Here I am at the edge

  Giveaways never helped my sales Several  writers , I used to have contact with said doing a  giveaway  helped their  book sales . I have tried doing giveaways, and as far as I am concerned they are a waste of time.  The  eBook  which suffered the most is my  award -winning ebook, The Chronicles of Mark Johnson    https://books.apple.com/us/book/id808235642 , one weekend on Amazon I did the giveaway for a bit of promotion; the book dropped from 1,500,000 - 4,000,000 in the ratings and never recovered, that giveaway happened about 8 years ago.

 What to leave out The question I am posed with if I go ahead with an anthology  is not what to put in, or could I fill the pages with my short stories  but which of my short story selection to leave out. I have been writing for almost 15 years, and not all of my stories have been put on this blog .

 Investing is dead The trend  for  Investment Banks closures is continuing with the First National Bank in San Francisco announcing it is closing its doors. First Deutsche Bank , then Credit Suisse , and now First National. The reason is people do not have money to invest as they need to use their funds to pay bills, and live off as pay rise s fall well below the rate of inflation as the world goes into recession .

The Dido Hoare Mysteries  The disappearance from the writing stage of Canadian writer , Marianne MacDonald is a mystery worthy of her heroine Dido Hoare . Marianne was last seen and heard from in 2006, when she attended a writers' convention in Edinburgh , Scotland . At the time, she told her friend Val McDermid that she had been offered a 7-book contract by Severn House Publishing . Her last publication - Faking it - was published the following year. They left the convention, and as far as I can tell there is no further news; in the intervening years, all I have been able to ascertain is that she is not recorded as dying, and had an article published in the Daily Telegraph several years ago.

 The Caldera In my opinion, American scientists are working under two misconceptions concerning the caldera at Las Palmas . A - If the caldera explodes, there will be a tidal wave heading to the USA . From its position, the countries which are most likely to get the wave are in North West Africa , as the island is off their coast by only a short distance. B1 - They are assuming the wave will grow in strength, and be able to reach that coast - I doubt it very much. B 2- The wave will cause a tidal wave of 15 feet to engulf the Eastern states of the USA. Wrong, on two accounts; first, the wave - if it gets the strength - will probably hit the coast of South America or the West Indies .

 A New Ice Age Approaches Several months ago, my friend, Julia, in Seattle , asked if I'd considered writing an eco-thriller as I had earned a good rep for science fiction ? At the time, I hadn't, nor did I have any plans to write such a story; I did think of a scenario later, but it became too convoluted to follow through. It is my view this planet is heading for another Ice Age . It has nothing to do with what we are doing, only the things the planet is doing are going to cause the effect.  Firstly, the planet spins on an off-centered axis which from time to time changes the content of the polar ice caps. Another thing to consider is that below the surface is a molten mass that swishes around like chocolate in a mixer. The greatest risk to our planet is under the city of Herculaneum -        https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2023/02/sitting-on-bed-of-magma.html   - the city sits not on a magma chamber, but a series of six interlinked chambers. If...

 Save the Turtle We need to preserve the Leatherback turtle population, not only for their sake; but for the sake of humanity too. Why? These beautiful, serene, creatures are the only things that are immune to jellyfish stings, not only that, they can eat the jellyfish. Beaches around Australia have safe swimming zones, these are areas that are patrolled and cleared of jellyfish daily, but even that isn't enough. On strong swells, many beaches are closed by lifeguards who notice what they call the Blue Tide. This occurs when a beach is swarmed by thousands of box jellyfish; the danger here is if you get stung, and these creatures have stings that trail over 20 feet, if you are unable to get medical attention within 10 minutes the sting can lead to anything from a severe rash to death, depending on the age and general health of the victim.

