David Milton McGowan

  I believe it was Dave White over at “Do Some Damage” who posted a piece asking if we are approaching the End of Fiction. Here is a short bit of his piece to help explain;   As many of you know, I'm a teacher, and I follow all the goings on in the educational world. Well, there's been a major shift in the expectations for an English class and what kids *should* read as they get older. You see, people want kids who are ready for business. When they graduate college, kids have to be ready for the *real world*, which-in a businessman's mind-is the business world.   Therefore by graduation students are encouraged to spend most of their time with “study” or that information text should constitute at least 90% of their reading. If this is indeed true, and from what I see around me it certainly appears to be, this suggests a very scary future! All of those who have been contributors in any major way to the development or growth of ...

            I was under the mistaken impression that most who read this blog or visit Facebook knew what my presently available novels are about. Apparently I have been mistaken. Therefore I will attempt to communicate that information.   Actually that is primarily what “Partners” is about; the inability of the young, physical and poorly educated to understand some one older, well educated, worldly and of a more mental inclination. Of course, there is a need for communication in the other direction as well. Lack of communication is not a unique problem. The difficulty exists today between the young and old, educated and ignorant, men and woman. I believe that this is a problem that has existed that has existed since the dawn of time. I also believe that we don’t do enough to overcome this lack of understanding. When we do make efforts to communicate we often make the problem worse. When we don’t make an effort...

Chuck Wending over at terribleminds has asked for a short story of a 100 words or less. Therefore I’m posting the following. How Hennedy wound up on this wall and what he does about what he has found is up to you. By the way, Chuck can be found at http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2011/09/16/flash-fiction-challenge-the-numbers-game Hennedy exited through the main door and trotted along the front wall to the North corner. After testing the strength of the ivy that climbed the church wall he began to climb. At the third floor he looked in the window of the locked apartment. In the dim light from a table lamp he could see the Bishop standing over what appeared to be a body. In his left hand he held a chain of prayer beads and was rubbing the right hand fingers over what appeared to be a blister on the back of that left hand.

The story “The Yearlings” is purely a product of my weird imagination. However, within the story are two historical mentions. Did you pick them out? More about that on my next post.

3 When she had the strips of bannock dough wrapped around sticks and propped over the fire, she began to slice slabs of meat from the venison haunch hanging from a limb on the edge of camp. As she was doing this, Squeak rose and went to the pack from which he drew another bottle of the dark, Hudson's Bay Trade Rum. Rolley continued to sip on his, but Squeak took the top quarter of his fresh bottle in one long drink. When the meal was finished roasting, Janet said nothing but took one of the bannock-wrapped sticks, another holding a slice of meat, and moved away from the fire. She hunkered down across the fire from Rolley and Squeak. "I take it we can all dig in?" Rolley said, carefully leaning his bottle against the log before rising and moving to the fire. Before he could get a portion of the meal for himself, Gabe took his portion and returned to where he had been standing, back from the fire and to Janet's right. Squeak refused to move even after Ro...

The biggest problem with being too busy hauling fuel is that it doesn’t leave enough time to work on my next novel. However I can still squeeze in the reading of a chapter or so of someone else’s writing while I’m unloading in some spots. I’ve enjoyed some great reading over the past few months. Passchendaell, Divine Justice, The Good Old Boys, Night of Flames, Echo Burning and Telegraph Days. Telegraph Days by Larry McMurtry One of McMurtry’s more entertaining efforts, much like his ‘Buffalo Gals’. I’ve found that some of his stories, even though they often contain humour can be very dark. The ‘Lonesome Dove’ series, for example can supply some serious depression. Yes, Telegraph Days has some depressing moments since it’s trying to depict life, after all, but overall it is a very funny, entertaining read. It follows the life of a young woman in the west from 1876 through the turn of the century and includes several historical references. Great read. ...

Another look at statistics. Or perhaps another look at fiction. People keep going on about how gun control will make the public safer. I would like to know how. In Canada the instance of gun violence with a legally owned firearm are almost non-existent. Even in the US the percentage of crimes committed with legally owned firearms are a very small percentage of total gun violence. This in a country where it is not too difficult, in some states at least, for anyone to purchase a firearm. What I’m saying is that almost all crimes are committed with stolen or smuggled weapons. So how will gun control make it any safer? It doesn’t make any sense at all. “Firearms deaths are the third leading cause of death among young people aged 15-24.” This is a direct quote from some of the sites that talk about the impact of firearms on society. However, a few pertinent facts have been left out. Perhaps one or two of these deaths were the result of a lack of training for our youth. However almost all (i...