Here I am at the edge

  Tidy the blog My plan for the New Year includes tidying the blog a little. When I changed the style, and colouring of the blog, I noticed many of the older posts, some I will delete, the writing had disappered with the change in background colouring; another thing which irritates me is some of the posts are white writing on a red background. I find this both hard to read, and bad for the eyes. I had an amusing email, spam , from a man in the USA this week. He said that he'd come across my blog, and while he found it entertaining, he could for $50 make it hit the top in the Google seach engine. I fely like saying, which post/posts caught your eye? Instead I let it drop.

 Selling in the USA There are two things which I found surprising about my writing . When I began my Science Fiction series - shown above is Book 1 of the 7 eBook series - I was told to put my books on Barnes & Noble by a lady I was in contact with who lives in Canada . I checked the site, and thought, "There's no way I can compete in this market; the books are highly technical ." To my surprise, my sci-fi eBooks were the only books that have sold well. I would say, other than not getting a contract offer, the largest disappointment for me was not selling well in the UK . Over 80% of my sales are in the USA .

 A wide range of Writing During my time as a writer , the only thing that remained consistent was readers told me, "until the last paragraph has ended, why don't know what to expect." To some people, my versatility was deemed a blessing, while to others I was told it made my style shallow. I set out to be a writer, not a genre-writer , and to the end, I remained true to my belief.

 I have no sympathy You can say what you like about me being heartless, but when people do things they know are not only dangerous but life-threatening they deserve no tears to be shed. The latest "accident" happened two days ago on Mont Blanc , a mother and son lost their lives skiing down the off-piste slopes. While it is thrilling to ski down fresh snow, you need to realise the snow has no foundation, that is why it is called "off-piste" meaning out-of-bounds. You must remember the stunt persons you see on the films are not racing an avalanche , they are racing against set timers to create an illusion.  I doubt anyone could ski faster than an avalanche, they can reach 100 kph in a few seconds, while you may reach a top speed, the avalanche gains speed as it travels. When the rescue team sees the landlside, they send a helicopter up, not on a rescue, but a body retrival team. Experts say you will live for a maximun of five minutes trapped in an avalnche, after th...

 You can go Hunting I think I have this jazz album somewhere, unless it was lost in the fire several years ago; back then I was into Nordic Jazz . That is a by-the-by with little relation to the post. If you have the time, you could search out excerpts from my short story selection; it would pass the time. The easier way is to ask me, I know how to access the stories with ease, and as most of them will be downloaded as files this week - I can send the file to you for a small fee.

 Here I go again Soon, I shall start to write up some of the stories I started but never finished. I am under no illusion this time; I am not aiming to sell theses stories, unless something interests you, and you wish to purchase a copy from me. One project I may undertake is to collect the series I began, and gather all 13 chapters on one file, then try to write more of my science fiction series. That would be a major task, the files are spread over this blog , but are locateable. Draft2Digital are sending my eBooks out to lending libraries, so there is no difference to me if I put them on here to read for free. In my case, I will benfit, in a small way , by putting them here; this way the blog may gain readers.

 Don't ask me Twelve years ago, you could have believed my star was on the rise as a writer ; after all, I did. I had an award-winnng eBook to my name, and my science fiction series was selling well in the USA , to my amazement. So what happened? No sooner did my star rise than it imploded, and since then only the occasional ebook has sold.  Mainly because Draft2Digital were sending my ebooks to lending libraries ; in simple terms it is legalised piracy. D2D get paid to supply the library service, who get a fee from thier subscribers for lending books out, so what did I see for the 2,000-plus ebooks that were issued in my name?  Zero Nil Nada Nothing SFA Did I say nothing?

I had my moments  Twelve years ago, I had my greatest, and only triumph during my tenure as a writer . The book at the top of this post won an award . Soon, like all my eBook selection, this will only be available from me, or to be read on my blog - not that anyone cares. I've had some, not many, good memories over the decade of being an author , but too few to recall. One of my biggest failings was trying to be my voice, not a copy of the books in the trend . Overall, if I had the ability to forget these writing experiences I would happily erase them.

A three-part plan Don't be put off by the title, I am an award winning writer , though that was back in 2012. I am not charging a lot for my writing . My plan has three parts. A- You read the blog , and see a story you enjoyed, and wish to buy a copy. B- You have an idea of what you like, but haven't an idea what I have to offer, ask me, I am willng to advise you what I have in the collection which may meet your request. C - You wish to have me write a story for you, please ask, I am usually able to oblige most requests; I don't have a comfort zone , I am a writer, not a genre-writer . My rates are low, and  negotiable.

