I'm sceptical about Global Warming Scepticism

I find myself in a difficult space. I am not a Global Warming sceptic, yet I find one of the writers and thinkers that I most admire is.

I've often thought the science did not seem completely cut and dried, but it also occured to me that funding from organisations with a vested interest in disproving global warming would far outweigh anything from the opposing viewpoint. Is it likely that manufacturers of solar panels and wind turbines could stump up more for research than the oil and motor industry? In that light, the sheer weight of evidence is what overcomes the sceptical view.

However, highly respected Australian broadcaster and writer, Clive James is a Global Warming sceptic.
I've just read his excellent book "A Point of View" - its made up of transcripts of radio monologues he gave for the BBC over several years, along with postscripts for each one revisiting and occasionally revising each piece.

A recurring theme is his sceptiscm of the anthropogenic global warming model. He frequently points out in his postcripts that every time he raised his sceptiscm in his broadcasts, there was resistance within the BBC to let him make the point. Fortunately, and James frequently credits his Producer, the right of free speech and the fact that the programme was called A Point of View, usually overruled the preferred, mainstream position.

A lot of the time, James is railing, not so much against the science of Global Warming, but more the unpleasant moves to try to silence any dissent. The lessons of history, particularly of those societies which have suppressed any dissenting voices, loom large in James's commentaries. He cites an unpleasant tendency to label those who question the prevailing view on Global Warming as "denialists".

James is no Tory, but it seems that age and experience lends him a perspective that is frequently missed by many left-wing commentators. Bullet-headed ideology will blame the evils of capitalism for bringing environmental ruin upon us all and prefer to leave the poor of the world without the decent standards of living that those of us in the corrupt and awful west enjoy.

I do join Clive James in refusing to join up to the view that the world has been ruined by the evil forces of Western capitalism. I'd say it is a fact that western capitalism and free trade has brought prosperity, freedom and health to more people than any planned economy has ever done. The evidence, and sadly the body count, largely points out that the more controlled the economy, and thus society, the more entrenched in poverty and oppression are the people stuck living in it.

Clive James has not turned me into a Global Warming sceptic, but he has provided a warning that we should always question the accepted wisdom - for the liberal democracies that western capitalism relies on, it is essential to have constructive and open debate.

Besides - as long as Fox News and the various lunatics campaigning for the Republican Presidential nomination tout the notion that Global Warming is a myth, then the smart money would say it certainly isn't.

In a very seperate vein, this month's drabble pays tribute to one of the great All BLacks and the imminent movie based on Edgar Rice Burrough's pulp classic Barsoom series.
Ladies and Gents, I present "Dan Carter of Mars":

The tackle had been brutal. Dan vaguely recalled the sensation of being carried off the pitch and laid out in the treatment room but then, everything went black.
He awoke on Mars.
He’d missed winning the World Cup through injury. Now he was on another planet. Maybe it just wasn’t his destiny.
He was picked up by green-skinned Tharks, who came to prize his strength and speed.
Later, they captured a beautiful, red-skinned Princess. Dan was determined to escape with her.
“You must kick this ball through their gates,” she explained.
“No worries, eh?” said Dan. His Destiny had arrived.

An Acceptance!!!!!

I'm very chuffed to have my story "The Girl in the Cabin" accepted for an upcoming anthology - "Tales from the Bell Club", from Knightwatch Press, and edited by fellow SpecFic NZ member, Paul Mannering.

This story was originally called "Everyone goes to Hell", and had been written for a western horror anthology. Having had it rejected from a couple of places, it sat in the pile of stories that I was going to get around to reviewing and sending out in at the start of 2012, but when I saw Paul was looking for stories, it got a wee re-work to get rid of (in hindsight) its unnecessary framing story and off it went.

Hopefully this exciting-looking collection will be out in the next few months.

So, I AM a writer again....

Of course, if I got off my lazy butt and did some more actual writing I might get to be a writer more often.

More recent news...

I have got myself a Kobo ereader, which I am enjoying and will start looking for some self-published ebooks to see what's out there.