  A Dying Trade There is a grave danger that the fishing trade along the coast of Yorkshire could die off. This disaster has nothing to do with Brexit , or overfishing by foreign fishermen who disobey the rules. The approaching disaster is caused by an overabundance of algae which is draining the sea of oxygen. The nature of fishing has changed a great deal since I took this picture in the early 70s; back then men like my late grandfather knew what to fish, where to fish, and how much to fish to keep the stock for the next season. Fishermen on the coast of Alaska have a different problem, octopi are devastating their crab pots, leaving only empty shells. One solution would be to put octopus on the menu - I have eaten octopus and squid - unlike some fish such as mackerel there is no strong taste, other than the inkiness of the fluid they are boiled in.  There are lots of fish we could eat; for the value to the environment, I would add pike to the list. Pike will eat any...

    A Rare Film I started to use a US site called DVD lady -    https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2023/04/dvd-lady.html   - this month, mainly because they have several horror films from India, with subtitles, I wish to buy. The film shown above is a rare film in the Nagin series -  https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-new-nagin.html  - it is so rare I have come across only one other copy, and that copy had no subtitles. I wanted to get this film as I can't evaluate the series, if the series is not complete, or as far as I can complete it.

 Raaz 3 I will start by saying I watch  Raaz 2  with no expectations. I don't like either the leading actor or actress. You may ask why did I buy the film? I bought the film because I saw the leading lady from  Raaz  return in Raaz 3 , and to evaluate the series objectively, I need to see all four films in the series. I should have known what was coming when it got highly rated on IMDb ; the rating gets done by people from India who love large-scale musicals. Within the first 10 minutes, there is a long spell of singing; the leading lady returns to her bad-boy boyfriend whom she left for her acting career; if that isn't enough, she gets pregnant by him. How can this come back from so much sugary content so soon? I have bought films because my fave actors/ actresses have been in them. This is a film that had little going for it, which I bought purely as it is in a series. I have watched the film, and honestly, it was better than I had expected from its beginni...

  Political Science A few days ago, on the Facebook page of my friend in Seattle , there was a post ridiculing Joe Biden for not knowing who the Black & Tans were. I am not surprised at this, I doubt many people from Ireland under the age of 60 recall the group either. The B&T were the forerunners of the IRA . The group was set up in the 1920s to fight for Irish Independence , one of their most noted leaders was Michael Collins who was assassinated by the British Army. Like many groups, the PLO included, the IRA has several lesser-known off-shoot groups. I doubt anyone who was not interested in history , Ireland, Political Science , or Social History could have told you who the B&T was.

  What would be the point? Several times over the years, I have been asked if I planned to write a sequel  to some of my short story selections. I did consider the prospect for a while, what amuses me is that I have no record of any of the stories that were requested having been sold. One of the stories is a ghost story called " Ghosts don't Dance ," the story has no set period, it could be set any time before WW2 . I was thinking of using the image above as the cover of the sequel, then I looked at the prospect of a story set in Spain between the wars, and more recently I thought about writing a story of a man crossing the Sahara Desert and getting a boat to India . The only sequel I have written that sold is the second story in the Pat Canella series - "Ghosts of your Past " - this story was bought almost as soon as it was published to a young lady in Canada, My first ebook sale was the opening story in the same series - " The Dockland Murders " wh...

 Raaz I enjoyed the original film, Raaz , so I was pleased to see the same producer had done Raaz 2 ; it is here the confusion begins. According to the write-up on Raaz 2, it is NOT a sequel to Raaz, but according to the report on Raaz 3 , both 2 & 3 are sequels to the original film. To further confuse the viewers, the leading from 1 is not in 2, but returned for 3. Apparently, she turned down the role to be in the Race and Dhoom  series. The leading lady,   Bipasha Basu , also appeared in the film Rakht as a fortune teller.

 No more ebooks It is another victory for the readers' I decided that as I sell less than two ebook s a month, on my best sales platform - Barnes & Noble - if I am going on writing, it will be on my blog -    https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/   - this is far from being a quick, and rash response to the information I acquired last night; I have been considering this action for years. This emphasizes what was said years ago "Everyone loves your work until they have to pay for it."

