Here I am at the edge

With the recent sales of  "Holding Richmond", "Sea Ghosts"  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088QPW92    and "From Elgar to Vaughan Williams,"   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BNDHL0U my Amazon Historical fiction and Horror ratings have soared to heights which surpassed the area reached when book 1 of Chronicles sold back in June of last year :) What better way to enter a period of re-evaluation of my work, the sales may not have happened for book 2 of Chronicles but some things showed improvement.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0088QPW92 An all time high for this collection of early ghost stories

I can take my sabbatical in a few days with peace of mind as Holding Richmond, my best selling story on Amazon has claimed another crown the only story to sell 20 copies :)

YES, that is true Going against everything I believed in about my writing and ethical codes, I am going to attempt a zombie story. LORD, FORGIVE ME   I came to the conclusion this is what is selling and as much as I hate copping out I am going to try one to get a few sales.   I have no faith in the story, this is as much a trial for me to write in a genre I openly despise as it is to end the story but as I hate doing it and it I think it will be trash, you may well buy it as you rejected the Chronicles which I loved to write :(

This doesn't mean I think you'll buy an ebook; the simplest way to explain the title is something which never lived cannot die, for death comes from the cessation of life and as nobody bought the books, they never lived.

Before writing book 2 of Chronicles, I asked myself what it would be like to spend months or years devoted to writing one book only to see it fail; I know the answer now and it is as I thought, soul destroying.  If I get back to my writing, I'll probably stay with my short stories as free reads on line as there is NO chance of getting money for work sold on Amazon; to do that I need to sell 30+ ebooks a month and I have managed that in two years.  At the end of month I will buy a copy of book 2, this will give the book some honour with a UK rating and appease my soul that eight months were wasted.

FAREWELL TO MARK After consultation with my editor, Chronicles is officially dead but I will be happy to continue the stories if anybody is interested.   I will take the price down to rock bottom for both books, eight months of work down the drain - doesn't it make you pleased to read my work free :(

From the back of the truck and using night glasses; the only sight visible to Alanov was the truck caught in the flames and exploding, “Tell me something, Kabel,” Alanov asked.             Kabel gave a sigh of relief, glad to see her desperate plan worked and said, “How can I help you?”             “I am curious as too how certain you had been that we may survive the fires?”             “I was only about forty percent sure; the other part relied more on luck, to be truthful; as there were too many variables beyond our control.”             “What variables?”             “First, we travelled across bumpy ground at high speed and an accurate trajectory for the launcher became improbable if not impossible to a...

  Chronicles book 1 has long passed its sell by date and the flames of desire I hoped would arise for book 2 never flared; so in a last desperate attempt to get some pride back for eight months with my editor, Julia, I made the decision to carve the books into smaller pieces.  Researches have shown that with the increase in computers and games, readers attention spans have radically dropped.  Whereas I may be happy to sit down and read a big book, most of the readers prefer smaller books, hence the success of Holding Richmond   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007CJKK84

Timmy viewed the remains of D2 and with a sense of dismay he said, “The last news I got told about was the cockpit of Forgestriker had been almost destroyed and hole had been smashed through her structure; the skipper said the controls had been jammed and he couldn’t free them.” The circulating air had the effect of bringing more soldiers out of hibernation, sooner than they ha d expected; disorientated and battle-weary they struggled to the windows to find out where they where, the general comment was, “Where the hell are we? This sure to hell ain’t Baal.” Frank glanced at Timmy and Timmy looked at the gathering soldiers, all lost and alone in dead space and Frank said, “Are you gonna tell ‘em’ Timmy?” A shout from the back rang out, “Tell us what? What is wrong and where are we?” Silence followed as Timmy and Frank chatted silently to each other, the hushed tones making the ominous news even more fearful, as Timmy turned to speak, a voice called from the balcony above, “Holy shit!...

The Stranger and the Indie part 4 He hid in the shadow of his car, the lights crossing the area, there were time he thought he could hear the footsteps of the guards; these were not ordinary seekers, these men were trained especially for night-fighting and now he was in their element but he had the instinct of a panther and stayed close to the car as they approached. They knew he was close but e ven a trained killer needs to sight his prey to feel the urge of the hunt and as yet they were hunting for him not chasing him. He stayed silent, calmness would be his ally; if he ran, he would be dead meat in seconds, yet he needed to escape; the writing had to be shared and for that he needed his hidden terminal at his workshop but he had to get there first and now he was trapped on the wrong side of town with two trained feral guards sniffing him out, sooner or later he needed to make a plan and try to escape. Feral guards are not only cat like but have the hearing of bats, meaning the sligh...

