Here I am at the edge

Cyprus. Walking among the traditional whitewashed buildings that populate the streets of Cypru s. Adam Collier could not believe that only a few miles away there was an active RAF base and on the coast the naval base at Valletta . Try as he may he could not relate images of the two worlds being close, but there was no mistaking the sound of the engines as the transport planes landed.  A significant matter of concern is the radar they use it interferes with the bands used for civilian radio transmitters. No matter how often the "ham" operators complained, the military refused to change their frequencies. Another aspect of concern is the "Over the hill" radar that is used to spy, this radar causes distress among the avian population, despite denials by the military. The Cypriots live and work with the military, they have no option, but they despise the presence of airmen and sailors on the island. It is many years since the takeover, but tensions still ru...

Emptiness and solitude. I wondered how I would feel when I fell from grace, and now I know. All the time, my friends and colleagues told me my writing got better with each story, I had only one thought in mind - The higher you fly, the greater the fall when you fail to deliver. A nd that day arrived three years ago; since then I have been living in the hope things would turn around and my fortunes would return, but they never did. I also consider the quote by Walter Kronkite is apt at this point, he said: "Be sure to watch who you step on when you climb as they'll be sure to kick your ass when you fall." I never put anyone down, I never considered myself above anybody or above reproach form lousy work, so why attack someone as people did to me?

The Cleaner. Bill Chart is his name, we know who he is and what he did, but we could never nail him for a crime.  Good as he was at his job, he cleaned up other people's mistakes (usually with a gun), Bill had one concern that made him watch his back, the better BIll got, the more he knew about his clients, and they were people who needed to stay in the shadows. Oh, he had his dark side, he was once a cop but something went wrong on a raid, and Bill took the fall for it, to this day only he and one other person know the truth of that raid, and neither is saying a word; the people involved could make you disappear, and nobody would ask questions. The problem with Bill Chart is he is a thinker, not a player, and he had one question too many to ask, that was who cleans up when the Cleaner needs to be taken out? The raid wasn't the only reason Bill got kicked off of the force, he was old-school, and not worried about using his fists to get the truth from a "pe...

Too many freebies. Yet again, my only "sale" this week is a FREE copy of my short story Escalaphobia . The story is an account of my fear of escalators. With the Freebies "selling," it makes me wonder why do I hope for a "real sale," as no freebie has brought a genuine sale.

Quality from Iceland but too much to pay. These shows from Iceland show there is a lot of talented actors/actresses on the island. I would have bought them off eBay  to help the Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund via the Give as you Live site, but at £25 per 4 part serial the price is way too high - I did make an offer to buy them if the seller lowered their price, but they did not want to know.

Icelandic drama. Many of you will have watched the drama series from either Denmark ( Borgen ), Sweden ( The Bridge ), even possibly Norway ( Occupied ). Iceland has produced some quality drama series too, apart from Trapped . The series Case is about what appears to be an open and shut suicide of a teen who was pushed too far by her parents. Why are the police so quick to close the case as a suicide when not all the facts have been checked?

I have ideas for stories My Writer's Block is not the usual variety when the person cannot get the ideas flowing, my block comes from having the stories but no drive to write them because I think they will go unread. I have several stories on file that could easily be extended if I could find the urge to write again; you can help me find the way back by buying some of my e-books from Draft2Digital .

If I am to write some sequels. If I am to write the sequels I have been asked to write, somehow I need to turn the ice in my soul back into the fire that drove my soul for many years; that will not be an easy task, but you can help by buying more e-books from either   Amazon  or  Draft2Digital  by doing this you will help give value to my writing, in my mind.

It is a shame mature ladies are not considered attractive I realize that it is a matter of choice, but to me, I think it is a shame that men do not appreciate older women more, and chase after young girls. I put this down to the male urge to prove to themselves that they have the power to attract a young lady as they enter late middle-aged. I never had the urge to prove myself in this way.  As Hanna said in my romance , "Are trees that have weathered the storms not as attractive as the young sapling?" None of the ladies on this post are under 50, and yet, to me, they are as pretty, if not more attractive, than some young models; especially those who stave to be thin. I can understand the attraction of younger ladies; even if I have never been known to chase them, I have always preferred a lady who has lived a life and has a story to tell.

A new area for my blog to be read. For many months, the largest group of readers for this blog has been the United States of America , followed by Ukraine , but this month, Germany has taken the lead for readers. Not unusual, the UK is nowhere to be seen as I am 80% certain I am the only person here who looks at this blog .

Marie Colvin I have read many books over the years from photographers and journalists in warzones.  I have nothing but admiration and respect for people like Marie Colvin (killed Feb 2012, Syria ), Sean Flynn  (MIA in Cambodia ), Dana Stone (MIA Cambodia), Michael Herr and the other journalists who tell the world about the human cost of war. After all, there is one winner in a war, the people selling the arms. Dana and Sean are listed as MIA because their bodies have not been found, and nobody has claimed to have killed them. One theory is they strayed into Laos at a time when the US was not supposed to be there; I don't agree with this theory because if they had been caught the Laotions would have exposed them to the world.

A writer's dream. Watching the film A Private War about the life of Marie Colvin who was killed in Syria in 2011; I got to thinking about how I saw myself as a writer until last year when I stopped writing. Though I am an award-winning writer ; I won the award above in 2012, I ask myself which I would prefer the Nobel Prize for Literature or the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism ? I saw myself more as a journalist than a writer until last year when my disabilities forced me to be virtually housebound, the disabilities have now done their worst. I always saw myself in a similar vein to Kolchak , always chasing the big story that kept eluding me like a character I started to write a short story about called Archie Grimley, the down at heel journalist forever running from his past.