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A Year of Words
The year is 2007 and my mind is full of poems and a need to write. These poems I wrote are a diary of emotions reflecting the day that they were written. They are an eclectic journey through my year. They reflect an emotional journey whose intent is to diarise in rhyme the moment they were written.
Oft the poems are whimsical, sometimes philosophical, and other times musing. The poems were written without edits, the poems in this compendium are of the moment, no revisions were ever considered. These poems are my conversation with you, they are your insight into a very mercurial mind, full of emotion.
I have written poems all my life, and now at 74 some of them have found a page and an audience, please enjoy.
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Abbie Brown: On the Cusp
Abbie Brown kicks off her 34th year with an unexpected splash of fame: her Santorini vacation snap, featuring her in a vibrant yellow bikini atop a donkey, is plastered on billboards across London. (For clarity, the bikini is on Abbie, not the donkey!) Riding this wave of newfound celebrity, she lands a spot on Sir Giles Bromley’s BBC gardening show. Life seems perfect, until the universe serves her a slice of humble pie.
Navigating the chaos of single life (weighing in at 73kgs, if you must know), Abbie finds herself in the midst of an office medical drama, dealing with her nightmare flatmate Janice, and questioning if Rebecca truly is the refined acquaintance she seems. As for romance? Between George’s overbearing mother, Oliver’s youth, a married butcher, a BBC exec with a cringe-worthy habit, and the not-so-perfect ‘Peter Perfect,’ Abbie’s love life is a rollercoaster. Yet, she remains hopeful that her knight in shining armor is out there in the vast English countryside.
In the midst of it all, she gains a furry companion: Woofer, a lovable terrier with a quirky ear. Plus, there’s a promising spark with a dashing farmer from the Yorkshire Dales. The two are smitten. (We’re talking about Abbie and the farmer, not the dog, of course!)
But with Abbie’s track record, what could possibly go awry? Dive into a tale of unexpected fame, comedic misadventures, and the quest for true love.
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Against the Rising Sun
In the 1962 edition of Australia in the War of 1939-45, Dudley McCarthy describes his account as “the story of small groups of men, infinitesimally small against the mountains in which they fought, who killed one another in stealthy and isolated encounters beside the tracks which were life to all of them; of warfare in which men first conquered the country and then allied themselves with it and then killed or died in the midst of a great loneliness.”
The jungle warfare in New Guinea and throughout the Pacific tested troops and their support apparatus to the very limits of endurance. Often the test proved too difficult. Once hardened by experience, those fighting men who lived and died in the jungle, eventually became masters of their surroundings, with the strength and skill required to dominate and defeat their opponents. The jungle changed those who fought within its depths fundamentally.
Survival in the jungle requires stamina, prudence, and imagination to compensate for the discomfort, disorientation, and isolation the jungle imposes on all who venture within. The jungle is a primaeval world in which sound and light, heat and damp collide, corrode and corrupt, until all that is left is sensation, fear, uncertainty, and McCarthy’s ‘great loneliness’.
Against the Rising Sun is the first novel by Steven Sharman, born of a twin passion for history and fiction, dedicated to courage under fire.
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Ahmed is The Angel of Egypt
Two very different worlds collide when Stella meets Ahmed through the internet. Ahmed is a Muslim from Cairo, Egypt and has been through much turmoil in his beloved homeland. Stella has lived a sheltered life in England and has recently split from her long-term boyfriend. Over time, despite the many cultural differences, love blossoms between the two and Stella decides to take the plunge and meet up with this dark, handsome stranger. How will Stella fare in this unfamiliar land?
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Alan’s Lesswilling Chronicles: the monologues of an unhappy man
Alan is trying hard to make sense of his world since his wife left him for Chuck in Morewilling and the local Co-op closed down.
21st century technology is eating into his wallet and his soul, and the price of a night out doesn’t leave change from a tenner anymore. But he is sure about three things:
No one in Lesswilling needs a bidet or a hot tub.
There’s no place for preserved lemons on British supermarket shelves.
His mother was right about hindsight – it is a “wonderful thing to meet your own arse coming back.”