 Stage 1 Completed I have taken my eBook selection off  Amazon Kindle , I won't miss the sales Amazon got me, in over a deacde I was lucky to see a sale a year. I am still on Amazon, the books I am coonected to I have no control over, I was part of a group of writers , not the publisher .

 No Reply When the book shown above earned an award , I approached several publishers in the USA for the oppprtunity to publish it. I got one reply, from a publisher in Salt Lake City , Utah . The snag was they would only vew hard copies, than meant I had to pay for the ink to print the story , the paper, and the pstage; 12 years ago that cost alone was $15. I sent the story to a lady in New York for a review, that cost me another $10; I did get a great review, but the outcome was it was all for nothing; to date the eBook has not sold a copy.

   Going solo I admit, when I first used Draft2Digital , they were reasonbly good - considering I never sold on Amazon , that is little praise - but over the last two years they have become one of the largest scam sites in the world of writing . Apparently, this year, if you have no passport , or driving licence to prove your ID they will delete your account. I took the decision to cancel my account tonight; I am not worried over lost royalties , I am only owed $0,60 cents for the last six months. I did contact several agents , but all I got was a generic refusal, if anything. There are lots of unfinished stories on here, if you wish me to write them up, let me know.

 Who cares? Through this blog, I tried to express my views, and opinions, without forcing them down the readers throat. I stayed away from celebrity gossip as much as I could, I thought there is enough out there to read without me adding to the mass. Unlike many bloggers I knew, I started out with the intention, and end with the same thought - I am not going to make this a blog about my eBook work. I tried, and must have failed, to enrertain the reader, rather than preach my views as some people do.

 The UK has the lead I should be happy that the blog finally has more UK readers than readers in the USA for a day; howver, the truth is this shows how few readers it gets. I always take 1/2 of the UK readers as me checking, so this means the UK readers are only 20 :(  And yet, this is more than antwhere.

  Nature is taking her toll At the end of my story ,  A Sailor's Love , one of the characters asks the young lady Jannine, if she wishes to join her and her sisters in the fight to protect the coast from erosion by the sea? In the last month, there have been several reports, mainly along the Devon coast, about large areas of the coast falling into the sea. The reason is the coast there is mainly made of chalk, and is riddled with caves. Further along the coast, in Kent , there is a village called Dunwhich which lost its two churches to coastal erosion centuries ago. Dunwich had the reputation for being one of the last "rotten boroughs" in the UK . A rotten borough was a village which had not enough people to send two MPs to the House of Commons , but by an old agreement, made when they did have a lot of people there, the Lord of the manor retained the privilege. This practicw was repealed in the late 19th century.

 I planned a sequel This short story became the long version - A Sailor's Love - the story began life as a 1,500 word excerpt on a friends blog . My friend was was so taken with the story , she asked if I had thought of writing a novel ? At the time, I had no intention of trying for a novel (40,000 words), as I thought t was beyond my ability - I was to prove myself wrong - I stopped A Sailor's Love  2,000 words short of 40,000 words because after living with it on and off, for two years I realised it may never sell, and it never did. If ASL had sold, I had planned a sequel, personal joke - tracing the life of Angie, the owner of the bar, before the time of the story. That story would have involved witchcraft , secret tunnels, and environmental care for the coast. But, that was never to happen; a tale of many planned sequels.

 A new Blurb I used to tell people that I could write a good blurb - a blurb is what you see on the back of a book - I could, two of my burbs got their writers contracts. The blurb is the taster for a story . For this reason, I decided to write a new blurb for this romance . The story is centered mysteries. The earlier mystery is what happened to Jannine's loer, Ian, who disaappeared at sea' despite being an excellent swimmer, and is he the person seen in town who doesn't answer to his name? The second mystery is who is the stranger who takes over from Ian in Jannine's life? What dark secret does he hide from the locals? There is something odd about the owner of the bar too, Angie appears to know more about the the lives of people in the area, than she tells people, and what did happen to her husband the nght he disappeared?

