Thought Crime

Take me to Church...

We have all been hiding from large groups of people because of Covid-19, right..?  I know that I have been trying to be sensible and careful and thoughtful about any risk-taking, even with my status as a twice vaccinated and once boosted science believer. What has been the greatest sadness

The Spiderman Effect

I have been a software developer, a coder, for well over twenty years.  The earliest days of my tinkering began at home, before my tween years, trying to come to terms with the dialect of BASIC that was available to me on my Commodore Vic20.  I have to be honest

essay

Reflections on Ambition, Attainment and Fulfilment

Henry David Thoreau famously said; “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is confirmed desperation.” and at the risk of accidentally and inadvertently “outing” myself as a middle-aged man, not merely a middle-aged man but also a Cis, White, Middle-Class, Man living in one

Equality..?

Kathryn Bigelow is one of the finest film makers of the last forty years. In honour of that fact my evening’s entertainment is watching her seminal nineties adrenaline trip Point Break. (I admit not the most feminist or diverse film ever made, but that’s really not the point

poetry

Esoteric Monster

“It’s a difficult time fer us, now You know?” Said the ghoul as he made shapes With his toe, in the snow. I tried to stay calm as he spoke Not look unnerved by his shattered visage Strips of rotting flesh seeming to trickle Down the side of his

Gambit Choice Blues

The house falls quiet now, Sleep has come to all but I. Deep in the halls of the night I wander alone, perusing the shelves; Looking for the volume I seek, I know it is here, somewhere. What will I do if I find it? Will I read the wisdom

fiction Featured

Grave Moment (Redux)

I have been told not to move.

dark

Grave Moment

I can feel the damp seeping into my jeans where my knees are pressing into the mud...

You Take the High Road...

The events of this last week have been momentous.  The long anticipated US General Election has taken place, and as I type this former Vice President Joe Biden is inching towards a victory that appears at least to be a foregone conclusion, and one that will not only carry the

code

Estimates, Time and Toxicity

or... How to build software reliably without “Crunch” I have been building software professionally for twenty years, and the one utterly constant truth I have discovered is this; > Making Time a key factor in the lives of Coders, and specifically in the process of estimating and planning work, is a

Fathom

Copyright Maleghast (a.k.a. C. Oliver Godby) 2020 - All Rights ReservedA few weeks ago I wrote this poem and made this Rückenfigur self-portrait for a submission to a 'Zine produced by Penfriend [https://penfriend.rocks] for their supporters via The Correspondents Club [https://penfriend.rocks/clubhouse/].  The 'Zine

I told you so, and it gives me no joy

This last week has seen confirmation that the UK has experienced more excess deaths during the COVID-19 Pandemic than any other country in Europe.  Playing second fiddle to Darth Cheeto’s “everything is bigger in America” world class shit-show is not where I expected us to be back in February

poetry

Night Walking...

Hood up Cans on; Music is driving, Showing me the way. Roads are dark, Half-lit by cabs Lamp posts’ sodium haze Phone-glow passes by. I tread lightly for a big man Toe to heel is my aim But flat striking That’s the limit of my game. Beats rise and

A Time To Speak

I can't sleep. I slept late on Sunday / yesterday, I think because I could, and because I needed it, but not so late that a sensible bedtime, i.e. before it was Monday was out of the question. No, I can't sleep because I am enraged, because I am sad,

programming

Credit Where Credit is Due

(Image: Barbara Liskov in 2010 | see credit below) I am suitably (I think) proud of my professional life, in so much as though I am not the best programmer (I know I have worked with and will continue to work with people far more talented than I), and yet I

VE Day 2020

I almost managed to forget what today is...  VE Day was not the end of the war, but it was the end of a lot of people's wars, and I get that.  I also get why the triumphalism __was__ important, but I don't think that we have anything to be

What’s next?

I suppose it may be apparent to people that have followed my writing(s) over the years that I am still and have long-since been influenced by The West Wing.  To be a fan of a show, to find that it resonates with your life enough to merit re-watch after

poetry

Perspective ephemera

Rushing water Do you hear it? I am sure that I do, Though the spillway is dry. Warm golden fingers Do you feel them? I am sure that I do, Though the sun has sunk away. Distant voices Do you hear them? I am sure that I do, Though I

How to start the climb back up to the light.

(Lyrics from Judas by Depeche Mode, w. M.Gore)I keep coming back to this stanza... It’s resonances for me, for right now are nothing to do with the song’s original message or story; my interest in these words have nothing to do with the personal microcosm of

fiction

By way of Introduction...

This year I am going to have another bash at NaNoWriMo.As part of my prep for the process, which starts tomorrow I have written a Prologue to the story I am going to be writing...

What we see now the eye can scarcely believe

I’ve been giving this some thought and as far as I can tell there is no other way to put it, Boris Johnson is exactly who we ALL think he is; a self-important, self-serving, entitled cunt. I make no secret that I was lucky enough to have a fantastically

Prologue - Occam

The rain is sliding off the roofs above me like sheets.  I suppose that it comes as no surprise to me that this back alley on the lower east side is not blessed with well maintained guttering. The light from the part broken neon sign above the dive bar’s

Traitors are as traitors do...

I want to forgive Leave voters.  Truly I want to forgive them, even though I am so filled with rage and sorrow all at the same time.  Even though I fear for myself, my family, my friends and indeed all my country folk and all my fellow Europeans, I wish

brexit

We have barely 3 months left...

I want you to imagine that it's just before Christmas, 2022...Brexit is still under regular discussion, at family tables, in pubs the length and breadth of the land, in offices and in school playgrounds and indeed everywhere that people gather...

Mr. Weinstein Will See You Now...

I have posted about this on Facebook, but I needed to do something more... I have followed Amanda Palmer for years, since before she was a solo artist in most of our minds, when she was one half of the fantastic Dresden Dolls.  Her brand of leftfield, strong, dark, joyful