Here I am at the edge

They Shall not be Forgotten. November 1st is the day nobody remembers; as Christians, I feel we should celebrate All Souls Day  more. The day is to recall the people who died and never got buried, whether their death was caused by war or some other demise.  I had an uncle in the RNLI who was part of the crew and was awarded a gold medal for bravery in rescuing a Polish tanker that was stranded on the sand bar near Redcar-on-Tees . RNLI is short for Royal Lifeboat National Institution which is a charity in the UK. I wrote the book above several years ago to commemorate my grandfather and all the people whose lives were changed after World War One . My ebook Lifeboat Heroes is a semi-fictional account of the rescue my late uncle took part in; to my family, I am a hero for being awarded the General Service Medal for serving in Ireland during the troubles, but I was never near the front, so I don't think I deserve a medal. I was stationed at RAF Aldergrove over 20 miles from the...

 O.Henry American short story writer O. Henry is another writer I wished to emulate if my wishes had come true.  Like several writers of his time, he had problems with drink. To quote the Irish poet,  Brendan Behan,   "I'm not a writer with a drinking problem. I'm a drinker with a writing problem." Shortly before his popularity, O. Henry spent three years in prison for embezzling funds from the bank he was working in. He'd returned to Austin , Texas , at the time of his arrest as his wife was dying of tuberculosis . Last month, April 2023, I obtained a set of his short stories from eBay .

 My best month this year. The heading reads as a great end to a great month; the reality is far from suitable for my ebook sales on Draft2Digital . My good month is equal to most authors' bad days; I only sold three ebooks all month.

I am better than you. Years ago, a writer I used to connect with told me I was a terrible writer . It took me a good while to accept this truism; the irony of the statement is if I am that bad, she must be awful, as I beat her in several writing contests.

Fireworks are deadly  I have never enjoyed fireworks, and like the hospital staff , fire service , and the police , I would happily ban bonfire night .  As an animal lover, I cannot express the terrors our furry friends feel too heavily to them the night is only a series of flashes and bangs they do not understand.

 Oldies but Golden It may appear strange to you, but I have started to collect films from the Golden Age of Hollywood . I already have Bhowani Junction , Beau Geste , and Northwest Frontier to add to the Cary Grant Topper series. Next on the list could be an early Elizabeth Taylor film called Elephant Walk . The interesting part about this film set on a tea plantation in Ceylon is if you look carefully, you can see shots of Vivien Leigh . This is because when the movie moved to Hollywood, Ms. Leigh didn't want to go.

  Stop Health Tourism I agree with the views of UKIP ; the best way to SAVE THE NHS  is to stop the system of Health Tourism . This is a system where ladies come to the UK to have their babies on our money, then leave without paying the bills, which drains the money, therefore, the wages of our overworked and underpaid nursing staff . Why should the UK fund other people's babies when no other state does?

  East Afrika I am not surprised that Rishi Sunak got appointed Prime Minister as there are large areas of the UK with either a Hindu or Muslim population. Bristol had a Pakistani Lord Mayor several years ago, and he was a jerk. Other than his family's financial misgivings, which I know little about. I wonder how many of his supporters realized East Africa was a German province until the mercenary wars of the late 80s and 70s?

  Halloween clear out I have so many old blog posts, many about promoting writers I used to know that I decided it was time to clear out the trash from the past and concentrate on trying to promote my work as a writer as no one else was kind enough to give me a helping hand after all the things I did for other people.

 Rain Though I enjoy the sounds, smells of freshness of rain; I can't help but worry about the people and animals that are homeless at times like this. I used to help a homeless young lady in Bristol when I saw her, then one day I went to town and she wasn't there. When I was working in one the city's branch museums, I got to know a homeless man, and his story. He'd once been a successful businessman, then his company failed and his fortunes drained. The final blow was his wife left him, and he lost the will to fight on. I know how it feels to live on the streets, as I slept on the streets of Dortmund , Germany for a night during my days in the Royal Air Force; and later on, after rows over my wife's son I slept on the streets on two occassions. I go by the adage "There but for the grace of God go I" when I see a homeless person.

 Stargate The secret of how Santa Claus can visit every house in one night has been solved; at the same time scientists have found why he does this only once a year. The image on the post was thought the an ancient pyramid pre-dating the Egyptians, or even just a mountian with a pyramidic cone.  Research has proved it is the pinnacle of a Stargate - a time travelling instrument developed eons ago - if man can retrobuild the device this is the key to travelling beyond Jupiter  in our galaxy. However, as the man in the film from Spain entitled If I hadn't met you  found out, jumping between realities plays havoc on both your mental health and your body, yet another problem to overcome in the theory of time-travel.