I've also decided to post a review of every book I'm reading, this year, on Goodreads. So far so good, have managed 3 novels and 2 graphic novels.

Right now....

I'm reading - Bram Stoker's original Dracula (free ebooks are great), and very good it is too. True Grit, the novel that two films have been based on (good so far), and a compilation of Clive James's short opinion pieces - very good stuff.

Watching - excellent Battlestar Galactica re-make, better than I remember Moonraker, acceptable Doctor Who Xmas special, very good Tintin at the movies.

This blog's drabble..

Jerry, a one-percenter, looked out from his penthouse suite and regarded the rabble below. The noise disturbed him while he created wealth.

Worthie, his butler entered. “Sir, they demand your head, your bonus or more equal distribution of the wealth that they have produced for you.” He raised a big gun.

“Damn it, Worthie,” said Jerry, “take a billion dollars as a raise.”

“Very good sir,” said Worthie, “I’ll go shoot the swine, shall I?” Jerry nodded.

Worthie headed out the door with a smile and keen eye.

Jerry felt better. This wealth distribution thing was simpler than he thought.

At last - the Tale of Sloppy Bunny

I’ve been watching...

Falling Skies - a new US sci-fi drama taking place six months after alien invasion has torn society apart, following the squabbling survivors. Frankly I saw the first couple of episodes and have given up on anything more. As a long-standing Dr Who fan, I encourage people to watch “The Dalek Invasion of Earth” for pretty much the same storyline, (humanity on the brink of extinction, bickering survivors, aliens abducting humans and implanting them with stuff to make them mindless slaves) but with far better aliens, and, of course, a Timelord who’ll sort the whole mess out.

Survivor – not a sci-fi series but the US gameshow (let’s not call such things “reality” shows, if this is your reality then maybe the aliens have actually invaded). A fairly dull series that has finally lifted off in the last couple of episodes.

Brandon, a nephew of a previous, and far more charismatic and devious, contestant, is continually harping on about his sodding faith and praises Jesus for helping him win challenges. It’s a pity Jesus wasn’t helping him to avoid getting chucked out. Oddly enough Coach Wade, the architect of Brandon’s fall, also claimed that God was telling him what to do.

So what does this tell us about God? God, like this viewer, can’t stand Brandon. God, like this viewer, would like to see the mental Coach Wade win. Or perhaps, God doesn’t give a monkey’s about Survivor.

(God doesn’t seem to take an interest in the US Republican primaries either, since His most devout candidate, Rick Santorum, trailed a weak fourth in New Hampshire.)

I’ve been reading...

Hearts in Atlantis – more Stephen King, and again, cracking stuff. The master on form and on about the sixties and the ‘nam.

Imajica – actually failed to finish the first volume of this Clive Barker epic. Promising start but it trailed away.

Adrian Mole: the prostate years – a little disappointing, mainly because the previous Mole book was so utterly superb. Mole struggling with real issues than his usual delusions is not as funny, but Sue Townsend is still an excellent writer and the Mole circle of family and friends are simply a fun bunch to be around.

I’ve been writing....

I’m actually managing to churn out a few hundred words a day, often around a solid thousand – “The Royal Wedding from Hell” is coming along quite nicely. As always, my abortive first version laid some groundwork for a much better second version; it’s all getting a lot weirder and more sinister.

And, hopefully, if I pull my finger out, it will be a novella that will be getting published in ebook form in time for Kate and Wills’ first anniversary (29^th April).

Is this self-publishing an act of vanity? Probably yes, but it’s also an exercise in just getting something “OUT THERE”, and getting a handle on how this new world of publishing works. There are already self-published writers of ebooks who have chalked up a million sales; sooner or later someone will self-publish the next Harry Potter or Stieg Larsson. To be honest, I don’t think it will be “The Royal Wedding from Hell”, but we’ll have a go.

And this blog’s drabble – I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand Beatrix Potter.

Binky and Sloppy Bunny peeked round the corner of the greenhouse. Farmer Gruber, with his spade, was waiting, just by the hole in the fence.