Clive glanced at James and said, “What is the problem, old man, you appear vexed by something?”             James wandered over to Clive and a look of anguish fell across his face; when he as close enough to talk but out of earshot of the ladies, he replied, “We have something to tell the group and I don’t know what to say or how to say it.”             Clive took him aside and commented, “I always find the best way to handle delicate matters is to come right out with, that way people can understand where you stand on the matter.”             James patted his friend on the shoulder and replied, “Forever the diplomat, it’s easy to understand why you went into politics, Clive.”             Clive laughed and replied, “Either this or the cavalry and you have seen my...

Bertie said excitedly, “You won’t find out until you open the letter, so please put us out of our misery and find out who sent you the letter and why.” Algie walked over to the book case and picked up the silver opener which was laid on the side, “Here we go, Bertie,” he said as he slipped the opener in the envelope and slit the top, inside was a letter written on good quality paper, the letter read:- “Dear Algie,  I went to your lodgings and found you were out, as I know you and Bertie are close friends I took the liberty of contacting you at his hotel as your landlady saw the two of you together. I am writing to inform you that I need to delay our meeting at the club until Tuesday of next week as I need to go to meetings in the city about the forthcoming expedition. Yours Charles Palmerston.” After reading the short letter, Algie said, “The letter is from Charlie, he had to cancel the meeting as he needs to meet some people about the expedition he is going on, he ask...

 I can write damn good stories but I am no magician and that is what it will take to beat the C@@P of zombie books which sell by the thousand.   In my school days, I had the driving urge to write stories it as this drive which kept my hopes alive, and while I never imagined I would be popular or make a lot from writing - I did hope to make a little every month.  I sit broken before you, driven onto the thrones of zombies and cheap sex stories, whereby writing means little and characterisations are not needed. The way to sell a book is simple; stick a half-naked zombie on the cover and fill the pages with mindless sex and zombies eating people.   This journey started 50 years ago as a dream and when I became disabled two years ago, I tried to turn the dream into a reality. Over the last two years Chronicles of Mark Johnson which was in the beginning my hopes for a good series, has turned from a dream of an idea into a nightmare to sell and ended up as a ...

A Science Fiction hit One of the things that interests me is what makes a book sell? I have asked myself this question often; several of my science fiction ebook selection sold well for years, while other sci-fi ebooks never sold. I stopped hoping for sales in the UK; I know the market here is more challenging than the US market to crack unless you have an established name, and how can you get that if no one buys your work? The ebook above was my hope of starting some UK sales interest in my work as a writer with a fantasy story, but like many more, it fell by the wayside; I did plan a series of this had sold.

Where to go and what to do? I am taking a break from writing next week and may not do any for many weeks - if at all. With Chronicles closing, the future for Patti looks darker; especially as fewer sales were made on her books than Chronicles. Neither will appear again at Amazon after August; I'll continue to write the stories for the few friends who did care for my work but again, it is the end of another story line I thought may have caught on - again proving to me, if you shove a half-naked zombie on the cover, you CAN and WILL sell any C@@P you write.

Yes, you read the headline correct.  I failed in my quest to write a convincing story and paid the price :( From next month, both books of Chronicles will be off Amazon.  Book 1 hasn't sold in almost a year and book 2 looks like following it. A possible double award winning story line has ended.    NOW is the time to get a copy cheap as the price has dropped 30%    I am sorry to end the series I loved to write but if nobody gave a damn, what choice do I have?  I shall write the story for a few friends who DO care for my work but for you, the general readers, say farewell.

