By Scott Bailey © 2017
Blank white paper sheet
Tempting me to slash with ink
Cutting with dark words
Tempting
Self Publishing
Crossing Out
By Scott Bailey © 2017
Crossing out
Deleting
Inserting
Adding on
Dropping
Expanding
Changing
Evolving
Inserting
Crossing out
Life
And death
A Spring of Dreams – Nation
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Kerching! Kerchang! Pow!
Our economy picks up!
Soul still desolate.
Three hundred and sixty-five poems in all shapes and sizes, sprung from dreams and emotion. Published day after day for a year. There are haiku, sonnets, katauta, lanturnes and many other forms – including free form. The moods are as varied as the forms and often reflect my mood on the day. There is sadness and grief, joy and love.
If nothing else – these can provide a small moment in everyone’s stressful lives to stop and contemplate the world in a different way.
A Spring of Dreams – Sparks
The Deep Cold
By Scott Bailey © 2014
Disappearing into the gloom
Undulating side to side
Alien but of this earth
Slow, cold life
In the deep deep dark
So far from the hearth we know
The strange eel like creature
Eases in the deepest cold
Leaving divers dumb
Giants
By Scott Bailey © 2014
I have seen giants
Striding over the land
Power on their shoulders
Stern and strong their hand
Never do they falter
Never seen one stumble or fall
Always do their duty
Always answer the call
Through storm and wind and rain
The carry their burden true
Though other links may burn out
The giants stride on through
So remember this and tremble
Even the giants will pass
Fall into dust and rusty ruin
Scattered in untamed grass
One day their burden will dissipate
Their purpose will disappear
And the duty they discharged so well
A memory dimmed with time
Aubade Two
By Scott Bailey © 2015
Dawn sneaks over the hills
Light spills through the vales
And the veils of the window
I see beauty at last
Complicated, unfathomable, mystery
But right and true
Most the world walks by
Seeing a different way
This morning gives me hope
But the light washes out
Shadows darken veils
Traditions bear down
The beauty and the mystery
The reason and the truth
Are left behind again
The door is closed again
As ancient lore and law
Return us to the night
A Spring of Dreams – Lantern
Lantern
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Old light from the past
Is still illumination
Wisdom echoes far
Ripples
A word is a ripple
Spreading through the world
With slow, subtle effects.
Imagine then what a few more, well placed, can do.
Find out.
A Spring of Dreams
By Scott Andrew Bailey
A Spring of Dreams – Cross
Senryu: Cross
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Fleeing from killers
The child runs desperately
To fill out a form
Silver Threadings Review – Mankind Limited
Scott Bailey skillfully wove a tale of intrigue and suspense with just the right amount of dystopian dread. Bravo!
Silver Threading
- Title: Mankind Limited
- Author: Scott Bailey
- File Size: 958 KB
- Print Length: 376 pages
- Publisher: Scott Bailey
- Publication Date: August 19, 2013
- Sold by Amazon Digital Services LLC
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00EOA1RW2
- Formats: Paperback and Kindle
- Goodreads
- Genres: Dystopian, Science Fiction, Dystopian Fantasy
In the Author’s Words:
“Trapped. In a world where everything is measured and control pervades every area of life, four people begin to break down. Instead, they break through the walls of deceit and propaganda and into a world of revolution.
Each, in their way, vow to overthrow the established order. They embark on a journey against the forces arraigned against them, forces of the state and self-doubt.
Ultimately their paths converge on a dangerous road and the discovery of an ancient secret.
Four people, four rebels. Four journeys of self-doubt and discovery that converge on the road to revolution and the discovery of an ancient secret.”
My Recommendation:
*The author provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review which follows*
I have never been a fan of dystopian novels. For me, they were always too dark and miserable, filled with human misery and oppression. You can imagine my joy then when I dug intoMankind Limited to find a book filled with characters who were well-rounded and human, flaws and all. I even found an element of hope buried within the pages that drew me further into the story.
In a time, possibly not too far in our future, the MOD has assumed complete control of the government. Nobody crosses them or even attempts to. People become automatons, there but for one reason – to earn money. Individuality is frowned upon. All you are allowed to do is work.
