Unknown

Aug19

”It is said that in 1923, seven of the world’s most successful men met at a Chicago hotel: the president of the largest independent steel company, the president of the largest utility company, the greatest wheat speculator, the president of the New York Stock Exchange, a member of the President’s Cabinet, the president of the Bank of International Settlements and the president of the world’s greatest monopoly. Collectively these tycoons controlled more money than there was in the United States’ Treasury.

Now, fast forward 25 years and let’s see what happened to them. Charles Schwab, president of the largest independent steel company, lived the last five years of his life on borrowed money and died a pauper. Arthur Cooger, the greatest wheat speculator, shot himself. Richard Whitney, president of the New York Stock Exchange, spent three years in prison. Albert Fall, a member of the President’s cabinet, went to prison for bribery. Leon Fraser, president of the U.S. Bank of International Settlements, shot himself. Ivan Kreuger, head of one of the world’s largest monopolies, also committed suicide. If the recent economic upheaval has taught us anything, it’s that money brings neither security nor happiness.”

I agree with the writer of the above stories that we ought to use our money to reach a hurting world with love because that’s the essence of life, the only way we could truly live. I read this a few weeks back and it had a profound effect on me and I thought, why not throw this open and find out what others think?

Now I’ve got a question for you guys! Where do you think you’ll be in 25 years? I get to choose the best answer and whosoever got this right and I’m sure many would. 🙂 would enter my world of creation, which means that I’ll use the best answer to write a short story based on the commenter’s vision of the kind of life he or she would be living in 25 years’ time.

In the meantime, you can all listen to these awesome guys, their song is truly refreshing! You can achieve a lot if you put your mind to it! And in 25 years, you could be on top of the world…

I know I’m creature of impulse but I just feel like doing this! 🙂

So where do I think I’ll be 25 years time? Hmmmnn, I wonder…

Love you always guys! 🙂

In The Beginning… There Was Nothing…

May28

That was how it was.

The Beginning of time. Time is predominately the controller of our destiny, but then, I believe that in life, time would not have meaning without proper documentation. Therein lies the work of a writer. I’d always told all who cared to listen that I would die a writer, and I mean it. If I become the Prime Minister today, I won’t feel fulfilled if I stopped writing. It’s like the air I breathe. Almost all my friends knew of the recent event in my life, and that really crippled me somewhat because I sort of lost that desire to write… I simply lost interest but now, I’m back and it’s as if I’ve never taken a hiatus, I guess I simply needed to rest.

With that out of the way. I’ve been graciously invited by Sherri Matthews of www.sherrimatthewsblog.com to join in a blog hop, she splashed my shy face on her blog a few weeks ago and today, she’s my muse! 🙂

Here’s the lovely Sherri!

Isn’t she gorgeous?

Sherri has worked in both the legal and medical fields but her defining and most fulfilling career was that of full-time mum for many years to her three, now grown children. Widowed young, remarried twice more, Sherri has faced many challenges, both in her home country of England and in California, where she lived and raised her family for almost 20 years.

The call of the pen beckoned throughout but it wasn’t until 2011 when Sherri lost her job due to office closure and her daughter was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome that she began to pursue her writing dream.

Now, while writing her first book*, Sherri writes articles, poetry, short-stories and flash fiction, some of which have been published in national UK magazines (Prima and Your Cat), as well as writing on her blog, ‘A View From My Summerhouse’. She also guest blogs for a variety of websites.

Today, Sherri lives, writes, walks, gardens and takes endless photographs in the West Country of England, happily with her husband, daughter, two cats and a corn-snake called Charlie (her daughter’s, acquired after many years of persuasion).

In Sherri’s words, she passionately describes her writing career as progressive: Read that here:

”I can best define my writing process in a few short words: I fly by the seat of my pants. I struggle to rein in my writing discipline and have yet to attain a working balance, even though on an ideal day I get all my off-blog writing completed first thing in the morning before I dare check my emails.

However, ideal days don’t happen very often. So many writing projects vie for my attention and I know this is all-too common for many writers. I am learning, I hope, to listen to the writing voice that yells the loudest!

The problem is that I could write all day (on my book) and nothing else would get done. When I decide to take a ‘quick look’ on my blog, the day is lost. Certainly, I write every day. Just not on my book.

This is something I am working on changing and hope to achieve in the very near future. A cottage by the sea for six months without any internet would be very nice…maybe!

