Senior Citizens Day

On vacation.

A senior moment to laugh at.
Last night, I had a dream I was on holiday (that's a laugh in itself), and I was about to complain that the room had been double-booked and was full of senior citizens when I realized they were my age LOL

I know where I went wrong

The Lost Decade of Alan Place.

The primary reason for my failure to sell many ebooks is that I chose not the follow trends in writing. I wanted to be known as myself, not as a copy of someone else.

When I look back over the last decade, many things are clear to me that I did wrong. One of the central items was joining the writing site Bookrix for six months. At the end of the period, not only was I close to quitting writing through being bullied online relentlessly, but I was also close to killing myself.

There are other factors involved in my lack of success. One being I have no money to pay for publication costs for my books, and the other being during my time on Bookrix. Not only did I - personally suffer from bullying - my award-winning e-book   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008BEDMSO came under an online attack from a jealous person.

I am convinced I have cancer

The symptoms fit the diagnosis.

I am almost sure I have kidney cancer, too many of the symptoms I have read about fit how I have been feeling. 

I could be wrong, but I don't think I am, what puzzles me is that I have had these pains for ages and cancer has caused minimal interference in my health, other than some aches that I had put down to a trapped nerve.

Do I have a preference?

I am versatile.

Though I have earned a rep for writing in several genres, I have not been asked what I prefer to write? 

My work has been compared to that of authors as varied as R.D. Blackmore (Lorna Doone), H.P. Lovecraft, Sheridan Le Fanu, and Edgar Allan Poe.

If I had the choice, I would have liked to be compared to either David Eddings or David Gemmell, but my science fiction and ghost stories sold when my fantasy stories did not.

A Rhodesian crime story part 2

Karl van Moer.

This section follows on from this link A Rhodesian crime story.

"How sure are you that van Moer's heading for Botswana? He's been inside for almost five years."

"I can't be certain, I'm only going on what I heard at Welkom, and how I react if I was in his shoes. I could be wrong, Chris, but I don't think I am."

"For everyone's sake, I hope you're right, Malik, van Moer is a dangerous man, and now he's got revenge on his mind he'll be like a rabid dog, unpredictable."

"He's out, but I'm confident we can catch up with him. Ojanga is our main chance, van Moer maybe Dutch and know the veld, but he's still a white man and the sun will take its toll sooner on him than on Ojanga. You go and get the jeep started, and I'll inform Ojanga of what's going on, Chris."

"Malik, the jeep hasn't been used for years, I'm not sure the engine will turn over."

"Just get me a spanner, some oil, and a small wrench, and I can fix her up, we don't have time for niceties. If the Vickers still fixed in the mount?"

"As far as I can recall it is, but I haven't moved the covers in years, so I've no idea if we can use it."

"I don't think we have another option, Chris. If he has this much of a headstart, we may need to consider killing van Moer rather than capturing him. If you go to the garage and find out what shape the jeep is in, I'll go and find Ojanga and get him on his way, we can catch up with him later. Before we set off, Piet can you give me a beer, please, the veld makes your mouth dry."

Piet, the bartender, glanced at Chris. 

Chris nodded his agreement, he knew now was not the time to continue with grudges, the most wanted criminal this side of the Congo was on the run, that means nobody is safe.

Malik took the cold beer from Piet and drank it slowly; he knew the risks of gulping an iced drink down in this heat too well. He'd been fortunate to save his son several years ago from a heart attack from drinking too much too quickly. Now, both his son and wife were far from this land he called home; Kristina had taken their son, Frans and moved back to Austria.

The beer tasted nice after weeks in the sun, but Malik had more on his mind than the taste of his first drink in weeks; he thought where he could find Ojanga after all these weeks. 

Malik put his glass down on the counter and nodded to Piet as he turned to walk out of the bar. The main street was the same as he recalled weeks ago, dry and dusty. "Times don't change," he thought as he walked down the road, "I'd wager Ojanga is still in the same hut as he was when I left." 

