Sher Point Publications, UK

31/07/2024

Sneak peek
~~~~~~~
Here's a draft front cover of “Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt”, a forthcoming e-novel by H. M. Forester. Am currently 50 pages or 14,000 words in, and am just beginning Act two of five.

Image: Front cover of Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt. Genre: Psi-Fi. Front cover image: A cubist painting of Plato's cave, generated by Microsoft Designer.

28/07/2024

AI-assisted creativity
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
New study on AI-assisted creativity reveals an interesting social dilemma:

https://www.psypost.org/new-study-on-ai-assisted-creativity-reveals-an-interesting-social-dilemma/

Thanks to Mark Blagrove for spotting this.

Generative AI improves the creativity, quality, and enjoyment of short stories, especially for less creative writers, but also increases the similarity among stories, potentially reducing collective novelty.

27/07/2024

“The Legend of the Cake-Baking Islanders” Sufi short story ... https://mystical-faction.blogspot.com/2024/07/the-legend-of-cake-baking-islanders.html

Image: Cake decorator displaying deluxe fruitcake on baking line / JmanningCSB / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

25/07/2024

The Scent of Reality, by H. M. Forester (psi-fi, 119 pages). Free from our web site:
https://sherpoint.uk/sherpoint/review-copies.htm
or at the Internet Archive library:
https://archive.org/details/?tab=uploads

Art: The Sense of Smell, by Philippe Mercier (1689–1760).

25/07/2024

Let Readers Read: An Open Letter to the Publishers in Hachette v. Internet Archive ...

Please sign the petition.

Let Readers Read: An Open Letter to the Publishers in Hachette v. Internet Archive:

25/07/2024

“Find the Others”
Timothy Leary
~~~~~~~~~
Admit it. You aren’t like them.
You’re not even close. You may
occasionally dress yourself
up as one of them, watch the
same mindless television shows
as they do, maybe even eat the
same fast food sometimes.
But it seems that the more you try
to fit in, the more you feel like
an outsider, watching the
“normal people”
as they go about
their automatic
existences.
For every time you say club passwords
like “Have a nice day” and “Weather’s
awful today, eh?”, you yearn inside
to say forbidden things like “Tell me
something that makes you cry” or
“What do you think deja vu is for?”.
Face it, you even want to talk to that girl
in the elevator. But what if that girl in
the elevator (and the balding man who walks
past your cubicle at work) are thinking
the same thing? Who knows what you might
learn from taking a chance on conversation
with a stranger? Everyone carries a piece
of the puzzle. Nobody comes into your life
by mere coincidence.
Trust your instincts.
Do the unexpected.
Find the others...

Thanks to Poetic Outlaws for this.
https://poeticoutlaws.substack.com/p/find-the-others

Image: Woman walking on sand beach / Jeremy Bishop (tidesinourveins at Unsplash) / Wikimedia Commons (orig. Unsplash) / Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication.

17/07/2024

Andrea Wulf's Magnificent Rebels, The First Romantics: Book Review ...

https://mystical-faction.blogspot.com/2024/07/andrea-wulfs-magnificent-rebels-first.html

Image: The Soul of the Rose / John William Waterhouse (1849–1917) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

07/07/2024

End of the librarian? Council cuts and new tech push profession to the brink:

“Staff in England’s public libraries under threat of being replaced by automated checkouts amid budget pressures ...”

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/07/librarians-council-cuts-and-new-tech-public-libraries

Staff in England’s public libraries under threat of being replaced by automated checkouts amid budget pressures

05/07/2024

[Review] Nile Green's “fantastical” book, “Empire's Son, Empire's Orphan: The Fantastical Lives of Ikbal & Idries Shah”, about Ikbal Ali Shah and his son, the writer and thinker Idries Shah who helped establish the Sufi mystical tradition in the West ...

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6634102062

Extended review:

https://mystical-faction.blogspot.com/2024/07/nile-greens-fantastical-hatchet-job.html

02/07/2024

‘Reading’s in danger’: Frank Cottrell-Boyce on books, kids – and the explosive power of Heidi ...

https://www.theguardian.com/books/article/2024/jul/02/frank-cottrell-boyce-childrens-laureate-interview-heidi

He has written hit films like 24 Hour Party People and cooked up the Queen’s Olympic skydive. But now, having been crowned Children’s Laureate, he’s on a mission to show kids that books will change their lives

29/06/2024

Inspiration
~~~~~~~
“Just as anyone who listens to the muse will hear, you can write out of your own intention or out of inspiration. There is such a thing. It comes up and talks. And those who have heard deeply the rhythms and hymns of the gods, can recite those hymns in such a way that the gods will be attracted.”

~ Joseph Campbell, The Hero's Journey: Joseph Campbell on His Life and Work.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/242530.The_Hero_s_Journey

Image: Inspiration / Aliaxey Kuzmich (1945–2013) / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

( )

28/06/2024

“To write something, you have to risk making a fool of yourself.”

~ Anne Rice.

Image: Court Jester Stockholm / Anonymous, Netherlands / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

27/06/2024

National Literacy Trust:

“In September 2023 our research revealed that reading enjoyment among children and young people hit the lowest we have ever recorded. Together with our partners, we're working hard to change the story. Our next reading report will be released in September and over the coming weeks we will share how our partnership with Arts Council England and publishers is promoting the benefits of reading enjoyment across the country ...”

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/national-literacy-trust_connectingstories-letscreate-activity-7212008060070883330-mxuz

(No need to log in).

27/06/2024

On yer bike and getta job!

“Reading isn’t important because it helps get you a job. It’s important because it gives you room to exist beyond the reality you’re given.”
Matt Haig

Christian Krohg - Villa Britannia, Belgium, 1885.

27/06/2024

“The Lost Bookshop” by Evie Woods: Brief Book Review ...

https://mystical-faction.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-lost-bookshop-by-evie-woods-book.html

★★★★★ 444 pages it may be, but I actually gobbled this novel up in one long sitting, putting everything else apart from dinner, coffee, and ...

24/06/2024

Taking Dictation
~~~~~~~~~~
“I never exactly made a book. It's rather like taking dictation. I was given things to say.” ~ C.S. Lewis.