   The planet Sokh The James Webb telescope has discovered a new planet far out in the expanse of space. Scientists have found the planet in the Biroid system; a system of galaxies protected by two contra-rotating black holes, they named the planet Sokh. Travel to the system is impossible as the pull of the black holes would tear any vessel apart.

 Berlin 1945 Certain YouTube channels should be treated as ego-boosters. One in particular is run by a man who cannot get his facts correct.  Other than most of the videos display him, not the subject of the talk; he makes glaring errors in history .  The latest case is he said the Germans bombed and shelled Berlin museu, at the end of World War 2 under the orders of Hitler . If that is the case, they must have been using captured Russian uniforms and weapons, as all the films show Russians attacking the city. Plus, by this time Hitler was dead in his bunker.

  Why do I use American spelling? For several years I was asked if you live in the UK, why do you use American spelling? The answer is that I sell my ebook selection in the USA and not in the UK. In my decade as a writer I don't think I sold a dozen ebooks in the UK.

  Science Fiction mixed with the truth I am releasing my concept on the end-of-the-world on Amazon  this week. The sphere in the story was tracked a decade ago, there were articles in both The New Scientist and Scientific American , but in the furor over Harry Potter real Science was lost. My story has nothing to do with the Mayan Calendar or 2012; I wrote it at that time because it was the trend to write about the end of the world in 2012.

 I would have wished for a brighter future My days are few, in some ways I am pleased, but I would have wished for a brighter future for my children, and their families. Whoever wins the General Election will push the UK into debt so deep we'll never come out.

 You pay the price Again a sports star thought because he was noted he could break the law without a penalty, in my book there is only one law and if you break it you go to jail. The exception would be if you stole food to feed your family. but to me there is no penalty tough enough for rape, or attempted rape; I'd send the criminal to the toughest prison because most of the inmates have a sister, daughter, or mother who could be a victim. If the person played the celebrity card to try to avoid the penalty, I may even consider that as trying to bribe the judge.

 Buck Rogers Several years ago, during the end of the world craze of 2012, I wrote my version of how I saw the end of the world. At the time, a ball of metal three times the size of our planet was being tracked across our galaxy. Now, we have a real threat from outer space as a beam of high intensity has been spotted travelling to Earth from a distant planet; this is the time for  Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon to save us. Though the short story is no longer for sale, I still remember what I wrote.

 Fat Bear week SCANDAL Another SCANDAL hit the world of sport this week when it was revealed the winner of the Fat Bear week contest in Alaska may have had outside help. It has been revealed that a person was spamming the voting forms online to gain votes; the reaction of the winner was typical; all he said was ggggggrrrrrrrr give me the salmon.

   King John I'd venture that there are not many people who have NOT heard of Robin Hood ; the earliest series I recall was back in the 1960's with Richard Greene in the title role.  One misconception that has followed the story through history is that of King John being second in evilness to King Richard iii . A true historian will tell you this in nothing but a falsehood that has perpetuated through time; let us view the times. King John was the youngest of four brothers, and his father's favourite son. His mother's favourite was his elder brother Richard, who became known as Richard i - Couer de lion - Richard the Lionheart .  This is where history has been twisted, Richard during his reign of 15 years, never spent more than a year in England as he was always off on a crusade ; leaving his brother to find a way of funding these ventures by raising taxes. What about our hero Robin Hood ? There is NO evidence he existed, the name was a general name at the time, and ...

 India 1946 At the end of World War 2 , the British withdrew from India . With the growing rise of Indian Independence  the threat of rioting was a great risk. The Britiish government made the decision to maintain a presence in the country, the official reason was a lack of ships to transport the troops; but the reality was in the north mainly the Punjab area, now Pakistan  there were several staged riots. There was a fear they would spread across the north to Delhi and beyond. The cities of Lahore and Hyderabad were the centres of activity as they are on what is now the India-Pakistan border. Until recently, there was still fighting in the area, known as The Kargil Wars .

  Editor's Choice My first attempt to get a short story published was on the Indies United site. My story From Elgar is about the difference WWi made to lives during the 1920's.  The story is written as a commemoration to all the people whose lives changed during those four years of hell, not only the soldiers but those at home. I started writing my story, but after several enforced changes I realised I wasn't writing my story, but a sanitized edition to please the editor . I think that is why I decided to self-publish my work. In retrospect, my first choice of a publisher for my series of short stories was rather ambitious. In my defense, the house was set up to publish the works of H.P.Lovecraft , who I was told my award winning stories resemble in style. At the time, the house was run by the niece of August De'Ath . I keep forgetting these, and my other books can be bought from the Goodreads site.

