Ian Gouge

Life weaves its magic of triumphs and disappointments everywhere, and often those burdened with more than their fair share of tragedy can feel lost and alone. Even in a quiet backwater like Maunston Quay people struggle to come to terms with their personal suffering and grief - yet Maunston Quay may offer the kind of second chances that gives hope to everyone.

Having received praise for his recent work 'Human Archaeology' - "a compelling exploration of the meaning of memory and history," "an interesting, special form of poetic plate-spinning" - Ian Gouge's latest book is a shift into new territory. "After The Rehearsals" is a prose poem narrative in which the poems - although they stand on their own - are akin to chapters in a work of fiction. Reading them sequentially draws the reader into the lives of the book's characters. Writing in this way, we get to the essence behind the narrative much more readily, and uncover a story told through a composite of sharp and memorable images.

We are all connected. There are links - like links in a chain - that join each of us, everyone to everyone else."Degrees of Separation" is a series of short stories, each tied to the next it through one of its two characters. The book's invisible thread weaves its way across geography and time until the circle is made complete when a character from the first story appears again in the final one.But each story is also a narrative about separation in its own right; a wife from a husband, a son from a father, a friend from a friend. "Degrees of Separation" explores what it means to be apart, and considers the things that can divide us - or potentially keep us together.

Given his profession as a Historian, it was inevitable that Mark would find himself one day writing the biography of his late father, the acclaimed author Charles Packard. As his biographer, Mark is blessed with a wealth of material: first-hand experience, his father's own work, the testimonies of his Aunt, and Charles' friends, colleagues - and enemies.Yet what he uncovers is unexpected, revealing elements of his father's life that resonate with his own. The parallels he reveals begin to intrude in a very tangible way on Mark's interpretation of own his life, his history becoming more closely aligned to that of his father.Instead of being the closing of a chapter, a sealing up of the past, the biography proves to be something far darker, unleashing personal daemons that Mark could never have anticipated.

"Punctuations from History" is Ian Gouge's latest collection of poems, a volume that in various ways explores our place in, and relation to, history. Whilst there are similarities in theme to his collection "Human Archaeology" (which debuted at the 2017 Ripon Poetry Festival), the threads tying these pieces together are looser, more fluid.In an unusual departure, "Punctuations from History" contains brief 'context commentaries' that provide the reader with a foothold into the individual poems: "an attempt to offer up a literary trowel to allow the reader to get below the surface of the poem more readily."Overall, the collection tries to assist with unravelling notions of "how we were / or how we are now / or how we might yet be"; fragments or mirrors offered up from our 'punctuated history'.

Collected together for the first time, Ian Gouge's three novellas: Losing Moby Dick, Writing to Gisella, and Riding the Escalators.LOSING MOBY DICKBooks are, for many people, precious things. They become host not only to the words within them, but to individual history and memory, thoughts and feelings. So when Jack finds he has lost his old copy of "Moby Dick" he is suddenly knocked off-balance. He knows that it should not really matter that much - but it had 'associations'...So Jack determines to replace it - and not with a pristine copy, but if he can, with an old second-hand volume from the very bookshop at which he acquired his original.A simple enough proposition you might think. But then Jack discovers that in the intervening years many things have changed, and Twerton's bookshop is not what it was. It is much, much different...WRITING TO GISELLA In many ways it was the perfect, idyllic summer break: unexpected, taken on impulse, filled with sun, culture, and the beauty of Tuscany. And it was also filled with love; the kind of love that changes a young man's life forever.And then, suddenly, the dream is killed and there is nothing but vacuum. For years.Until her letter arrives unexpectedly, finding him - them both indeed - different people.Rick's choice is binary. Does he - after all this time, and after the pain of a broken heart - simply ignore her letter? Or does he respond? Does he risk opening old wounds in the search for the answers to all those questions that once ravaged him?And if he does respond, where will her letters lead him?RIDING THE ESCALATORSWhat could possibly go wrong? After all, Mitch's idea is quite a simple one. And innocent too. The shopping mall in his town is vast: five floors of bright lights, chrome, glass; acres of products from candles to candelabra, from jumpers to jackets, music to toys. It is also filled with escalators - they too are brightly lit, shinning. They cross-cross between the floors, gluing the whole place together, allowing it to function.And that's Mitch's idea. Most people would take one or two escalators, just the ones they needed to get from A to B. But what if the escalators were made the most important thing in the mall? What if someone chose to go to the mall, ignoring the shops, just to ride them? Could you really ride them all in one session, just once each, no duplicates, no cheating, adhering to 'the rules'?That's the goal. But what starts out as a challenge of one sort soon turns into something much more strange and sinister - and Mitch suddenly finds himself and his new-found friends Suzi and Mr Lee in all sorts of danger...

More and more, the shape of the IT organization is critical to business systems delivery, yet all too often this definition is approached in a haphazard fashion - often based on old theory and out-dated experiences rather than being moulded to the realities of the world in which we work. Shaping the IT Organization considers how one should go about the moulding of an IT function in order to ensure effective output from the resources within that organization. It focuses on understanding precisely the elements and challenges within such a definition. Key topics covered: What is an organization?: Issues and key considerations for IT from an organizational perspective, including the idea of the 'organization lifecycle' and the very real impact this can have within the IT environment. Why change?: The impact of generic business approaches demanded by current business models and pressures. Solutions vs Products: The IT organizational impact of moving from a product-based to a solutions-based business model. Outsourcing: The increasing trend to place critical elements of IT's delivery capability outside the core business means that IT functions are often poorly aligned to both manage these relationships and rise to the challenges that outsourcing offers. Resource Management: Fundamental questions about people and the need to adapt resource management approaches to take a radical approach to how we both manage and empower the people within those models in order to deliver what is required.

More and more, the shape of the IT organization is critical to business systems delivery, yet all too often this definition is approached in a haphazard fashion - often based on old theory and out-dated experiences rather than being moulded to the realities of the world in which we work. Shaping the IT Organization considers how one should go about the moulding of an IT function in order to ensure effective output from the resources within that organization. It focuses on understanding precisely the elements and challenges within such a definition. Key topics covered: What is an organization?: Issues and key considerations for IT from an organizational perspective, including the idea of the 'organization lifecycle' and the very real impact this can have within the IT environment. Why change?: The impact of generic business approaches demanded by current business models and pressures. Solutions vs Products: The IT organizational impact of moving from a product-based to a solutions-based business model. Outsourcing: The increasing trend to place critical elements of IT's delivery capability outside the core business means that IT functions are often poorly aligned to both manage these relationships and rise to the challenges that outsourcing offers. Resource Management: Fundamental questions about people and the need to adapt resource management approaches to take a radical approach to how we both manage and empower the people within those models in order to deliver what is required.

In today's rush towards e-Business many organizations have failed to recognize that the responsibilities of IT Managers have significantly changed. No longer do the tried and trusted methods of the 3- or 4-GL lifecycle retain the value they once possessed; and the more we try to fit new e-Business developments into old and ill-fitting processes and practices, the greater the danger of compromising the business altogether. Ian Gouge offers an insight into the very real - and new - challenges faced by IT managers and professionals, such as: - What is e-Business? - What are the implications of e-Business for the IT Professional? - What are the 'systems' expectations of both internal and external customers? What does the IT Manager need to consider to make an effective contribution to the new business model e-Management is a valuable guide for those responsible for the management of IT in the burgeoning world of e-Business. It also provides insight for those business managers who are more dependent on information technology for their business than perhaps they realise.