If you lose your job, which is considered a public failure, you are allowed to stay on welfare for only a very short time. The possibility of getting another job after that would be slim to none. Once an individual falls off the bottom of the Personal League Tables, they become illegals, forced to live on the street. Tens of thousands of illegals are shot in the act of criminal activity each year, simply trying to survive.
The government has found a way to manipulate and drug people so they can control them. The MOD believes a docile employee will work hard and earn more money. One such man, Marc, finds himself struggling to survive in this world. It is as if he cannot adapt. Eventually, he loses his job and his wife. He finds himself part of a fringe group of illegals hunting for information about a MOD program called Noah’s Ark.
Richard and Jane, brother and sister, along with their friend, William, welcome Marc into their group of illegals. One day, during a reconnaissance mission to a laboratory high in the mountains, the group comes upon a secret so deadly, it could spell the end of the world for them all. Evidence must be destroyed, so the group plants a bomb to insure the secrets are never used against humans.
As they make their escape, they discover the President is on his way to the facilities for a briefing. The bomb blows the research laboratory and the President to smithereens, branding the illegals as murderers on the run.
Now, this is where I found the story got really interesting. This series of events leads the foursome on an adventure of self-discovery. Each person deals with the trauma from their life decisions, leading the reader to a culmination of events at the explosive ending where the secret is finally revealed.
The plot and characters were superb. The only thing I found I had to get used to was the way the author switched scenes and characters within the same chapter. This was done, I am sure, for perspective and as a way to show what was happening to each character all at the same time.
I must admit, I was surprised by the ending. Scott Bailey skillfully wove a tale of intrigue and suspense with just the right amount of dystopian dread. Bravo!
Character Believability: 5
Flow and Pace: 4
Reader Engagement: 4
Reader Enrichment: 5
Reader Enjoyment: 4
Overall Rate: 4.0 out of 5 stars
In response to my daily prompt Activity
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Broken Eggs
By Scott Bailey © 2017
A new clutch of chicks
Awaken to a cold dawn
The fox scents a chance
Life and Death
By Scott Bailey © 2016
Potential new life
Excitement when waters break
New life brings us cheer
Six forever hours
Caressing a fading pulse
All cheer drains away
My dark dystopian vision is starting to look like a brighter alternative!
Humanity reduced to a bottom line.
Trapped. In a world where everything is measured and control pervades every area of life, four people begin to break down. Instead, they break through the walls of deceit and propaganda and into a world of revolution.
Each, in their way, vow to overthrow the established order. They embark on a journey against the forces arraigned against them, forces of state and self-doubt.
Ultimately their paths converge on a dangerous road and the discovery of an ancient secret.
One one level this is a story about how different people react the ever growing and relentless pressure of everyday oppression. It explores their journeys as they are broken and rebuilt and investigates their modes and motivations for rebelling.
At another level, it is a critique on the darker side of capitalism and free markets and how that has driven us further and further away from the evolutionary advantage that gave us supremacy in the first place. It questions whether the human race has doomed itself or whether we still have the capacity to wrench ourselves from the track we have so tightly committed our society upon.
Read an excerpt here.
Available as
or hardback
from Amazon
Broken Shell
By Scott Bailey © 2015
Broken shell
Evidence of new life or life cut short
A new hungry mouth
Or a hunters hunger sated
Either way
Life is given
Evidence found
In our humble garden
The Speed of Light
By Scott Bailey © 2015
Sunlight from the past
From where coldness rules supreme
The mighty fallen
Words – A Spring of Dreams
A Spring of Dreams
365 poems of different forms and moods. A poem a day for a year.
Mankind Limited – The Future?
