About ‘A Quantum of…’
Everything is small these days, little bites of online information that try to convey some sort of meaning, Snaps, TikToks, Shorts, Reels. Rather than just disappearing after a minute what if it was a door to a larger world.
For fun I did a little book give away project for Halloween 2022 on Twitter. Each day I read a quote from famous horror novels, with my slightly odd accent, and folks kindly liked and followed along winning some classic novels along the way. I thought I might spin a few more ‘A Quantum Of…’ scattered throughout the coming year.
The idea is to hook people into the larger work these quanta of books, poetry, stories etc come from and maybe people will find a new world to step into and decompress from the regular hectic one we find ourselves competing in daily.
During a difficult personal time I used reading Shakespeare’s Sonnets as a daily ritual that became a good mental health routine and perhaps you might find something in these little projects that is useful for a similar purpose ⚛.
For the coming year I’ve been thinking of a couple of project ideas some of which you can help with.
‘A QUANTUM OF HORROR’
The one that started the idea will probably return in October 2024, and most likely with the weekly book giveaway coming with it because who doesn’t love a free book and last time they headed out from the Emerald Isle to America, Indonesia, England, Kazakhstan, and the Czech Republic.
‘A QUANTUM OF AMORE’
A Quantum of Amore, love in Italian. I’ll be calling for a little help on this one to see what people feel are the best short poems about love, or book excerpts that have stayed with them, and just as advance notice no I won’t be reading anything eyebrow-raising by D.H. Lawrence! I’ve a couple of the Bard’s sonnets that fit the bill and we’ll see what else we can come up with.
‘A QUANTUM OF PHILOSOPHY’
This was a project I’ve wanted to start for a while as various schools of philosophy have helped guide me and sometimes ask questions of myself to help me through or around the problems that life invariably throws in front of us. Principles of philosophy are not simply to be read but practiced and and like martial arts it can be restricting to focus on just one discipline, something Bruce Lee found and it encouraged him to forge his own martial art, Jeet Kune Do, borrowing what he felt were the best parts of numerous other systems. I’m hoping to cast the net far and wide to catch some of the best bits of advice to help with daily life.
Forge ‘a Quantum’ of your own..
I’ve been having fun doing these little readings with my slightly odd accent for a while now, sometimes it’s a blast and easy, sometimes Shakespeare will try his damnedest to trip me up, and some poetry I really struggle with, but it’s the challenge that makes it all the more fun. Perhaps you’d like to give it a go, maybe there’s a short poem or passage from a book that fits a project here that you’d like to pour your passion into and have it included. All you need to do is get a good recording to me so get in touch and let’s see what we can do. I’ll put a call out for submissions later in the year.
Upcoming Projects
electronic mail lives!
Maybe you aren’t on social, it isn’t for everyone, but you still want to connect to take part in future ‘A Quantum Of..’ projects or something else silly I’m doing to pass the time. Drop me a message and I’ll be in touch, unless you seem insane in which case don’t hold your breath, no offence.