HarryC

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I have 157 stories published in one collection on the site.
My stories have been read 211298 times and 171 of my stories have been cherry picked.
95 of my 703 comments have been voted Great Feedback with a total of 104 votes

HarryC's picture
Kevin Marman

Care worker, writer, memester, autist, dissenter.

I like people who not only think outside the box, but reshape the box into something else!

I've been writing since I was 10.  It's my sanctuary - though the structure often needs maintenance.  Over the last twenty or so years, I've won some writing prizes for short fiction, poetry and playwriting.  In 2013, I published my first novel, 'In the Day'.  Looking at it now, I can see all sorts of things I would change - but I suppose that shows progress.  I also have a collection of short fiction, 'Sacred Shirts', which was published in 2024.

In 2015, at the grand age of 56, I was finally diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Condition (Asperger's).  I live alone with my cat, Daisy, and lots of books.

My stories

Gold cherry
Story of the week

Where Are We Now? Ted Kaczynski and Technological Society

Ted Kaczynski, otherwise known as the 'Unabomber', died in June 2023 - twenty-five years into his eight life sentences in prison for his crimes...
2 likes
Cherry

Taking Care 6 (i)

It didn't take me long to settle down into the job and become a respected team member at the day centre. It was the same at Remus Lodge, too. I was...
1 likes
Cherry

What is Autism? A brief guide...

This week, I and some peers began our second year of delivering 'autism' workshops to 4th-year medical students at the local university...
1 likes
Cherry

Taking Care 5 (ii)

I wasn't sure how to get to Sainsbury's, but Terry seemed to know the way - telling me 'next left' or 'next right' in that robotic monotone of his. "...
1 likes
Cherry

Taking Care 5 (i)

Over the following days and weeks, as I settled into the routines at the Centre, my conviction consolidated. I'd never dreamed that I could get such...
1 likes

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95 of my comments have received 104 Great Feedback votes

1 Vote

'Our life is frittered away

Posted on Tue, 27 Aug 2024

'Our life is frittered away with detail.  Simplify!  Simplify!'

Henry David Thoreau

(as many have pointed out... one 'simplify' would have been enough, Henry!...

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Posted in Never Enough?

1 Vote

Letter in The Times a couple

Posted on Fri, 16 Aug 2024

Letter in The Times a couple of weeks ago:

Harriet Walter says that "there is nothing more depressing than a two-year-old in a buggy glued to a screen".  I think that an adult pushing a buggy using a mobile phone and ignoring a...

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Posted in A Martian Sends a Postcard Home 2024

1 Vote

Yes, you're right.  Any way

Posted on Fri, 16 Aug 2024

Yes, you're right.  Any way you look at it, it's not good.  I don't know what the answers are.  Once an avalanche starts falling, you can't stop it.  It'll only stop when it's destroyed everything in its path, and hits the bottom, and runs out of...

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Posted in A Martian Sends a Postcard Home 2024

1 Vote

I try to remain hopeful.  But

Posted on Fri, 16 Aug 2024

I try to remain hopeful.  But when you see how it's all being driven by the race to the top, and that the gap between the growth of capabilities and the development of safety mechanisms is so huge (1,000 to 1), then it's easy to see how it can...

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Posted in A Martian Sends a Postcard Home 2024

1 Vote

Thanks, Di.  I think the

Posted on Fri, 16 Aug 2024

Thanks, Di.  I think the addiction is understandable.  It's an essential part of the business model for these platforms - the so-called 'attention economy'.  The saying in Silicon Valley is 'If you aren't  paying for the product, you are...

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Posted in A Martian Sends a Postcard Home 2024

1 Vote

  I think of it as a bit of

Posted on Fri, 16 Aug 2024

smiley  I think of it as a bit of freedom, mate!  It's funny, but I had a medical...

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Posted in A Martian Sends a Postcard Home 2024

1 Vote

I detest the whole culture of

Posted on Fri, 16 Aug 2024

I detest the whole culture of it, and refuse to have a smart phone.  People call me a dinosaur.  No, I'm not. Neither am I a lemming.  I have a PC with internet connection, which I use when I choose to use it.  I have a VPN to protect my privacy...

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Posted in A Martian Sends a Postcard Home 2024

1 Vote

Hi Turlough,

Posted on Thu, 15 Aug 2024

Hi Turlough,

Thanks for your comment.  I had a couple of 'episodes' yesterday with BIG car drivers, which inspired the rant!  The area I live in is full of them.  I was reading that their numbers have jumped ten-fold globally since 2010,...

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Posted in SUV

1 Vote

Ah, The Blind Beggar.  Oh,

Posted on Tue, 18 Jan 2022

Ah, The Blind Beggar.  Oh, the times...

Great memories, mate.

 

That scene where Ollie runs out in front of the fire engine and jumps in the back of the van - I watched that being filmed.  It took six takes over about 40...

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Posted in Things I Did On My Day Off

1 Vote

Cassiopeia - 'the big double

Posted on Tue, 18 Jan 2022

Cassiopeia - 'the big double-you!'

One of the few constellations I can remember, because of the shape.

A first reading has resonated with my own thoughts at this time.  I may not be able to decode the images, but there's an...

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Posted in Fading of Legends

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