Secret governmental files dating from 1981 have now been released for public viewing.  Most of the press seem fixated on trivia, such as Margaret Thatcher's alleged squabble over the purchase of an ironing board.  However, of real interest is the documented deliberate financial crippling of the city of Liverpool. Liverpool in the 1980s and early-to-mid 1990s was a tough place to live.  It was probably the most difficult place in the UK to find work.  The city shopping area was limited; wander away from Bold Street and the Bold Street end of Church Street, or the smatter of shops on London Road, and you'd pass empty buildings which swiftly faded into dereliction.  It was a place where long-term unemployment was the norm, where those who had jobs were looked upon as lucky or treacherous, depending on your politics.  It is estimated that the city lost one third of its population as people relocated in search of better lives.  Added to this was the stigma given by the British p

Of interest to British cryonicists is the new Preferred Priorities for Care (PPC) document.  This piece of paperwork aims to ensure end-of-life choices are expressed clearly, so everyone involved knows what is wanted and how to achieve this.  To quote the NHS website, "The explicit recording of individual wishes can form the basis of care planning in multi-disciplinary teams and other services, therefore reducing unplanned admissions and avoiding inappropriate and/or unwanted interventions. "  For the cryonicist, this is useful development for the obvious reason that unless everyone knows about your intentions to not have an autopsy and to be cryo-preserved in tact, and it's in writing and witnessed, then that old phrase about mice, men and plans being put asunder comes into play.  Having this in a legal Will is good, but Wills tend to be read after the event, whereas this document should be in the patient's Care Plan and medical records. Download a PPC document

Apparently, Italian scientists have recently decided that the Turin Shroud was created by a supernatural event.  This seems an odd conclusion for scientists. Surely our lack of understanding of a thing does not mean that same thing is of supernatural origin.  It simply means we don't understand it yet. The cloth of the Turin shroud has been carbon dated.  Three seperate investigations - Oxford University, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and the University of Arizona - all concluded that the fabric was from the Middle Ages, somewhere between 1260 and 1390.  It was woven on a perfectly ordinary loom of that era. The real mystery surrounds the image itself, which some people insist is the face of Jesus, if only because it's a bloke with a beard.  This actually only demonstrates that people choose to believe whatever is convenient or satisying to believe. There is, however, another explanation which is rather more rational, as this video suggests. It might be not

Here is the proposed paperback cover for Tamsin , which is due out in January 2012.  The blank white square is where the barcode will go.  As of this afternoon, the ebook edition is available via Smashwords, and the Kindle edition will be online within a few hours of my typing this.  Further distribution will follow.  Scroll down to a recent post to see the ebook cover, which has the same rose on the black velvet background, with the title above that.  Different format, different cover specifications - as ebooks don't have a back cover or a spine, obviously - hence the minor adaptations. When self-publishing, a person has a choice of paying someone to design covers for them or creating covers for themselves.  If you're weak on design skills the first option is probably the best.  Don't underestimate the importance of how a book cover looks.  Think of your own behaviour when browsing in a bookstore, whether it's online or a brick-and-mortar shop - assuming your a

For the first time ever, I took a look at my viewer statistics.  It beats reading yet more gloom about the economy. According to my YouTube stats, 73.2% of my viewers are female.  Their ages range between the ages of 25 - 54, the predominant group clearly being between 45 - 54.  The majority of viewers came from Germany, followed by Britain, Italy, America then Spain.  Of British viewers, 74.9% were female, while 64.4% of American viewers were male.  Gender stats weren't available for other countries. My Facebook stats tell a different story.  There, 49% of my readers were female while 47% were male - a much more even split.  The ages spanned a wider range, going from 18 - 55+, with 33% being aged between 34 - 44, and 34% being between 45 - 54.  The greater majority of viewers came from America then Britain, with other countries trailing far behind these two. Here, Blogger's stats don't offer gender information.  Most of the traffic comes from America and Britain, wit

Photos from Parallel Dimensions 2011, which was the third annual F/H/SF event where authors share some of their stories with an audience.  This year's PD took place in a side room in West Kirby Library, Wirral. Adele Cosgrove-Bray Adele Cosgrove-Bray - and orb (or dust speck, take your choice!) Jon Mayhew  Mjke Wood  Peter Caton Tim Hulme     

Last night we watched Nell , which stars Jodie Foster, Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson.  This is a story about a young woman who was found living in a remote shack without modern amenities.  Nell had been raised by her mother, who spoke poorly due to the effects of a stroke, and consequently Nell's version of English was at first assumed to be the nonsense of a severely mentally handicapped person. Jodie Foster's acting in this film was extraordinary.  I've been an admirer of her work for years anyway but this intense performance was fascinating.  The film occasionally strayed into sentimentality, and there were a few little holes in the plot.  Where was Nell's mother getting money from (which she exchanged for groceries delivered to a rock near their home, the money being left in a purse there).  If the mother - who died at the start of the film - had needed to buy food so would Nell, an issue which was ignored by the plot.  Trust me to spot a glitch in the prac

Are you ready for a new kind of physics?  The universe which we're aware of  is only one system within an infinity of larger and smaller universes.  Jacques Vallée discusses this, among other things, in the video above. Picture a Russian Doll, filled with smaller and smaller similar Russian Dolls.  The outer doll represents the universe which we're aware of, filled with atomic then sub-atomic then sub-atomic particles and so on, infinitely smaller - as represented by the increasingly smaller Russian Dolls.  But that outer doll is also surrounded by a bigger doll (which we're maybe unaware of), and that is also surrounded by an even bigger doll, and so on, infinitely.  Or to phrase it another way:  As above, so below. Emerging technology will allow us to communicate directly, not just with an ex-school pal who now lives on the other side of this planet, or with a relative stranger who shares an interest in collecting hand-made dolls, for example, but with some of

  

  Coming soon.... Tamsin Set in Liverpool, Tamsin tells the story of a young woman's experiences with two very different secret societies. Kai's philosophy is spiritual but bizarre. Fabian is gorgeous but his company brings Tamsin into danger. How can she choose between them? This is a vampire story like you've never encountered before. No teenaged angst, no gentlemen weeping at the beauty of the night... This is real-world grit.   

