By Scott Bailey © 2015
On a dark peak
In a lofty castle tower
Firelight glints on gold
The flames are the consummation
Of a million dreams
The gold is the gifts
That the few exchange
As they gather
To sharpen their swords
Hone their skills
Readying
To chase away the wolves
Release the hounds
And take control
Of the docile cattle herds
A drowned boy
Drawn from the sea
Fled from death to death
Burns in our minds
Burns in our hearts
Fans the flames of passion
Just before
The call to war
This book shows the how society could evolve if capitalism were allowed to follow through to its extremes. It’s a dark shadow of this world. Or is it? Is this the world that we already live in?
Enter a world of pressure and release – rebellion and doubt and the rediscovery of a simple Secret the rulers of the world would rather you not know.
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, vows 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.
William considers himself the only true revolutionary there has been. Living a life of utter destitution below the city, he leads a community of people the rest of the world sees as outcasts and losers.
His is the long game. He know’s the aim, he knows what he is fighting for.
He also knows that he will probably never see the results in his lifetime.
So when the chance to act, the chance to make a difference presents itself will he forget his principles and give up his long-term plan, or stay resolute to his goal?
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Richard burns. He burns with a fury that is too bright for him to look at. He fights the system in whatever inventive ways he can concoct.
He never asks why he fights or what his ultimate goal is. He just needs the fight.
So defeat almost crushes him, forces him to ask himself questions he has been afraid to ask all his life.
Can he survive the answers?
Jane is a rebel. Of sorts. She engages in rebellious activity and she is good at it. If anyone had tracked her exploits they might say she was a genius. Because that was correct no one had ever tracked her.
But the truth was that so far in her life she had been a follower, not a rebel. She had followed her brother into rebellion and lent her genius to his to fight whatever foe he chose next.
She knew nothing else. It had been her life. And she did not realise that her heart was not in it. Not until the right catalyst lights up her passion and her anger. Then her genius is given the chance to really shine.
Yet will she rise to the challenge?
Marc is a model citizen, devoted to the ideals of modern society. Moderately successful in his career, climbing the ladder with a beautiful partner by his side.
So why is he plagued by nightmares? Why is he so disaffected? What is the truth that he can feel trying to poke its way through the noise of his everyday thoughts?
And where will it lead if he finally listens to that truth?
What’s behind the story
What is the reason for that news
Who gets the benefit, the prize
The envelope with the bread
The law successfully passed
The company tracked greased
Somebody’s life made easier
At the cost of somebody else
I was surprised to get a message from a friend and colleague – a rap poem – inspired by my novel Mankind Limited.
I thought I would share it here;
Also, check out their music on their own site https://urbanhippies.bandcamp.com/.
Here is the poem.
Mankind Ltd
By J McKay
Where the kindness of man is limited
Capitalist cooperation that will see your dreams diminishedI see humans but no humanity
Just vanity
Losing my sanity
People escaping to virtual reality
Because reality
Is is now a dark place
Lives taken because of their race
Deals done with a cash filled suitcase
Suit and tie
Led by
The pied piper
on a never ending Rat raceMankind LTD
Where the kindness of man is limited
Capitalist cooperation that will see your dreams diminishedWhats wrong with the world Mumma?
Rehiring the war drummer
Reigniting feuds with a different Color
Future hasn’t looked glummer
Worlds heating up like an Indian summer
Enough money to fight, nothing done about world hunger
So I wonder
Is the war drummer
Just An opportunity to showcase the chopper gunner
To damage infrastructure,
To take lives from a culture
Take fathers from youngsters
Circling above like vultures
Targets are hidden deep under
bombs are nothing but a stain on a water colorMankind LTD
Where the kindness of man is limited
Capitalist cooperation that will see your dreams diminishedSensationalised snippets
Bunch of hypocrites
With a hidden agenda to make your opinions fit
Emotional counterfeit
Drink down the whole truth, don’t just sip it
Don’t read a headline and then just skip it
Hounding hashtags like a whippet
Tweet tweet
But you ain’t no pipit
Reference to a bird incase you didn’t get it
Daily disposable media, how you gonna fill it?
Click bait
To get those click through rates
Hooked on a headline
Served up on a plateMankind LTD
Where the kindness of man is limited
Capitalist cooperation that will see your dreams diminishedAt war with Nature
Where is this the legislator
It’s not out governments, there just a manipulator
Facilitators
For the rape of our lands by dictators
Hard to be inhalators
Of these demonstrators
Because trees are our main respirators
Think there an accelerator
For improving nature
But there blinded by a broken alternatorMankind LTD
Where the kindness of man is limited
Capitalist cooperation that will see your dreams diminished
From the shallows to the icy deep
Where dolphins dance and starfish sleep
Through swaying kale and shifting sand
Feel the touch of an oily hand
Where lights speed by in total dark
Where rest many a sunken ark
Where through the kale fish do slip
Feel a cold and choking grip
Where bubbles rise and currents surge
Where waters from the heavens merge
Where weight does crush both bones and rock
Feel the iron fingers lock
And here my heart it swells and roars
From roiling dark to shattered shores
And I will rise with fury’s might
And crush the hand that picks this fight
So fear the shark with jaws that rend
And the mighty swell that shall bend
Every fence and dam and wall
And drown the rumble of cliffs that fall
And when the hand has done its deed
You will curse your dirty seed
And then, at last, you will see
How small you are beside the sea
What’s behind the story
What is the reason for that news
Who gets the benefit, the prize
The envelope with the bread
The law successfully passed
The company tracked greased
Somebody’s life made easier
At the cost of somebody else
Wandering the shore
Through new lands everyday
Ancient fishermen
Listen to all the anger
Hark at all the fury
Just remember that
You no longer own the jury
Humiliate the whistleblower
Make him out a fool
Wielding propaganda
Like an old blunt tool
Don’t you know we’re cynics now
We can see through all the lies
You will have to do much better
Or suffer the surprise.