 Water Safety My recent post about the lack of interest in the arrival at Bondi Beach shown by a lifeguard; was mainly because, other than not being interested in Paris Hilton , the lifeguard had to watch for surfers doing stupid things, and for the dangers under the water sent by nature . Swimmers love to go to where the surf creates white water, but while it is thrilling; it is highly dangerous. We need Oxygen to breathe, but too much can suffocate you. Most of us have done the head out of the window when driving stunt, now add the pressure of thousands of gallons of water on top of you. Also, where the waves crash, they churn the sand up, and create deep troughs that even strong swimmers struggle to get free from; I know I had an experience like that at Swanage , Dorset when I was a teen. I didn't jump in the surf, all I did was accidentily step off a ledge; my parents were in siight, but could not help me. The other danger is the "Blue Tide," each month, the beach ...

 Overkill I thought I had tracked the Nagin story to its end, I was wrong. This one delightful story of a serpent turning into an alluring woman, so she can take her revenge on the killers of her lover - another snake god - had by the late 70s run its course. Today, I came across a film called Neera which is another in the series. I may watch the film, so I can judge the series; but t s unlikely as the series appears to be never-ending with the latest versions    https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404670655253 ,and  https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/404682378813 for sale on my eBay page https://www.ebay.co.uk/sh/lst/active .

  YouTube is the winner for me Last night, I signed up for YouTube Premium ; this is an ad free version of YouTube . For me, it has no disadvantages against Amazon Prime . The catchpenny (teaser) with Amazon Prime is you pay less per month; £8,99 compared to £12.99 for YouTube, the catch s after that you need to pay for every item you download, and for my taste in movies from India , there is little choice. As well as having more films, YouTube has a great selection of older films, it is easy for me to find the subtitles , where I can, so that isn't a drawback.

 I never saw my blog as useful When I began this blog , too many years ago to recall, I never imagined it would make me an influencer . I thought influencers needed lots of money , and masses of contacts, but that changed this year for me. Three months ago, two writers contacted me via the blog, to thank me for warning them of using Draft2Digital . The issue with D2D is they send your writing to lending libraries , and you never see a dime in return. The other way I have become a minor influencer is on eBay , the sellers who I buy from have noted what I get, and send me offers for films that most people wouldn't consider; my taste goes back to the early days of popular cinema in India - the 1940s. I could write a few posts about actors, and actresses I enjoy watching from as early as the late 1930's - the early talkies - I would be interested to watch some of the silent films too. Some of my fave actresses had careers that began in the 1920's, and ended when they died...

Will they ever learn?  The recent   revelation that Manchester City , and Everton were found guilty of bribing soccer referees is nothing new. Match fixing hit the news in the mid-1960s when England centre-back, Peter Swan , was found guilty of being involved in a fixing ring; his punishment was a life-ban, which was rescinded in the mid 70s, but his rep had been damaged so badly nobody wanted to take him on. Swan was the most notable of several big-name players involved in the ring. Several years later, Northern Ireland international, Johnny Crossan , was charged with being in a similar ring; he fled to Belgium for several year to escape prison. In the early 2000's, F iorentina  in Italy were charged with being involved in a fixing ring, among other crimes. Before the news of the scandal was headlines in the UK , the courts in Spain banned Barcelona from trading for breaking several laws. I did suspect something was wrong when Lionel Messi said he'd take a 50% pa...

  Spreadng the cost My resolution for nthe New Year is not to splurge buy on eBay when I get some money . The main reason for this choice is because when I splurge, I spend so much I often miss good offers from sellers which I would have liked to buy. Another reason is I have so many f lms from, or about India , I do need to catch up on watching them.

 Follow the Trend Not that I needed the proof, but yesterday gave ne the value of following a trend . If I am to beleve the value of blogging abobut a celebrity , then yesterday could be the beginning of an new era for this blog ; no t won't, years ago I vowed NOT to follow the trend, and I have kept my promise. There is no doubt my blogs about the Khardasians , and Paris Hkton did wonders for my blog; readers jumped from a few hundred to almost 2K last night; and yet, no sign of an eBook sale. Yet again, proving to me, people will read anything if it's FREE . Everyone loves your work until they have to pay for it.

 The Spice Girls Yesterday's post about the Kardasians remined me of two incidents from over a decade ago about Australia . The first occured when I was taping some shows about Bondi Beach for a lady I knew at he tme. In ne episode, there were flocks of teenage girls swarming around a celebrity; when the reporter asked a lifeguard if he'd heard of Paris HIlton , he said "Naah, who the f### is that?" The other incident happened here in Bristol , when I used to go to folk club meetings. One night there was an Australian singer called Alan Kenny who ended his first act by saying in Oz, we have a saying "You have to be posh to suck Becks." He couldn't understand why the room flled with laughter. What he meant was you have to be rich to afford Beck's beer, I had to explain the relevance of the term here in the UK. Posh was the nickname of Victoria Adams of the Spice Girls , and her boyfriend David Becham was known as Becks, So, despite their world tour...

