Book Review - Season of the Harvest by Michael R Hicks

Season of the Harvest a fast paced thriller by Michael R Hicks  set around the world of GMO''s, or, Genetically Modified Organisms!

The story begins with an FBI agent breaking into a laboratory in an attempt to gather evidence that the company running it is modifying crop seeds in such a way that when introduced into the food chain, they will change the genetic make up of the human population on earth.  He dies, horribly, during this failed attempt and we discover that he has gone rogue from the Agency.

His friend also an Agent, while banned from getting involved because of his closeness to the murdered agent, begins to investigate off the books and the story develops into one of frightening terror.

He discovers that the 'people' behind the modified crop seeds are not in fact human and while we do not find out whether they are 'alien' from another planet or whether they are as indigenous to earth as we are, we discover that the seeds have been modified in such a way that once introduced they will rewrite OUR DNA and we will turn into them.  To do this, they have to ensure that their seed replaces the normal food seed that is planted around the world and that the seed banks, containing samples of every food and plant seed that currently grows on the planet and that are housed around the world are destroyed.

The EDF, a group who have been set up and are based in an old ICBM base in California are leading the fight to stop, 'The Harvesters' as we discover the name given to the protagonists of this book and who are vile shape shifting creatures that can take human form .  Hicks borrows slightly from 'The Termintor' in that cats are the only ones able to detect 'The Harvesters' either in their normal or human forms and we find that they play a big part in the story warning the heroes and us when The Harvestors are about to make an appearance.

The action is set in USA but the battle moves to Norway as the only surviving 'seed bank' comes under attack, after all the others around the world are destroyed.   Of course the evil plan will only work if The Harvesters have human conspirators and when the President is blown up The vice President is sworn in and we discover that he is a conspirator who says, " I know there is a special place in Hell reserved for me for what I've done".  And to discover what would make a US President have his own place reserved in Hell, you will have to read the book.

Hicks gave us his spectacular and futuristic Human vs Alien space opera with the In Her Name series which once started you cannot put down.  In Season of The Harvest he has brought us back into the here and now and gives us a sight of what could be.  As he points out in his notes at the end of the novel, the governance and development of GMO's seems to be wholly unregulated in the USA and they do not need, like Europeans,  to put it on the food packets, informing American that they may be consuming something that is not as natural as some of us would like or believe that our food is au natural, so all in all an excellent earth bound and contemporary subject matter that turned out to be a explosive book to read.   I give it 5 stars out of 5

Best Wishes 

An open response to a Callum Jones blog on the London Riots

Callum,

It is unfortunate that you got challenged in the shop this morning, get over it.  I believe that that there is more to all this than just mindless thuggery, but at the end of the day it is mindless thuggery and it is a type of thuggery that society has brought upon itself and it started the day that the welfare state was introduced.  From the very first day of the welfare state we have been heading towards these days of social unrest.

We have for the last 40 years been telling a section of society that you do not need to take care of your self, you do not need a job, you do not need to pay rent.  We, the state will do it for you and it will be funded by people in work!

It is a great concept, the welfare state, and there will always be people who do need assistance through life, but what we did, was make it the norm where we have got to the point where lazy feckless gits, like those who are rioting have got to the point where they truly and actually believe that every single thing in life should be given to them for free, and maybe it will one day, whether they are actually capable of finding a job and getting paid for it to be able to go and purchase everything like the rest of us

We have generations of families who have seen their parents and grandparents, sitting at home because they have rolled out one excuse after another as to why they should not work and we have given them handouts to enable them to buy their drugs and their booze and run their cars!  This is borne out by the fact that while the papers may keep referring to 'youths' the rest of us are watching the images and seeing that it is not wholly this section of the populace who are out there.  I nearly said section of the community, but they are as far removed from being a part of a community as ET.  But we do know, fact, that a large number of youths are out there because there feckless parents don't give a shit about them and they were born probably and only as a means to get an additional cash bonus through the child benefit system and the parents, do not give one toss where they are or what they are doing at any time of the day or night!

And in that condition they have learned that they have no need to respect the state or their neighbours.  And so when the payouts are reduced, or cut, what do they resort to, mindless thuggery.  It is not aimed at authority or the state persay, how many town halls were attacked, how many police stations were attacked.  I can't see any reports saying any were.  No it was shops and mostly little shops, one man and one woman enterprises that suffer at the hands of these thugs  Including my own son who had bricks thrown through his bar windows last night.