It purrs like a magic cat
Glows like a willo’ the wisp
Warms like toasted buttered bread
Its spell cast out to the silver screen
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Bubblepot the cat
Decided it was enough
So stole mankind’s keys
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From joy to worry
As sickness strikes yet again
Families hold tight
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Weight from shoulders lifts
Unanimous approval
The road is still long
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A single mote
of stardust
sparkles bright
in endless black
drifting
No goal,
no direction
for time
that feels
eternity
Nothing
Cold, cold
Nothing
And then
Attracted to another
Bright shining mote
Joined together
Bound in twisting dance
round and round
and down
What seems forever
togetherness
never apart
again
The other comes
with more attachments
gathering around
A family, a clan
a get together that has no end
a bouncy, rowdy party
as things heat up
And the happening attracts more
and the numbers swell
the dances speed and the steps
multiply with complexity
The place is hotting up
as events coalesce
Then the point of no return
This is the place to be
the single mote has pulled
more that could be dreamed
and the crowds rush in and in
and down
the crowds become a crush
And the heat gives rise to new forms of dance
and new energy as the crowds arise
And then the circle is complete
as the fire starts to burn and the lonely mote
is now the heart
of brand new burning star
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More fucking shopping
I’m consumed by consuming
Working just keeps up
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Giving people health
Appears low priority
Set against profits
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Corrupt. Wealthy. Safe.
Wallowing in filthy loot
And laughing at us
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Tragic stories
Behind smiling faces
And pleading eyes
How did it come to this
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Lost to us, never forgotten
Unusual tides took him away
Carried to peace and to sleep
And even as the dark will swell
Sad, but sad will not prevail
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From the shallows to the icy deep
Where dolphins dance and starfish sleep
Through swaying kale and shifting sand
Feel the touch of an oily hand
Where lights speed by in total dark
Where rest many a sunken ark
Where through the kale fish do slip
Feel a cold and choking grip
Where bubbles rise and currents surge
Where waters from the heavens merge
Where weight does crush both bones and rock
Feel the iron fingers lock
And here my heart it swells and roars
From roiling dark to shattered shores
And I will rise with fury’s might
And crush the hand that picks this fight
So fear the shark with jaws that rend
And the mighty swell that shall bend
Every fence and dam and wall
And drown the rumble of cliffs that fall
And when the hand has done its deed
You will curse your dirty seed
And then, at last, you will see
How small you are beside the sea
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So many connections
So many lines
All taut and humming
Junctions and switches
A house of cards
Delicately balanced
Systems
Working to full capacity
One break from collapse
Such is life
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We can make you a better parent
Just come and bank with us
We can make you a better lover
Just use our scent
We can make you more successful
Just drive our cars
We can make you a better man
Just drink our beers
We can make you young and cool
Just use our phones
We can make you healthier
Just eat our food
Give us your money
So we can fill the gaps
Of your so obviously
Empty lives
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My eyes are sensitive to the light
They are filtered
Protected by shades
What about my heart?
My feelings?
No filter please
I am sensitive
I need all the light let in.
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Lines and words and lines
On one screen they mean this
Elsewhere something else
On paper strangely old
Before my eyes
Flashing by
Doing magic
But why
For the small ends
Of small goals
Chipping away at mountains
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Is it enough?
These words
We gather here
From across the globe
Our thoughts thrumming
Over strands of the web
They gather and agree
Mostly
And we know
What is wrong with the world
What is right
How to behave
And with well picked word
We condemn
Or cajole
the effective ones.
But is it enough?
Just the words.
Yet once upon a time
There was a spell
A magical combination
That set me on this course
Of reason and reason-ability
Maybe it is enough
If someone somewhere
Is moved by our spells
To do the right thing.