Still, I am making progress, albeit slowly! As I press on with my book, I am soon to have a poem and a ‘slice of life’ story published in two anthologies. I am also pursing ideas for putting together some of my poems, photographs and musings borne out of my private struggles (in pain and joy) while helping my beautiful ‘Aspie’ daughter navigate through life.

It is only recently that I dared to call myself a ‘Writer’. Ultimately, I pursue the holy grail of writing so that I might, one day, be able to say that I am a ‘Published Author’.”

You can find a lot about Sherri on this awesome sites:

*Memoir Book Blurb: http://sherrimatthewsblog.com/memoir-book-blurb/

Blog: www.sherrimatthewsblog.com

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/aviewfrommysummerhouse

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/sherri-matthews/60/798/aa3

Sherri is a fantastic friend and a precocious writer. I can’t wait to devour her book when it’s out, hope you would too. Do me a favour and stop by her site to see what I’ve raved about! 🙂

It’s good to be back blogging fully. I would still be stopping by your blogs as soon as I could! Much love to you my friends and do enjoy the rest of this rainy week (at least in London!)

Peace! 🙂

Seyi David

In Search Of Innocence

Jan21

I first heard the news on TV, that a 3-year-old boy had disappeared at Edinburg overnight, (this was a few days ago) my heart was in my mouth and when the police revealed that they weren’t looking for little Mikaeel Kular anymore, my heart sank. (To some, this is stale news but I couldn’t get the face of the boy from my mind) I’m the kind of woman who believes in the impossible, miraculous acts that usually astound and even confound the most obstinate heart. However, the story of this little, innocent boy hit me hard.

You may wonder why, I am not in any way related to the Kulars, but I am a mother, who had experienced the loss of a child, although not in that way. You may read of my true story here: https://seyisandradavid.org/2012/11/14/death-and-the-angels-of-mercy/

The most disturbing aspect of the story, is this, the mother seems to be the major suspect, I don’t want to delve too much into the story of the mother or what propelled her into such an atrocious act but of that innocent boy. Someone once commented that people shouldn’t be taken on facial values (whatever that means!) and that no one should be trusted, in a way, the commenter could be right. We live in a very dangerous world but I am forever an optimist, and would remain so, even in the face of outright evil. Mikaeel must have loved his family, but something went wrong and now he is no more. Whatever the circumstances of his passing, I believe he’s at peace now, safe from harm.

I only hope we live in a world where the innocent would not pay for the sins of the wicked and like Louis Armstrong’s song, we do live in a wonderful world minus the murderers, perverts and the indescribable. Although our world is often tainted by evil, we can do our bit to make it a better place, by being our brother’s keeper – watching out for others in our own little way… endlessly searching for the innocent… helping the homeless, like the man in the picture… That way, the innocents would be safe from the onslaught of wicked people!

****

Now, on to more uplifting news. An online magazine, upcoming4me.com, recently published an article I wrote chronicling the story behind my new book ‘Cydonia,’ you would find the article here: http://upcoming4.me/news/book-news/story-behind-cydonia-by-seyi-david and my publisher, arrowgatepublishing.com also carried the same story here:

STORY BEHIND CYDONIA BY SEYI DAVID

My book trailer would be out soon, and the eBook, the iBook, Kobo and other ereading devices would release ‘Cydonia’ in the coming weeks. However, if you prefer to read ‘real’ physical book, you can click on my sidebar and it would take you to the right place to buy it or better still, click on these links:

Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cydonia-Rise-fallen-Seyi-David/dp/0957593031/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1390301384&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=cydonia%3A+rise+of+the+fallen

Amazon US : http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_17?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=cydonia+rise+of+the+fallen&sprefix=Cydonia%3A+Rise+of+%2Caps%2C241&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Acydonia+rise+of+the+fallen

Waterstones:

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/products/seyi+david/cydonia/10190216/

Barnes and Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Cydonia–rise-of-the-fallen–seyi-david?keyword=Cydonia%3A+rise+of+the+fallen%2C+seyi+david&store=book

Book Depository: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Cydonia-Seyi-David/9780957593039

Abe Books: http://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/SearchResults?kn=Cydonia%3A+Rise+of+the+fallen%2C+seyi+david&sts=t&x=50&y=8

Hive.co.uk: http://www.hive.co.uk/search/cydonia%3A+rise+of+the+fallen/mediatype/all/

I reckon this should do for now, you can buy ‘Cydonia’ from all fine bookshops world-wide. I don’t like long posts but I believe a bit of self promotion wouldn’t do any harm. 🙂 I hope you’ll all enjoy the rest of this week, wherever you are in the world!

