Jump to content

Nigel Gordon

AD Author
  • Posts

    1,415
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Nigel Gordon

  1. No, like any baby he detected that everybody's attention was elsewhere so bawled the house down.
  2. I am so glad to see this novel in "Dude's Picks from the Past". It is a typical piece of Chris James writing, that is to say a great story well told. For me it has some sentimental value, as it was the first piece of Chris' writing that I communicated with him about. A communication, which resulted in a email friendship that I have missed since his death. It was, therefore, with some emotion that I reread this story over the weekend. I found it as enjoyable and as delightful as ever. If you have not read this story, I strongly recommend that you do.
  3. Never knew for sure but was told years after, like 50 years after the event, that it was Special Response Group, Diplomatic Protection Squad, Police ID. I was told he was a commander in the Metropolitan Police, but was never able to confirm that fact. Partially because I never knew his real name.
  4. I was doing some post production work for a documentary film maker about 5 years after the date this story was set. A US distributor was interested in it, and requested that it be supplied on physical film media. 3 years later, the same distributor refused to accept a film unless it was transferred to digital format. The world changed very quickly in a very short time with respect to film media.
  5. I always start by writing the ending, then the rest normally takes care of itself. That is unless you did something totally stupid at the beginning which writes you into a corner, which I have done a couple of times.
  6. These are a series of short stories, set mostly in London (though a couple are set in the English Black Country) about gay life in England during the period 1965 to 1975. They are not a formal series of stories that follow any structure. Each story is intended to be stand alone, though some characters turn up in more than one story. The period they cover is basically that of the change an underground campaigning movement CHE, to an openly proud gay society demonstrated by PRIDE. How many of these stories there will be and how frequent they will turn up, I do not know. To give an explanation, my friend Simon comes to visit me most Thursdays evenings, we spend the evening watching old films or obscure foreign language TV series. Often, in the discussion about what we have been watching, something will come up about the 'old days' and I will talk about the gay scene as it was before the law changed and in the years immediately after (when, if anything, the persecution was even more intense). Simon has been telling me that I should write these reminiscences down. So, I have now started to record our conversations, when we start to discuss the old days, and am writing them up. At the time of writing this I have seven recordings. Three have already been written up and passed onto Mike, two are in the process of being produced.
  7. Oh goody, one of my favourite Michael Arram stories is being reserialized. Not only that, it is a revised version, now with a new title. A new title which I will say makes a lot more sense than the old one, which was "Son of a Chav Prince". This is well worth reading, it is well worth re-reading if you have read the original version. One problem with many of Michael's stories is that they are somewhat dependent on you knowing the background contained in the earlier stories. Yes, I know it is something I am guilty of as well with my Johnny series, and no doubt I will be guilty as well with Joey, it is something that is difficult to avoid as a writer. One does not want to keep repeating things you have already written about. Although 'Hide and Seek' is part of a series, it is far more stand alone than the other books in the series. You do not need to have read the preceding stories for this to make sense.
  8. You are in serious need of an effective centrist party, the existence of which would force the Republicans and the Democrats to move back towards a central position rather than an extremist one.
  9. I would lover Cole to write Rabbit's story after his encounter with Charles.
  10. I also fear for the freedoms which America is supposed to hold dear. It claims to support freedom of religion, but that only seems to apply provided you are an adherent of a narrow interpretation of Christianity. If you are a liberal Christian, then your beliefs have no value. May the gods help you if you are a Pagan. Your very fundamental belief has just been trodden on by SCOTUS, that the woman is free to follow her own conscious. Fifty-five years ago I was doing an A-level in Government and Politics. Although this was based on British Constitutional theory, we looked at other political systems around the world. One thing we looked at was the US political structure. My Government and Politics lecturer stated that "America has been fighting a Cold War version of the Civil War since the day Lincoln was assassinated." I am sorry to say that the current situation probably goes to show that sentiment not to be so wide of the mark.
  11. This story is now at chapter 2 on Storylover and gives all the signs of being an interesting and challenging story. What we have is a white boy who is starting to question his own attitudes over race, and a black boy who is being harassed by the police and some indication of a possible interest between the two. Where this story will go I cannot guess, but knowing Ronyx it is going to be interesting. You can find it at: https://storylover.us/?t=CWYSqpOr1OSCBMqt
  12. The story of Henk, told in Being Johnny, is essentially the story of a friend I made whilst I was living in the Netherlands. All the major events, reported for Henk happened to my friend, including being forced to leave Australia after his conviction in a Nazi era court came to light. The only part of the story which was not taken from my friend's experience was the execution of Henk's pal in the work camp. The description for that came from another source about the treatment of gay men by the Nazis.