The Politician, The Voter and the Child
By Scott Bailey © 2015
You work hard
I struggle by
In the dark
You’re a hard-working family
To pay my bills
A silent dark
You deserve more
To keep my job
Shattered by
Respect and remuneration
My family safe
A scream so stark
Higher wage
Bills accrue
A sister torn
More tax
No breaks in sight
A mother too
Security
I am undermined
And then my turn
Here they come
By cheaper crews
To be their tool
To take your jobs
And labour pools
Alone I lived
We try to stop them
Let down by those
My family died
But the law demands
For who we fought a war
Alone I ran
Freedoms we ill afford
Belts pulled tight
Alone to hide
So we must let them in
Doors shut tight
Far away
We need your fear
As our land
Where wars don’t rage
So let us pass
Slips away
Across the sea
Stronger laws
Dreams of the past
Into a cage
And take your cash
Of golden days
And forms and forms
For a better way
Seem far away
And questions long
Altogether now
Every man for himself
And looks of scorn
Watch your backs
Seems the only way
And acts of wrong
Strengthen our national pride
So I must take a stand
Drowning in
Defend our ways
Against the tide
A stinking sea
Our traditions
That seems to me
I cry
Like class division
To rise and rise
No one pities me
And stay an island proud
To drown our island’s pride
No one pities me
Cloud Rider
Fantastical clouds today
Rolling over the land
Like a giant wave
Does Thor ride that tube?
To Odin’s disapproving frown
Joy’s deficit
The cost of swings and roundabouts
Thirteen Tales
Softly fear creeps – more chilling than any scream.
Get further under the covers and turn another page – if you dare
All change – bringing it all together
For those who have followed my blog for any length of time will. know that I have stepped back a bit from it. I wanted to concentrate on doing some actual writing rather than writing about doing some writing.
Well, life always has other plans and that hasn’t worked out perfectly. I have managed t o do some more writing but nowhere near as much as I wanted.
However, had I been maintaining this blog and my author website then I would not have even done that, so, small victories.
Then it came time to renew my author websites hosting. It was expensive to renew and money is tight these days. But I wanted to to still have an author presence – my bog was jus that – a blog. IIt was on the basic (free) WordPress plan and did not have the necessary tools to allow me to track traffic etc properly.
On the other hand – the blog has years of content and thousands of blog posts!
Ideally I wanted to combine them. I had started trying this by having a plugin on the author site to pull ini the posts from the blog, but the formatting was always iffy.
So I started to investigate the other possibilities and came up with. solution. I have upgraded my WordPress.com plan to allow me to create a site that has the best of both words. I recreated the limited content from my author site while keeping all the blog posts I have worked for years on. At the same time I have given the whole site a refresh.
The upgraded plan allows me to track traffic properly but does not allow me to add any plugins as I used to be able to on the old author site. This was the compromise but one that is worth I believe.
So https://thehouseofbailey.wordpress.com and https://www.scottandrewbailey.uk have combined and become https://scottandrewbailey.com/
Hopefully this will also refresh my views and sales!
Andervayne’s Dream by Scott Bailey
In these times of quick gratification and short attention spans, I decided to try and buck the trend and present something not only with greater length but also depth.
The poems in this collection were written over a long period and for different purposes. They are varied but they are all long. And they all represent challenges. Each was a challenge to myself, to sustain a quality of writing for a long period and within tight constraints of form while still telling a story. They also represent and challenge to the reader. To throw off the pressure of everyday life, the pressure to hurry, hurry, hurry to take the time to read something, absorb it over time.
Such effort needs reward, these poems should not be a one-time quick fix. If the reader is going to put that effort in then there should be a payoff, they should be able to continue to get something from it afterwards. Whether that be from contemplation of what they have digested or from revisiting, rereading and seeing things they missed the first time around. So the final challenge to me was to provide this depth of content – not just quantity.
Less Noise, More Action
That kind of sums up my approach to 2020, particularly to writing.
2019 was not overly productive for me. I curated and edited some old work into a new collection – Andervayne’s Dream. I also continued to try and market my existing books, Mankind Limited, A Spring of Dreams and Thirteen Tales of Ghosts. Not to much success.
All this has mean that along with the demands of life, many family illness and dealing with a son with Autism, I have not had much time to actually write anything new. I have kept my blog alive by reposting old work daily.
I tried NaNoWriMo, but again, due to life commitments and stress, did not complete it – though I did come out of it with five drafts of short stories.
So. New years resolutions!
Firstly, it should be noted I have 100% failure rate on these. I can make goals and get there, just not new years resolutions. I think this is because I tend to try and make big life changing ones.
So this year I am going to do two things. One, I am making them public, here and now. Hopefully that will give me kick up the backside to actually complete them. Secondly, I am making them a bit more modest.