 Jupiter is the limit Realistically speaking, travel beyond Jupiter isn't an option; not only for the cost and the weight of fuel needed, but for the physiological and psychological affect on the travellers. To go beyond Jupiter you're talking of months in space 🌌🌌 Travel to the next planet, Saturn , is never going to happen as the gas giant would kill you before you got close, if not with the heat it semds out but with the immense pressure of the gravity.

 I am safe For months, if not years, I have had no inkling to visit a book shop. At one time, my family used to use these shops as an easy way to find me if we went shopping; now I can pass then without going in. What caused the radical shift? In short, depression brought on by a lack of sales for my e-book selection. The longer version is caused by knowing these writers had the money for publication, and the lasting belief things would work out for them. For me, that time passed several years ago.

  Bade Miyan Chote Miyan The story behind this film from India is about two police officers who get framed for robbery, after proving their innocence they find the crimes were done by a couple of look-alikes. To be honest, I would have got the film because it features Raveena Tandon and Madhuri Dixit , two of my fave actresses.

 Agoraphobia I have rarely been out of our house, on my own, in the last four years. I don't think I suffer from  agoraphobia , but I don't like to feel hemmed in or trapped. Agoraphobia is a fear of open  spaces. The main reason I never went out is with no car, and little money, by the time I paid for the bus fare to get somewhere I had no money to spend being on Disability Living Allowance , then PIP. PIP is short for Personal Independence Payment, another name for DLA brought about to try to convince the public that the people working in government offices are worth their pay. They closed a system which worked, and caused such a backlog of complaints they had to close some claims without a review. Things did change last year, when my bank ( Santander ) changed their overdraft charges from £1 a day to a % of your overdraft; going from £30 a month to less than £10 a month made a huge change to our finances. Now, I don't go out on my own because I am worried my ankle may ...

  A world before Political Correctness  In a world dominated by Political Correctness you need to ask yourself, how did we survive before PC? I'm of the age when I can recall drinking from hosepipes, and taps in parks; riding a bicycle without the need for hundreds of pounds of safety gear. Things are crazy when shops need to put on labels that chocolate may contain milk products; I've had many varieties of chocolate, from several countries and the one thing they have in common is milk. If you are allergic to something, it's upto the individual to watch what they eat; I used to have to avoid yellow colouring and red wine.

  A double death I have total admiration for the men who take part in  motorcycle racing ; while the Lewis Hamilton 's of F1 get the big money, the risks they take are far less than those taken by motorcycle racers. An incident this weekend shows this to its fullest extent, 26-year-old Chrissy Rouse died after an accident at Donnington Park last weekend. The crash occurred when Chrissy went into the third bend; his bike hit a patch of water and threw him to the ground. The rider behind had no opportunity to avoid him and ran over his head. Chrissy was probably dead on impact, had he survived he'd be in a coma for who knows how long. While we mourn his loss, we should also think of the mental stress of the other rider involved, all though nobody will apportion blame for his actions; he will live with the knowledge he ran over Chrissy. He had no choice as the accident happened in an instant, but that won't help ease his mind. If that had been F1, the drivers would have walked...

 Captain Scarlet In an early episode of Captain Scarlet , the hero listens to an account that tells him that Big Ben rang 13 times, which may seem like an oversight, or a figment of imagination for the plot. In this case, truth IS stranger than fiction , if you are close enough to Big Ben, it is possible to hear the 13th chime. The reason is that within a mile you get an echo of a chime.

  Decriminalize Marijuana I am sure what I am about to write will upset many people, but I am in favour of Joe Biden 's decision to   Decriminalize Marijuana . Cannabis is a soft drug with great possibilities toward helping Medical Health issues .

Danger Zones  Angelo Daruna and Maria Carnavalez of Cardogan University had been sent to the area surrounding the old mansion of the Harking family. The reason for the trip was there were disturbing sounds coming from under the earth, and nobody had information on their origins.  There was a rumour the sounds were the beginnings of an earthquake, or perhaps a mine collapsed in the area - no matter what - the seismic instruments at the University had recorded movement, and that meant a team had to investigate. The history of the house was a mystery, the records of the sale had been lost decades before digitalization was the norm, and nobody in the area could recall the last person who lived there. Before they entered, Maria crossed herself, and said, "There is something unnatural about the area, Angelo. There is no sign of life, even the grass has died." Angelo glanced around, then commented, "I have to agree, but let's not form opinions without some knowledge, Maria....

 No sales but tall tales Years ago, when I cared about sales from   Amazon , I knew a lady who said she had all my e-books on her Kindle . The strange, but true thing is that I never saw my Amazon UK   rating move.