  Bollywood Horror There is a site in the USA called DVD Lady  https://dvdlady.com/all-movie-categories/   which suits my Bollywood Horror  needs perfectly, as they sell 1980s horror films from India with subtitles.

 History Repeat I forget who it was someone once since history never repeats, In 1972, history did repeat itself in Munich . The 1972 Olympics will be remembered for many things, some not nice such as the massacre in the village of the athletes from Israel . This was the Olympics when Mark Spitz dominated swimming with a record number of gold medals, and Olga Korbut charmed the world. This was also the time of the Black Power salute, so if Black Lives Matter thinks they are heading their cause they are well out of synch, as the 1972 Olympics were almost a repeat of the 1936 Olympics when a Negro by the name of Jesse Owens cleaned the medals board, in the show that was designed by Adolf Hitler to show the power of Germany.

  Beau Geste and Dartmoor Prison You may find it hard to think of a link between the classic film, and the hardest Prison in the UK , but if you look there is a strong link. Dartmoor Prison is an open prison, which means the men are free to wander as they wish, as it houses some of the toughest criminals in the UK. You may wonder why such men have so much freedom? The answer lies in the location and surroundings of the prison. The prison is set in some of the harshest countrysides in the UK, if you recall the scene at the end of The Hound of the Baskervilles where the prisoner is trapped in the mire, that is how Dartmoor is. If you are not a local or don't have a guide, you won't be loose on the moor for long. If you do escape. and make it across the mire, the nearest village is Launceston over 25 miles away, and as it's small a stranger stands out. There has only been one successful escape from prison, which was in December 1966 when Frank Mitchell was sprung by the Kray t...

 Roman a' clef The best way I find to describe my writing style is to say it is a mix of Roman a' clef, and the style developed by the writer   Hunter S. Thompson called Gonzo journalism . Roman a clef is a style that mixes factual events into a fictional story; Gonzo journalism is a style where the writer puts themselves as one of the characters in the story. I have read some of Hunter's stories, and believe me, the book The Rum Diary is far superior to the film with Johnny Depp . The book is set in Puerto Rico during the late 50s. What the film lacks, other than the dance on the beach is more flamboyant is the tension of the journalists waiting for their break, each wondering when the paper is going to fold, and leave them jobless and with no funds to get back to the USA .

  Nazi War Criminals What would you do? Last week, my wife and I saw a video of a group hunting down Nazi War Criminals based in South America. The man they were after was a camp commandant at one of the "death camps," after being cornered, he decided in order to save himself he'd rat on another German. The other German turned out to be none other than Erich Priebke , second in command of the massacre in Rome during WW2. I have to give the film crew, especially the lady they used to trap him full credit; they knew once they started the process the Nazi hinterland in South America would be on alert to them. The lady deserves extra credit as she had to sit facing a man she knew was responsible for the deaths of her family before he went to Rome. This film reminded me of two others, the first is about a Dutchman called Dries Riphagen who set himself as a banker/ collector for goods belonging to Jews in Amsterdam ; then having taken his "cut," he turned the goods ...

  A Mexican Comparison The news is filled with complaints from people living in Palestine, about how difficult it is to get into Israel, here is a comparison from Mexico . On average, it takes five times as long to get across the border from Mexico to the USA , then it does to get into Israel from Palestine.

  National Pride Several years ago, the Prime Minister of Norway , Erna Solberg  sent the Prime Minister of Sweden a sharp letter of reproach about the amount of Muslims they were allowing in Sweden. The short version of the letter said, "If you do not protest our border, you leave me no option but to order the army to strengthen their patrols to keep our country safe." If you think this is out of order, I visited Stockholm  many years ago and thought it to be of outstanding beauty and grace, in the last two decades it has turned into nothing short of hell on earth, and with the increase in the Muslim population has more than doubled in this period, it is known as the rape center of Europe now. Whereas once you could still safely down the streets, the police issue a map of no-go areas, and warn people not to go out in the dark. Stockholm has turned into Beirut with emergency services being called out, and then being stoned when they do their duties. The police, and bord...

