Tag: Stoic philosophy

End of the Year 2019

2019 has been a very good year for me. The days have gone by quite swiftly, though, and at my age one hopes they might dally awhile. Alas, Father Time seems to be swift of foot these days. Nevertheless, swift passing or not, the days were good. I have no complaints.

My Good Days As A Writer

Wearing my writer hat, the highlight of the year was being named One of the Top 25 Mystery Writers You Need to be Reading by international bestselling authors Caleb and Linda Pirtle. Being mystery and thriller writers themselves, I’m honored to have made their list.

And the award was in addition to the fabulous reviews that came in all year for my books. The most recent being one for my new novel Death Makes A House Call.

I’ll be honest here: I don’t sell a lot of books. My earnings this year are looking to be less than $300. And there are some days I wonder if it’s worth it. However, it’s satisfying to know that there are people out there who appreciate my work. It does help me to keep going. I’m not writing into the dark. I’m writing for them.

My Good Days As A Reader

This year was a good one for reading. I discovered many new to me authors, both indie and traditionally published. Of course there were many old friends who I met in previous years. All told, I read fiction from 62 different writers.

For those who are into numbers, here’s the breakdown:

Novels/Novellas: 46

Short Story Collections: 4

Short Stories/Novelettes: 45

Non-Fiction: 9 (7 books, 1 essay, 1 True-Crime Story)

The genres my reading tended to focus on were horror and mysteries, but a little bit of everything showed up on the list — including romance. 🙂

Amongst those 62 writers were old favorites such as Ben Willoughby, RH Hale, Rex Stout, Richard Schwindt, Joe Congel, Andy Graham, and Matthew Cormack.

New to me authors included Brian Fatah Steele, H. Bedford-Jones, Lisette Brodey, Alexander Pain, John F Leonard, Terry Tyler, and KD McNiven.

I don’t particularly like making “Best of” lists. They’re highly subjective, and, for me, only reflect my opinion at the moment — which could very easily change next week.

Nevertheless, I do want to give a special shoutout for new-to-me authors Brian Fatah Steele and John F Leonard. They made a big impression on me with the power and imagination of their writing.

If cosmic horror is your thing, or just plain excellent writing, give these guys a try. Particularly Steele’s Your Arms Around Entropy and other stories, and Leonard’s Congeal.

My Good Days As A Person

2019 was good to me as a person. I’m still taking in air and sustenance. My health is reasonably good. At 67, every day I wake up breathing air instead of dirt is a very good one indeed!

Simple pleasures become a source of immense peace and comfort. Simple things such as a good meal, a cup of hot tea, a good book, a good laugh, playing with the cat, seeing the sunset, and gazing at the moon. These things can enrich your life to no end, and they cost little or nothing.

Marcus Aurelius, the Roman emperor and Stoic philosopher, wrote that “Life is opinion.” In other words, life is what we think it is. And if we choose to think it’s good — it will be.

Good and bad are relative. And because good and bad are relative, they have no absolute meaning. Which in turn means, life simply is. The good and bad of life are in our minds.

Tomorrow begins the new year. May it be a good one for you — and if you think it is, it will be.

Comments are always welcome, and until next time — happy living!

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Rational Anarchism

Lately I’ve been reading post-apocalyptic literature (among other things). Reading how other writers envision the future when humanity has a chance to start over is always interesting, for it reveals how these writers see themselves and their fellows.

One of my first published books was The Morning Star, the first book in The Rocheport Saga. The Saga is the autobiography, as it were, of Bill Arthur, who is a survivor of an unknown plague that wiped out most of earth’s human population. He begins to gather together other survivors in an attempt to reboot civilization. But not the old one that died, a new one that is better.

Much of Bill’s political philosophy is drawn from libertarian writings. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress being one. So I thought I’d re-post one of my writings from the very early days of this blog. Let’s look once again at Rational Anarchism. Enjoy!

Nearly fifty years ago, a writer by the name of Robert A Heinlein wrote and got published a book entitled, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. One of the principal characters in the novel is Professor Bernardo de la Paz, who describes himself as a “Rational Anarchist”.

What is a Rational Anarchist? Let’s take a look, because the words rational and anarchy seem to be contradictory. A Rational Anarchist:

    • Believes the state, society, and government are concepts which do not exist apart from the physical acts of self-answerable individuals.
    • Believes blame, guilt, responsibility, and answerability makes it impossible for a person to shift, share, or distribute blame.
    • Being rational, the rational anarchist understands not everyone shares his or her views; yet, he or she strives to live perfectly in an imperfect world; completely aware he or she is not capable of achieving perfection.
    • Accepts all rules society deems necessary to secure its freedom and liberty.
    • Is free no matter what the rules are in his or her society. If the rules are tolerable, he or she will tolerate them. If not, the rational anarchist will break them.
    • Is free because the rational anarchist knows only he or she is morally responsible for everything he or she does.

Why do I bring this up? Because Bill Arthur in The Rocheport Saga tries to create a new world along similar lines. He begins as an anarchistic libertarian, seeking on a societal level to create the ultimate environment for freedom.  Eventually he realizes people are people. Even after a calamity which wipes out 98 out of every 100 people, those who survive haven’t essentially changed. The survivors are no different than they were before they were survivors. People want freedom, but actually crave security and will sacrifice freedom for security every time they feel insecure.

In the end, Bill Arthur becomes a Rational Anarchist. He concludes the Stoics were right over 2,000 years ago: all we can ultimately do is control ourselves.

Tell me what you think about freedom and security. Is Bill Arthur right?

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