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adelecosgrovebray/ Discover Adele's FREE Yahoo! group newsletter. There's a clickable link on the side menu, or use the link above. The group has been around for quite a while, but from today members can now communicate and reply to each other. Enjoy!   

Ed Alleyne-Johnson plays his electric violin. Thursday saw me in Chester, having a day's break from proofreading Tamsin.  After a pleasant lunch of chicken escalopes with prosciutto di Parma and mozzarella, I wandered onto Eastgate Street and immediately recognised the distinctive sounds of Ed Alleyne-Johnson's electric violin.  He was busking by one of the short flights of stone steps leading onto the mews, which are something of a tourist magnet because of their 'olde worlde' charm. So, after enjoying the music for a while, I wandered round the shops.  Why are Xmas decorations up already?  It's November still!  I really dislike the gradual spreading-out of this festival, with all its attendant kitsch.  If it was contained to the main fortnight it would be far less tedious. Each year at Riverside Writers, when we're setting our monthly writing project, someone will try to push for December's story or poem to be on a Xmas theme.  By far the majority of

The mid-afternoon sun was streaming through newly-revealed branches, keeping the top layer of fallen leaves crisp.  These mounds of leaves are apparently enthralling, at least to my dogs who seem compelled to inspect in detail each undulating heap.   Puddles command similar attention, which means that a walk which should take under an hour actually took closer to one and a half.  But it was a lovely autumn day; there was no reason to rush. The bulrushes have shed their fluffy wigs now.  Ygraine once savaged some poor bloke's prize pampas after it made the mistake of waving in a breeze.  And as much as she loves a good swim, trying to fish a dog out of a deep pond whose banks are slathered with greasy black mud is not my idea of a fun diversion during an otherwise pleasant stroll.  Therefore Ygraine has to be restrained around anything tall and wobbly like bulrushes. As the late afternoon sun cast amber-gold over the tree tops, we headed into the little woodland then out amo

This short ebook is now available on Kindle. The ASIN for this in all Amazon stores is ASIN B00690Q10I. Pirates, selkies and witches battle to survive in this dramatic short fantasy tale. When Charlie Porter makes a deal with Spanish Jones, he ensnares the Porter family in a vicious centuries-long feud. Can Charlie's descendent stop the violence? Set on the ruggedly beautiful Hilbre Island in the Dee Estuary, history and folklore blend to create a magically atmospheric tale by Adele Cosgrove-Bray.    

As of today, Entering the Grove can be purchased direct from Amazon UK, USA, France and Germany. The ebook's ASIN for all these stores is B00695TH5Y. What was the beyond-human being who walked into her dreams? How could mere dreams seem more real than reality? This collection of poetry describes how, at the age of nineteen, Adele Cosgrove-Bray entered an order known variously as the Eternal Companions or the Initiates of Ma'at, which was led by an elderly man called Thomas Joseph Walton, (or "T"). His philosophy was similar to that of GI Gurdjieff's. "Entering the Grove" describes her seven years with this group. She hoped to find answers to a series of experiences which had haunted her since early childhood, as depicted in the poems "I Wonder", "Twilight" and "Love's Hermitage", but she gradually became disillusioned with Walton’s philosophy. In 1999, Adele joined the Order of Bards, Ovates and Dru

Penguin's Book Country self-publishing option offers writers 70% of the sale price of any book.  The catch is that this publishing service costs between $99 for a DIY option, and $549 if you pay Penguine to format the text for you. I fail to see why a person would pay $99 for the privilege of formatting their own ebook when this can be done for free, for similar returns, on Smashwords.   Book Country seems to want exclusive rights to epub files, also. Ok, so you'd get the famous Penguin logo on your ebook.  But it will take more than a cartoon birdie to promote the resulting ebook.  The author will still have to do the majority of that for themselves - as is also usual with traditional paperback publishing these-days anyway. Learn more:  http://bookcountry.com/ Learn even more Joe Konrath's blog at:  http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2011/11/book-country-fail.html   who by sheer synchronicity blogged about the same thing today, as I've just discovered when checking

Bonfire time at Maison Cosgrove-Bray.  Going up in flames was a 1940s chest of drawers, the type which is more wood than drawer space - an ugly old thing well beyond its usefulness or re-sale value.  There was also a heap of autumn pruning - branches, bits of hedge, snapped bamboo canes, broken brush handles etc.  Oh, and two kitchen rugs which were remarkable only for their vileness. In the midground of the photo are two compost bins made from recycled rubber.  The cone-like sides lift up cleanly if a garden fork is levered beneath them; they don't have a base.  These bins have been in constant use for ten years and show absolutely no sign of wear.  Beyond the compost bins is the green-coloured chicken coup. The photo shows only half of our rear garden, which is also the side which we've done the least with so far.  The garden is now ready for a good tidy-up before winter sets in.  Brick flooring can a mixed blessing, as every tiny groovy between each brick becomes a home