  13. To address a point that has been raised by a couple of different people who have emailed me. Johnny, Mike and Anne do not go to church, that is why there is no mention of them going. In book one Mike identifies himself as being Pagan and Johnny identifies himself as Buddhist. Anne's religious affiliation, if any, is not made known. Even if they had identified as Christian, it is doubtful if they would be going to church. The largest Christian denomination in England, the Church of England, has less than 600,000 regular church goers. That is less than 1% of the population. Church going is not a regular part of life in England and attendance at Church would be an exception rather than a norm in any even. The only member of the cast of the Johnny series who does attend Church on anything like a regular basis is Miss Jenkins, but that is covered in another story.
  14. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
  15. Well, I'm writing mine, the only problem is I don't think there is a site that dare host them. It's not the sex that is the problem but the probably libel actions from people who want to deny they were ever there.
  16. I have just reread this after it appeared in Dude's Picks. It was a mistake. I was supposed to be going out at eleven this morning. I started to read it just before nine, intending to fill a couple of hours before I went up town to watch a parade. It is now half past one, I have missed the parade, not being able to tear myself from the story. In addition I have also missed lunch. Experience should have warned me, this is a story which catches hold of you and captivates you. It is a story which demands that you keep on reading. Above all it is a story that is well worth reading. Every time I find myself reading this story the same thing happens, I want to keep on going, to read it to the end. At least this time I have only missed a parade, which in all likelihood would have not been worth the trip up town to see, and my lunch. Last time I read this story, I started at ten-thirty and night and finished sometime about three in the morning. Unfortunately, I had to leave a five for the airport, so missed a nights sleep. That, however, has not put me off. This is a great story and one I will no doubt come back to read again and again. I think this has ben the fourth or fifth time I have read it and every time I have found something more in the story. That is what makes it so worthwhile reading it again and again. If you have not read it I can highly recommend it. If you have read it, read it again. In either case make sure you have a few hours free so you can read it right through to the end.
  17. This delightful and insightful story has come to an end. I feel that I want to know more about the lives of the characters in the future. If you have not read Going Whaling, then you should.
  18. The thing you are missing is that if it can be shown that Johnny is in any way, directly or indirectly, responsible in whole or in part, for the death of his mother, then he cannot benefit from the insurance. You cannot benefit from a death in which you had culpability, even where such culpability does not expose you to criminal proceedings. Yeland will still have to pay out but the payout will be to the next heir, in this case Beryl's parents. Depending on the exact terms of the insurance contract, as a beneficial party was in part responsible for the events which gave rise to the double indemnity, that would be void, so they would only have to pay out ten million, not twenty. For that saving it is worth fighting the claim.
  19. If they were in a court of law, then no doubt they would. However, they are not, they are in a court of inquiry. They have no right to object. The person who would have a right to object and strick out the question is the coroner. All Bernard or Martin could do would be raise a query with as to the appropriateness of the question with the coroner. However, is it in the interest of their client's to do so?
  20. An inquest is an inquiry into events. Under English and Welsh law any party who can show an interest in the outcome of an inquiry, be it an inquest or any other type of statutory inquiry, has the right to take part in the inquiry and question witnesses called before the inquiry. If it can be shown that Johnny's action in any way contributed to his mother's murder, the insurance company would have legitimate grounds to refuse all or part of his claim. As such they are a party who has an interest in the outcome of the inquest, so they are entitled to be a party to the inquest.
  21. We are now at chapter 4 and this story is getting better and better.
  22. No, that was Aunt Sarah, Issac's wife, Bernard's mother. Aunt Ruth is the one with the hairbrush!
  23. Just to make something clear, there is no legal drinking age in the UK. I have had a couple of emails asking about this. We do have a minimum age for buying alcohol, that is 18. A person under the age of 18 but over the age of 14 may consume alcohol of certain types (wine, cider, beer and porter) on licensed premises, if they are consuming a meal and the alcohol is purchased by a person who is over 18. It is illegal to buy alcohol to be consumed by a person under 18, however, it is not illegal for them to consume it. In the home, it is up to the parents when children are allowed to drink alcohol, though giving alcohol to a child under five years of age has been deemed to be abuse. It is quite common for teenagers to be served wine, beer or cider with certain meals. When I had Sunday dinner at a friends last year, his grandchildren (13 & 14) were offered a choice of cider or wine to drink with the meal. They both opted for cider. In the UK cider is alcoholic. This would be normal in many households.
  24. Read the first chapter of this and I must say it has caught my interest. The sense of place and time feel right. It also gives an insight into the realities of life for a whaling community, with the men away at sea for extended periods of time. I look forward to seeing how this story develops over the weeks ahead. Alan has provided a useful glossary of whaling terminology at the start of this story. I was happy to find I knew most of the terms but suspect many readers will need to refer to it.
×
×
  • Create New...