Sunday 11 August 2013

Something different: Seeking asylum




Seeking asylum



 

It is a quiet suburban street; a brick house with a tiled roof sits unassumingly in the middle of the suburban utopia. The lawn is well kept the garden sparse but tidy. Inside the modest house a woman is home with her young toddler and older son. It is school holidays and the older son is reading on the lounge.
Suddenly he is startled as a shadow looms over his book. He looks up in time to see a man lunge at him with a machete! He tries to scream as the blade pierces his skin plunging deeper into his heaving chest. Blood soaks his shirt as the blade is withdrawn and thrust again and again.
The woman hears a noise from the kitchen where she is preparing lunch for her children. She is unnerved by the noise, unsure of exactly why, but knowing in her gut that something is wrong. She slowly walks from the kitchen into the lounge room, she screams at the sight that assaults her.
A man tall and strong holds a large knife to his mouth, he is licking the red from the shining blade, his eyes widen in delight as he sees her, and he smiles as she sees the limp form of her son dead on the blood soaked lounge. Her scream seems to fill him with joy as he points the still dripping blade in her direction and laughs.
She sees her son bloody and severed, his vital fluids leaking, staining the lounge room carpet she knows he is dead, his life stolen too soon by the madman with the blade. Her only thought now is the safety of her young daughter. Her daughter is having a nap in her bedroom; the woman knows she must act quickly. She runs through the lounge within a few feet of the madman. She has to get past she has to save her child.
The madman lunges as the woman runs at him, his attack is wild and misses badly. He wasn’t expecting her to run in his direction, they rarely do that. She moved down the hall and he followed, curiosity momentarily overriding his blood lust.
She ran down the hall into her child’s room, her daughter looked up at her as she entered and immediately started crying from the sight of her distraught mother.  The mother bolting to the crying child lifts her into her arms and turns back towards the door. She is in a panic her mind reeling, she can hear the madman.
“Where you go meat? Gone to find me some more meat?” he booms as he approaches the child’s bedroom.
She turns toward the window, opens it with one hand, mustering the strength from some hidden reserve, like only a protective mother can. She climbs through ensuring her young daughter is safe. She runs holding her daughter tightly in her arms.
She looks at the house to her left, seeing no one is home she runs to the house on the right. The house has a large fence, a large dog barks madly at her as she approaches.  
‘Meat!” the madman screams as he appears from the shadows of the approaching night as if my some foul sorcery.
She looks around frantically as she strokes her child’s hair, there she sees across the road and a house down. The house has lights on and she can see a car in the drive way. She runs towards the home diagonally across the deserted road, her thoughts of safety assured as she passes the front fence and sees a neighborhood safe house sign on the brick fence.
She hammers on the door with her trembling fist.
“Let me in, please let me in!” she begs, grasping for breath.
You are inside the home she has fled to, you heard some strange noises and you have watched from the window. You saw the woman leave her house via a side window. You saw her move past other homes before seeking assistance at your own. You saw the woman carry her child across the road, not going down the end of the street to the pedestrian crossing.  You heard her knocking on your door and not using the doorbell.You know your house is safe alarmed and secure.
What do you do?


                                                                                                                                         KA


Thursday 18 July 2013

A Little Gay History

A Little Gay History: 

Desire and Diversity Across the World

 

 

Authors:                                R. B Parkinson
Contributors:                                   Kate Smith
                                               Max Carocci
Design:                                  Will Webb Design               

Publisher:                             The British Museum Press           

Type:                                     TPB

Pages:                                   128

Genre:                                  Non fiction

Published:                            2013

ISBN:                                    978-0-7141-5100-7

Source:                                 Independently purchased 

 How old is the oldest chat-up line between men? Who was the first lesbian? Were ancient Greek men who had sex together necessarily gay? And what did Shakespeare think about cross-dressing?

These questions start of the book and the readers journey into a history that has been hidden from the mainstream world for far too long. 

The book itself is a smallish thing about 7" by 7 and a half inches. It has an odd double cover, that is to say that the cover is folded over to make the cover thicker. The effect is nice and might add to the durability of the book. The pages are high quality and glossy pictures are lavishly portrayed on almost every page, in full vivid colour, where that is appropriate.

The book is an introductory evaluation of some historic artifacts and what they may imply about the history of same sex love and attraction. It is the perfect starting place for any avid historian or curious person. The book is careful not no go out on any limbs and only state the facts, if an object is open to interpretation this is clearly stated in the text.

I found this book to be an interesting read and a copy should be found in every high school library and counselors bookshelf. It is highly important that we put a stop to the straightening of history. 

I myself have noticed just recently that Wikipedia has had almost every reference to gay marriage deleted or replaced with the term civil union, despite in a lot of cases marriage being the correct term.

We also have the movies rewriting history making the heroes of old straight and dishonoring there memory. 

I feel books like this one are important so that we do not allow bigotry to foster ignorance.

This book itself is not as heavy as all that and is easily approachable and readable by the average person.





