Newsletter: Tigers, Oh My
And your emails!
Personal News From The Realm Of Drinky
Dolly had to go vets yesterday, as an emergency. She had trouble walking and obviously wasn’t herself. It turned out to be low blood sugar (2.5), almost hypoglycaemic. We had to leave her there for a while, which we hate doing, but then could collect her after a few hours, and were pleased to see her back to her normal self. We’ll be cutting back on her insulin until she stabilises, and will take her for another check-up tomorrow. Now I just need to sell a lot of books (or paid subscriptions) to pay the vet’s bills! Feel free to send Dolly Drinkwater your love. She’s a remarkable cat.
As usual, I have been doing lots of things in my spare time, including interfaith work (the aim of which is to create harmony between people, whatever their belief system), and anti-racism campaigning. I also put together a list of free films about Palestine, for anyone who would like to know more about the brave people there, who have been facing injustice for more than 75 years.
I am also working on a new project for those who come to my creative writing sessions, and made this website to promote it.
I watched All Of Us Strangers again last week. It’s my favourite film of the last two years, and I could talk at length about why (as I did in this post for paid subscribers). My father was killed when I was young, so it has an extra resonance. I highly recommend watching it if you get the chance.
I love receiving emails, and after my last newsletter I got this one:
“Your robins are smaller, rounder and stouter than ours.
Your litter picking is great. It reminds me of the writer David Sedaris, who has made it a sideline/hobby/mission for some years now. I think he is still doing it -- it seemed to become a bit of an obsession for him over time, and I can understand why, because I have it, too.
Instant refunds? I never even knew that was a thing. And of course someone had to capitalize on it! It's a shame that you had to remove it as a very kind service you were rendering.
Happy spring and keep up the great work(s)!”
It’s always nice to get a reply to the things I fire out into the universe yonder.
Interesting point about David Sedaris, it mentions litter picking in his Wikipedia article:
“Sedaris is known for regularly spending hours removing litter from roads and highways near Rackham. Because of this hobby, he is known locally as "Pig Pen"; he also has a waste vehicle named after him.”
Maybe one day a vehicle will be named after me?
Karl’s Review Corner
A quick favour to ask!
If you've read and enjoyed my mind-bending recent release, UESI, please could you leave a rating (or review, if you prefer!) As a new book it really helps it get a good launch when people recommend it to others.
Possible places to rate/review:
And if you blog about books, your blog is another great place to leave a review.
As usual, let me know if you do this so I can share them or quote them!
If you haven’t read it but would like a copy so you can review it, just get in touch.
Thank you, my friends. :-)
(This applies to any of my other books, too!)
Book News
I hope you all enjoyed my interview with Christoffer Petersen. Don’t forget, you can buy the book I co-wrote with him! You can get Afua as a paperback or ebook direct, or via pretty much any bookshop or online store.
Another fan contacted me recently, with thoughts on my work:
“I just wanted to say I loved the Lost Solace audio book.
One interesting thing about this book.
A central motif is that of "connecting", which develops in interesting ways. There is the "lost ship" haunted by many 'other worldly ghosts'. Anyone who tries to board the ship becomes a target of these haunting aliens who have 'possessed' the lost ship.
There is the special connection between Opal and Clarissa, which eventually enters the uncanny valley as Clarissa "becomes" Opal and their minds merge. Then there is the sentient crystal Opal unwittingly returns from the lost ship, which offers to merge minds as well...
The cyberwar between different AIs involves sending seemingly innocent "packets" to the opponent, but they contain hidden code that can capture another AI's subsystems or even take complete control.
All this made me think of inter-connectedness, how mind body soul can form a harmonious whole vs fragmented and destructive ghost ship. Also the demons that possess some, from the past, trauma, bad decisions, demons of unforgiveness... But we are also at war, and it is a war on the perception of reality (cognitive warfare / information warfare / belief warfare / spiritual warfare). We receive "packets" of information from the outside world, but they have been tampered with (more often than not), and this can affect our ability to clearly perceive reality, which is what you see in the world today. People being manipulated by insidious programming hidden in the messages we receive through various means.”
A wonderful analysis (which would also make an amazing review!), that touches on a lot of what I was playing with. I really appreciate it when people spot the connections between my fantastical fiction, and the world we live in today. Good writing should entertain, but it should also be saying something. Keep them coming! :-)
Bright blessings,
Karl
Purrs to little tigress Dolly from sweet Yasser - and his mummy!
Thanks for this update, Karl. Best of luck to Dolly with her health issues.