Malik wandered out of the city and headed for the shanty towns where the colored population lived in squalor; this was something that angered him as he knew some of the people worked long hours for little pay. 

"It didn't take long for a non-colored man to get spotted in the shantytown, and he heard the shout  of "What are you doing here, white-man?"

"Turning in the direction of the voice, Malik replied, "I'm not white, I'm Boer and detest the whites as much as you do. I'm looking for Ojanga."

After a short time, a familiar voice called from a hut, "Welcome back, Massa Malik. I can guess why you are looking for me. News travels faster in the veld than the city, we heard of van Moer's escape days ago, and I thought my services would be called on again in tracking him."

"Hi, Ojanga, my old friend. You are correct, we all know how dangerous van Moer is, so capturing him is of great importance."

Ojanga asked, "Do you think he'll head inland?"

"If I'm right he'll head for Botswana. He already has three days head start, but he'll be tiring quickly and need to keep resting in this humidity."

"If you are right, and I don't have a doubt about your thinking. We don't have much time to catch van Moer. However, we do have one ally out in the borders."

"By that, you mean Akuji, I presume."

"Yes, Malik, Akuji is a powerful being and not one to be thought of lightly. Some whites came here years ago, and they went mad, Akuji will follow you until you die if you enter his land."

What made my blog popular?

There is no secret.

Many times, I have been asked what the secret to the success of my blog is?

There is no secret, the success of my blog I put down to the fact I rarely talk about myself, I will answer most questions if I am asked, but I don't make the blog about me or my e-books as some writers I used to know do.

Another part of my success story as a blogger is variety.

Several years ago, a German lady I used to chat to, said I was one of the top half-a-dozen bloggers she knew; how things have changed, I hardly write these days.

Cyberbullying

Bookrix bullies

When you read about cyberbullying, you think of teens and young girls on sex sites, but that is not always the case.

In 2012, I was the victim of several bullies on the German site - Bookrix - despite their tactics being against the site policies, the admin did nothing to stop them. 

Why was I bullied?

I put it down to one reason, with two sections, Jealousy. 

I had quickly gained in popularity, even though I never tried to gain fans, I was known for my honesty, and good writing.

I angered many people when I won my award as people on the site made no attempts to hide their qualifications and spout how good they considered their writing compared to mine. When I beat one of my harshest critics in a contest on Facebook and earned my award, many people were put out as I had no formal qualification to boast about.

Nothing angers people than people they consider below them beating them, and that is what happened in 2012.

2012 was a good year

The high point of the last decade for me.

It is hard for me to think that seven years ago, I wrote an award-winning e-book, but I did.

The last four years for me have been a struggle, with few sales outside of my science fiction series, Forgestriker, I have struggled to have faith in my ability as a writer despite my blog on Weebly being a hit.

The only thing that is certain is that I will not be repeating the year of my success story.

10 years of Alan #5

What I hope the future holds for me.

                             I hold no big hopes for my future. 

This month, I hope to have the operation to remove the growth on my left kidney, I don't know if it is cancer, but it has to come out. 

Next month, being my birthday (18th), it would be pleasant if I could get a prize in either of the flash fiction writing contests I entered. Both hold the possibility of having work published in another anthology.

I hope to complete my collection of the Martin Beck series of DVDs as well buy the new set of the French police mystery, engrenages along with other series I have been watching on Walter Presents.

I have come across some rarely seen Wallander movies I hope to put on DVD too. These movies are from the set done by Rolf Lassgard in the late 80s.

If I can find the motivation, I will attempt to put some movies from Iceland on a disc too, I would have bought them, but £25 for a DVD is too much.

What happened?

My online serials.

If you are wondering what has happened to my serial The Getaway, I have stopped writing it as there was little interest online; the first episode had 20 readers, by the 4th story that had dropped to only 15 readers. If there had been more interest, I would happily have continued.