Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Akmal Shaikh

The news that the Chinese authorities have chosen to execute Akmal Shaikh is ... unsurprising. The condemnations by Government leaders and other politicians are welcome ... but not enough.

No nation state has the right to take a person's life against that person's will. No government should hold the right of life and death over its own citizens or visitors to its shores.

Judicial execution must end. There is something we can do to help end it, here in the UK.

We need a new law. That law must make it explicit that the judicial execution of any Briton in any nation is an act of murder with malice aforethought, allowing the British courts to issue warrants for the arrest of those persons involved in the execution: prosecutors; judges; prison wardens and guards; oficials who have a legal capacity to directly intervene and offer clemency - but choose not to do so.

Of course, no nation state that practices judicial execution would be willing to arrest people named in the warrant, and it's doubtful that other nation states would be willing to upset the likes of China, the United States or Saudi Arabia by acting on the warrant when those people come within their juristiction.

But it will allow those people to be arrested and charged with murder should they ever attempt to enter the United Kingdom. Such as Rick Perry, Governor of Texas in 2003 when the Texans executed Jackie Elliot; Roy Barnes, Governor of Georgia in 2002 when the Georgians saw fit to murder Tracy Housel. And not forgetting those folks in Singapore who strung up that dog John Martin back in 1996.

Yes, Martin was a serial murderer, Elliot was a rapist-murderer and Housel also murdered an innocent woman. Nasty dogs. But a nation state that executes such deviants makes itself no better than them. A murder can never be fixed by further murders - not in anyone's name. Not even in God's name.

And nation states that execute people with mental disorders ... are no better than the Nazis in Germany with their ethnic cleansing and eugenics.

Akmal Shaik deserved better than the fate delivered to him this morning. In his memory, let us work to bring the perpetrators of his murder to justice!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - the final list

Advent's over: now it's time for prezzies and feasting and quaffing ... MERRY CRIMBOTIDE EVERYBODY!

01 Dec: The Oxen, Thomas Hardy
02 Dec: Annunciation, John Donne
03 Dec: En hiver la terre pleure, Victor Hugo
04 Dec: On the Morning of Christ's nativity, John Milton
05 Dec: We Three Kings of Orient Are, John Henry Hopkins
06 Dec: Winter is good --- his Hoar Delights, Emily Dickinson
07 Dec: Schoolboys in Winter, John Clare
08 Dec: To A Mouse, Robert Burns
09 Dec: The Wassail Song, traditional
10 Dec: Music on Christmas Morning, Anne Bronte
11 Dec: To a Locomotive in Winter, Walt Whitman
12 Dec: Facing Snow, Du Fu
13 Dec: A Christmas Carol, Christina Rossetti
14 Dec: The Burning Babe, Robert Southwell
15 Dec: Ceremonies for Christmas (excerpts), Robert Herrick
16 Dec: Good King Wenceslas, John Mason Neale
17 Dec: The Holly and the Ivy, traditional
18 Dec: Ring Out Wild Bells, Alfred, Lord Tennyson
19 Dec: Christmas Bells, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
20 Dec: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, traditional
21 Dec: Sonnet 97, William Shakespeare
22 Dec: The Minstrels played ..., William Wordsworth
23 Dec: Cocklorrel, Ben Jonson
24 Dec: Stille Nacht, Joseph Mohr

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - 24 Dec

Joseph MohrStille Nacht, by Joseph Mohr

Aspie quiz thingy



... so I have no excuse, then?



Online test here. I'm only posting this because it looks kinda pretty.

For those about to feast on Daffy ...

... some duck porn, courtesy of the ever-readable Carl Zimmer on his blog The Loom.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Monday, December 21, 2009

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - 19 Dec

Henry Wadsworth LongfellowChristmas Bells, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - 18 Dec

Alfred, Lord TennysonRing Out Wild Bells, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - 17 Dec

traditionalThe Holly and the Ivy, traditional

Gods in Jungle submissions update #9

To date: ten submissions to agents sent out; five form rejections, five outstanding - possibly lost in the post or festering in a forgotten slush pile somewhere. I need to email the outstanding agents to nudger them, but that'll have to wait to the new year now.

Also: no word back from the 2 publishers, from which I can only assume they have chosen not to offer a contract. So that brings the number of rejections to seven out of twelve.

The logical thing to do now is to prepare another batch of submissions to fresh UK agents, and also investigate US agents who accept submission queries online. The trouble is, though, this submissions lark has been going on for over 4 months now ("no time at all, Rik," I hear folks saying) and already I'm bored of it. I'm bored of friends and family and colleagues asking "When's that book of yours going to be published, Rik?" and then having to watch their eyes glaze over as once more I attempt to explain the publishing process to them.

Self-publishing begins to look tempting, even though I've barely scratched the surface of this complex and idiosyncratic business ...

... but maybe not just yet. What I am planning to do is to take down the current RikVerse book from Lulu.com - and publish a revised and extended version (with me listed as the publisher rather than Lulu) ... which in turn means setting myself up as an independent micropublisher. Exciting stuff, huh? I want the poetry book to be available in hardback, paperback and eBook formats. I'm not sure I need an Amazon.com listing as most sales have been generated via my website - and anyways I'm not happy with Amazon's (apparent) policy of demanding publishers offer a high cover price just so they can do their 50% off offers. In addition to the RikVerse, I also plan to finish and publish Snowdrop next year, and there's also SpinTrap, which I never see being published by a big traditional publisher (once it's finished and revised and polished and stuff) ... so maybe, maybe ...

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Monday, December 14, 2009

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - 14 Dec

Robert SouthwellThe Burning Babe, by Robert Southwell

A video ...

To celebrate the end of this year's (brown and musty) 70s fashion revival, one of my favourite songs from that (otherwise dismal) decade:



Pussycat. Mississippi. Enjoy!


(I can't wait to find out what next year's fashion colour is going to be. Please, no more tan, no more brown, and no more men wearing sandals and socks!)

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - halfway to Crimbotide

12 advent poems now posted to This:Poem, 12 more to go. I hope you're both enjoying the selection so far!

01 Dec: The Oxen, Thomas Hardy
02 Dec: Annunciation, John Donne
03 Dec: En hiver la terre pleure, Victor Hugo
04 Dec: On the Morning of Christ's nativity, John Milton
05 Dec: We Three Kings of Orient Are, John Henry Hopkins
06 Dec: Winter is good --- his Hoar Delights, Emily Dickinson
07 Dec: Schoolboys in Winter, John Clare
08 Dec: To A Mouse, Robert Burns
09 Dec: The Wassail Song, traditional
10 Dec: Music on Christmas Morning, Anne Bronte
11 Dec: To a Locomotive in Winter, Walt Whitman
12 Dec: Facing Snow, Du Fu

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - 12 Dec

Du FuFacing Snow, by Du Fu

Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Friday, December 04, 2009

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - 4 Dec

John MiltonOn the Morning of Christ's Nativity, by John Milton

... that second verse is to die for: 'And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay'

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

Poetry Advent Calendar 2009 - 2 Dec

John DonneAnnunciation, by John Donne

... let's spread the fun of Crimbotide!

Tuesday, December 01, 2009