So this is my plan for 2020.
One poem a week.
One short story a month
Enter one competition or submit to one publication per month.
These are reasonable and well within my capabilities. 52 poems and 12 short stories. I have done far more that that in a shorter time before.
The other big difference will be that I will not be posting them on my blog. I am keeping them unpublished so I can use them to submit to competitions and publications.
Which means, this blog will be a lot quieter this year.
Less noise, more action.
Mankind Limited – Fascinated
What do you seek?
If it is a tale of a farmhand, dreaming of the landowners daughter, becoming a knight and facing trials amongst fantastical creatures. This might be the place for you
If it is the tale of two magical lover’s, dancing on a cloud, maybe you have found the moment to pause and take note.
If it is the tale of a knight’s rebellion against oppression, wait a while.
If you want to explore the ins and outs of ambitious courtiers and their magic, one step too far, then wait awhile
Step into my realm of dreams awhile.
Andervayne’s Dream
and other poems
What’s that Noise?
Behind the door?
Was it something moving?
Someone?
Just ignore it. Dive back under the covers, carry on reading…
Thirteen Tales of Ghosts
By Scott Bailey
A collection of short stories concerning ghosts. Some are traditional ghost stories in the tradition of M.R. James and Edgar Allan Poe. Others are not. Some scare, some are fun. Some play with the concept of a ghost. There are ghosts who are out for revenge and the living avenging the spirits that curse them.
Ideal for sitting around a campfire and late at night under the covers. Or maybe not if the stories themselves are any guide.
Check it out on Amazon and other online e-book retailers.
A paperback version is now available for those who prefer the feel of the paper while huddling by the fire – on your own – in the dark – with that noise behind you……
Sparks
By Scott Bailey © 2013
A sad shadow falls
Casting gloom over our dreams:
Sparks dispel the dark!
Originally published in A Spring of Dream
A Cracking Five Star Review
For Thirteen Tales
See the original here or read below.
I was very eager to acquire and read Thirteen Tales, by Scott Bailey, as I’m familiar with his writing from his blog. I like everything about his book–the cover art is spectacular, suggestive of Poe’s “Raven”; and the stories read quickly as you hunger for the next one–but try to slow down, and savor each one! I’m glad to have added Scott’s book to my home library–and highly recommend it. It makes a great gift too!
Check it the book for yourself here and see if you agree.
And many thanks to R Ryan – also known as Ennle Madresan over at Abandoned Amenities for the review and kind words.
Breaking into the top 10!
Many thanks to everyone who downloaded my latest poetry collection during the launch promotion. If you get the time for a review that would help greatly. The good news is that it manged to break into the top 10 in its genre both in the UK and US, reaching no. 7 and 8 respectively.
Let’s hope it continues to attract attention and climb now it’s off promotion.
If you still interested head over to Amazon and get your copy.
Carman
By Scott Bailey © 2013
I make cars
I always have
As did my father.
Prestige cars.
The most famous in the world
Made with pride.
Made with precision.
Made to last.
To shine and glide!
Every working day.
All the working hours.
My trusty hands create.
I may be steeped in habit
Tradition and old ways
But I trust in my own fate.
I support my family.
I support the plant.
And I support the land.
I pay my way my dues
while on my shoulders weighs
the burden that I support.
After all these years of toil
All my many dues.
Imagine my surprise, my boss.
I have given more than you!
In response to the daily prompt Famous
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Andervayne’s Dream – Cover Design – Revisited
So I have had another go. after the three below.
A
B
C
I came up with this one:
Which I think is the one I will be going with.
Andervayne’s Dream – Getting Physical
By which I mean – here is the proof copy!
Woohoo!
Already spotted three mistakes 😦
All progress though.
Andervayne’s Dream – Cover Design
So, trying to design the cover for my upcoming poetry collection. So here’s a quick poll – which of these looks best? Are any of them any good? Or should I try again? Let me know in the comments.
A
B
C
Brexit Answers
Tired of all the confusion?
Worried about Brexit?
Want answers in all this chaos?
Read this book.
You will be none the wiser but you will have one more good story in your head. And a break from all the madness.