As to you comments, " Some smart arses are claiming that police need to be more forceful, using water cannons and rubber bullets.  Let me take you back to the G20 protests in 2009, and the Demolition Student Fees protests last year, when the same idiots were accusing the police of being too heavy handed.  If Tom Goodwin or David Cameron honestly believed that the police on the ground needed more resources, they would give it to them."

I was one of those smart asses, but not in accusing them of being too heavy handed, and I am calling for them to do it again, Now, Tonight and any time mindless thugs, whether they are the riff raff who will not work or the riff raff who 'protest' under the guise of being angry students.

There is no excuse for what happened this week,  just as there was no excuse in 2009 or by students 'protesting' about Student Fees.  I said then and say it to you again that they should have used rubber bullets and water cannon then as they should be now.  Kettling, I am fine with that.  I have no problem with people marching down the street in a peaceful manner protesting about this or that, but when it turns into wanton thuggery, like throwing a fire extinguisher off a roof into a crowd below, or trying to burn down a shop  they should be treated with appropriate force and if that means you hit them with rubber bullets or water cannon to prevent them from burning down a shop, many with flats with people in them above, then I say get on with it, pull the trigger, don't hesitate Or do you say let the people burn?

As for your clearly sycophantic comments in regard to Goodwin and Cameron, it is clear that you intend to go into politics maybe, instead of journalism, and are feathering your bed, go for it, but what I saw this morning in the brief statement by Cameron, was a man caught in the headlamps, who did not know WTF was going on or what to do about it and made a cowardly retreat after his pathetic statement, back through the safest doors in the land into No 1O, while the country is going down in flames.

PS.  Callum's piece can be found here

My Sunday .........

Sunday 7th August

Had a long lie in today, unintended but welcome.

10 AM  When I did eventually surface Ishbel was in the bedroom putting the finishing touches to 'her face' so clearly had been there for a while..................

Anyway, as she was working I thought I had better get my skates on, quick wash, dressed and maybe a bit of toast before taking her to work, then I could get back do a quick tidy up and maybe get in a walk before Jennifer, Steve and the grand daughters, Hollie, Mollie, Shannon and Lacey Mae arrive.

10.45 AM Left to take Ishbel to work, threw her out of the car just as Donny Osmond was about to start singing 'Love Me for a Reason', close call see previous blog Musical-reflections-and-i-still-hate-the-Osmonds

11.10 AM back in the house and tidying up, headphones to hand for plugging into HTC smart phone so that I can listen to the new series on Radio 4 'The Reunion' bringing back together that awful man Nick Leason who caused the collapse of Barrings bank, and his old boss (now need to listen to it on the iPlayer later)

11.12 AM Unexpected phone call from work.  Duty chap bleeding from mouth.  I know the other two are busy so decide to go in and relieve him myself.  Tell him I will be in in half an hour.

Empty pockets of shorts I was wearing and head upstairs to change.

Return downstairs and refill pockets.  Decide to finish tidying kitchen and phone Jennifer to see what time they are arriving, no worries not till later and they have a key (what!)

Pick up kitchen waste to put in the three separate bins outside front door, will come back for my satchel with all my bits and bobs in it, you know all the essential stuff that a man about town needs;  Keys to the office, (do I still remember the security codes for the alarms for locking up later as I have not been called out or locked up in about six years?), Kindle, Camera, book of poetry, various leads and attachments for HTC and Samsung phones, USB portable hard drive and cables, Anadin Extra in case I get a headache, assorted coloured pens, bottle of water, assorted notebooks, cheque books and, lumps of gathered lint, etc.. etc.. etc..

Open front door and go to bins, door closes behind me, not a problem as I refilled my pockets........

Discover pockets refilled, but key to front door and car not there, AGAIN

Now at this point, if I have not already mentioned it I do suffer slightly, in that I forget things, not seriously forgetting by way of a a disease, at least I don't thinks so, but little forgetful things, particularly names and more particularly KEYS.

The office crew, as I am on my way out the door most nights will, if they do not forget, ask me if I have everything, Phone, camera , KEYS, head,  the last one I think is just a note of sarcasm creeping in but the penultimate one is of course the kicker and of particular importance particularly if I have got the train into work that day  as it would not be the first time when I have left the office, got home and found that I have left the keys in the office!!!!!!

So you can see, it is not highly unusual for me to be in this predicament, bur of course I have a bleeding colleague on my hands on this occasion.  What to do, I can't go over to the neighbour and get Arron, the son to climb over the back fence and in through the usual open window as I clearly recall closing that and anyway Sunday morning football has started again and their car wasn't there, so they were probably out.

