Check out www.kingabba.com for the latest sequel in The Seven Songs cycle, titled The Voyage of the Kresala.
This is Gentil's story, the younger of the two princely brothers. Escaping from the destruction of the royal palace, he arrives at a coastal harbour where he enlists as crew on board the yacht Kresala with his friend Alick. The two of them are ready and keen to go in search of adventure across the ocean.
But he soon finds himself entangled in the destiny of Nestor, Gorka and the mysterious Itxaso, who have a secret mission to fulfil, vital for the future of Europe.
Sail with Gentil on a journey of drama and adventure ....
CJM February 2015
Friday, 27 February 2015
Alien, or just alienation? The Varoufakis solution
When I started this blog, I thought the world was mad enough, hence the title Reflections on Absurdity. How was I to know that humanity would descend so rapidly into even more madness, to fuel aggression and hatred in so many ways, in so many places? The problem seems to be alienation, or in another term, exclusion.
Wherever we look, we find people suffering that awful feeling of not being taken seriously, not fitting into the pattern of things. Everyone from poor Mr Putin who didn't think NATO could be so insensitive as to park their bombers and tanks at his garden gate, to the disturbed individuals whose "difference" leads them to believe that salvation is in the barrel of a gun, or at the edge of a butcher's knife.
What mystifies me is that if you are one who truly believes in the invalidity of another point of view, your comfort surely is that that other way will become untenable, will hold the seeds of its own destruction. Why do you need to hasten the process with over the top aggression?
This brings me to the enlightened figure of Yanis Varoufakis, recently appointed Finance Minister in Greece, with an impossible task before him. Mr Varoufakis is a self-confessed Marxist, but what he calls an "erratic" one. He deviates in some regards from Marx's own canon of beliefs but is sure of one basic Marxist tenet, namely that capitalism continues to demonstrate its inherent self-destructiveness.
This being so, he declares that he doesn't need to bring down the system, unhinge the eurozone, lead his country into a battlefield -- ends that he could potentially bring about (as he says of himself, if he weren't scared, he would be dangerous ...). But no, the Europe that he dislikes so much will disintegrate in its own time. The enemy will fall into the pit of their own making. Of that, he has no doubt.
So please withdraw the heavy artillery from Ukraine, Mr Putin, please ISIS let the infidel wander blindly into their own hell without adding more infernal ingredients, please Germany give a little slack to the new Greek government, and please everyone, from Chelsea supporters to Marine Le Pen, let everyone get on the same Metro train, or we shall be paying more than just the train fare for a long time to come.
CJM February 2015
Wherever we look, we find people suffering that awful feeling of not being taken seriously, not fitting into the pattern of things. Everyone from poor Mr Putin who didn't think NATO could be so insensitive as to park their bombers and tanks at his garden gate, to the disturbed individuals whose "difference" leads them to believe that salvation is in the barrel of a gun, or at the edge of a butcher's knife.
What mystifies me is that if you are one who truly believes in the invalidity of another point of view, your comfort surely is that that other way will become untenable, will hold the seeds of its own destruction. Why do you need to hasten the process with over the top aggression?
This brings me to the enlightened figure of Yanis Varoufakis, recently appointed Finance Minister in Greece, with an impossible task before him. Mr Varoufakis is a self-confessed Marxist, but what he calls an "erratic" one. He deviates in some regards from Marx's own canon of beliefs but is sure of one basic Marxist tenet, namely that capitalism continues to demonstrate its inherent self-destructiveness.
This being so, he declares that he doesn't need to bring down the system, unhinge the eurozone, lead his country into a battlefield -- ends that he could potentially bring about (as he says of himself, if he weren't scared, he would be dangerous ...). But no, the Europe that he dislikes so much will disintegrate in its own time. The enemy will fall into the pit of their own making. Of that, he has no doubt.
So please withdraw the heavy artillery from Ukraine, Mr Putin, please ISIS let the infidel wander blindly into their own hell without adding more infernal ingredients, please Germany give a little slack to the new Greek government, and please everyone, from Chelsea supporters to Marine Le Pen, let everyone get on the same Metro train, or we shall be paying more than just the train fare for a long time to come.
CJM February 2015
Monday, 9 June 2014
Richard Dawkins -- wizard or ogre?
How does one enter into the mindset of Professor Richard Dawkins? His recent sally against all that is "supernatural", speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival, would have us believe that children must be raised as sceptics, trained in scientific rigour, and that childish things such as fairy tales with their dose of improbability, must be "put away". He himself successfully achieved this rigour at an early age, he tells us.
Scientists, of course, have always believed in their own brand of magic, and not just because of its older roots in alchemy. Innumerable wizards populate the world of modern IT and we can be sure that the mood at NASA or at CERN when hitting the target can be described as nothing less than magical.
Here Dawkins misses the point, surely. All these highly successful scientists were children once. Where and how did they learn to open their imaginations to visions and dreams soaring high above daily routines, if not in that wondrous hour of storytelling which leads them into sleep?
A prince turning into a frog is too improbable, says the wise professor. Just as improbable as oxygen and hydrogen turning into water? Or iron filings arranging themselves in sonar fields? Plants and organisms tracking the lunar cycle? Surely what matters to the growing child is to learn to open the imagination so that the mind can fly across boundaries, whether on magic carpets or in school laboratories.
To impose what is "correct" for the imagination to play with, and deny what is "incorrect", is a tyranny that serves no purpose. The expansive dimension of the creative, imaginative mind, proclaims that there are no boundaries. And yes, magic carpets will still get you there.