 My tour in Germany Yesterday, I found my father's photo album from his tour of India ; in the days before the 1948 partition with Pakistan . Finding these photos reminded me that I had two albums of photos I took during my tour of Germany , in the Royal Air Force, in the late 1970s. The mystery is I can recall the albums, but nobody else can.

 20 years on When I read the Kardasians were returning, I thought they meant the villains in Star Trek Deep Space 9 . In the 20 years they have been a celebrity show; I have not seen as episode. I saw Kim Kardasian in a few shows in the series Drop Dead Diva , which to me shows how bad the show was seen as when you need such an obvious media icon in as a regular. It was the same with Friends , when they kept using Tom Selleck ,

 I couldn't care less. Yes, that is true, readers. If I cared more, I could reach the point of not caring. You can call it apathy , or ennui, either way as my ebooks aren't selling I have lost interest in writing ; though I have no shortage of ideas.

 I need something to relax with  My addiction to films from India could appear troublesome to some people, as a rule, it causes me little problem, and the situation doesn't impact on others in the family. The only person who does get a little put-out is me; I do have a tendency to splurge, and then I miss good offers from sellers on eBay .

A Gateway to the Underworld  A sinkhole anywhere is dangerous; there are many small ones in the UK . The UK sinkholes are usually to be found in and around areas concerned with mining , as few documents list old shafts. In central, and South America they are known as cenote, meaning gateway to the Underworld.  While this looks beautiful, you must realise the hold is held in place by a series of rock ledges, nature is beautiful, but this is dangerous too. This is not the largest, there is one in a southern USA state which is five  NFL wide, and growing. Even that pales in comparison to the one found in Russia ; scientists have no idea how deep it is. The usual way to find depth is to drop something neutral like a stone in the hole; not these people, they dropped a flare down the hole, which turned out to be a pit of Sulphur . The flames are so hot they can be seen from space, and you thought   Centralia , Pennsylvania was bad.

 Not that I needed any proof I didn't need proof a buyer on eBay was trying to scam me - again - but I have the proof. At modnight, I "sold" a DVD to a person on eBay who had bought another from me, last month. I had my suspicions, as they asked for a refund for the first disc I sent - this was the third request - thought the second got through, I was wary about this sale. At 1350 (UK), I cancelled the sale, because no payment has been sent. If the buyer had been genuine, they would have questioned why the sale was cancelled' the lack of the question, to me, proves I was right in doubting the buyer.

A matter of perspective  This year, on eBay I have taken the action to block a small percentage of prospective buyers; the reason is I believe they are using the site to run a refund scam . There are two ways of viewing my actions. Yes, I could be losing sales. On the other hand, if I send the DVD , and they "claim" a refund  I have to send money back not knowing if they have the goods. If the disc is delayed, but not lost in the post, and turns up I am doubly out of pocket - as I have no disc, or money for the sale. It is a sad world when trust is replaced by doubt , but that is how the world runs these days.

 No money- no goods Last nght, I had a "buyer" for this film on eBay . I put the word buyer in hash-marks because I have my suspicions they are a scam . At the end of last month, before I changed my posting plan, they "claimed" another DVD I sent hadn't arrived, and asked for a refund ; this time, I'm waiting for the money to get to me before I send the film . I usually like A kshay Kumar   films, but this is another in the endless flood of fims turned out to do wth the Nagin story.

  A tough question to answer This question will need a good deal of knowledge about my reading habits; the answer is in my blog , as usual. The question is which one of these books have I NOT read. A day in the life of Ivan Desonovitch. The old man and the sea. The heart of darkness. The Devil rides out. Don Quixote. The question is hard, but it is not a trick question.

 A Question of Travel This could be tough question to answer, but the answer is in my blog . Five years ago, I had to renew my passport, I needed a current legal document to get funds from Paypal; at the time I had over £300 from eBay sales in Paypal . My passport had ran out several years earlier; the year after my return from Canada . At the time, I was in no rush to renew my passport, why? I am unable to travel for health reasons. There is much in the UK I wish to see. I never had the travel bug, after returning from my Armed Forces days when I was posted to Germany .