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Swirling, whirling milky clouds of stars
Spiralling down to the black hole
Supermassive hungry dark
Swallowing all it can
Axle of the wheel
Sparkling star arms
Shining cloud
Holds our
Home
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Heart lifts
When I lift him high
Heart skips
With her every kiss
Through darkness and troubled times
Our place has held us
I return with joy
To the walls
My son
My wife
My home
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Worn wooden floor
Distant, ancient scent
Tobacco long gone
Beer, deep red in thick glass
Salt and vinegar crisps
Pickled eggs
Pickled patrons
Warmth and welcome
Long gone like the smoke
One missed
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Laughter echoes
In rarefied halls
Between clinks from glasses
Raised in champagne toasts
While expensive soles
Walk heavy
On broken dreams and despair
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Mistakes seep into
Our minds through repetition
Habitual truth’s born
Get the previous ones here
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What’s behind the story
What is the reason for that news
Who gets the benefit, the prize
The envelope with the bread
The law successfully passed
The company tracked greased
Somebody’s life made easier
At the cost of somebody else
Get the previous ones here
http://wp.me/P3kG6h-bb and get my début novel Mankind Limited
Taking my son to my old school
Following the bus I used to take
Still the same number
Basically the same model
The same smell of classrooms
And I wonder
Is this it?
Are we destined
To repeat lives?
It is not enough
I want more
More for my children
Than was there for me
No fear
More doors
No prejudice
More joy in knowledge
Is that too much to ask?
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Dark gathering cloud
Brooding and beautiful
Waiting for the flash of light
The spark
The piercing blue white crack
And the wind
The raw whipping wind
And the release of rain
and the rainbow
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Very tired and stressed out so today’s is an old one – but one of my favourite old ones.
I am the factory wall, despised and so defaced
Covered with graffiti, defiled and disgraced.
I am the concrete tower that holds up the concrete road
Bleak and faceless white, bearing my toxic load.
I am the bin on the street, bursting full with waste
Where rats and vermin crawl, around me in distaste.
I am the battered traffic cone abandoned in the hedge
A used forgotten prize of lives lived on the edge.
I am the street side gutter where dirty water flows
A place of infestation, where all the darkness goes.
I am the discarded knife with bloodstains on the blade
The close but unseen menace lurking in the shade.
I am the lofty tower spewing clouds into the air
That speed across the oceans, killing without a care.
I am the broken shelf with screws rent from the wall
That supported all the books and caused them all to fall.
I am the sodden cardboard box flapping in the street
Broken, limp, forgotten, always under feet.
Once I was a poet, bright-browed with golden haired
Playing harp and singing, songs into the air.
Once I was a druid learning from the trees
Drawing strength from bark and wisdom from the leaves.
Once I was a warrior with proud and shining sword
Singing with my war band a deep heroic chord.
Once I was a chieftain with princes round my hearth
Against war and cold and famine our mighty hearts did laugh.
Once I was a king whose soul was all the land
Who tended all his people with a strong and generous hand.
But I made other people suffer
Now suffer myself in turn.
But as you wreak your vengeance
What lesson do you learn?
What lessons do you all forget?
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They trickle in
The protesters, the bitter, the dispossessed, the poor
They swirl in slow currents
Exchanging thoughts, views, ideas.
An oasis for the outcasts
The Man sits by the pool
And fishes
Taking what he needs
Watching the rest
The pool holds no threat
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Eleven fifty
Nine and almost out of time
Yet still ploughing on
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Hushed concentration
Then with a sudden surprise
His name is written!
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Pardon me for interrupting
But that was just a step too far
Not really a sporting move
Two years
Two years you have been playing straight
That is to say
Murdering
But with the proper tools
The ones from our markets
Hardware, hard and solid and paid for
That gas – tut tut – just too far
So hand it over
There’s a good chap
And we will let you
Get back to your war
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Clouds piling up dark
Lightning flashing – sky to ground
Rumbling all around
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Wandering the shore
Through new lands everyday
Ancient fishermen
Get the previous ones here
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I am a mirror
Distorted
Even cracked
But a reflection still
I share with you my fear
And passion
My fear is blue
Deep dark blue
All sharp angles
Like shark fins
And knives
Fear that turns me
As white as a clown.
Alas, my fear is my passion
My love
I seek it out
To taste the thrill
Of the fear and the chase
And I share it out
While I play my games
with the orphan
the fear
the dark, dark blue
that bears
the sign of the bat
Get the previous ones herehttp://wp.me/P3kG6h-bb and get my début novel Mankind Limited
Silver twines
intricate wires
thin and delicate
stretching from misty past
to infinite future
Each one a story
a thread of life
Twisting they come together
Winding, entwining
Further down the road
The twines form a rope
Stronger
Older
Wiser
Thicker
Stiffer
Get the previous ones here
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No reality.
That’s what attracts them
No history, no baggage
Only dreams of the night
That’s the attraction of the mistresses,
the hookers and the one night stands.
No reality.
Better to live in real love
Than empty dreams
Get the previous ones here
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The lights on the corners of the boxes of steel
Are giving me a pain in the head
Like the fools who drive slowly in the outside lane
They are driving but their brains are dead
They have a purpose those lights you see
And I expect them to flash
Maybe that is my big mistake
Forgetting people are so rash
Get the previous ones here
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Imagine
Me
I kill without discrimination
for race, for age, for sex or sexuality
I take saints and sinners
I take your loved ones
in return
I deal you pain
without explanation
when asked
the answer is
that you cannot hope to understand me
As a man
you would lock me up
revile me
or label me insane
But I am divine
So that’s OK then
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Yet another wall
How many before we’re home?
Prevaricating
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Scott Andrew Bailey - Author 