybe twists and turns but things will not be used just for the sake of using them. I am feeling better everyday. The doctor said that in two weeks, I should be good as new (even better than that...:)}. Please check out my books in print on Lulu and let me know what you think. I am always up for input. How will I ever grow as a writer, if I don't have input? Days have been long here, but I am trying to come to terms with the fact that I can no longer have children and with the fact that my surgery changed my life forever. I think that children were just not in the cards for me and in the end, that's alright because my work is my child and I have fuzzy children (my rescue dogs) to keep me company and to love. I hope to feel better soon. I'll mention you in this week's podcast. Thanks so much and I look forward to hearing from you again soon. Send my love to you and yours.
ReplyDeleteHollis