save the libraries

Recently, I have been going back to library for the simple reason of cost-cutting, saving 8-9 pounds per book and I found some real gems. I am lucky that in that around the area that I live in we have four libraries in pretty easy reach. Let's have a think, I have a two local library 20 minutes walk away, one approximately 30 minutes walk away and if I wanted something a bit more abstract Central Library in City Centre is 30 minutes on public transport. Personally, I do not think we need all the libraries that are open because they are not all being used to their maximum capicity and with 3 within walking distance, surely even closing one isn't going to affect things that much. Whereas getting to them is not a problem, I find that the content that is currently in them is an issue. When i first went back to the libraries, I went into my nearest one and went looking crime section, I stood there searching the stapled on sign posts for departments, no crime! Went to ask, the very helpful librarian, the answer i got "It is in the fiction department, all alphabetically sorted by author". I left the library at this point and found my salvation, the internet, luckily the Birmingham City Council have catalogued all their collection on the Web. I am reletively open with my choice of book, authors are not that big an issue for me it is the content of the book, I want a gripping, thrilling, hard hitting, original (you know what i mean, we all look for that unique one). I am into crime, true crime, horror, thrillers genre but then I am into Rome, Ancient History, good reference books that i can learn from. So I logged on using my library card and password, opened a new tab for Amazon (very useful 'people who brought this....') typed in an author I liked and i was away. Searched online catalogue, not at local library but can be transferred for pick up, made my 4 choices from my ever increasing wishlist and clicked for transfer. One Week later, email informing me that the books are ready for collection. DON'T CLOSE THEM! We need our libraries, I learnt to read from library books as have many millions of other children.

I dreamt that...

My imagination is one that can take over very quickly if I get an idea into my head. My imagination is abstract in that I can read an article and then suddenly I have gone off on a tangent to the depth I feel the emotions that are involved.


My latest dream, is a daydream and it has developed over time...

Back before Christmas, I saw a job advert for a Coroner's Investigator. I could not apply for the job no matter how much I wanted as it was ring fenced to people who jobs were under threat from being re-organised for whatever reason.






Well, the job has come up again this week on the internal job search, (not that I look frequently, I just happened to be browsing intranet!) and I really want this job but again Ring fenced.

Before I lose your interest, as you are asking what is a Coroner Investigation!!

"A coroner investigator is a law enforcement officer who works with a team of people to determine the cause of death in situations where a death is deemed suspicious. Coroner investigators work under the supervision of a coroner, also known as a medical examiner. People can enter this law enforcement profession from a number of different angles, including experience in the medical profession, experience as a law enforcement officer, or training in criminal justice." Quote from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-a-coroner-investigator-do.htm

Coroners Officers work under the direction of the Coroner and liaise with bereaved families, the emergency services, government agencies, doctors, hospitals and funeral directors.

So my dream starts....

I walk into my supervisors office and begin to explain how much I want the job, my previous qualifications of Forensic Science Degree and how I have a morbid obsession with finding out how people died and the case surrounding the death. All perfect to the role.



My supervisor calls the supervisor from HR and it is agreed after lots of percussion that I should at least have a go at the interview.

Well, I go and get the job!!!  I am cycling to jobs with my panniers on the back with all my paperwork collecting all the information I need for the cases. After sometime in the role (I can not determine this from my dream) I have completed the courses and everyone is happy with my role and the work I am doing, I get a promotion to Assistant Coroner and am sitting at the bench with the Coroner making the decisions with the Coroner.

I would like to point out that I don't think there is a role of Assistant Coroner! So this is my dream going off on tangents!!

Sweet Dreams everyone, I am going to keep dreaming about hopefully getting a chance to apply for this job. Let's hope it comes out to everyone.

Marc's A-Z of Crime Fiction

Decisions:

When writers start to write their masterpieces, the first decision that needs to be made is from all the snippets of information they have gained which idea are they going to expand into a Novel/Program.



So the BIG IDEA has been made and now the small decisions need to be made: Characters, Heroine, Plot, Setting, Names, Narrative, Signposting, Beginning, Middle, End!! Well, I could go on and make the smaller decisions and the more in depth parts of a story.