CJM June 2014
Scientists, of course, have always believed in their own brand of magic, and not just because of its older roots in alchemy. Innumerable wizards populate the world of modern IT and we can be sure that the mood at NASA or at CERN when hitting the target can be described as nothing less than magical.
Here Dawkins misses the point, surely. All these highly successful scientists were children once. Where and how did they learn to open their imaginations to visions and dreams soaring high above daily routines, if not in that wondrous hour of storytelling which leads them into sleep?
A prince turning into a frog is too improbable, says the wise professor. Just as improbable as oxygen and hydrogen turning into water? Or iron filings arranging themselves in sonar fields? Plants and organisms tracking the lunar cycle? Surely what matters to the growing child is to learn to open the imagination so that the mind can fly across boundaries, whether on magic carpets or in school laboratories.
To impose what is "correct" for the imagination to play with, and deny what is "incorrect", is a tyranny that serves no purpose. The expansive dimension of the creative, imaginative mind, proclaims that there are no boundaries. And yes, magic carpets will still get you there.
CJM June 2014
Monday, 26 May 2014
The absurdity of modern football
I just bought a Ming vase for a few million. It's a beautiful thing and a delight to watch. But I want it to make money for me, so I'm going to throw it into an arena and allow a bunch of (usually eleven) less than beautiful ruffians to hack it about, kick it to the ground, stand on it, and treat it with unspeakable violence. There will be a lot of vociferous protesting, hands raised in indignation, claims of innocence from the most guilty, but basically, it seems, this is what people will pay to see.
Don't get me wrong ... I enjoy watching football, I marvel at the skill of players at FC Barcelona, for instance, and love the drama of a cliffhanger as much as anyone. Even without Barca, Messi and Iniesta, the Lisbon UEFA cup final had its moments ... But the run up to the final matches of the cup spoke for itself. The number of highly paid players on the doubtful list, potentially unfit to play, was an illustration of the absurdity of the modern game.
What I find senseless is, on the one hand, the huge sums of money invested in the best players, and on the other the general permissiveness towards dirty play, the shirt-grabbing, the pushing over from behind, the hacking down of the superskilled by the less skilled. Is that really an acceptable way to treat expensively acquired and wonderfully crafted Ming vases?
Wouldn't we prefer to see these artists playing in better regulated games, and at less risk to themselves? A thought for the World Cup games about to open in Brazil. May there be less violence both inside and outside the stadiums.
CJM
May 2014
Sunday, 30 March 2014
Footballers: Spit without polish
I've been intrigued by a couple of recent reports of footballers being investigated for spitting at other players. My concern is that the output of spit in professional football is so copious that it must be hard for investigators to distinguish between spitting at others and, well, just spitting.
No other sport that I can think of has this peculiar non-stop habit, though Nadal briefly added spitting on clay one year to his Tourette-like gestures before serving .. I guess he was dissuaded from continuing by Uncle Tony. "No es bonito, hijo ..."
So where do footballers get this special licence from? The occasional trainer has been seen to spit on the touchline, for no obvious reason other than solidarity, though in the majority of their cases it must be hard to spit and chew gum at the same time.
Adding spit to your boot polish has been a long established tradition in the army, and boy scouts indulged in spitting competitions with cherry stones a century ago, even while campaigning for the general public to use spittoons and not the floor. But purely gratuitous spitting is against hygiene and good manners. Sadly, boys today must be all too keen to spit efficiently as they learn the streetwise tricks of the sport. After all, their heroes are expert at it.
CJM
No other sport that I can think of has this peculiar non-stop habit, though Nadal briefly added spitting on clay one year to his Tourette-like gestures before serving .. I guess he was dissuaded from continuing by Uncle Tony. "No es bonito, hijo ..."
So where do footballers get this special licence from? The occasional trainer has been seen to spit on the touchline, for no obvious reason other than solidarity, though in the majority of their cases it must be hard to spit and chew gum at the same time.
Adding spit to your boot polish has been a long established tradition in the army, and boy scouts indulged in spitting competitions with cherry stones a century ago, even while campaigning for the general public to use spittoons and not the floor. But purely gratuitous spitting is against hygiene and good manners. Sadly, boys today must be all too keen to spit efficiently as they learn the streetwise tricks of the sport. After all, their heroes are expert at it.
CJM
Saturday, 22 March 2014
Apologies
My apologies to those unable to access the current Amazon.com Countdown discount for Behind the Mountain. I had thought amazon.com was a global market but it seems the discount can only be accessed from within US territory. I can't even see it myself to check it is active though Amazon assures me that it is.
There was no prior notice of this limitation and I think Amazon needs to go back and look at its program design.
In the meantime the book is still a bargain at 3 pounds sterling (5 dollars). So go for it!
See my brief introduction to the book at wp.me/p11Bag-1hg #storytelling
See also Philip Franses' review of the book at http://wp.me/p11Bag-1hn
CJM
There was no prior notice of this limitation and I think Amazon needs to go back and look at its program design.
In the meantime the book is still a bargain at 3 pounds sterling (5 dollars). So go for it!
See my brief introduction to the book at wp.me/p11Bag-1hg #storytelling
See also Philip Franses' review of the book at http://wp.me/p11Bag-1hn
CJM
Monday, 17 March 2014
Launch offer for Behind the Mountain
To mark the launch of the new ebook sequel, Behind
the Mountain, an Amazon Countdown offer will apply starting Friday March
21, available on amazon.com. This promotion runs over five days with the
biggest discount (81 percent) on the first day, reducing daily to the smallest
discount (21 percent) on Day 4. The available discount will be posted on the
Kindle Store page as each day goes by.
CJM
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