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Showing posts from August, 2016

A THIRD heat wave

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Can the UK survive a third heat wave this Summer? Believe it or not, the UK should be having a third heat wave in as many weeks. After the promises of a heat wave in July , brought by a  Spanish Plume  but is it any surprise that nobody believes the  TV weather forecast , each time we have a nice day they say it's a heatwave. It's hard to imagine a small drop in temperature could make such a large difference. Two days ago, the temperature was 25 degrees, and I had trouble breathing. Today, it's 23, and we're talking about putting the heating on, in July?

Banned by Scrib'd

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A bad reputation - hopefully Ghosts don't dance   is a gentle romance, and I can see no reason why anyone should wish to ban the book.  Of all my stories, Ghosts don't dance   is one of the least offensive I have written.

The Ultimate Dream

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I'm not even close When I started out, my dream was to sell ten of one e-book in a day - four and a half years on, and I am as far away as ever - if not further than the day I started. Holding Richmond ,   my  American Civil War / alternate history / Vampire story that is my Amazon bestseller is the closest I've come. HR has sold seven copies on two occasions.  Despite the title book of  Forgestriker   series being my bestseller it has never sold more than four copies in a day, this lack of daily sales leaves the book in fourth place for the daily sales record.

Weekend SciFi

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A slow month  August is all but over, and it's been a slow month for my sales. Other than one brief moment of joy when  Forgestriker  sold four copies in a night, the downward trend has continued despite the release of  Avenging Angel   and  The Cursed   on  Barnes & Noble .

Independence

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Will Scotland see the truth behind the lies? Independence is an excellent idea, but to be independent you need to be able to support yourself and Scotland isn't that fortunate. The  SNP  alsdomain.weebly.com/at-the-blogstop/shell-destroy-scotland   appears to be hell-bent on wrecking their country; this is nothing to be surprised at from a bunch of egotists with no common sense.   Independence means being able to support yourself. The basis for the drive was the promise of another oil boom like the 1970s  www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b2ee7448-6a0e-11e6-a0b1-d87a9fea034f.html#axzz4ILcPkbDJ .  The oil boom won't happen, and with  Nicola Sturgeon  determined to stay in the  EU  www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/10/former-snp-cabinet-minister-warns-nicola-sturgeon-against-second/   against the wishes of her countrymen. If there were a boom, the oil would probably go to  Norway   www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/norway-border-fence-russia-refugees-refugee-crisis-schengen-syria-

In Scotland

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Spirits of the past   I spent half of the day looking in the wrong area for an  RAF ghost , today.  The confusion came from knowing the station in mind started with "M."  My initial search was for     en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Machrihanish ,  this station is on the East coast, near  Glasgow . I found out my search should have been for  RAF Montrose , near  Dundee   rafmontrose.org.uk/ . The  Montrose ghost  is the ghost of the first aviator to die during #WW1   en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Arthur .  Although my ghost stories are of  #WW2 , I wrote two ghost stories about the air war in Europe.  The Lost Years   www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00EXRTC3W   is about the ghost of a pilot trapped in his plane; the spirit can't be freed because the body is yet to be recovered. Amelia  www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01A93CQ1S   is the story of a nurse who left her home after her boyfriend died in a plane crash, and whose spirit is trapped in the rubble of bombed hospital.  In another Scottis

It's hard to believe

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Sci-Fi bestseller It is hard to imagine being a bestseller but not selling on  Amazon . But, that is my situation, none of my hit series  Forgestriker e-books have sold on Amazon, despite selling over 670 copies on  Barnes & Noble . The last two months have been exceptions to the rule, with Amazon matching sales on B&N, mainly because B&N sales have slackened off.

The Cursed

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Are the woods safe? I'll be releasing a Paranormal Romance  later this week.  Can Donovan defeat the family curse or will his brother Dominic's dark side doom the family to fulfill their grandfather's prophecy? Read The Cursed   to find the answer.

Hodgetts

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Buy British One topic on the Brexit menu is how we will cope without the cheeses from the EU?  For myself, I can say that leaving the EU won't affect me at all - I have fond several British kinds of cheese I like. One of my favourite brands is  Hodgetts ; this is a small firm in Worcestershire that makes tasty cheeses for all tastes. Another British cheese I like is the Cornish  Yarg If you are wondering about my taste for European cheeses and have, I tried them? I have tried many European kinds of cheese, and the only ones I liked are Bavarian smoked and Emmenta l. The problem with Emmental is that like many things from Switzerland it is very expensive.

A boom on Amazon

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A double rise in Kindle ratings. There have been no sales for my e-books this week, but there has been a double rise in the Amazon kindle ratings; this is an occasion in itself as I can't recall the last time it occurred.

Acceptance is the key

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The three steps of realization  It's hard for me to recall that at one time, writing was my drug; I couldn't go more than a day without writing a story without feeling on edge - now I can go weeks and not care. What caused this change of heart?  The first thing that ignited the flames of doubt and realization was I almost had a nervous breakdown four years ago. In the days before I won the award (shown above), I was writing over 10,000 words every week with ease, and I feared I'd burn out. A close friend ordered me to take a break, as she feared I would have a mental collapse if I didn't stop writing.  I had my break and returned better equipped to write.  Two years ago, I made the conscious choice to slow down, not for fear of a repeat episode but because I realised there was no point in pushing myself for a few nickels and dimes. Step 1 - I realised that despite what I thought - or was told - there is little hope of getting anywhere, even if I a

Spanish Plume

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Heatwave The UK is supposed to be getting hit by a Spanish Plume  this week, this is a hot wind coming across from North Africa , and Spain bringing a heatwave . If we got our jobs wrong as often as the Meteorologists get the weather wrong, we'd be sacked for incompetence. The joke is each time it doesn't rain for a day there is talk of a heatwave. People have no idea what a heatwave is like, when I was working the heat was so bad it melted tar on the roads, and we had to ask people to bang their shoes to rid the soles of gravel, before entering the museums.

Avenging Angel

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DRAFT2DIGITAL EXCLUSIVE Only available from Draft2Digital is my new sci-fi story; I hope to turn Avenging Angel   https://www.draft2digital.com/book/150338 into a series if sales are good. Ladies of the night have a new friend, and the people of Kedgetown are on the lookout for a vigilante - or is it an angel?