I’d like to start off by thanking Steve for this great opportunity to promote my blog about new (to me) authors and to divulge a few things about myself. Others have tried and failed to get me to do this, but he managed by threatening to contact my mate and have my banana supply cut off until I gave in – that worked! 🙂
Before I launch into my blog promotion, I’ll get the ME bit out of the way, so here are some personal secrets:
In age I am mentally in my mid 30’s, but physically in human terms I am 63 years old, which, my younger friends, does NOT involve decrepitude, assistance in crossing roads, etc, no matter what you think! 🙂
My mate is a very patient and extremely intelligent lady, who not only has my heart, but also my respect and we tackle the world, with all its vagaries, challenges and variety, as a team.
I am a proud Father of one daughter and proud Brother of one much younger sister, both of whom never cease to amaze me regarding what they have achieved in life.
My work, career and travels have allowed me to meet and get to know a veritable multitude of people from every imaginable background, nationality and religious belief, plus, as a bonus, be able to call many of them friends.
My enthusiasm for books goes way back into my early formative years when my Mother first read stories to me, then taught me how to read them for myself, so that when I started school and found that I was so far ahead of the other pupils I had no other recourse than to continue reading in order to keep learning, but I didn’t mind because by then I had learned to love reading.
Please don’t misunderstand, I am no genius and have no great talents, other than to have been able to survive life thus far. Without the ability of being able to read, I would have probably gone barking mad before I left Primary School (no sniggering, whispering, nodding of head and twirling of finger beside your ear from you at the back thank you!)
The authors of books are, in my opinion, one of the most valuable assets the human race could have – they are the equivalent of the Shamans and Storytellers whose lineage goes way back into the dawn of the species and are what have made the REAL difference between humans and other species and Hominids.
In fact, I fully agree with Sir Terry Pratchett when he surmises that instead of being called Homo Sapiens – wise man (with 1200cc brains), or even Homo Sapiens Sapiens – modern wise man (with 1350cc brains), the correct term should be Pan narrans – the storytelling ape (brain size irrelevant).
I on the other hand, could be termed a Pan audiendo – story listening ape (brain size irrelevant), an equally valuable asset to the species. 🙂
All types together have contributed to the existence of the sole surviving and dominant species of Hominid/Ape we know today.
That is basically why I have set up my blog to promote Authors (modern day Shamans / storytellers / Pan narrans) and enlighten or expand the choices of Readers (modern day story listeners / Pan audiendos).
Since my blog about new (to me) authors and their books began on 4th April 2013, it reached its 1000 hits & 100 followers by 29th April, which surprised and encouraged me to continue and experiment with it.
By 29th May it reached 3500 hits and 200 followers which shocked me, so I fiddled around with it some more.
As I write this article now (3rd July – 3 month mark) it is reading 8,866 hits and has 335 followers, so I’m sitting firmly on my branch and holding on tight with astonishment, for it’s a long fall down to the ground!
My blog friends and followers have been very, very supportive and spread the word around all their friends, fans and blog followers and I give a BIG Thank You to them.
Why have they done this? Some of them have already been featured authors on the blog, so why bother hanging around it? Some of them are not even authors, but keep coming back time and again!
Well, I guess you’ll just have to call over, look through the articles and various sections, including wandering through the various Bookcases, read the comments and see the banter that goes on and find out for yourself if you’d like to join in the fun 🙂
You are all cordially invited to try it for yourself (it’s FREE) by clicking on the link below:
http://www.thestoryreadingapeblog.com
Many, many thanks to Chris, the Story Reading Ape! I’m happy announce that his banana eating rights have now been fully restored. Trust me, folks! You really will gain a great deal by visiting his Blog Suite, which is the besst description I can give the string of blogs that he has assembled to help readers find great books, and to help aauthors find new readers. One caution: take supplies! You could be there quote a while!!
I am (constantly, perennially) developing my own definition of intelligence. At the moment I think it might be a propensity to play at every available opportunity. Dogs play. Apes play. There are an unfortunate number of humans who have the opportunity and means to play but who never do. In my book that puts them on the level of over-complicated unecessarily expensive screwdrivers. The only way to play with a screwdriver is to imagine that it is something else.
Harrumph. Steps off soap-box and sashays off stage left, muttering…
My definition of intelligence has always tended to be: does it interact with the environment and enjoy doing so without having to ”fix’ it, kill, or generally bring harm? If the answer’s “Yes”, then that’s intelligence far beyond what many Humans ever achieve 😉
(Note to self: need to check all randomly placed soap boxes are safe to stand on!)
Pingback: Read all about it! | Chris The Story Reading Ape's New (to me) Authors Blog
Thanks for the pingback Chris 🙂
To be honest Steve, I don’t know how I did that, I’ve been asking how and no-one has told me yet 🙂
All I did was post an article with a link to your site 🙂
LOL That’ll do it 😀
OH I see, puzzle now solved 🙂
😀
I enjoyed reading this post. Hope in the future to discover new authors while I eat my daily banana 🙂
Chris certainly writes it well, Colline 🙂 I like the idea of daily bananas while reading LOL!
Hey Ape!
Pie wanted me to tell you he likes the way you jump from blog to blog. He has been having great fun doing that lately. I’m quite glad your banana supply has been restored and the kid with the bad hair day is safe. I would hate to think what would happen if we threatened Pie’s carrot supply. I’m afraid chaos would ensue!
Tell Pie that if his carrot supply is ever threatened, let me know and I’ll come over with some of my Troop to discuss matters very seriously with the Threatener 🙂
I will do that. I’m quite sure the old man will rest easy now. He sends his thanks as he munches on a carrot.
I tried to sign up to the Story Reading Ape by entering my e-mail address, however WordPress keeps telling me that I am not entering a valid e-mail address. I’ve tried entering two different e-mail addresses, however the same error message comes up, can you help please?!
I’ll contact him tomorrow
Drew, if you sign into your own wordpress site, then call over to mine, you should be able to see Follow on the top left of your screen (white font on black background), just click on follow and that will do the trick – I’ve had similar experiences when trying to subscribe to other blogs and it is annoying, but I’ve not yet found out how to overcome it or why it happens 🙂
Thanks Chris – glad you spotted this. I’m on the drag today. Going out 🙂
Hope you get better weather than we are Steve and that you perk up soon 🙂
Thanks Chris 🙂 It’s cloudy sunny breezy warm lol. One of the better days though 🙂
LOL 🙂