Much love, always! 🙂

Here Is It!

Nov19

”THE BIG clock in Ilford town centre in East London resounded at seven in the evening. The town centre was still bustling with shoppers when a glittering black GMC 4×4 slid past the shoppers and came to a screeching halt at Cranbrook road, a few miles from the town centre. Three men got out of the jeep and dashed into the Golden Oaks pub, brandishing AK-47 assault rifles.

The pub was packed full of people that cool Wednesday evening, and the men heralded a tense atmosphere as they barged in. There were muted gasps from everyone. Aaron Cohen was among the throng of people in the pub. Instantly, he knew they were looking for him.

A woman stifled a sob and her whimpering grated on Aaron’s nerves. Slowly, he slipped his face cap down to hide his identity: it would do him good to stay hidden.

There was complete silence.”

********

Well friends, here’s the cover of my new supernatural thriller due for release on Dec 16th, I’m spellbound by the cover, and I want to appreciate you all for your love and kindness. I mentioned all my awesome blogger friends on the ‘Acknowledgement section,’ of the book. The novel would be available worldwide, wherever books are sold.

My publisher is ready to release Advance Review Copies (but PDF) at this point in time. Please if you’re on Goodreads or have an amazon account, and you’re interested in reviewing this novel before the launching day, please contact me on this email address: seyisandradavid@gmail.com and I’ll respond with a digital copy.

It’s been hectic on my end (always so), I’ll be moving house in a couple of days… yes, I’m excited but scared of the mammoth work staring me in the face. After all this, I’ll go for a week’s holiday and the only thing I’ll be doing is watching films and blogging.

I love you all and hope you’ll enjoy the rest of this cold week. To my friends who are still battling with that freaky storm in the US, I wish you peace and safety.

Much love, always. 🙂

The Borrowers

Oct10

(Photo credit: Flickr)

Ethan smiled and his blue eyes danced with glee, the contract was a done deal. He strode toward his private jet, a man with the world under his feet. He felt like he owned the universe but at the corner of his eyes, he saw a glimmer… And that was the last thing he remembered…

++ ++ ++ ++

Raja hid under the bed, his heart beating with fury, but his impotent rage would achieve nothing. He gritted his teeth and dug his nails into the brown smelly carpet. Then the men came in stealthily, searching for their target, their cold ruthless eyes noticed a flicker of a movement.

And they smiled.

Then the rapid sound of gunfire reverberated throughout the estate…

++ ++ ++ ++

Jonathan stretched his long taunt body on the sofa, his accountant breathing down his neck in excitement.
‘We did it,’ Jonathan said with a boyish grin. Two hundred million pounds worth of cocaine had sailed through unscathed.

Then the accountant’s smile slowly faded like a receding shadow.

‘Honey,’ his new wife called from the bedroom, ‘I’m waiting!’
Jonathan stood to his feet and then saw the gun,

His heart froze.

********************

‘The glory that goes with wealth is fleeting and fragile; virtue is a possession glorious and eternal.’ Sallust

I consider all men (by that I mean everyone!) as borrowers, we’re living on borrowed time. No one is going to physically live forever, and the earlier we let that sink into our subconscious mind, the better for us. When we realise how futile it is to wage wars, to keep malice and abhor love, I guess we’ve cracked the code to world peace!

I’m happy to be writing this, although I’m still navigating slowly through my deluge of deadlines but things are looking up. And I also have great news – I now have the official release date for my upcoming supernatural thriller, 16th of December 2013! I want to garner as many reviews as I can get, it always boost sales.

Please, if anyone is interested in giving a sincere review, do let me know and once my publisher releases the ARC (Advance Review Copies) I’ll send it to as many of my friends as possible. Thanks for your friendship, I’ve visited several blogs and enjoyed reading diverse and richly entertaining contents. I’ll still continue to do so, and if I’ve not stopped by yours, please bear with me and I’ll visit soon!

Enjoy the rest of your week and have a fantastic weekend!

Much love, always!

🙂

The Plunge!

Oct3

(Photo credit: Flickr)

‘The step between prudence and paranoia

is short and deep.

Prudence wears a seatbelt,

Paranoia avoids cars altogether.

Prudence washes with soap;

Paranoia avoids human contact altogether.

