
Rise Up! Taken From Anything But Hackneyed, a collection of my early poems.
A chariot carrying ineptitude began the fray,
Slaughtering and killing all that stood in its way.
It came across intellect, and hacked off its head,
Leaving mediocrity to stand there instead.
Ineptitude travelled on, swallowing up the ground,
Always there was a vacant mind easily to be found.
It wedded indifference and the two became one, but there lay the weakness.
They thought their work had been done.
Up rose conviction, screaming its battle song.
“Mediocrity and indifference are just so wrong!
Where is individuality? When did reasoning depart?
Rise up, join with me, and we will begin to make a start.
We will banish the ordinary, driving apathy away.
Engage again with excellence and we will win the day.”
The war still rages, as victory is incomplete.
It’s you and I that must face it, and fiercely with it compete.
We ourselves may not see the benefit of our tuition,
But fight these things we must, preventing its fruition.
Anything But Hackneyed. Amazon.com
Anything But Hackneyed. Amazon.co.uk
About Daniel Kemp
At the age of seventy-six, Daniel Kemp has started his second year of studying the science of Psychology at the Open University. He is a member of The Society of Authors and also a bestselling writer. However, in early September 2025, he was diagnosed with cancer. He is now in palliative care at home, being looked after by his ex-wife. When he was writing his novels, he enjoyed writing stories that appealed to those who liked challenging themselves to solve mysteries that were set out before their eyes, but they couldn't.
His introduction to the world of espionage and mystery happened at an early age when his father was employed by the War Office in Whitehall, London, at the end of WWII. However, it wasn’t until after his father died that he showed any interest in anything other than himself!
On leaving academia he took on many roles in his working life: a London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver, but never did he plan to become a writer. Nevertheless, after a road traffic incident left him suffering from PTSD and effectively—out of paid work for four years, he wrote and self-published his first novel —The Desolate Garden.
Within three months of publication, that book was under a paid option to become a $30 million film. The option lasted for six years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company.
All ten of his novels are now published by Next Chapter Publishing Company which has added an edition titled The Heirs And Descendants Collection, which holds all four books of that series, alongside an edition titled The Lies And Consequences Collection which contains all four volumes of that series.
He is the recipient of rave reviews from a prestigious Manhattan publication and described as—the new Graham Green—by a highly placed executive of Waterstones Books, for whom he did a countrywide tour of book signing events. He has also appeared on 'live' television in the UK publicising his first novel.
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