“We’ll never get past,” squeaked Binky, “but, the baby bunnies need these carrots.”

Sloppy stubbed out his cigarette. “No probs. I’ll distract Gruber, you get the carrots away.”

Binky watched as Sloppy hopped round the greenhouse and shouted “Oi!”

Gruber charged at Sloppy. Sloppy pointed to the corner.

Gruber turned and whacked Binky’s brains out.

“Nice one,” said Gruber, handing over a big carrot.

“Keep the carrots coming,” said Sloppy, “you’ll keep getting rabbit pies.”

What I've been doing and what I plan to do...

I’ve been watching....

Torchwood: Miracle Day – great idea, what would happen if people stopped dying? But lousy story. There’s no villain, just a shady conspiracy theory with no particular direction and our band of heroes are just dithering around following spurious leads that don’t really reveal anything or go anywhere.

James Bond – every Saturday night, TVNZ have been showing all of the Bond movies, in order. Great Fun, even the rubbish ones. I was surprised at how good ‘On her majesty’s secret service” was – it being the one with George Lazenby. And ‘Live and Let Die’ shows just how cool the 70’s were, at least, the jet-setting, digital watch, coffee maker and pale blue flares side of it was.

Aliens Resurrection – nonsense, drivel, just plain bad. Though Winona Ryder was still very cute.

I’ve been reading....

Stranger in a strange land by Robert Heinlen – hard work, an awful lot of philosophy and not so much action, but great, sixties-style, tripped-out, free-lovin fun. I grok it is a goodness.

Dolores Clairborne by Stephen King – excellent stuff from the master. Gripping, quirky thriller.

Imajica by Clive Barker – I’ve just started it, and it’s intriguing so far. A big difference between Barker and King is that Barker’s characters aren’t really regular people – they are artists or aristocrats or dealers in forgeries; there’s no normal people with normal jobs like in King’s, largely, blue-collar world of domestic violence and alcohol abuse. This doesn’t make Barker any less engaging, he still manages to make his characters believable, and both Barker and King conjure up awesome fantasty.

The Spy who came in from the cold by John le Carre – very good, grim, grey and hard cold war thriller. Set in the early 1960’s but there is no sign of any swinging going on, just grimy bedsits, menial filing jobs and bleak weather. No really, it’s a cracking read!

 

I’ve been writing...

I did manage to complete the “prologue” of The Power, so I have a kind of “origin” story for the Man with a Billion Brains, and the groundwork for the bigger story to come.

I will be doing…in 2012

Write and publish in e-book form a couple of novellas, one for end of April, one for November...

Write The War on Mars.

Write The Power.
Find homes for those poor, unloved short stories, currently limping around on my hard drive.
Do a Triathlon.
Have mild 40^th birthday mid-life crisis (will have to be approved by my wife).

Right, and this month’s drabble....with apologies to my Reader in Carterton; Appendicitis is NOT funny.

The Intelligent Designer had a hangover. What had the party been about; something about the Boss’s son being born in a million years’ time.

The Boss never had hangovers. “Get the humans finished,” he’d shouted, “they’re made in my image so better be done right. Not like that platypus thing.”
The Designer groaned. The human was nearly done. Hang on, what was the appendix doing there? It was a leftover from a cow. A shameful memory surfaced.
“Is it done?” shouted the Boss.
Sod it. He sewed up the human. He was sure the appendix wouldn’t cause any trouble later.

So what have my vast army of followers been watching/ reading/ doing/ planning to do?

The rough end of publishing...

A little bad news, the Twisted Library Press, where I had my Trip Hawker and superhero story waiting for publication has cancelled all of its upcoming anthologies.

According to Dr Pus (the man in charge of this small publishers), he couldn't afford to do the anthologies - they cost him around $1500 each to publish and the economic times made it impossible to fund them; he said he was struggling with his dental practice and so something had to give.

Very unfortunate, as I got the impression that he was a guy trying to get his small press up and running (a tough job even in a good economic climate) and was very keen on giving new writers a chance for publication.