Prudence saves for old age;

Paranoia clings to every penny!

Prudence prepares and plans;

Paranoia panics.

Prudence calculates the risks and takes the plunge;

paranoia never enters the water.’

* * * * * *

I read this today and it had a profound effect on me. I have been extremely busy at work, and coupled with my upcoming book, it was like walking in a sea of unending deadlines. But then I paused and allowed these words sink into my spirit, mulling it over, I realised that as humans, we’re certainly creatures of comfort, and taking the plunge could be easier said than done.

What do I mean by plunges? They’re simply changes, making new decisions and following them through. Having faith in God and yourself (if you believe in God) and stepping out to make the needed changes to your life. To reach a glorious destiny, you have to stop holding back. Some have changed their lives by going to college and following their dreams, others signed up for reality shows, and some, just improving their skills by attending night school.

But you must first take the plunge!

I need to apologise for my silence, I have been inundated with work and had certainly missed a lot of posts. Please bear with me, and I’ll catch up soon. I’ll be travelling out of London this weekend but would be back next week, before then, I’ll still visit your wonderful websites!

Have a fantastic month! October had always been my best month (I was born in October! 😉 ) and as the weekend inch closer, just have fun and enjoy life!

Much love, always!

🙂

Why Can’t I Fly?

Jul22

I read a brightly illustrated children’s book this morning titled, ‘Why Can’t I Fly‘ by Ken Brown and I learnt a lot of lessons. The story is about a discontented ostrich who wanted to fly at all cost. Ostrich continually failed to appreciate his many good qualities, the only thing he cared about – is flying and he tried this repeatedly with disastrous results. He built himself a flying apparatus, yet, he failed still, then a miracle came, his efforts were rewarded when he tried again with his flying apparatus and he was flying, overjoyed, he yelled for his friends to see him flying, he wanted to prove to them that he could fly but lo and behold, his friends were nowhere to be found, why?

Because they were carrying his apparatus, all of them! And it made me realise that life is too complex to go at it alone, let’s not be like the Ostrich, who failed to realise his many good qualities, let’s surround ourselves with friends and loved ones. The life of a loner is a terrible one.

I hope you’ll all have a fun-filled week, as for me, I’m on the bed with my right feet swollen – I fell down the stairs yesterday on my way to church. It’s nothing serious, a pack of ice and some Ibuprofen has done the trick, the downside is I can’t move around as such because I walk funny but the plus side is, I’m not going to work and the kids are on holiday! 🙂 Hooray!!

Have fun and much love, always!

🙂 🙂

Are Writers Seers Or Plain Old Liars?

May30

It’s strange really, but I do tend to write stories that has a poignantly close resemblance to reality. When I wrote ‘The Feet Of Darkness,’ I wasn’t setting out to save the world but just believed that love can truly work its magic on a vengeful heart. But how some events has played recently, got me thinking – some people would not respond, even if you heap a universe load of love on them.

Someone once called me a liar, in his words,

‘Writers believed they have a complete knowledge of the human psyche, how people behave, what they might do, how they might react, but writers are plain old liars.’

I asked him to expatiate but he scoffed and left me staring hard at his retreating back. I didn’t know what to make of his assertion and I didn’t bother to try. Two days later, I was having my lunch break when my friend wobbled to my side and snatched my sandwich, I was furious.

‘Hey,’ I yelled, ‘bring that back!’

Nope,’ he refused, daring me to charge after him, after weighing my options, I declined and watched open-mouthed as he gobbled it down, belched, and patted his stomach, then left.

When I got home, I wrote a very good story, based on my experience, I didn’t tell my friend that he was the source of my inspiration but his behaviour helped my creative quest. I simply conjure up a character that bore a close resemblance to him. Now, did I lie? No! Spice it up a bit? Oh, I sure did.

My upcoming novel, Cydonia, Rise Of The Fallen was written about four years ago. I just dumped it in my library when I couldn’t get a publisher. That’s all ancient history now, but the events in that book was played out in the Vatican a few months ago. And believe me, I was shocked. When People read ‘Cydonia,’ I’m sure there would be lots of comments about the story line and plot.

In my opinion, I don’t think writers are liars, we just write from deep within, our writings may be significant, or not, but we can’t seem to do any thing else. It’s my pleasure writing this post.

Thanks for reading.

Much love, always!

🙂 🙂

A Soldier’s Dream.