My hardest decision is pacing, pace you choose to excite or relax your readers can be very important in making your novel work. If it's nearing the climax, you better speed up your pace: make your sentences and paragraphs short to create urgency, make us breathless with anticipation, then let the literary axe fall so we can gasp for air and cheer the hero or heroine for a race well run.
But from beginning to end, your novel is likely to have several different paces. It generally won't be all fast, nor all slow. A good mix is essential.

The last Big Decision is knowing when to stop- Don't over do it, if you feel that the book is done at Novella stage or even short story...then is done!!

Death:

"Death is the permanent termination of life after the ceasing of biological function in a living organism"

Death comes in many forms: Old Age, medical conditions, accidents or trauma. From these 4 categories in  Fiction, you will not see many deaths from Old Age so we will leave that one.

Medical Conditions:

I have recently read 'Freaks' by Tess Gerritsen, a short story found on Kindle Store. A girl has died in mysterious circumstances after being found in a church, screams have been heard from the building and a homicide had already been decided until Maura Isles gets involved. Strangle marks found on neck, mouth gaping and limbs have been flaying from a struggle. Death has been determined as a bite from a Black Widow spider, medical conditions of heart attack has been diagnosed due to the weight of the body.



Accidents:

Here I have a large choice of deaths. I am going to choose Car Accidents and my choice is 'Still Life' by Joy Fielding, this is not quite a death but the story gripped me. Casey Marshall lives a happy married life and is suddenly struck by a hit and run driver. She is left comatose and after months in hospital, she is allowed to go home but still she remains unconscious. In her comatose state she can still hear the voices around her and realises her happy marriage was all about her inheritance and her husband was the driver!



Trauma:

Blunt force trauma, sharp trauma, head trauma, hangings. My choice for trauma is 'Blind Eye' by Stuart MacBride. Polish Community members are being found with their eyes gouged out and Logan McRae has Operation Oedipous to manage, the investigation takes a turn for the unexpected when a non-polish is found with his eyes gouged out.


Dan Brown:

I was going to do DA VINCI CODE for my 'D' and after some thought I knew that I was only going to talk about Dan Brown as writer.

Dan Brown has produced best selling books again and again, Da Vinci Code started off the domination of the Fiction market, Da Vinci Code is one of the biggest selling novels of all time. It started an obsession with the Early Christian History and a whole new genre was created of Historical Fiction along with people finding the lost scrolls of somewhere or the never before seen paperwork of someone.
Dan Brown has been seen as "the person keeping the publishing industry afloat" TIME Magazine stated.

So what makes Dan Brown so good:

• The debates that he creates, eg Da Vinci Code went to court in 2005 for plagiarism after it was found that some of the ideas from the book had been copied from another book and then in 2006 he went to court for similarities to HOLY BLOOD HOLY GRAIL.
• The other debate is his writing, his prose is very clumsy and the details he has put into his books are not always accurate.

At the end of the day, it does not matter. He has a winning formula and he should continue it!

Importance of Cat

Here is something that I wrote a while ago from the propsective of Bubbles (His picture below) who is one of my lovely Cats:

I sat on the garage this afternoon sunbathing as usual when I was very rudely awoken by a couple of people walking past. It wasn’t the walking past that woke me, it was the conversation that they were having and it was not loud, no shouting had occurred, they walked past and I heard a word and I thought they were talking to me. Lots of people who approach me call me CAT, as they don’t know my name but this couple said ‘catastrophe’ and this still made me look around.
This incident got me thinking, the cats of this world are very important as material objects, to families that we belong to but how important are we in the english language and I wanted to know how many words there were starting with CAT? I started my investigation on the internet, Google is a godsend, but I just found lots of words and didn’t have the patience to look at all of them, so I went to see Daddy who was busy in the study. I asked him how I could find such information and he gave me a Dictionary, Mr Collins must have been busy writing all the words and meanings in such a book.
First of all, I looked up Cat itself, feline mammal usually having thick soft fur. Purrfect description.
Then, Catastrophe, sudden acts of violence or destruction, not very cat-like I think, well not at the scale it was pointing to anyway. We just have sudden acts of excitement that leads to destruction, things get in the way you see.
More words that did relate to Cats were:

• Catcall – well this is purrfect, a loud high-pitched cry. Very cat like, but we prefer meow!
• Catch – we catch birds, fish, wuzzy things (Joey’s input!)
• Cater – to provide people with what they want. Everyone wants a stroke!
• Cat’s-eye – self explainatory
• Catty – unpleasant and spiteful, well not really only with other cats when they come onto our territory
• Catwalk – narrow pathway that people walk along. We catwalk on fences instead.