Phoned Mani and told him he would need to wait for an hour as I needed to do something, hung up, and called a taxi, "Sorry nothing available for at least an hour".  Bit the bullet and phoned Sharon, explained situation with Mani and asked if she could go in for a couple of hours,  I usually insist that the office is open till 4 pm on a Sunday but told her if she could go in she could close it at 2 and I would pay her for a days shift, problem solved......

11.30 Now what, Oh well nothing for it better grab a bus and head in to Lakeside and get the house key from Ishbel!  Went to bus stop, Sunday Service bus not due for another 45 minutes.  Walkie time after all.  

Sun was shining but not to warm so off I start, bump into, not literally, a chap walking along the road with a Sainsbury carrier bag in each hand, comment that, "you look like a nice well balanced chap!" looked at me strangely, well by then I was in a strange place!

As I walked along in the sunshine with a slight breeze blowing west to east, ok if you insist right to left. There was clear blue sky's with little wispy clouds, but as I turned to my right and looked towards London there was the blackest cloud you could imagine with what looked like, and soon proved to be, a curtain of rain in front of it.  By this time, 12.40 ish I had been cracking on but knew I was not going to make Lakeside by the time it hit me.  I didn't but I was 5 minutes from the M25 roundabout just before Lakeside so managed to take some cover under there, not that it mattered to much as I was already bedraggled.

It's amazing what a heavy rain shower does, especially if it is followed by glorious sunshine.

  The leaves and the berries on the trees are hanging heavily towards the ground

   The weight of the water, as it makes it way down the branches onto the leaves and berries

    drips drips down onto the already sodden ground.

     The pavements and roads are washed clean and the sunshine sparkling on the ponds of water,

       left behind after the torrent, are sparkling in the sunshine that follows.

          It just makes the place look as if it has just been through a car wash, all clean and fresh ready to

             take on the dust and grime thrown at it by each passing vehicle until the next shower comes

along  

.13.05 Made it to Debenhams and retrieved key, just got a shake of the head now as this is an intermittent but usual occurrence.  Choice now was to walk home or wait 45 minutes for a bus.  Although the sun was shining rain clouds were scudding across and this was the pattern for the rest of the day.  Elected to wait the 45 minutes and get the bus.

Went in to Waterstones and had a browse at the books and got myself a David Baldacci 'The Sixth Man'.  Have heard good things about Mr Baldacci so will look forward to reading that..

Bus duly arrived, although  a few minutes late.  Not been on a 22 for a while but the driver is one of those old guys that is hard to forget.  He always has something cheery to say to everyone who gets on or off his bus.  Even the two young females who barged there way past people to ask him if he was going to Dartford?

Now, how they got here from Dartford is a mystery, or maybe they didn't, for as far as I knew and confirmed by the driver a few moments later, no he didn't go to Dartford and neither did any of the buses from here go to Dartford. Dartford is South of the river Thames in Kent and while their used to be a bus that went South over the QE2 bridge there hasn't been one for a couple of years, well at least not from Lakeside.!

14.30 hrs Got home and had a cool drink and woke up the PC and decided to write about my forgetfulness before starting to prepare Sunday lunch, which was going to be chicken casserole, with carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, as usual turned out well and everyone enjoyed.

Mind you as I was writing this the laptop crashed.  This one is a Vista and although everyone is either still on XP or upgraded to Win7, this one has been really reliable and has never crashed, not once, before.  It took 3 system restores, and a get rid of Google chrome, before it would work properly again, so I am hoping that it has just been a 'black Sunday, fitting in with my key aberration of earlier .

Kids have been sitting watching Spiderman and Free Willy2, whatever that is, I didn't even know there was a Free Willy 1?

So, that's about it for my day, started with a pleasant and unplanned lie in moving on to locking myself out, getting caught in a downpour and my laptop crashing on me, but Jennifer, Steve and the girls turned up and apart from Jennifer being her usual fruitcake youngest child  self has rounded the day of nicely

Sp whatever your Sunday brought I hope if it was annoying as mine in the middle, that it turned out well with welcome visitors , in the end....................

Best Wishes   

Mr Fat needs a Bra

You will have read my previous Mr Fat Blogs and note that I was rather more than a little morbidly obese. Humongously fat is the term I think you will be reaching for, a bit like Vanessa Feltz even with a gastric band, although I have not and will not be going down that road.

