In Today's Issue
Read a Book Day
My Book - Sneak Preview
Did you know? - Reading a Book
Random Joke of the Day
That's Amaaaaaaaaaaaaazing
Finish with a Song
Read a Book
Today's the day to pour yourself your favourite beverage, get comfy and immerse yourself in a good book.
Research has shown that reading can have several health and social benefits. Frequent readers tend to have lower stress levels than non-readers. In addition, reading can stimulate brain activity and improve memory. Socially, reading can reap a lot of benefits - well-read people tend to be more empathetic and aware of societal ills and differences.
Reading can also improve critical thinking and comprehension skills and can make people better writers.
So READ !
This is my latest book, available now on Amazon, check out the 5 Star reviews.
I have another book out this December, title to be confirmed, but here is an extract from, working title "Woolworth's Fine Dining"
Jack, at first,
felt no trepidation about being alone and unable to see where his mother had
gone.
He would look for
her in a bit. He walked over to the middle of the store where stood a huge
escalator, its teeth eating up the floor. Above it was a list of levels and
their various departments. To Jack they looked like the destination boards used
at airports, he could just imagine a week's holiday in Abi Dashery. There were six floors in total ranging
from Homewares to Soft furnishings. But
it was one level that immediately caught Jack's eye, so much so, that any
thought of his mother paled into insignificance. Right there on floor 6, just
by the side of, Store Restaurant was,
TOYS.
Jack stepped onto
the escalator; he marvelled at its robotic movement as it rose him up to the
next floor, how the steps formed from nothing into large metal boxes to fade
away again and be
sucked in by the flat floor. He ran around
only to see it re-forming another ladder up to the next level.
Finally, he was
approaching the sixth floor; it slowly appeared before his eyes like a
developing picture, pixel by pixel and then here it was Nirvana.
Jack had no idea
where to start, there were rows upon rows of action figures, construction toys,
cars, guns, robots, in the corner of his eye he glimpsed dolls, he shuddered,
"I'll keep away from that section" he mumbled to himself.
***
If Jack had owned a
watch or had, to be honest, any concept of time, he would, perhaps be thinking
to himself about where his Mum was or even, what time this store closes. He
didn't, and he wasn't. It was 4.55; the store closed, as most did in the
1970’s, at
5.30.
***
Jack's first port
of call was the action figure aisle. The only versions he'd ever had of these
were the ones passed onto him by his brothers, all were imperfect soldiers, and
he supposed like real survivors of battles, his artificial Infantry also had missing limbs. The ones in front of him,
though, were perfect. Raw recruits in his personal fantasy war, he could almost hear
them, barking confirmation of orders that he had given. The cacophony of
missiles and gunfire echoing around as his men stood steadfast against
impossible odds, and, of course, always victorious.
He could do no more
than fantasising at the moment, as each
action figure was tightly bound in the lover's embrace of their individual cardboard coffins. Jack was only 12,
but he knew that to open the boxes was wrong, but not for the store, they were
just the faceless peddling pimps of these dreams in plastic. No Jack felt for
the end recipient of these soldiers, although he'd never had anything remotely
new for himself, he would never rob the joy of packaging opening to any child, that slightly panicky joy when a present is
received for the outer peel to be shredded to find the fruit.
Jack turned away
from the army in front of him, slightly saddened, he was immediately cheered by
the sight of a massive model train display.
It was 5.25.
***
Jack was
transfixed, Lilliputian trains chugged around a perfectly formed world. The
whole display was mounted upon a
decorated display box, made to look like a grass foundation. The array itself was about eight-foot square. There were towns, stations and bridges perfectly
formed and in scale with the puffing trains. Tiny people frozen in place waiting
for their tiny trips, it seemed to Jack
that one click of his fingers would bring them out of their suspended animation.
"THIS STORE IS
NOW CLOSING; PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE EXIT"
A cardiac stab hit
Jacks, heart, he whirled and sprinted to the escalator. They were turned off.
***
The escalator that,
only minutes before was a gliding stairway now looked like a craggy cliffside,
all metallic teeth and large drops, he'd have a problem getting down that
safely he thought. He looked around for an alternative, STAIRS TO ALL FLOORS;
he made his way to the far side of the toy department.
"Hello sssssonny "a serpentine voice stopped him
in his tracks, he turned to see the figure of a store security officer, his incredible height was only eclipsed by his
thinness. So thin he nearly
wasn't there, thought Jack. Dressed in black with
a peaked hat he looked like a shadow waning in the evening sun.
"I'm just
heading out" answered Jack, "well good luck withthth that" smiled the guard, "the doors are locked
now", and as if to reinforce this fact, he jingled the keys attached to
his belt, the store jailer thought Jack.
"Oh sorry, can
you let me out" Jack was aware of the slight panic in his voice.
"Well that all
depends ssssssonny" once again that
rasping lisp, "will you pay ththththe toll? "
At twelve years old, although Jack had lived in
his lovely cosseted life and had no real
concept of such things, he suddenly felt a panic enveloping him as if now he
was prey.
The security guard
loomed over him, and Jack could swear he was starting to drool. Just like the
girl downstairs on the "Pick and Mix" he looked……hungry.
Jack didn't even
think he just reacted; he kicked the guard hard on the shin. The man shouted in pain, and it was at that moment
that Jack's world changed, forever.
***
It was now 5.50 and
the people rushing home outside the store were all wrapped up in their
pre-occupation, even if they could hear through the insulated walls and thick
reinforced glass, would any of them react to the screams of a young boy?
***
What, at that
precise moment made Jack scream, was the man's teeth. They looked like needles
dipped in egg yolks, yellow and greasy. This
his sanity could take, it was the sheer number of them. He seemed to have
hundreds and, in that split second he had seen them all in their horrific
carnivore horror. You see they didn't just cover his gums; they seemed to run
all the way down his throat. Jack wondered if the man's stomach lining was a
mass of chomping enamel fangs, and in that final glimpse, the break from
reality, what made Jack really cry in
terror, was the man's tongue, it was a mass of erupting ulcers, undulating and
popping, tiny volcanos of rancid infection
Jack spun on his
heels and ran; he had no idea where he was going to go, anywhere as long as it
was away from that monstrosity. He stumbled blindly aware that all the time the
guard was calling him "Don't be sssssssilly
ssssson, there's nowhere to go, and I've
got the keys, come on pay thththe
toll…."
Jack found himself
in the toy section again. Now the lights had been mainly extinguished for the
end of the working day. The only real light in this dimly lit area came from
the miniature train set, cheerily chugging around
its plastic world. Jack made for it, he could perhaps hide behind its structure, and the little light it cast could
help him spot his pursuer. He squatted down, panting in shock and the exertion
of running.
He felt the hot
squirt of urine in his Y-fronts as the hand shot out from below the display and grabbed his ankle.
Did you know? - Reading a Book
1. Reading can help prevent Alzheimer’s.
2. Being a reader means you’re more likely to learn something new every day.
3. People who read are more likely to vote, exercise, and be more cultural. ( well 2 out of 3 )
4. Reading can be therapeutic.
5. Reading enhances your memory.
6. Reading actually does make you seem sexier, especially to women. ( I am saying nothing! )
7. Reading helps to boost your analytical thinking.
8. Reading expands your vocabulary, so you’ll sound like a genius.
9. Fiction books increase your ability to empathize with others.
10. People who read are more likely to get ahead when it comes to their careers, and life in general.
My insomnia is awful.
But on the plus side – only three more sleeps till Christmas.
In Japan you are more likely to be struck by lightning than you are being shot by a gun !!
Finish with a Song
This is Elvis Costello with Everyday I write a Book released in 1986
