Germany is my secondary market

Not what I expected to read.

Last night, before I decided to write my romance novel with no Spanish in, I did a check on where my e-books were selling; other than in the USA.

I honestly did not know what to expect as I rarely sell in the UK, I guess I thought perhaps Australia would be the next market after the USA to buy my works. Though my first sale (the above book) got its early sale from a lady who lived outside Bonn, I never expected Germany to be my next big market.

My store on eBay has closed its doors

Paypal policy forces me to close my doors.

Today, I closed my shop on eBay, the reason is that the cost of buying a passport to prove who I am to Paypal ate all that I had earned from my sales for the last month, and at the present rate of sales I'd be be lucky to recoup in the next year now my Warhammer books have sold out.

Hit China where it hurts

UK to ban 5G from Huawei

It has been announced that the Huawei 5G is being phased out in the UK. 

China is recognised as one the main sources of cyber-crime in the world, and to my mind I am still not convinced the Coronavirus outbreak is not part of a greater plan to bring the West to her knees.

The whole Coroanavirus outbreak connected to well with the 5G acceptance in the EU to make me feel that it was NOT planned.

Kanye 2020

Kris Jenner

Don't be fooled by the sweet smile, behind the smile of this serpent lies the mind of a power-mad psychopath who will stop at nothing to spread the evil of her Kardashian Empire.

Kanye West may think of being President, but have no worries that a former basketball player will hold sway in the White House. If Kanye2020 comes true, Kris Jenner WILL be the power on the throne, and America will wish Hillary Clinton was there. Another terrible concept would be that the Klan may bring about a vote that Presidency is carried through the family, unless no member is alive.

Three months from Madrid

An eBay seller not to buy from.

Three months ago, I ordered the DVD above from seller Ivanr12000 on eBay again. This disc has not arrived in three months, despite the fast another they sent two weeks later has arrived without a problem.

I used to trust this seller, but not now. He's taken so long to cancel the order that Paypal's seller protection means I cannot get a refund of my money he has had for three months.

Spain under Franco

The culture destroyer.

There is no doubt that life in Spain during the Franco years was miserable; one of his greatest crimes was dragging back the culture that the country had to the Middle Ages by banning most of the artists/ writers to exile if you were lucky to escape. Some like Federico Lorca (shown above) were executed like dogs, his body has never been found. The exception to this rule is Salvador Dali who thrived during this period.

There are two stories called El Hombre Oculto, one tells of a man who hid in house for the period until Franco died, still believing someone would betray though his family told him that people no longer cared about what he was doing. The other is about a man who hid in a cellar under his house until Franco died.

Very few of the ones fortunate to afford the price of an escape returned, if you were in your 20's you would have been at least in your late 50's when Franco died, and what would you come back to; a country you don't recognise? If you were in that life, most of your friends in the literary circles would have either been shot, or still be in hiding afraid to come out.

Two months from Madrid

Coronavirus lock down

This afternoon, July 4th, my order from Spain finally arrived. It had been locked in transit for almost two months in Madrid, during this time I received other orders from Spain and one order from Israel.

July 4th

News headlines

I can see the headlines now "Boris relaxes lock down to celebrate July 4th," that will be followed by detractors pointing out the obvious; Boris Johnson is an American, and July 4th is the celebration of American Independence.

But, the reality which will be missed in the haranguing of the Prime Minister by the media and social media fanatics is simple to realise for those of us who look at the bigger picture. The decision has nothing to do with America. 

Already smaller seaside resorts have said the lock down has driven them to the point they may never recover, and the longer this goes on the harder it will hit our economy; the tourism trade has already lost billions of pound from a lack of trade since losing the Easter trade that signifies the start of the seasonal work, if we lose July, that means this year is over for seasonal trade and town like Blackpool, Scarborough, Brighton, and Bournemouth will be hit hard.

Ghislaine Maxwell bites the dust

The real Orange is the new Black

Ghislaine Maxwell is about to find the reality is a lot different to the series Orange is the new Black. 

In a women's prison your family's name counts for nothing when you are charged with procuring children for underage sex. Inside, everyone has either a daughter/sister/ niece who could be a victim of scum like her; she is so evil even her lawyers disowned her last month.

Corridors are long, lonely places and you can't walk far when you are constantly looking over your shoulder knowing even the guards won't protect you.

My oldest books

The Spanish dictionary.

Until last month, the oldest book I owned was a 100-year-old Bible; I have a rough estimate of its age because it uses the term Levant to describe what we now call the Middle East, the term Levant has not been used in western terminology since the 1920's.

Last month I bought a Spanish dictionary to give some flavour to my romance L'Enfant Terrible as the main part of the story takes place in Spain.

The title is in French because part of the story takes place in Belgium so I bought a French dictionary too. Watching Spanish TV series online I am picking up some of the language slowly, I did consider taking a course in conversational Spanish to see if that would help with my story.