Nov16

Map of the city recently established and without walls. Circa 1550 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Drake dodged bullets flying past as he engaged the enemy in mortal combat, his platoon mate was shooting rapidly, his face contorted in war rage as they moved into enemy territory, by the end of the night, his friend laid beside him dead. They counted their losses, evacuated the wounded and retreated back to camp.

Lying down on his bunk bed, Drake’s exhaustion and the death of his friend temporarily took a backstage as he gazed admiringly at the picture of his bride of twelve months. She was his saving grace, the few letters she wrote to him gladden his heart but it wasn’t the same like seeing her in the flesh. Her picture was also his only source of comfort and in a way, he would survive his stint at the war front only because her thoughts gave him strength.

The war dragged on longer than expected and after twenty-four months, he came back home unexpectedly. The cab driver dropped him in front of his house and he walked slowly to the front door, his heart beating with excitement. But he held it all together and knocked the door, there was no response but he saw someone peeping through the window.

Finally after waiting for about ten minutes which seemed like ten years, Anna opened the door by an inch, Drake’s broad smile was met with stony silence.

”Hello darling,” Drake crooked out in what he thought was a normal voice, but his wife said nothing and she also had problems looking up.

Drake’s intuition was to push her back into the house and then he saw the protruding tummy. It didn’t take him long before he made mental calculations to know that he was not the father, his bag dropped to the ground with a thud and he felt faint.

And then he heard the unmistakable voice of his friend, who couldn’t be drafted to the war because of an illness.

”Honey who was that?” Jonas called out from the room and they both heard footsteps, Anna’s eyes was still drawing maps on the ground beside her husband.

Jonas pulled the door back to show his rumpled pyjamas and hairy legs. Drake doesn’t need a soothsayer to tell him what has gone on while he was away fighting for his country.

Jonas retreated back to the safety of the living room while Anna finally found her voice,

”I am sorry,” she said and wanted to touch him.

Drake’s dream was over, his visions for a happy family crashed like a pack of dominoes at his feet. Ever so slowly, he picked up his bag and turned away from his home…

If you were Drake, what would you do?

*****

Most of you must know by now that I am a story-teller and I guess it runs in my genes. My mum would keep you enraptured for hours on end about tales and rib cracking jokes, my dad would look on smiling just adding titbits to the tales.

And I have one good news, the second edition of my novel, ”The Feet Of Darkness” would be out soon and I would love the candid opinions of my friends.

To Kill Or Not To Kill?

Nov7

The Kill (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It’ s a little frustrating for me when I kill off some of the characters I don’t like in my novels. Like the current one I am writing now, I had to kill off a guy I loved ( I thought he was going to be good and then decided against it) I noticed he’s got some hidden secrets and so I just had to let him go, if he stayed, it could ruin things for a lot of people (characters).

It’s funny because I actually FEEL my characters… I often questioned their motives, behaviour and reasons they are in the plot. Boring and time-consuming isn’t it? But that’s just me, a realist fiction writer!

I was still battling with my decision when my children came back from school and they asked me about the novel, this conversation ensues between my 6-year-old daughter and myself, her name is Elizabeth.

Me: ”Hey guys, how was school today?”

Elizabeth: ” It was ok mum, how was your writing?”

Me: ”Not bad, I am thinking of killing one of my best characters,” And I told her a little about the plot (She’s written a hundred word story by the way, we’re still looking for publishers, she told me she wanted to be rich like me, I wish!)

Elizabeth: ”I think you should still give him a chance…” then there was a pause and she added, ”Don’t you think you’ll go to jail if you kill XXA (name of the character)

Me: ” No, I won’t, I created him, so I can kill him.” I explained smiling, such innocence.

My son entered my office, ( a cool corner in the house) and the expression on his face was one of uncertainty (he’s ten), he asked politely if he could give his opinion and I agreed.

Samuel: ” Why not ask your readers what they want?”

Me: ”Thanks dear, I’ll put that into consideration.”

And that ended our conversation but I was back to square one, to kill or not to kill? At the end of the day, I decided to give him another chance but I am still going to kill him, soon…

I am a very shy writer, I get so protective of my work so I won’t be asking what you guys think yet until the novel is out.

And I am feeling emotional right now, I have met some wonderful people on this blog journey. Creative, intelligent and brilliant friends and I just want to say I love you guys!

Au revoir…

I’ll be back! (Arnold used to say that in most of his films, right? How weird!)