Thursday 13 June 2013

The Van Meter Visitor

The Van Meter Visitor

A true & mysterious encounter with the unknown.






Authors:                                Chad Lewis, 
                                               Noah Voss, 
                                               Kevin Lee Nelson. 
Cover Design:                       Kevin Lee Nelson               

Publisher:                             Back Roads Lore             

Type:                                     TPB

Pages:                                   238

Genre:                                  Non fiction

Published:                            2013

ISBN:                                    978-0982431467

Source:                                 Independently purchased 

 The year was 1903, the place was a Iowa town of 1000 souls, the creatures that clawed there way up the coal mine and into the night to terrify the townsfolk are a mystery. 
This book seeks to explore the event and answer the question that had puzzled historians and zoologists for a hundred years. 
What was the Van Meter Visitor?

The book itself has a nice olden timely cover with a great antiquated looking photo. There are a good number of diagrams, historical photos and news clippings thorough the book, helping to add to the feeling that you are uncovering the secrets of the past.
I noticed about six editing errors while reading the book, though i must stress that they were little things (like sentence missing the word "as"), and none prevented my understanding of the text.
The forward is written by Brad Steiger (an author of works on the paranormal, spirituality, and UFOs), a good contents page, useful appendix, and well spaced bibliography, the reproduction of the news clipping and the story in full text form was much appreciated.

This book is a non fiction study of what occurred in Van Meter all those years ago. It is exhaustive and covers many possible explanations for the events in question. The authors seem to know just when they are about to overload the reader with too much information and gently steer us back to the subject, before we are weighed down with the intricacy of any given theory.

I am continually amazed by how today's science is catching up with the knowledge of pagan belief systems, i find this subject fascinating and it was touched on in this work while examining possible explanations for the mystery. Explanations range from the simple; a previously unknown radioactive mutant subterranean species to the truly preposterous, such as an a burglar. While i don't agree with the authors favourite explanation as to what the visitors were, i definitely enjoyed learning about the visitors and building my own opinions based on the evidence uncovered by the authors and appreciate there unbiased reporting.

I found this book to be a fascinating read and i am sure anyone interested in cryptozoology, paranormal activity, meta physics, parapsychology, thought forms, UFOs, aliens, or history will find this equally enjoyable.


Chad Lewis has written many books on the supernatural including The Road guide to mysterious creatures, and The Road guide to haunted locations series's.

Noah Voss has published Mysterious Madison and UFO Wisconsin.

Kevin Lee Nelson has contributed to many books on folklore and been an expert on many television program.

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Monster Files



Nick Redfern's Monster Files

A look inside government secrets and classified documents on bizarre creatures and extraordinary animals.
 



Author:                                 Nick Redfern  
Cover Design:                       noir33                                   

Publisher:                             New Page Books              

Type:                                     TPB

Pages:                                   285        

Genre:                                  Non fiction

Published:                            2013

ISBN:                                   13978-1-60163-263-0

Source:                                 Independently purchased



 Have you ever wondered what role or knowledge the government has had in relation to mysterious beasts, and legendary monsters?
 If you have, Nick Redfern's Monster Files may be for you. 

The book itself has a nice colorful cover and is of high quality production. Some of the pages have an aged boarder and there are a good number of black and white pictures and photos thorough. 
I only noticed one editing error in the entire 285 pages, and that was a repeated "the". The book also has a useful contents, extensive bibliography and well written index.
All in all judging by a book by the cover, the book looks great, but what about its contents?


This is a non fiction, no nonsense exploration into exactly that subject. This book touches on the big names in cryptozoology such as Bigfeet (thats plural for many Bigfoot), The Loch Ness monsters and the Yeti, But also explores alien big cats (ABCs), Bombbats and Psychic trained landmine detecting cats. All aspects of the filed are examined with particular interest in what uncovered government files can illuminate on the subjects.

 Of particular interest is chapter 27 titled something dwells down under, which looks at Australia own ABC phenomena, whether the Thylacine (Tasmanian tiger) is truly extinct, and if our Giant monitor lizard exists at all.

 While i cant agree with every conclusion this book makes, like the Flatwoods Monster, most of the other conclusions seemed very reasonable.
I found the book to be a very interesting read, and can highly recommend it for anyone interested in cryptozoology, ufology, or government conspiracy.

The Topics included in this book are; The Abominable Snowman, Aliens, Alien Big Cats, Almasty, Boss Snakes, Cats, Conspiracies, Coverups, Dogs,  Humanzees, Aswang, Wolfmen, Bigfoot, Flatwoods Monster, Lake Monsters, Phantimals, Pigeons, Psychics, Sea Serpents, Tasmanian Tigers, Thylacine, Werewolves, UFOs, Yeti and many more in between.

Other books by this author include The Worlds Weirdest Places, The pyramids and the pentagon, Wildman!, Keep out!, Man-monkey, The Real Men In Black, The NASA Conspiracies, Three Men Seeking Monsters, Contactees, and Memoirs of a Monster Hunter.