General – Page 134

Emma - (Nightshade) — Emma – codename ‘Nightshade’

I’m using the title and graphic from my latest short story to give this post a bit of bite, though having said that, I wouldn’t advise biting into the plant of the same name. ‘Deadly Nightshade’ is the title of the latest of my short stories to grace my links here although this particular version has been overhauled from the first write of three years ago. The story and my heroine were inspired by a lovely young colleague I worked with at the time of the first draft. In her honour I’ve continued to use her name for the character, Emma. In the story, the character has remained true to the appearance, background and skills of her original conception. Thanks to a comment by my good friend Carmen I’ve now endowed ‘Nightshade’ with more skills – but you’d have to read the story to find out what they are. She is essentially an assassin, Nightshade that is, not Carmen, but unlike other characters Nightshade may go on to new adventures if her exploits are enjoyed sufficiently on Circalit. I like to try to make some clever, if not pretty loose connection from my post to the graphics I use and also on occasion a connection to my writing or life itself. Today my countless (or should that be numberless?) followers will learn that this post is no different. As an added piece of photographic entertainment I’m even using two graphics. How generous is that!

Just as the ingredients of the Deadly Nightshade plant can have dramatic results, so too can our decisions in life. Even as I write this piece the cogs of a large company are turning and somewhere in there is a man fighting my corner to help me change my working routine. What has that to do with writing? Well you may ask and the answer is ‘quite a lot actually’. I hope in the relatively near future to reduce my time at my ‘day job’ in order to increase my time at writing.

I’m not so dillusional that I think I’ll be able to produce a prize winning novel or a money spinning anthology of my short stories. The aim is essentially to reduce my working hours and simultaneaously get a position closer to home which will in turn reduce my travel time. In recent months I’ve given a lot of serious thought to my quality of life. Some things are beyond our personal control on a daily basis but if I’m ever going to make a stand as a writer it has to be now. My entry to the Good Housekeeping / Orion Books competition is probably already part of a landfill site. I didnt’ want to die of asphyxia so I didn’t hold my breath on that one, but true to my word, I’m still working on the novel. ‘HAWK, A HUMAN HUNTER’, remember it now? The aforementioned competition not surprisingly attracted several thousand entries and on 4th May the winner was announced … and no, it wasn’t me.

I’m not about to publicly discuss all my plans, but I do have plans and they don’t include the train journeys I presently undertake to get to work. As a hint, I would like to widen my scope with regards to my writing output and if I happened to earn some money along the way, well that would be nice. I don’t envisage my life changing overnight, but for anyone who is willing to visit and read my posts, you at least will be among the select few to live my dream … or will it be nightmare? No, I think we’ll stick with the positive, so as the more optimistic side of me would suggest, ‘watch this space ….‘ Oh yes, and thank you for visiting and reading.

As I’m sure most people will have done on the completion of reading the Millenium Trilogy – I reached the end with mixed emotions. I thoroughly enjoyed each of the three books in the series, but felt saddened by the loss of the author Stieg Larsson at such a young age. I felt it appropriate that I should use his image as my graphic for this blog entry.

In the first book, ‘The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo’ it becomes apparent quickly that the author likes a large cast of characters. It also strikes the reader that the names of Swedish places and characters will take some skill to adapt to. Once I’d dealt with those minor issues I found myself being drawn into the story and empathising with the main characters in their various tasks and setbacks.

The second story, ‘The Girl Who Played With Fire’ the action builds rapidly and pulled me in even more easily. The author feeds the background information in digestible chunks so that sharp memories of the first book come back whilst still reading. The main characters Mikael Blomkvist and Lisbeth Salander feel more like old friends as the intrigue deepens and more bad guys seep out of the woodwork.

When I started the third in the series, ‘The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest’ I was immediately impressed by the natural increase of pace from the previous two stories. It felt as if Stieg Larsson had ramped up the pace with each tale and once again he fed the back story in so that it was easy to understand. Although I would recommend any of the three books I would suggest reading them all – but in order so as to totally get immersed in the story of Lisbeth Salander (The Girl). As each antagonist was uncovered and Lisbeth’s survival and chance of freedom looked less likely, the story dug deeper into my consciousness. Lisbeth becomes the prime suspect of a triple murder but she disappears into humanity and begins her own investigation. Mikael Blomkvist, investigative journalist finds himself once more in danger as he tries to uncover the truth.

The third in the Millenium Trilogy is a rollercoaster of emotion and action but there was an underlaying message to me personally that spoke of man’s injustice to man (and woman), and what happens when too much power is given to the wrong people and they are allowed to abuse it. The scenes of violence were wonderfully drawn once again but the proceedings in the court will always be a clear memory from this series. Once again Lisbeth proves that you don’t have to be big to have power or control.

Throughout the series there is no secret that Stieg Larsson had a passionate interest in the welfare of women – whatever their age or circumstance, but in particular he highlighted many of the injustices to women. He may have used these books and Sweden as his platform but it should be remembered by all that these crimes and others are being committed against women every day all over the world. That is heartbreaking enough but in many cases, just like in these stories there are crimes being overlooked by those in authority.

Thank you Stieg Larsson for showing us how it’s done.

Your name will live on because of this series. R.I.P.