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Showing posts from September, 2022

Life under Labour

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 No good will come No good will come from a Labour victory in a General Election . The last Labour government lost the trust of the people it was supposed to represent, but how? In a time of recession and rising unemployment, they spent millions of pounds advertising jobs, not for the British worker , but for immigrants. The previous government - Tony Blair - spent over a decade borrowing from Peter to pay Paul, then from Paul to pay Phillip, until one day they wanted the loans paid, only to find the Labour Scum had sold our gold reserves to line their pockets, that is why the Conservative Party needed to make massive cuts. If I pray we don't, the UK  has another Labor government; they made it clear they would enter the EU again. This would lead to such an economic crisis we'd doom several generations to poverty as we did upon joining the EEC back in 1973. Germany would love us to re-enter; they would charge a considerable fee for entry and make sure we could not leave again. T

Welcome Vietnam

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  A new audience for the blog The areas my blog reaches never fail to amaze me; I stopped being amazed by the audience in the USA , as this is where over 90% of my e-book sales are from. But this weeks largest reader figures come from Vietnam , probably because I have been posting a lot about Korea this week.

Enviromental Issues

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 The Deep By the end of this evening Operation Deep should be half-way through. You could say my Unofficial Copies are illegal, and I wouldn't agree; but, my point is I have no idea if these cartoon will be going on sale. Despite being good cartoons, each episode tells children about the enviromental issues we are causing; from dropping rubbish in the sea to illegal dumping of oil and other chemicals.

The Lima Syndrome

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The Stocholm Syndrome I am certain most of us are common with the term Stockholm Syndrome where a captive tries to make contact with, and believe in their captors beliefs in order to survive the ordeal. I would assume that few people are familiar with the other side of the coin; the Lima Syndrome .  This happened when the Japanese embassy was raided in 1996, and within a few hours the captives were released unharmed.

Who needs Hollywood?

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 Tollywood and Bollywood If you read my blog , you will be familiar with the term Bollywood which is the film industry in India in general. There are sub-genres depending on the area and the language in the films, the second most popular being Tollywood which is based on films in the Tamil language spoken in the area of Kerala , South West India . On Netflix , there are also several very good series from Korea .

What Next?

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Could there be peace?   I never thought I'd see the day when Russia and China joined forces, but two days ago a joint fleet, all be it a small group, was spotted of the coast of Alaska . Who knows, maybe Israel and Palestine will come to peace, or the Muslims and Hindus will stop fighting - I wish - but reality says otherwise.

Another Bitcoin SCAM

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 South Koream scam As if you needed warning of the risks of Bitcoin ; I've sent out many warnings on my blog . This week in South Korea , a man has become the target of a large hunt involving Interpol . they have out out a red warning for his actions.

The fruity conspiracy

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 Beware of fruits There is a subversive conspiracy under our noses, and we're oblivious to it. The latest news from Tesco is scary. They are withdrawing chocolate bars because they - here is the NEWS - contain milk . With shops being told to withdraw Nuttela as the chocolate powder used can be linked to salmonella l this is a conspiracy launched by fruit farmers . It is my belief that we are all allergic to something, many are fortunate and never find out about their allergy. I was allergic to yellow colouring for many years, so I avoided it. It is upto the individual to watch what they consume. otherwise where do you stop?

I was once called a dinosaur

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  These days I feel like an anklysaur Many years ago, an online friend said she thought of me as a dinosaur , because in a world of declining morality , I kept to a standard of behaviour that had long passed. She also said I stood out like a diamond in a coal fiels which is funny as diamonds are coal that have been pressed and reheated thousands of times under intense pressure, These days I fell like an  anklysaur , because my ankles are so sore I cannot stand or walk for long.

Ban him

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BSB Oulton Park   The risks involved in motorcycle  racing are enormous, riders accept an accident may happen, but they shouldn't have to worry about being kicked off the track as happened at  Oulton Park  this weekend. In my opinion, if a rider is willing to do that no penalty is hard enough, other than a ban on racing.

Even if I am not selling e-books

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It's some comfort I take a small consolation in that my blog is being read, even if my ebook selection stopped selling years ago. Each day, I wake and wonder if it is worth continuing with the blog for less than 50 readers a day?

Wny do I see myself as a jourmalist

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Take your pick  The main reason I view myself as a journalist rather than a writer is I usually write short stories , not novel length books . I have said often that I admire Jane Austen , but I write more like Mickey Spillane ; if something is in my story it has a purpose other than padding the pages. I have written several longer stories, and if I thought they would get read I am sure I could repeat the process, and write a fuller length story.