I thought I would not be good at Sci-Fi, considering the lack of interest in my Chronicles books and the low reader figures for the serials, but I had a shock today I had only put SoB on Amazon   http://www.amazon.com/Sons-of-Baal-Forgestriker-ebook/dp/B00E3SUE1U/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1374613845&sr=1-1&keywords=Sons+of+Baal   this morning, and before I realised it was on sale there had been a sale in the US :) 

Ted called out, “Give me some slack but be ready to heave when I raise my hand, we don’t have much time, men, and with him being inured and unconscious shock will arrive sooner than usual,” he felt the rope slacken slightly but knew his men had the tension as he crawled to the Cherokee, “passenger looks okay, bruised but conscious.” Ted realised the closer he got to the plane, the thinner would become and the greater the risk of it sliding under the water; he was as close as he dared get when he glanced at the cockpit to watch as Joe began cutting Clem’s harness free, “Good man,” he thought as he made ready to slide the rope across. Inside the plane, Joe had no decision to make; Clem had to be the priority, he would be able get himself out once he released Clem but with him in the seat, both men would be trapped. Ted grabbed the end of the rope as it landed inches from his hand, months of training came into play as the situation they trained for, but hoped would never be reali...

Coming to your Kindles soon, the opening short story in Forgestriker series "Sons of Baal."

Editing is hard ,    I have been asked a few times, "If you thought your writing was bad, would you like to know?" I have always said, "Yes," and yet I failed to notify one person that I felt his work is rubbish but that is my opinion.   He asked me to edit 80 pages of writing which had come back from "editing" at Xlibris - enough said - I failed to get to page 2. I had so much editing to do, I almost re-wrote the story from scratch.  A 25 line paragraph with NO punctuation, wrong and inconsistent capitalisations, no speech mark to denote speech from narration, he didn't change lines for a change of speaker. I got half-way through the page and already felt a migraine coming on, so I declined the editing. He recently told me he signed with Shared Pen, this is their front page  http://www.sharedpen.com/publishing-agreement.html    you don't need to go further than page 1, line 1 to get the idea that these people have no idea of basic spelling, so ho...

At approximately 08:40 (UK time), Nemo crossed the Rainbow Bridge; a gent to the last, his final minutes he spent climbing the stairs to say his goodbyes to the family, before coming back to my room and snuggling down under my bed   He would wish to be remembered as the suave cat in the picture, full of life and fun who loved everybody and all animals and not as the poor cat who I shall bury later.  He had great times and troubles trying to keep Midnight in his place, but Midnight being full of himself was a handful even for the great Nemo.   There are many families and girlfriends in the area who will wonder about his disappearance this weekend, he came home to die with the people he loved most and who love him more than anybody.   He is not in pain now and happily running free with his mother, Skye, who knows, they may even catch those pigeons.   R.I.P. Nemo- loved and adored, dear feline friend.  We will always remember the joy you gave...

WW1 Ghosts http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00BNDHL0U In the year of the memorial to The Great War, my WW1 tribute to the grand-father I never had the chance to know because we left Yorkshire, is risen to a new UK high point in the rating  Amazon Best Sellers Rank:   #32,899 Paid in Kindle Store 

 For some reason Nemo is still with us, how or why is beyond me, as he is so close to passing and in such pain.  I don't know whether to thank God for giving Nemo these days or to curse him for prolonging Nemo's agonies.

OfficiAL newsflash:- The Love is the Sea WILL be bigger (in size) than either of the Chronicles volumes    Current score 24,530 and still sailing merrily  Book 1 26,750 approx Book 2 25, 680 approx

Algie swirled the glass to get heat the whiskey and as he inhaled the vapours given off he mused, “I am grateful for your concerns, Bertie, you always had my interests at heart, but I feel I need to take the risk. I realise Charlie is a hothead and at times his ideas appear foolish but I’m yet to gain any reputation and I’m questioning my decision to be a writer.” Bertie stopped watching the pond and said, “You may not realise it, Algie, but your stories are gaining a good deal of attention in the club and we would miss the excitement of your adventurous mind, if the experiment failed and you became a laughing stock and got forced to stop your writing.” “Don’t worry, Bertie, even if the worse came to the worse, the way I see things I have little or nothing to lose. Your friends may be reading my stories but I am still not accepted or paid and I hope against hope this will make my name in writing circles.” The friends sat at their table looking out over the fields and viewing the...

