Palantir

This is a heads up for Widderkin followers. Yes, the sequel is progressing (slowly) and currently stands at just over 60K words. I'm not game to start posting just yet - but my current sense of the story-line has me thinking that by about 90K it might be settled enough to start regular posts. There's a new excerpt on the Widderkin page of my website to tease your interest. https://diasporatales.net/widderkin/

ner

Knight

pass

Lol - I couldn't help but smile at the very last entry - I'm old enough to remember our phone working by turning a little handle to contact the operator at the local exchange and asking to be put through to the number you were asked for. Our number - Balmoral 2 - was quite distinctive even for a little country town in Australia - and at times quite disconcerting for people who would confuse it with a certain location in England. As a lad I listened to 'Biggles', 'Inspector West', and other serials on our valve radio. - tv's didn't reach our smaller country till my mid teens. Thank goodness for books!

boost

rua

Lol - until I clicked on the link I thought 'Lash day' was about whips.

Elliot

Lol - Flirting week?

Yes, this is the way it was. By one of those curious coincidences, just ten minutes before I read Drew's blog I was reflecting on an article in our Australian Press about 'the gay prison'. The prison opened in 1957 in Cooma when the NSW government was trying to eradicate homosexuality from the face of the earth. Decriminalising consensual sex between men happened in 1984. Many other laws have changed since then, including the land-mark same-sex marriage bill of 2017, but fear and condemnation is a factor for sections of our society. Under the guise of 'Freedom of Religion' certain (so called) Christian Schools want to be able to expel gay and transgender students and debate about this has featured on the media in recent weeks. The bill has been shelved but the hurtful messages are there for young people struggling with the identity and their place in the world. - one school in Brisbane required parents to sign a 'contract of faith' which put gays and transgender in the same sentence as paedophilia and bestiality. For some this is the way it still is.

prom

stone

What!!! Shock !! Horror!! -My hair is standing on end at the thought that our daily feast has been cut short? What will sustain us while we wend our weary way through the vicissitudes and variations of word-nerd day? Wait - Instead of accepting a dreary martyrdom, I see that providence decrees that today we assume divinity - and so: ALL IS FORGIVEN, MY SON! ALL IS FORGIVEN!

bleed

ana

splinters

Great

war

knave

daks

punishment

horse

gear

califragi...