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Simon Rumney

Goodreads Author

Born

in Sawbridgeworth, The United Kingdom

Website

https://www.facebook.com/oureternalcurse/?ref=t...

Twitter

simon_rumney

Genre

Fiction, Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Member Since

August 2015

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I was born into England's idyllic countryside in 1955, just ten years after The Second World War. A time when people were still living with the terrible trauma of nightly bombing raids and the unimaginable suffering of losing loved ones to a violent death. Many were gripped by what we now call ‘Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ at a time when no-one felt comfortable talking about their feelings.
Rationing had only just ended and I remember my anxious mother keeping draws stuffed full with used paper bags because surviving acute shortages made it impossible for her to throw anything away. Almost everyone's mother was hording completely worn-out shoes or tiny bits of material to patch clothes long after they should have been thrown away. Even th I was born into England's idyllic countryside in 1955, just ten years after The Second World War. A time when people were still living with the terrible trauma of nightly bombing raids and the unimaginable suffering of losing loved ones to a violent death. Many were gripped by what we now call ‘Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder’ at a time when no-one felt comfortable talking about their feelings.
Rationing had only just ended and I remember my anxious mother keeping draws stuffed full with used paper bags because surviving acute shortages made it impossible for her to throw anything away. Almost everyone's mother was hording completely worn-out shoes or tiny bits of material to patch clothes long after they should have been thrown away. Even though food was now freely available many mothers couldn't help skimping on portions of basic things like sugar, flour and butter.
Had I been born into my working-class family fifty years earlier I imagine the mood in my household may well have been a lot less tense. I would also have avoided going to school by becoming a junior apprentice to my accomplished cabinet making father. Conversely, had I been born today I would be learning in an enlightened school system while using computers with some kind of commonly available spellcheck program.
Unfortunately for me, being born in 1955 meant compulsorily attending a tiny village school whose teachers believed education was still something that should be beaten into their pupils. Dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) were things of the distant future and any interruption to ask for clarity was considered deliberately disruptive.
Much to my teacher’s constant frustration, I could actually read words. I could even write words. I simply couldn't understand them. Sometimes I would copy things down from the blackboard and the very same word would be spelled in three different ways in the same paragraph. When I read the 'Janet and John' books I could read the words, I could even read them out loud, but I simply couldn't follow the story.
I know this sounds ridiculous but, to give you some idea of what I experience when I read, it's like relearning every word every time I see it. Imagine translating every word into French, then back into English all the time. I truly envy those people who talk about becoming 'lost in a good book' because for me reading is like completing an obstacle course without gravity to hold me down.
As for abstract things like punctuation, or the meaning of nouns, pronouns, adjectives, verbs etc. My teachers may just as well have been speaking Swahili!
Even as I write this explanation it makes absolutely no sense to me, so how could it possibly have made sense to the frustrated teachers who punished me for being 'lazy and stupid’. When those same teachers informed my parents of, what they believed to be, my ‘unwillingness’ to learn, my poorly educated Mum and Dad also punished me for my apparent rebelliousness.
Like many children who find themselves in this predicament I compensated for my academic failings by becoming an athlete. I sought approval as the fastest swimmer in my junior school. I was a good soccer player. Tall for my age, I was handy for the rugby team and ideal as a fast cricket bowler. I was all set for the macho existence of a ‘Jock’ until the age of 8 when I became a chronic asthmatic and could no longer compete.
It didn’t help when the Doctor who diagnosed my asthma said. 'In my opinion asthma is a psychosomatic illness.’ After that little bomb shell my teachers; my parents, even I believed that I was not only too ‘lazy and stupid’ to read, I was also too ‘lazy and stupid’ to breathe!
I should point out, that most of my teachers were well meaning and not deliberately malicious. They were people born into a very different England. Some had survived two brutal World Wars while living in a society that didn't guarantee education for all until a hard won act of Parliament in ...more

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Simon Rumney’s books

Average rating: 4.51 · 73 ratings · 43 reviews · 8 distinct works • Similar authors

	Another Tribe (Our Eternal Curse #2) 4.41 avg rating — 29 ratings — published 2015 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Social War (Our eternal curse Book 1) 4.82 avg rating — 17 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Another Self (Our Eternal Curse #1) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 15 ratings — published 2013 — 7 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Another War 4.86 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2016 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Someone Else's Life by Simon Rumney (Goodreads Author), Yelena Fairfax (Editor) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Killing Time for Mannie the Liar 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Our Eternal Curse: Another Tribe by Simon Rumney (Goodreads Author), Virtual Voice (Narrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Our Eternal Curse: Another War by Simon Rumney (Goodreads Author), Virtual Voice (Narrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by Simon Rumney…

7 posts
Simon Rumney's Blog: Simon Rumney's Travels

Should we go boldly into outer-space?

Should we go boldly into outer-space?
What if beings, like us, we must face?
Can we explain our human race?
Will they forgive us our careless disgrace?

Will they understand why some sleep on streets?
While simple geography dictates which of us eats?

Will they understand our obsession with wealth?
What if, for them, it’s not about self?

What if they look like a pig, or a chicken?
Do we have the words to ex Read more of this blog post »

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Published on August 20, 2017 02:12

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Series by Simon Rumney

Our Eternal Curse (3 books)
by

Simon Rumney (Goodreads Author)

4.35 avg rating — 51 ratings

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Simon Rumney rated a book it was amazing A Social War by Simon Rumney (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Dec 13, 2025 06:54PM · like
Jim Kochanoff answered Simon Rumney's question: Hi Jim. I see you gave Review Tales magazine a four star rating. Was that really you or did they AI you? Simon It was me. I try to support all magazines that support other authors.
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Simon Rumney made a comment in the group Historical Fictionistas — 2025 Introductions topic " Hi, I'm Simon Rumney and I'm new to this group. Sound a bit like a twelve stepper there. The truth is I don't have addictions but I do have a number o ...more "
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Simon Rumney made a comment in the group Beta Reader Group — New Beta Reader - LitFic, Romance, Dystopian, Sci-fi, Horror topic " ‘A Social War’ New to this group. I joined to see if my 97k word historical fiction is of interest to readers. The story is set in the last years of th ...more "
Apr 30, 2024 06:04AM
Simon Rumney made a comment in the group Beta Reader Group — New Beta Reader topic " ‘A Social War’ New to this group. I joined to see if my 97k word historical fiction is of interest to readers. The story is set in the last years of th ...more "
Apr 30, 2024 06:04AM
Simon Rumney made a comment in the group Beta Reader Group — Hello, New Reader, How can I Help? topic " ‘A Social War’ New to this group. I joined to see if my 97k word historical fiction is of interest to readers. The story is set in the last years of th ...more "
Apr 30, 2024 06:03AM
Simon Rumney made a comment in the group Beta Reader Group — New beta reader topic " ‘A Social War’ New to this group. I joined to see if my 97k word historical fiction is of interest to readers. The story is set in the last years of th ...more "
Apr 30, 2024 06:03AM