  When a lady says "No" she means no Last month on LinkedIn I got a lot of hassle from gentlemen in India  about how the British Empire treated Indians during the days of the Raj - a post for later - perhaps. The discussion started as I pointed out that when people watch the tv series "Toughest Prisons on Earth " they never mention the Andaman Islands off the Indian coast. Conditions were so bad the inmates had to turn to cannibalism. Another tough prison which is forgotten is the one off the coast of Goa . This is where Portugal turned a concrete water container into a jail. What Indians forget is that to this day the caste system is still as hard, if not tougher, than in the days of the Raj . A case in point is the movie Pink , the base of the story is that a lady has the right to say NO, and mean it; even if the man asking is the son of a VIP.

 Who said History never repeats itself? In the history of the modern Russian navy (from the late 1970s), there has been an almost constant concern for the West. Not where are their subs, or what are they doing?  The worry is how can they lose so many at such as constant rate? During the 70's, they lost a nuclear sub at the rate of one every two months, in the Baltic Sea ; lost without trace, and to this day there is no explanation to what caused them to sink. The latest to go "missing" happened this week, they lost a sub under the Arctic ice. The problem is Russia doesn't track the subs in case America hacks the links; each sub can go months under water without surfacing, and then only for a few minutes so it cannot be tracked. If you saw Ice Station Zebra you would be wrong to consider a sub can break through the ice. Sad as it is, the best hope for the sailors is they died in an explosion. There are far worse death that submariners face, even in the modern age of st...

 It's a mad world If you don't think the world has gone crazy, then you are mad. Thought Leadership People go to leaders to be told what to think, during the Cold War , Vietnam , and to this day this is a polite term to explain brainwashing a heinous crime that most agencies deny using, but secretly use. However, by the designation of being told what to think, you automatically deny the possibility of thought. Diet This is probably the second largest SCAM which fails to be picked up; recently, I decided to check a plan out, not for buying but to see what was involved. I had to laugh, the plan was telling me what to do, and I had been doing it for years. Cut down on fatty foods, use oil to cook not fat; eat more cereals, fruit and nuts to keep your system running. I have to admit the having a liking for garlic which is not only good for your heart but cleans your blood. Fitness Trainer Why pay someone to tell you how to exercise? If your body is aching, that is your body's w...

 An old saying is so true The longer I live, the more I believe in what W.C. Fields said when he said "Never give a mug an even break," Or you could live by the adage attributed to Mark Twain . He said, "The more I know about people the more I love cats. Years ago, I helped two writers get contracts, neither even had the courtesy to send a thank you comment, and it would have taken seconds. I checked both people out, and they are doing well, what was were my thanks? Yup! Zero - nil - nada - nothing, did I say SFA (Sweet F##K All)?

  More Readers One way of getting more readers for the blog would be to write more posts, but what is the motivation when most posts are not read by more than a dozen people? That is being generous as the average is below 10 these days :(  :(

 Is this a life? If you needed proof of the dangers  of taking drugs , here is a heart-breaking true story. I know a little girl who is a quadraplegic because both her parents were drug users, and heavy drinkers. The poor little thing has no future as she needs to be carried everywhere. Her parents were only taking Class B drugs, but their child has paid the ultimate price.

 Drug deal goes awry in Wales Not long ago, an enormous annount of Class A drugs washed ashore of the coast of Wales      https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/23008660.dyfed-powys-police-investigate--90-million-drug-find-welsh-beach/ . I wouldn't want to be the people who messed this deal up

 Too large for my original concept With the prospect of my ebook on the subject of forts across I ndia going well - 25 pages at the last count -    https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2023/06/project-india-update.htm l - I did consider making the first book the opening for a series. I have had a similar idea before, and nothing came from it, so, unless there are sales nothing will happen.

  The early days of a writer My first short story wasn't a ghost story of the type I got my early reputation as a writer for, nor was it the scifi which became my bestselling e-book selection. My story was a comedy mystery about a writer who wanted to be read, but remain unknown. Which was my aim.

 Life could have been better I am disabled , poor, and in constant pain from an old injury not to mention several disabilities , but I do have some things to be grateful for as I look back over my 66 years. For the most part, my sanity has remained intact; though I did request a brain scan several years ago as I was worried about the stories I was writing , and how they could either be the cause of the horror stories  or be influenced by my mind. I know our family will not be rich (financially) but we have a great sense of love that binds us.  I have only broken one bone - my right big toe - but I have torn several muscles. The ongoing effect of my toe injury is that once or twice a year, the nail breaks off. I don't feel anything as the toe grew a second nail, which is held in by skin, over the original nail.

 A writer in the Autumn I don't mention my disabilities often because I don't think readers will be interested; there is one disability that affects me more than the rest as we enter Autumn that is the muscle I pulled in my left shoulder over 30 years ago. Most days it is little more than the feeling of a knife grinding on the bone, but there are days when the pain is so bad I cannot move the arm.