Image: The Inspiration of the Artist / Jean Honoré Fragonard (1732–1806) / Wikimedia Commons / CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

23/06/2024

The Lost and Found
~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Lost is not a hopeless place to be. It is a place of patience, of waiting. Lost does not mean gone for ever. Lost is a bridge between worlds, where the pain of our past can be transformed into power. You have always held the key to this special place, but now you are ready to unlock the door.”

~ Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65137920-the-lost-bookshop

Image: Old key on table / Daniele from Domodossola, Italia / Wikimedia Commons (orig. Flickr) / CC BY 2.0.

23/06/2024

The Outsiders
~~~~~~~~~
“They were outliers; they no longer cared for the kind of society that would not accept them. Instead, they inhabited a world of artists and free spirits who chose the vicissitudes of a nonconforming life over the comforts and security of the status quo.”

~ Evie Woods, The Lost Bookshop.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/65137920-the-lost-bookshop

Image: Front cover of The Lost Bookshop.

19/06/2024

National Writing Day
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“National Writing Day is an annual celebration of the power of writing creatively, inspiring people of all ages and abilities to try writing for fun and self-expression.

“This occasion provides a great oppportunity to celebrate the reasons why young people write - including creativity, mental wellbeing, and social action or connection - and to encourage everyone to find their own writing motivation and voice ...”

https://literacytrust.org.uk/about-us/national-writing-day/

Explore research and teaching resources to mark this annual celebration of the power of writing creatively, and to inspire your class to write for fun and self-expression.

17/06/2024

Internet Archive at Twitter/X:

Your voice matters - Sign the open letter to publishers, asking them to restore access to the 500,000 books they’ve removed from our library ✍️ https://change.org/LetReadersRead

Let Readers Read: An Open Letter to the Publishers in Hachette v. Internet Archive:

16/06/2024

Knock, Knock ...
~~~~~~~~~
“I have lived on the lip
of insanity, wanting to know reasons,
knocking on a door. It opens.
I've been knocking from the inside!”

~ Coleman Barks with John Moyne (Translators), The Essential Rumi.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/304079.The_Essential_Rumi

Image: Rector's palace - Door knocker 01 / Bernard Gagnon / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 4.0.

16/06/2024

The Shadowlands
~~~~~~~~~~~
“For all are men in eternity, rivers, mountains, cities, villages.
All are human, and when you enter into their bosom, you walk
In Heavens and Earths; as in your bosom you bear your Heaven
And Earth, and all you behold: though it appears without, it is within,
In your imagination, of which this world of Mortality is but a shadow.”

~ William Blake, Jerusalem, iii. p. 71.

Image: De grot van Plato ("Plato's Cave") / Attributed to Michiel Coxie (1499–1592) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

15/06/2024

Up the Creek Without a Paddle
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“How much more utterly bizarre and crazy do things have to get before we are finally shocked out of our sleep and apathy, and realize that our dreams of fame and fortune, burying our heads in the sand, and thinking sweet and happy-happy thoughts, aren’t going to get us out of the fine mess we’re in; and realize that we are up the proverbial and stinky creek without a paddle? As Roger Waters of Pink Floyd asks in the song “Comfortably Numb” which I grew-up listening to in the 1970s: “Hello?” “Is there anyone home?”

~ H.M. Forester, Secret Friends: The Ramblings of a Madman in Search of a Soul.

Available at the Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/?tab=uploads

Or our web site: https://sherpoint.uk/

15/06/2024

Down the Wrong Rabbit Hole
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are so far down the wrong rabbit hole here, people (short read): This Post-Enlightenment Era of Post-Trust, Post-Truth, Post-Rationality, Post-Honour, and Post-Chivalry ...

https://archive.org/details/?tab=uploads

Image: Hope in a Prison of Despair / Evelyn De Morgan (1855–1919) / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain.

14/06/2024

Robert Saunders at Twitter/X:

“I've been re-reading the 1945 manifestos for a thing next week.

“The sections on education – written in the middle of an economic crisis, with a huge job of reconstruction ahead – make quite a contrast with the narrowly econometric vision we get today ...”

11/06/2024

The Hegemonic Narrative
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“We live in a world where the story we're told is that this is the only way things can be, and this is the only way things are. And neither of those things are true and, at its best, this is what science fiction can do, is make you question both those assumptions.”

~ Cory Doctorow, “Capitalist Realism vs. Science Fiction”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zz-iHWzqGK0

Image: Campbell's Soup Cans in Daegu Art Museum / Artist: After Andy Warhol (?), Photographer: Choi2451 / Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0.

10/06/2024

The sad decline of writing
Philip Womack
~~~~~~~~~~
“We’ve fallen out of love with this most human act ...”

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-sad-decline-of-writing/

Fewer than a third of young people now write for pleasure, according to the National Literacy Trust. We’re losing the art of writing.

07/06/2024

“Nolite te bastardes carborundorum.”

~ Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale.

Images: Front covers of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and the sequel, The Testaments (2019) ...

04/06/2024

National Literacy Trust at Twitter/X:

“More than 76,000 children and young people took part in our 2024 Annual Literacy Survey and the results show stark regional differences in writing enjoyment.

“Children enjoy writing most in the North East (34.8%) and West Midlands (32.9%), and least in the South East (24.2%).”