      In dead space time ceases to have meaning, they don’t call the area dead space for nothing; no beacons to guide you and no signs of life save for Forgestriker endlessly struggling her way, somewhere, her destination unknown as charts of the area are not known, that had been one of the main reasons for this trip, the other being to enable a relay station to be set up in the quadrant to guide ships home.             Their mission had been to chart this area, avoid conflict and report back; how do you avoid conflict when you get attacked and forced into a battle between two psychic powers plus three platoons of Orgman guards?             The gentle hum of the engines and the dimmed lighting were the only things which signified she had not become a space hulk, left to rot in space for no reason other than she became too expensive to run; this lady had seen ...

I have lots of ideas and plans for stories but as of now I am becalmed.  I am thinking "Is there any point in going on with the stories, nobody gave a damn about them?" Summertime blues it could be, if not for the fact this malady has carried on from the fall.  I hoped I may be able to make a little for my time and troubles, but, alas the pen has dried never to be put to paper :(  You are safe to return to your zombies and mommy porn again.

            Kabel called to the back of the truck, “After we get through our priority is to contact the group and tell them we’re safe and then try to make contact the other group.”             With gears grinding and tracks spinning we took off for Fire Point ridge. When we got to the bend, we saw the green light beams from the Game trucks behind us; now, we had no doubts, within seconds we would be in launcher range and at their mercy.             “NOW!” yelled Kabel at the top of her voice.             Her scream was followed by a gaseous ejection as the grenades flew through the air ahead of us. The first bounced on the crust for ten yards before bursting into flames, the second grenade flew into the fireball created by the first and burst into flames, as it flared in the heat th...

Frantically, Joe tried to unbuckle his harness but the jolts and bumps  had jammed the catch, desperately he fought to find his knife which he kept in his rucksack but he had to strain to twist in the seat and reach behind into the luggage section for the bag, “Clem can you reach over for me?” he asked his friend but got no reply, “Clem for God’s sake don’t die on me, you shouldn’t be here,” he screamed as the water started to seep in through the floor. Joe glanced at the pilot seat and noticed Clem had been injured in the crash landing and was unconscious and slumped across the control stick which was pushing the plane’s nose further down in the already thinned ice, “Right, I need to stay clam or we won’t get out,” Joe muttered as he tried to search for the knife, “I need to cut myself out and get the crews to help Clem, without him we are lost, damn these belts! When you need them loose they’re too tight,” he wriggled and wriggled until he found enough room to reach the bag as...

Oh sweet irony how I love thee LOL  If I didn't laugh I would cry, I can't even go and get drunk, I am that poor an example of a man :( I wait 2 1/2 years for the money for a PS3 to get a game I wanted, only to find I am going deaf; oh life what more tragedy do you hold for this poor soul - Oh, here IS a kicker, something else I inherited - longevity, most of my mother's side live into their 80's

   Despite recently bringing out the lauded follow up     http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BO04Y20   to my award winning book   http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008BEDMSO     my kindle rating is at its lowest rating since November and will soon pass that low :(

Algie stayed reading the titles and wondering how he would feel if he got recognised for his talents as a writer; Berite had been right, he did have more imagination than many of his contemporaries but what he said about then remained true; they had education and influential friends which he lacked; his attention remained fixed to the geographic section of the selection and the various stories of far away lands and strange beasts as yet unseen in this country. Bertie noticed Algie’s rapt delight and intrigue in the section and remarked, “Your imagination is as good as ever, Algie.” Algie turned to face his friend and replied, “Yes, Bertie, stories of lands and animals I shall never see always intrigued me; do they exist or is it the writer’s visions?” Bertie smiled to himself as he walked over to the bookcase and commented, “I can’t vouch for all those lands but I can say for certain the stories of the Dark Continent are true, some of my colleagues recently returned with tales, ...

Forgestriker adrift On the desk in Hendricks’ office he had laid out a formal report of the mission to Gameroon and why it had failed so badly in its aims; the report read.  The mission was doomed from the start, we were sent to the planet of Gameroon in the Explorator vessel Forgestriker; she may be fast and well suited for the task of exploring but we encountered alien attacks as soon as we ca me out of time dilation and we found ourselves not only out matched in armaments but the vessels which attacked us were far superior in tactical operations which lead to Forgestriker suffering damage which left the air tight bulkheads struggling to contain our atmosphere and forcing us down to the ground, whereupon we landed in the middle of a battle between two psychic warlords. One harnessed the powers of a nearby volcano and used the energy to shoot fireballs and the other created a firebird which burned the air as it passed overhead, where the bird touched burned to cinders, this once ...