How to read the end from the first line

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 Not interested I never had many letters from publishers during my tenure as a freelance writer , but those I did recieve, you can count on one hand - without the thumb - followed a set pattern. Dear sir, We were grateful to recieve your manuscript, but, skip to bottom line - we have no room for your story at the moment, we wish you all the best.

Officially the First Short Story

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I did have an earlier short story published Officially, this short story is my first to be published , unofficially it is my second as I had a story published in a magazine when I was about 17. That story is lost to time as it was in a men's magazine of the 1970's, by today's writing it would be lame.

The White Lady

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  Ghosts do exist If e're there was a tale of man's greed being his downfall, this short story of a greedy ship's captain fills the ghost gap. There was a superstition among sailors in Scarborough in the old days, that if three captains saw the ghost of "The White Lady" one of them would die by the end of the day.

Korean tv on Netflix

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  Hotel del Luna Hotel del Luna is a fascinating series from Korea being shown on Netflix .  The concept behind the series is that the hotel is a crossing point for spirits to be judged on their mortal life, the hotel is run by the ghost of a young lady who committed a serious crime, and is not allowed to cross over.

The Ghost in the Hospital

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Bristol General Hospital Ghosts Several years ago, I was researching the history  of Bristol General Hospital  with the idea for a ghost story . The building is haunted by the ghost 👻 of a wwii  nurse who was trapped saving some children during the blitz.  The story was going to be about the development the site as apartments; which is what has happened. The crux of the story was a debate between the two developers as to whether they should tell people the site is haunted. I'd have no problems residing with spirits as I believe in the afterlife.

Who gets the Kohinoor diamond?

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 The big deal in Asia This is one puzzle which could end up causing a holy war. Who gets the Kohinoor diamond? India , Pakistan , Afghanistan , and Iran have all laid a claim to it. Not considering the rights of ownership, I would not like to be the owner of the world's largest diamond , I think it is safer in a vault than a museum as no museum could afford the insurance.

I sold better on Draft2Digital than Amazon

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  Amazon was a bust for me. This is true, I sold more when I was selling e-books on Draft2Digital in one month than my decade on Amazon . To add some perspective, this is not to say I sold well, but to say how little I sold on Amazon.  I thought I had taken my e-book selection down from Amazon , but I was wrong https://author.amazon.com/books

You get what you deserve

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  Gangaajal The concept behind the Bollywood movie  Gangaajal can be applied to areas in most cities and many countries. The concept is even if you go in with the stoutest heart, and strongest desire to be honest there will be people to drag you down; it's upto you whether to fight or give in, but if you choose to fight you may not be the only victim , most officers will tell you their families have become targets for the criminals as well.

Rock Bottom

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 Trending This day had to come, I have hit rock bottom; I am writing blog posts to get a few readers rather than what I wanted to write . I wonder, will I get paid again? My last payment arrived this month from Draft2Digital , $10 for 8 months eBook sales :(  The lack of sales is one reason why I write only for my blog; another reason is I have little faith in my ability as a writer left.

Tesla is on the rocks

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 Elon Musk Exposed If you don't believe Elon Musk and Bitcoin are a scam , read  https://techcrunch.com/2022/09/16/tesla-ordered-to-tell-laid-off-workers-about-lawsuit/?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAI5LUR5tnNgXSuarfoqoqA09vS3IXY9lWQ6ZMdA3l-fuItFFlw1wlTTa-1Xr9WABXVpz9Wg850XgYLrjmQ13Wf8kPSHOvFzjFfBoei5D9pRPiFoHTsSBVscN9Jc5msWaYC_GTGE76nC-z8P6IJN2kvznqeDwVS-8ekiZZX2hYMZX

Sex stories

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  There is a limit Last month I started a writing project that has been on my mind since I saw the image on this post. This short story will be another challenge for me, my previous sex stories have been of the romantic style, but this will be more of a sexy romp. I have a few other romance stories to continue writing once this short story is finished, which I don't think will be too long. What has Carlotta done wrong? To find out, you will need to read my short story -       https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2023/06/the-revenge-of-carlotta.html .

The Pacific War

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  Hollywood in the 1930's Hollywood stopped portraying the Chinese as evil in the late 30's with threat of war with Japan , the last thing the USA needed was the two enemies to join in one army. It would have been Fu Manchu' s dream, an indestructible army, consider the number of soldiers who would have died. I wouldn't have been surprised if the US would've been forced to surrender; they had enough with Japanese in the Pacific War .