   Less like Musicals The main reason I enjoy older films from India is that they are more story-orientated than modern films. The film I am watching now - Ghulami - is about a boy who leaves his home to get an education , as he is disgusted by the treatment his family, and others like them get from the landowner. 50 years on, and farmers all over the world have the same problem, this year's profits clear last year's overdraft. Years later, he returns to lead a rebellion against the landowner. His girlfriend when he was young stayed true to him for all the time he was away, in the film the older girl is portrayed by Reena Roy , one of my favorite Bollywood actresses. One of the other actresses, Smita Patil , died tragically young as a result of medical negligence. Another reason for not enjoying recent films is having to avoid Shah Rukh Khan , Aamir Khan , and Salman Khan films which are little more than musicals with a weak stories. These men are not linked by family, th...

 Wealth Farm One group that should be done for FRAUD is the people running the so-called Health Farm franchises. Let us take a glance behind the facade. Colonic Irrigation is basically putting a pipe in your anus, and flushing your system - hey, why not attach a shower head to your bath, and DIY . Starvation by living off vegetables - are you for real? You pay thousands of pounds for doing what you do at home, Two options are available - One is to Support Your Local Farmer by buying from a farmer's market which I often do. The second option is more hands-on, why not grow your own vegetable crops, this way you get the enjoyment of seeing the fruit of your labor grow, and you know what goes into the production of the crops. Volcanic mud If you believe this; you deserve to be the victim of a scam . The   mud came from the potting shed behind the big house your money is keeping.

 Medicine not Prayer After my earlier post -    https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2023/04/i-would-class-myself-as-chrtian-scientst.html  - I was curious about the Christian Science cult that was all the rage some years ago.  Apparently, their heyday was back in the late 1930s when they had over 250,000 adherents, today the total is less than 50,000. I admit I am not a fan of big pharma  products, I have always said what was good enough for my grandparents is good enough for me, when it comes to basic medicine . I had to cut some of my tablets down two years ago, I found out some were liable to cause liver or kidney illness, and as I have a lump on my liver I was taking no chances. I cut down, radically, on my coffee intake, and noticed an almost immediate change in my mental health . I am not saying we should stop taking tablets, just be careful, and one thing which will not help your physical health is prayer as the drop in figures would indicate. ...

  A Change of Palate Years ago, I needed to start a culinary regime that limited what I could eat. Sometimes, the change was brought on by a change in my taste; years ago I couldn't drink Pepsi Cola , and now I can't drink Coke-a-Cola . I used to laugh at the advert that stated people couldn't tell the difference. To me, the difference was obvious as PC was far too sweet for me at the time. Some of the changes are due to my EDS, which limits my throat size, as Ehlers-Danloss-Syndrome is a non-curable muscle degenerating illness. The latest change is that after over 50 years, I have been forced to give up drinking coffee , I decided to cut down several years ago and saw a great improvement in my mental health. But this month it has become obvious my system is rejecting coffee.

  Not the Usual Conception Before you throw your arms in the airs, in horror, I do NOT mean this as in the usual constructs of the cult of Christian Science that spring up in 1879.  My belief is that many things written in the Bible  did happen, and in the way, they are written but they have a basis founded in science , not religion . There are stories of a great flood in almost every religion, and writers such as Plato wrote about massive earthquakes. Like many, I believe the story of the plagues was founded on the destruction of the island of Santorini . I have never believed Moses parted the Red Sea , for one thing, to travel that far he'd have taken his followers' days off the most advantageous route across the desert. There are accounts as recent as the 1930s of the Reed Sea parting if the winds are fortuitous. This misnomer comes from translating Hebrew into English. The Hebrew word was rhoot meaning reed, but it got disfigured into Red. The ten plagues were t...

  A Long Journey to Find Peace The image shown here is the cover for a Christian Fiction short story ebook I published a few years ago. The title comes from a hymn I heard sung by the late Vestal Goodman several years ago. The story is about a motorcyclist who is a non-believer in God, until he has an accident on a lonely coastal road, and almost loses his sight. He is saved by the verge of this church. But, the church is home to a mystery.