Mankind Limited
By Scott Bailey
Marc trudged on with life, marching in line with his fellow workers. Weighed down by the everyday burdens of life, the pressure to conform, to succeed or face destitution.
Yet he knew, in his heart that it was all wrong, the questions squirmed like fiery dragons in the pit of his heart, beneath his deepest darkest doubts.
Until they grew and burst his sanity, set him on a path of defiance and rebellion. A path that would cross three others – all like him seeking answers.
A path of danger and adventure that would see him marked as a terrorist and fleeing for his life. It would see him find love and heartbreak, hope and despair, Most of all, it would open his eye to the possibility of an ancient and powerful secret that might answer all his doubts and fears.
If he survived.
Trapped. In a world where everything is measured and control pervades every area of life, four people begin to break down. Instead, they break through the walls of deceit and propaganda and into a world of revolution.
Each, in their way, vow to overthrow the established order. They embark on a journey against the forces arraigned against them, forces of state and self-doubt.
Ultimately their paths converge on a dangerous road and the discovery of an ancient secret.
Four people, four rebels. Four journeys of self-doubt and discovery that converge on the road to revolution and the discovery of an ancient secret.
A Huge Jump!
That’s what I call jumping up the charts! Over a Million positions! Can you help me make it more?
Ghosts Arising!
Have reached no 188 in the Amazon Charts for Short Stories! A few more sales might get me to number 1! Anyone want a good collection of Ghost Stories? Get in the mood for Halloween
Check it out here – Thirteen Tales of Ghosts
Goodbye Daily Prompt!
UPDATE – I have now started my own! It can be found here
I only found out about this today!
After all this time the Daily Post is sounding the Last Post and bidding us farewell.
Damn!
I need it! I will miss it! I need a push every day – I may not use it – may not do it every day – but it helps. A lot!
Retrospective? Well, all I will say is that there was a tie, a few years ago I came to the realisation that I had neglected my passion. I stopped writing. Once I realised I tried to start again. It was difficult. Very hard to gain momentum. That is where the Daily Post came to my rescue. It gave me the inspiration I needed.
Now it won’t be there.
I suspect I am not the only one sorry to see it go.
So I may start my own. I might just put up a prompt each day. Can’t provide the fancy screen that shows all the entries – if anyone else does use it but I will give it a go.
In the meantime – here’s a suitable poem.
Lantern
By Scott Bailey © 2013
Old light from the past
Is still illumination
Wisdom echoes far
In response to the daily prompt Retrospective
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Cold Cold News
By Scott Bailey © 2016
The news chills today
The child killers found guilty
Will justice suffice?
In response to the daily prompt Guilty
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Not Enough
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Here are my words
Not enough
To unburden
My crushed soul
Or move a mountain
Of stress
#amwriting, #postaday
Amazon Marketing Services – Worth it?
Anyone in this corner of the blogosphere had any experience or success with Amazon Marketing Services? Wondering about dallying with it to boost the ailing sales of my books?
Top Hat
By Scott Bailey © 2016
With top hat askew
Dancing lightly through the throng
Predatory smile
In response to the daily prompt Skewed
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
A Ripple of Reviews
I don’t know if that is the correct collective noun but it should be 🙂
Here are a few reviews I have accrued over time.
Thirteen Tales (of Ghosts)
Excellently Eerie! AAA+++!! 30 January 2018
Witty, scary, creepy, delicious, and not without a deft touch of wit! Well-crafted visions of the dark side! So refreshing to discover such beautifully told, original material! If you love ghost stories, this is for you! JanO
Tales that take you to some very different places, some are very dark places. 26 January 2017
All the stories in this collection are very different, savour them one at a time. I was very taken with Cycles, an astute tale of teenage boys, with a twist of course. Fire and Ice takes us somewhere deep… Terminal is a very modern tale, Shipwreck not for the faint hearted. I loved A Ghost Scene, one to amuse. Don’t read The Church at bedtime, be sure your past will catch up with you in ‘Suspense’ and you will not want to live in the country by yourself if you read ‘The Valley. Mother completes the collection with a very dark ending. Whether you like to be entertained or wonder what really lies beyond, this is the book for you. Janet Grogerty
A Spring of Dreams
Great concept to write a poem a day for a year and provides an insight into coping with difficult family circumstances – a recommended read for anyone who has struggled in such situations. Some poems were obviously more personal than others (my favourites were those when the writer cherishes the ‘small moments’ in life such as going to a fireworks display with his wife and son) but he also branches out into more political territory. Look out for the funny poems scattered throughout the book too, one, in particular, made me laugh out loud! A good read and Scott Bailey shows talent as a poet. Recommended. M.H.Beton
Mankind Limited
This book should be a movie. Somewhere in Hollywood right now there are actors waiting for their agents to deliver this story in script format to them. The makings of all action-packed adventure films are here. I can see the film in my mind’s eye.