Micheal Lea, who was editing the superhero anthology, said he would look for a new publishers so I was happy to let him keep hold of my story in the meantime, although he could promise nothing about when they might ever occur. From my point of view, the story was written to fit his book so unless I see a open submission that it would somehow work for, I'm not in a hurry to find a new home for it.

Trip Hawker, alas, joins the list of my homeless short stories......he's not alone.

I will concentrate on getting some decent work done on a novel (one or other) until the end of the year, then have a sort through the pile and see what can go where and get them back out into the world.

As a tribute to the horror fun and jollies of the Twisted Library Press, and because I'm reading the wonderfully creepy "Hell House" by Richard Mathieson, here is a 100 words of haunted house horror:

Floyd looked round the table at the other two survivors of Helmdark Hall.

Margot was smug; surely possessed. It explained Dr Tewk’s disappearance.

Vijay was distraught; he’d watched his wife hurl herself to her death. No use now, but the Presence might decide to use him as a weapon.

Floyd was ready.

The table rocked. Margot laughed. Floyd pulled his revolver and fired.

Margot slumped, whispering “idiot.”

The knife flew from Vijay’s sleeve. Vijay was unaware, even when it hit Floyd’s throat.

Floyd’s mind went black; he heard voices. Tewk agonised, pleading forgiveness. Margot furious. The last voice just laughed.

I blame the Rugby World Cup!!

A while back I posted on how much I was getting into writing my novel (The Power!!), and how I was cheerfully churning out at least 500 words a day, how I would surge onwards to have a first, rough draft done by Xmas...
Then there was New Zealand Spec Fic Blogging week - I DID achieve my goal of 7 blogs in 7 days, being 7 drabble episodes of a self contained story...but my novel writing slid a little.
And then I reached a bit of a big ending to the first chapter of my novel - and I really had to grind out 500 or so awful words to get going on that bit...and haven't been able to get back to it since.

 

What also got in the way was talking about an idea I had for a more YA adventure, steampunky story set on Mars at the last Wellington SpecFic meet-up - I worried that the idea was just so unoriginal..but Craig and Paul seemed shocked by the idea that this should stop me writing it. So I started writing it, which gets in the way of the other novel.

 

Oh, and then Paul said how he was taking submissions for a horror anthology that I thought one of my homeless short stories might fit into so then took some time to tweak that (again).

 

So all in all, a fair lack of discipline to keep focused on ONE project.

 

Oh and six weeks of storming rugby action (talking of lacking discipline, I was supporting England) where awesome New Zealand held one of the biggest parties in the world, kept me from The Novel too.

The status now - NZ won the Rugby World Cup (at last), they had a victory parade through Wellington this lunchtime, and I have plugged away at my Mars story.

Goals for November

• Finish that last bit of the first chunk of The Power (maybe a thousand or so words).
• Write the 2nd chapter of The War on Mars (2 or 3 thousand words?).
• Finish editing the horror story for the anthology and submit.
• Watch less TV.

Going Down - Finale

Colin had found papers explaining the conspiracy that had taken his life. A gorgeous naked girl appeared from nowhere.

“I’m Tasha,” said the girl, “from a grim future you created.”
“That’s what it says here.”
“Do they say I have to kill you?”
“No, but apparently you can fix my iPod.” He laid the stylish gadget beside her hand.
She tapped her wristpad. The iPod turned on.
Colin’s sense of personal status and satisfaction returned. All of the bitterness that had consumed the future was gone.
Tasha vanished, paradoxically, from existence. Colin put in his earphones and left the office.


So there we are, 7 one hundred word chapters in seven days.
And what have I learned from this? Mainly that it is quite fun to just run at a story without any clue about where its going, BUT, it would be best to review and re-write before putting it out there. I feel a few changes a couple of chapters ago would have made the ending make more sense.

And the other thing I learn is that I really do benefit from a deadline. At least something gets written when there's one to spur me on, even if it is just my own deadline.

Tomorrow, the novel continues. Tonight, young Colin goes back to his life...or does he?