 Bram Stoker The current trend on Twitter about Queen Camilla reminded me of a book I read several years ago by the Irish writer , Sheridan Le Fanu , The story is nothing like Camilla Parker Bowles ; the short story is about a vampire . At the end of the original Dracula , Bram Stoker gave thanks to this story as his inspiration; the story pre-dates Dracula by almost 20 years.  

  Reena Roy Another alluring actress from India , who lived in the shadow of Sridevi was Reena Roy . I used the past tense, not because Ms. Roy has died, but after her return to acting in 2004, she has all but vanished from the "big screen." At the height of her career, Reena married cricketer Mohsin Khan , and as with most actresses in India, the family became her priority. The marriage didn't last long as Ms.  Roy could not bear the playboy lifestyle of her husband. This a scenario that reminds me of the Raveena Tandon film Satta . I haven't made up my mind on who is the most alluring lady to play Nagin , so far Ms. Roy leads the chase by a good length.  Sridevi may have been the best actress to play the part, but I found Reena Roy more alluring. I realize a lot is down to personal taste. Partially because I think she is alluring and beautiful, but also because I enjoy h er acting I have amassed a collection of her films.

Wriring in differnt voices  When I was in contact with writers abroad, one thing was constant in the view of my writing ; they were amazed at how I could adapt to write in a different voice, and keep the story true. To me, that is no problem as I find it easy; to me, the story dictates the voice I write in. My current collaboration with my friend in Seattle, and several of my ongoing projects are written with a female voice; including my romance bestseller shown below.

 A basic flaw For all its advantages AI has a major issue. The system functions on the laws of probability to assess your next move. Even I get confused when I look at where my search history has taken me.

  You are on a losing streak from the word go There may be genuine writing sites, where you get paid to write articles at the going rate of $1 per word, but the ones I came across are designed so the writer is losing money from the start. The site says you need to pay for some equipment. The price may be cheap, but as a freelance writer that is money lost in my view. Several sites I visited, only want "slush readers," people to read and comment on the magazine's favorite writers' works. One online magazine did offer to pay me, 10 cents for each writer I could get to join the site. In 2012, I turned down the only offer of a contract I was given; the reason was I didn't like the remit of the site, basically, keep it legal, but the gorier the better. For years, I second-guessed my decision, even though a friend told me she made more money selling than she was paid by the site. Three years ago, I revisited the site, and the phrase "The lights are on, but nobody...

 It has been a long time since I wrote this much Considering, I have struggled to find the urge to write for so long; I am considering this project https://hereiamattheedge.blogspot.com/2022/12/uk-and-usa-joint-ops.html  a success , even if it does not sell, I hope to finish the story next week at around 80 pages.

Nirupa Roy  Actress  Nirupa Roy earned a reputation for playing tragic mother roles opposite actors such as Sashi Kapoor and  Amitabh Bachchan , yet the greatest tragedy of her life came after she died in 2004. Her sons made counterclaims of tortures in the search for inheritance.

   Pat Canella scenarios I will make no apology for this set of stories not being politically correct , I wrote them for readers who enjoy crime stories set in the 1950s, times when victims had more rights, and criminals feared the law. These days with criminal rights coming before solving a crime it appears hard to think the police once had respect from the civilians they dedicated their lives to protect. A few years ago I watched a series from France called Braquo , this series was about a group of police officers who sought justice for the victims, even if it meant going beyond the rules of the Law . A similar series in the UK is Luther . This short story - https://www.thalia.de/shop/home/artikeldetails/A1035350367  - was praised for its authenticity by a former police officer I used to know who lives in Queensland . While I wrote the third story in the set - Haunted by her past - the story was so intense that it gave me bad nights for weeks, and I knew what was h...

 Harry Potter It's all in the name   - have you considered another name that means the same as Hogwarts - but nowhere as endearing, how about Porcine skin disorder?