But this one is different.
It’s not fast-paced for the thrill of it alone. It needs to be to get the message across. Mankind could be on the threshold of just such a future.
This one could be us.
Maybe a few years down the line yet, maybe already almost there in some similar format. Change a few details. Replace one group for another. Look behind the motives in politics and corporations. Stretch the reality just a little. Ask ourselves questions looking through the light of a different lens.
It feels like us, it acts like us, it may very well come to be.
It could be The Secret we all hold and may one day need.
The future may be closer than we think.
It only takes a small leap of imagination to take us from where we are now to Mankind Unlimited.
Scott Bailey is a writer I follow through his WordPress blog.
I downloaded his book a few weeks ago after reading an excerpt from it on his blog. It wasn’t until this week that I finally had the chance to read the book. I like a good action-packed adventure as much as the next one but I liked, even more, what Scott communicated in the story.
I believe there is more to follow and I’ll be waiting. If we have time and I’m still aware… anniehy
I really enjoyed reading this book and could barely put it down. It is pretty rare for me to get so engrossed in a book, so if you like books about a dystopian future then this is worth a read. Now I want to know what happens next! RuthJ
Really good book, well worth the money could not put it down at times, sad when it got to the end.
I will be reading it again, dont do that with many books. Amazon Customer
His and Hers Towels
For SocS
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “his/her(s).” Use one, use both, bonus points if you start your post with one and end with the other. Have fun!
A real stream of consciousness today. Typed the first line and went from there. A bit teen angst like – but hey.
By Scott Bailey © 2018
His and her towels
Is where it all falls down
Just towels
Please
No pink or blue
No exclusive clubs
No glass ceiling
Consign the establishment
To the shelves
Build anew
But build it together
No more him and her
No more black and white
No more straight and gay
Just people
Friends and lovers
Colleagues and partners
Helping hands
Empty Tales
For SocS
Your Friday prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday is “tail/tale.” Use one, used them both, you decide. Enjoy!
Kind of used my lack of inspiration today as the subject.
Empty Tales
By Scott Bailey © 2018
I have no tales to tell
Rather
I have
But the retelling of them
Empties them
Of their worth
Tales of today
Seem
The same
Sympathise
By Scott Bailey © 2018
We sympathise
We the victims
Put up or flags
And tokens
Banners on our home pages
All sincere
But nothing changes
No actions
Behind the thought
A slightly modified version of an older poem I did that benefits from the addition I think.
In response to the daily prompt Sympathize
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Rhymes
By Scott Bailey © 2018
Words flow profusely
Anger pours freely
Action is stilted and slow
The world needs righting
In our minds, we are fighting
But to battles, we never go
Inaction just reaction
No satisfaction
This is a sign of the times
While all is disaster
We rush at it faster
Chiming protesting rhymes
In response to the daily prompt Profuse
#DailyPrompt, #amwriting, #postaday
Five Star Review Received! Thirteen Tales
Thirteen Tales of Ghosts received a great review from janowrite, a fellow Ghost Story writer and fan.
Check out the review here and her own blog here.
And why not check out the book itself – see if you agree 🙂
Change
For One-Liner Wednesday & #JusJoJan Daily Prompt – January 31st, 2018
“The only Constant is Change”
Enough said.
In response to #JusJoJan, JusJoJan, #1linerweds
USA Catching Canada!
Thirteen Tales – the race of the Americas is on!
Well, no more sales in Canada as yet but some in the USA means that they are catching up – who will win? Where will I hit the top 10 first? The UK (my homeland) is lagging far behind!
Scott Andrew Bailey - Author 