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Winter, Weather, And The Theory Of Chaos
Completely unexpected, as ever at this time of year, winter has hit what used to be part of the frozen north. For the first time in many years there is deep snow on the ground, the air is freezing cold, and winter woollies have regained their rightful place as a fashion statement. The news media have been quick to highlight the impending chaos as transport connections fail, bus, tram and train lines are cancelled, and the streets fall into an eerie silence. Only the chaos is missing. The human – of whatever sub-species we might claim to be – is reasonably adaptable, given the right warnings and personal balance. Most…
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In Whom Do You Place Your Trust?
In the days of my youth – and much of my time now, as an old person, is spent remembering youthful years – people who wanted to have their books published either had to go through the rigours of a publishing house, with or without an agent on their side, or pay a vanity press to publish the work for them. Vanity presses advertised in what we would call the gutter press, the yellow press, the tabloids; those publications with little intellectual depth, plenty of not necessarily serious advertising, and a high readership; something which has, sadly, not disappeared from the world to this day. A few years ago things…