I had the opportunity to be published

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 Jealousy is damaging Two years before I made contact with my friend, and editor , Julia Petrakis , I had a genuine publication offer from this magazine for my short story ebook to be serialised. All the publicist wanted was for the stories to be edited properly. so I sent them to a lady(?) I knew hoping she would help, as she was an editor. Little did I know she was jealous that I'd been offered my chance of success , so she returned my MS unedited, then when Julia edited the short stories and they won the award , the lady then went online and spent months trashing my writing - the rest is history .

I didn't follow a trend

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I trod my path   Do you want to be a trailblazer , or a trend follower ? To amswer the question, you must define your  goal . Do you want a short time  success  or a lasting trail of success? If you want quick results, then follow a trend. Do you wish to be known as you, or as one of a crowd? If your word is not important then join the trend. Despite no success in my  writing  I still think I made the correct choice. Take 2012 as an example, with the Mayan calender telling us the world waas going to end, lots of writers were jumping on that trend, now their books cannot be sold.

Near Death Experiences

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 Too Close for Comfort I have had several near death encounters, none so close as the night I almost died in my sleep as told in this short story ' a story so scary my editor asked I should change some details to protect any reader.

A lesson too late

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You can't beat the odds   The reasons I failed to make the grade as a writer were beyond my control; that is NOT a cop out as one of my e-book s election is an award winner . A) - Despite what webinars tell you, unless you are a name or wealthy , agents in the USA won't consider you if you live in the UK . B) - I didn't have the money to buy promotion or covers for my books . C) - A jealous author I once knew trashed my award winner online, and it never sold again. In the end. all the above factors caused me to underestimate my value as a writer, to the point I gave up writing for months at a time.

Indian History

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How I got the idea for Project India The idea for my ebook based on the story came from several sources. The latest news is the story is now over 20 pages long, with the possibility of going on, I doubt it will reach novel length (40,000 words). History has been a subject of interest to me for many years. Part of the idea for my story came from seeing the film Thar on Netflix . After seeing the film I wanted to know more about the fort in the film, and its history . I am more interested in its history before the days of the British Empire , for this purpose I bought a book on the forts of India . The idea for the story came from a discussion I had on LinkedIn with some people in India. Few writers have written about North India as it is mainly desert, and populated with tribes of wandering bandits to this day. My idea was for a short story for the blog , but my friend and editor , Julia Petrakis , asked if I was going to turn it into a book she could edit? I have no idea how far I ca

Heart Attack

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 No Warning Heart attacks can, and do, occur without warning. The lady on this post is Reema Lagoo  from Mumbai in India . At the time of her death, Mrs. Lagoo was only 58, and in reasonably good health.  She had finished an episode of the series she was working on, left the stage saying she had a pain in her chest and was dead within an hour. Another case is more well known in India, that is the death of a leading actress in the Bollywood scene, Sridevi , who was waiting for her husband to arrive for their daughter's wedding in Dubai , to relax she took a bath and passed out. Her death at 54 shook the movie industry in India .

Ancient Aliens

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 Conspiracy Here is a theory  which should please the  Ancient Alien  and the  conspiracy  camps. The pyramids of  Egypt  were built there because the aliens  found  Antartica  too hostile to live on. These people from our future  came back to build the pyramid to confuse us, and by doing this protect their knowledge of time travel .

Bollywood Glamour

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 Beautiful India I don't think it's true as I heard it said in the film Bombay Talkies , a lady (played by Rani Mukherjee ) said you can tell if a man from  India  is gay  by asking if he prefers Sridevi  or Madhuri Dixit .  Apparently, if he chooses Srividi he's gay. I can't compare their acting  talent as my interest  in  Bollywood  has only been for a few months. For beauty, I'd go with Srividi, there again my choice for beautiful actresses from India wouldn't put Madhuri in the top 10 as my faves are Raveena Tandon , Reena Roy ,  Shefali Shah,  and Raima Sen but that is only my opinion. Having seen some more movies, and series from India, the list of ladies I consider alluring grows, and not all of them you'd class as glamorous as I get attracted as much to facial features as I do the alluring sexual looks.

The Muslim Invasion of Europe

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                                               True Crime One of the reasons I intend to write this short story series for a gentleman in India with a female voice is to highlight the spate of crime that pervades Muslim society to this day. As I point out in my LinkedIn post   the story is fiction, but the crimes mentioned in the preface are all facts you can check online. I don't find it hard to write in a female voice, to me it is all about getting into the character of the storyteller.

Best Actress

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  Vidya Balan Congratulations to Vidya Balan for being awarded the title of Best Actress in this film. Sadly, outside fans of Bollywood / films from India her victory will go unnoticed as these awards don't carry the prestige of either the BAFTA or Oscar awards.