So how important are Cats in the English language, extremely important because we created lots of violent, destructive, but also helpful words.
But please remember as the people who walked past today realised (it took their mind of the conversation they were having), the word cat also defines every feline in the world and saying might mean you get some attention from us!

I still read it now and make me laugh!

Kings Norton to Stratford Upon Avon Bike Ride

Training has well and truly started now as I am trying out longer distances for size!

On Tuesday 10th, I was debating on where to go and thought: STRATFORD along the canal, very nice scenic route and it would be challenging 25.5 miles from Kings Norton to Stratford each way!

Set off from Kings Norton Junction at 9.30 and I kept a reasonable pace the whole way, and made it 3.5 hours. It would have been shorter if I would have thought ahead and NOT taken the canal route (there is another reason I wish I never took the canal but that will be revealed later on in the Blog).

Tip (and reminder to self!): Canals in the winter are very very boggy and it is a tough ride through lots of deep soft mud, the slipping and sliding and nearly falling into the canal!

I took one picture on my way to Stratford:

A reminder that I was heading to Stratford, all the locks grouped together!

So I arrived in Stratford for 1pm and I thought that I would be 12.30 at the latest but I did not think about the conditions so bit longer than expected! So my break was 30 minutes and with not taking on any food throughout the journey, I got off and nearly collaped!! My legs felt like jelly!

So after loads of Bananas, Musueli Bars and I was naughty and brought an energy drink to get my sugar level back up!! Half an hour break and I was off again but I took a few pics before leaving...



Lovely!! I forget how amazing the river and the surroundings of the RSC are!

Well off I went and what a journey this was...2nd reason for wishing I went back or both ways on the road...

BRAMBLES!!!

2 Inner tubes packed and used, thought NO WAY AM I GOING TO USE THEM BOTH!!! MISTAKE!!!!

So both inner tubes used and then as I forgot to check the inside of the tyres properly, did not get the problem out!!

2 MORE PUNCTURES and NO MORE INNER TUBES!!

I was walking from this point, I got to:

 This is about 5 miles from Stratford, oh yes only 20.5 miles to get home!!!  So, as I was not going anywhere fast, another photo opportunity of the view from the aqueduct....

Off I went and a phone call had to made as I could not walk the rest of the way...my fantastic wife agreed to pick me up but it was now 3pm and she did not finish until 5!!

Agreed to walk as far as I could until 4.30 and find a place to pick up from...thank god for GPS and my phone, I found Hockley Heath 10 miles away...quick walk started to get there...

I had some fun along the way though...GUESS THE PRICE???

 WHAT DO YOU THINK THIS IS WORTH?? WOULD YOU LIVE THERE IF YOU COULD??

HOW ABOUT THIS ONE???

I knew that end was approaching when the signpost finally told me that Hockley Heath was here!

We had a lovely meal in the Wharf Tavern, it was not until I got there that I realised it was the pub that I passed on the way to Stratford! Well, I was going to stop at all the pub on the way back for a relax but this was not like I planned!

RECAP: 25.5 to Stratford, 5 Miles back from Stratford (on bike) and 10 miles from Stratford (Walking)

Marc's A-Z of Crime Fiction

Crime -

Not all crimes can be written about as they would not make very interesting crime fiction books or programmes, lets have a look at some crimes that i personally have never seen written about (as a single topic):

Burglary Dwelling or Burglary Other Building

Criminal Damage (in any form e.g. car or building)

Anti-social Behaviour

Robbery

All the above would not make interesting reading/watching for most people due to the lack of gripping behaviour involved in the crimes, they are slow and meticulous crimes that need lots of legwork involved or can be solved very quickly if the person has left enough to identify them. Also these are very personal crimes, and with singular victims involved and usually single offenders, so therefore no story can be made around them.



Some crime categories that are used consistently are:

Sexual offencesRape, sexual activity, exploitation of prostitution; abuse of children through prostitution and pornography; trafficking for sexual exploitation; abuse of trust; sexual grooming.