Good god did you read about her this week, She has had a gastric band fitted and now will be limited to 1000 calorie intake per day for the rest of her life, can't see that happening can you?  I mean if anyone seemed to enjoy being fat and seemed to celebrate in so being, and god knows why you would, it was this woman!

I have said it before and I will say it again, there is no fun or happiness for you or the people around you if you are fat.  Let me ask you a question, if you are fat, have you ever, when you have got undressed just grabbed a couple of handfuls of it to move it into a more comfortable position, yes don't lie.  Now, like me you are probably, I hope, a fairly clean and hygienic person, yes? And so when you moved that big lump of fat that hangs down over your nether regions, did the stench of the rotten sweaty muskiness not threaten to overwhelm you where you have sweated, or perspired just a little, in those places that are forever hidden to fresh air, yes it did and if you say no, you are not being truthful with yourself.  

If you have been following these blogs you will know that I am losing weight without going on a diet.  Yes, that's right, without going on a diet.  I gave up bread and butter for a while, but I am back on it.  I eat steak,  I eat mashed potatoes, boiled potatoes roast potatoes.  I eat meat, chicken, steak, pork, bacon, eggs, black pudding, butter, ice cream.  Check out my twitpic page, the evidence is there.  I also eat lots and lots of fruit and veg, along with bars of chocolate.  Last night I stopped off at the chippy and got myself a portion of cod and chips, lashings of salt and vinegar and a can of pepsi.

I wrote at the beginning of July that for the first time in god knows how many years I had come in under 20 stone but I wouldn't consider myself actually under that weight until I was under it at both the start and the end of the day.  Well this week  I have achieved that.  So it takes me a month, but who cares, I am not in a race.  The idea is to lose the weight and keep it off and do it without making my life as miserable as it was, by being fat.  Yes, I am, this week fluctuating between 19.stones 9 lbs and 19 stones 11 lbs.

There is no secret to this either, it is all down to the fact that I want to be NOT FAT and the only change I have made in my life is this.  I have ditched the TV.  Not literally, it is still there in the corner and it is switched on from time to time, watched Torchwood on Thursday night, still want to slap that Gwen... but other than that the TV has largely gone.  So what do I do in stead, you ask?  Simple, again if you read these blogs you will know that when I started these mutterings that just walking to the end of the road was like a marathon for me in terms of energy expended and in being knackered for hours,  Well, now each and every day, mostly in the evenings I get out for a walk.  The walk can be an hour, hour and a half or hour and three quarters, and the trick is to do it daily, o.k. I have missed the odd day  but as a rule I am out there walking.

I still walk to the shops, unless doing a big shop, and I try and do at least 20 minutes around the Centre where I work each day as well, getting me out of the office.  So, if you are fat and you want to lose weight, you can do it without going on a diet, give it a try.

Finally, you have been reading this and wondering about the title, don't fib, you have.  I told you in an earlier blog, that in the process of putting on all this weight I had lost the ability to run and I told you of my one and only attempt in recent years to do this again.  Well I have an acquaintance on Twitter and we tweet occasionally, Jan Hicks  Jan's bio is "Lost 40 lbs with P90. Now a Beachbody Coach. My message is that you are capable of so much more than you know! Love running, knitting, stitching & reading, too"  and she has been encouraging me to keep doing what I am doing but also to step it up with short runs, walk, short runs, etc.  Well when I headed out for my walk tonight this tweet suddenly popped into my mind and having my trainers on I thought why not.  So girding myself  off I went.  Well blow me down with a paper fan.

I WAS RUNNING AND DO YOU KNOW WHAT I WAS ACTUALLY RUNNING........

Calm down, cut the applause, it didn't last... aw , shame, thanks, but let me explain.

No, it wasn't a complete disaster, I did discover that the ability to run has came back to me, but it will still be a while before I a doing a mile, let alone a half marathon, my 'training regime' is not geared up for anything different and I am quite happy at the moment.

No the problem was my MAN BOOBS.  Yes, my boobs, my titties. Now they are smaller now than they were before I started this weight loss game, but as I learned tonight I still have MAN BOOBS and they bounce.  How the hell do women run with these things bouncing up and down.  O.k. they weren't slapping me on the face as they bounced, but they bounced and it was bloody sore. I managed to do about 250 yards and hey that is the furthest I have run in over twenty years, so it is a milestone, but me boobs were to sore to go on.

So, do I get a women's sports bra or 'weight' until they get smaller, answers please!

Best Wishers