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Alba Regained
Frustrated equally by misrule at Westminster and the Scottish government’s failure to progress the independence agenda, a reinvigorated Scottish National Liberation Army seizes power from Scotland’s ruling party, the SNP, after a campaign of attrition during the 2020s. This tale follows the adventures of two young revolutionaries as they pursue their patriotic goal whilst struggling to understand their own personal and philosophical commitment to the cause.
With the effects of climate change now moving into a series of extreme weather events, normal life is so disrupted that unnatural (some would say magical) events appear almost as everyday occurrences, until eventually the human turmoil and the weather disruption come together in a dramatic conclusion that puts into question the singularity of the human experience.
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Alexandra
Alexandra is a story set in a near future that is all-too-possible. Humans are changing the environment and ecology of the planet without thought to the consequences for the planet or human civilisation. Many civilisations have collapsed in the face of environmental change, and our current technology dependent society is also vulnerable despite the hubris of science and technology. The novel follows two young women who learn to cope in a world that changes completely in their lifetimes.
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Aliens Among Us
Immerse yourself in a riveting sci-fi adventure that takes you across the vast expanse of the universe. The human brain is like a maze, with each route leading to a different event, crossing each other for a second, an hour, or an eternity. In this tale, we follow Jane, a single parent with a large family, as she embarks on a journey through space with her kids from different fathers.
Their adventure begins when a meteorite, resembling a spacecraft, lands on Earth, leaving the whole Wardis school bewildered. Jane’s children, Jes, Hassy, and Harrison, take the initiative to explore the strange object the same evening. However, while investigating, they suddenly find themselves transported to another dimension and galaxy, caught in a mysterious energy eruption.
The planet they land on is in the midst of a brutal civil war between Octopi and Sea horses, with the latter desperately seeking a hero to save them and restore order. Jes becomes their champion and the fate of the entire galaxy rests on his shoulders.
As Jane frantically searches for her missing children, she finds herself in a world beyond her wildest dreams, where Sea horses and Octopi engage in epic battles for control of the universe. Will the Warrod family survive this perilous journey and return home safely? Can Jes save the galaxy from destruction and unite the warring factions? Find out in this mesmerizing and unique adventure that will leave you on the edge of your seat.
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All in Good Time
‘I sit and write poems for minutes not hours, whether sitting in traffic or hiding from showers’ typifies the urge to express my poetry and verse, inspired by feeling, thoughts and everyday life. Words from the heart to those that just have me laughing through each and every line, I trust in sharing an anthology that you will read over and over again, to share with those around you, from young to old alike. Poetry both emotional and entertaining, romantic and in tribute, are words and thoughts that readers will resonate with and most of all enjoy.
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All the Young Dudes
Question: What do you get when you cross a not-so-lovable rogue with an uptight lawyer and throw a little Elvis into the mix?
Answer: A thoroughly ripping page-turner of a yarn and a permanent residency in Heartbreak Hotel. Ellie Russell could certainly be forgiven for thinking somebody up there doesn’t like her. Laugh with her, cry with her – be very glad you’re not her!
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Alliance
What happens when humans discover that they are not alone in the vastness of the Universe?
Theodore Newsome’s space cadet training is abruptly cut short not far from completion. That is one of the first consequences. He is thrown in at the deep end along with three of his fellow space cadets. It is a deep end that could be bottomless.
Contact with aliens was not meant to be like this, especially as a threat to an alien race could soon become a threat to the human race.£8.99 -
Almost Down to Earth
In this fable for our times, feisty M’bali Hoyle has returned to the town of her youthful disgrace.
Will tiny, isolated Quimbleton take her to its heart this time?
Two glamorous visitors drop into her world just as she meets ex-rock star Hayes.
Only M’bali sees the dark threat behind their glitzy facades.How can she convince Hayes and the starstruck locals, a cast of rural eccentrics, that her intuition is right?
Can she draw them all more or less together when danger strikes?
With a dry wit, the narrator observes the foibles of human nature as the reader is launched into a twisting, turning adventure with the future of life on Earth at its core.
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