Unfortunately all these are gripping to the audience as they involve many peoples stories can these are found on a regular basis in the news. The sad nature of the people involved as they are exploited for the cause of others greed is one that people find interesting.

Theft and handling stolen goodsProceeds of crime; theft from the person; theft by an employee; abstracting electricity; theft from a shop; handling stolen goods; vehicle interference and tampering.
Theft from a motor vehicle
Theft from a vehicle.
Theft of a motor vehicleTheft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle; aggravated vehicle taking.

Handling of stolen goods is a common theme in many crime books as they involve gangs and this is way that these gangs can make their fortunes, along with the other theft categories all these in some way can be related to gangs or people involved with crime. Theft of/from motor vehicles can be seen as usual way for the 'badperson' to get away from the scene of the crime.

Violence against the personMurder; attempted murder; threat or conspiracy to murder; manslaughter; infanticide; child destruction; wounding or other act endangering life; possession of weapons; harassment; racially or religiously aggravated other wounding; racially or religiously aggravated harassment; common assault; racially or religiously aggravated common assault.

This is the most common reason for people picking up a book is murder; lets be honest here! We all want to know how can the persons involve kill others and how can the detectives involve catch the killer from the clues left. The others are less common but I have some recollection of them being in some books I have read.

Patricia Cornwell -

Patricia Cornwell is an author that I had a personal dislike for many years, I heard a rumour that she exposed the 'BODY FARM' at University of Tennessee unit and this being a secret research facility she caused havoc to the facility.
I have since found out that this was a load of rubbish! I made a pre-New Year Resolution to forgot about all my previous mis-conceptions on people and make my own mind up about them.
I have therefore began to read Patricia Cornwell for the first time and this was very handy as SCARPETTA MOVIE is not long off!

CAUSE OF DEATH



Synopsis:
New Year's Eve and an investigative reporter is found dead in Elizabeth River..the final murder scene of Virginia's bloodiest year takes Scarpetta thirty feet below the rivers icy surface. A diver, Ted Eddings, is dead, an investigative reporter who was a favourite at the Medical Examiner's office. Why was Eddings in the frigid depths of the Inactive Shipyard for a story, or simply diving for sunken trinkets? And why did Scarpetta receive a phone call from someone reporting the death before the police were notified?

Review:
This is my second Cornwell novel as I read the much loved BODY FARM firstly, I found this edition to be less gripping than the previous book and was happy to sleep or do something else than read for hours on end. For me personally,I felt that the plot lines were a little rushed and could do with some more building up until the climax was reached and the characters that are the bad guys, the fascist group are introduced but never developed to a suitable standard.

Climax - 



Climax in a book or programme usual involves the heroine having that eureka moment and then the scene explodes into a fast pace, quick moving story line leading to the arrest of the offender. This is the main climax but throughout the story there will be a few climaxes that are resolved.

Definition: A climax is the high point, the turning point of a story.

The climaxes that are used and when they are used are vital to any storyline, if you placed them too early the reader will lose interest and get bored early. Putting them to late, in a way is good because you have hooked the reader but this can also be bad as you will have to wrap other plot lines up quickly and disturb your flow.

To write a good climax to the story, the way to do it is to back way up to the original conflict. Make the original conflict strong. Then as the story builds, you need two or three good attempts at resolving it.

Remember that a story is a "situation" - you are putting your characters in a situation and then having them work their way out of it. Unless the situation is strong, the climax will be weak. Generally a climax is some kind of a confrontation. Make it strong. Be very careful that it is realistic.

Make it realistic. You want as little detail as possible. In a good climax, it's like the air is suddenly sucked out of a room. Nobody breathes. There are very few sounds. Maybe the ticking of a clock. But nothing that is going to divert attention.

Public Inquiries

I had followed Stephen Lawrence in the News of the past few months and one thing that kept standing out for me, the words 'MacPherson Report'. I began to think is there going to be another Review Board to find the new holes in the case, we all wait for this.

MacPherson along with other reviews have been called in recent years to improve the way Police and other services respond to cases in the future.

I did a little research about these reviews and how the Police, Social Services and others have failed in their roles in the past and how procedures have been put in place to stop these failings happening again.

MacPherson



Stephen Lawrence had his life tragically ended in April 1993 and the report was released almost six years later in February 1999. The main points raised was the 'INSTITUTIONAL RACISM' within the Met Police and policing in general, and improving British race relations that had been difficult for many years.

The report made 70 recommendations, here are few:

• Many were specifically aimed at improving police attitudes to racism and stressed the importance of a rapid increase in the numbers of black and Asian police officers.
• The government pledged to increase the number of officers from minority ethnic groups from around 2,500 to 8,000 by 2009.
• It also recommended that the double jeopardy rule should be abrogated in murder cases to allow a retrial upon new and compelling evidence; this became law in 2005. If there was no change then Dobson and Norris would not now be convicted.
•  The Met will review its scene-of-crime procedures, the way it records crimes, its internal inspections and liaison between uniformed officers and the CID.
•  Dedicated Family Liaison Officers must exist in every police force at local level. Any complaints or requests from a victim's family must be recorded.
• Revised first aid training for police officers. It was found that the first officers at the scene did not know adequate first aid and this is now vital for the ethos of Policing 'Save life and limb'.
• No change in the stop-and-search powers of the police. Records of all stop-and-search operations to be published, and a copy of the record given to the person involved.

A lot of trust had been lost or probably never gained in the Police Forces in the days where racism was almost common place. Police forces had to work hard over the following years to break down the barriers to understand further the religions and respects that our communities have.

I know that Police Forces now incorporate the Scarman, Laming and MacPherson Reports into the training and from experience I know that this is the first thing that is taught to many of the employees to make them understand the consequences.

Laming Report

 

In 2000, 8 year old Victoria Climbie who lived in London was tortured and murdered by her guardians.  Marie-Thérèse Kouao, who moved with Victoria from Ivory Coast, it is not knowing if the abuse was happening before Kouao met Carl Manning.
During the abuse, Climbié was burnt with cigarettes, tied up for periods of longer than 24 hours, and hit with bike chains, hammers and wires.

Before her death, many partners were involved with Victoria. The Police, Social Services from four authorities, NHS and NSPCC.

Due to the partners not identifying the abuse that was taking place, an inquiry was set up led by Lord Laming.

It was initially discovered numerous instances where Climbié could have been saved, noted that many of the organisations involved in her care were badly run, and discussed the racial aspects surrounding the case, as many of the participants were black.

Recommendations:

• Front Line NHS staff to get basic details from all children that come in, any details missing passed to relevant department.
• Notes of all injuries to be recorded and if concerns a second opinion is to found.
• Training should be undertaken to ensure inter-agency working practises are in place.
• Government to issue guidelines on impact of Data Protection Act and the Human Rights Act on data sharing.
• Government to investigate creation of a national children’s database.
• A single electronic database must be used by all agencies that work with children.
• Before visiting a child, a social worker must check the information known about the child by other protection agencies. This implies the existence of a central case file.

 I could pick from a number of cases, above are two cases that affected the agencies involved the most.

Links to some more inquiries:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarman_report. Riots in the 1980s led to reform of the police. PC Blakelock lost his life in the Tottenham Riots 1985 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/aug/07/tottenham-riot-broadwater-farm
2. Baby P - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Baby_P
3. Cullen Inquiry (Dunblane Shooting) - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunblane_Massacre
4. Phone Hacking - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leveson_Inquiry

Aberdovey Bike Ride Part 2

I have just finished my first week of training from the Aberdovey Charity Bike Ride.


Stats:


Weight: 13 Stone 01/01/2012       This week 06/01/2012 12 stone 9


Eating Habits:


Last week were awful as it was Christmas the week before!! 


This week I have been watching what I eat and drink:

Lots of Water has been consumed, replacing the cups of teas that I consume at work


- Breakfast: Porridge
Lunch: Tin of Tuna and Fruit
Dinner: Tuesday: Pasta Bake (lots of carbs)
Wednesday: Baked Potatoes and Baked Beans




Training


As i said in the last Aberdovey Blog, I did a 3.7 circular mile walk on 2nd January round the Hay Head Wood from the Nature Centre car park. Here is the AA map of the walk:





I also have an active job that means I am walking between 10-15 miles a day on top of the 4 mile cycle journey to and from work.


6th January 2012:


This is the start of my training sessions as I need to get to work in the afternoon, it was only 13 miles but these was a good start as on my days off I will do some more