 A Teasing Question The question I am about to pose requires a little background knowledge, which be gained from this blog . The question is, I gained recogition in the USA for wriitng science fiction , but what genre would I have prefered to have gained recognition in? Ghost stories Horror stories Western Fiction

 The choice is vast To some writers , having to choose a story to write is a major issue; many are known in their genre . That is not the case for me; I naver had a "comfort zone" when I was writing. I had areas  had not explored, such as stores with a sex theme, and some areas I chose not to write in such as anything considered illegal, or with a violent theme.  I haven't written a sex story until now, not because I have antything aganst them, I just never saw me writing them. I won't write a story that involves violence; there is too much in the world as it is with me adding to the pile. I did start to write a story for a lady, a long time ago, which involved violent sex, but I got worried were it was leading. A lttle rough sex can be arousing; this lady got her thrills from reading about blood-letting, were would that have lead to? This brings me to the offer of a writing contract I was offered; the offer came from a publisher in Miami called Horny Devil Publis...

 It makes me wonder I wonder if I'd used mages like these on my eBook covers https://www.draft2digital.com/book/ , would they have sold better? I did consider a short story using this as a cover; the story would have been about a redneck biker girl racing against a city slicker guy n a fast car. I have no objections to using attractive young ladies for book covers; as long as they are part of the story. At one stage, I was thinking of writing a steampunk stor y  https://author.amazon.com/books to go with these pictures. I did begin a Gothic romance story with a provactive young lady on the cover. I also had the idea for a Gothic Horror story with the same young lady on the eBook cover. I have no worrieds about using images of a sexual nature to sell books, as long as they image portrays what is in the story. What stopped me? It wasn't a qualm about the images, or even my ablity to write in a different genre , not that I had a comfort zone - the thing which held me back ...

 The time to throw the towel in Most writers are not forthcoming with their annual sales figures, and eanings ; not me. I sold a dozen of my eBook selection this year, which earned me the sum of $18.00. As usual, not enough for a cup of coffee a quarter, never mind some food for thought. The time to throw the towel in, and quit, was almost as soon as I began writing . After my success with earning an award , then the sales of my science fiction series (Forgestriker), back in 2012, nothing has happened.

He is still alive  Not that anybody cares, I am still alive. I stopped writing because few of my eBooks  sold, and the blog was getting so few readers it wasn't worth writing it. If I got some eBook sales, it won't take me a lot to restart as I have many ideas.

An attractive lady  To me, there is nothing more enticing about a lady, than a lady who knows she has a presence without the overuse of make-up; the lady above is French actress Anook Aimee who is in her late 70s. She was a major actress during the New Wave of cinema in France during the 1970s. For me, even with her age, she is more attractive than many of the celebrity actresses of today, but that is my opinion.

You would be surprised  To somebody who didn't know me, my Google news items on my phone would come as a surprise. There are no celebrity items, very few sports items - my interest lies in motorcycles , and motorcycle racing - most of the news on my phone concerns either a rchaeology , or geology as the UK coast is shrinking and endangering lives. There was another item last night, a group of chalets had to be demolished on the coast of Norfolk as the cliff edge they stood on was collapsing. I have no interest in boosting celebrity publicity , they get enough of that in the press. I laugh when I read a celebrity has brought out their biography; what is their to read? Their life has been to get noticed, so what is left to know, especially when most of them are still in their 30s.

I hope to add to my selection of Bollywood films One of my aims for the New Year is to increase my collection of Bollywood films, and movie box sets. The issue here s not to get too many overlapping films, lke many eras, there were few stars and they appeared often together. I have a long way to go before I reach my target, but the journey is both educational , and enjoyable Other than the history of India , I am getting to know more about the geography , and language s which are in the state. The lady above is British , she was born in Burma ; and was considered one of the best dancers of her time in India .

  The real life of a writer Aye, happen as expectations and reality never meet, especially for the Indie Writer . Years ago, my expectation was to sell 10 copies of one eBook in a month; these days, I don't sell 10 eBooks a year - out of the 30 I have for sale - on over a dazen links with Draft2Digital . The main problem with D2D is they send free copies to lending libraries , the author does not get paid until a set number of copies have been sent out; but there is no definite figure, so we never get paid, even though the readers get to read our books . Well; it's not an issue for me now, my days as a writer are as far behind me as the days of the Raj , and the British Empire .

 Hoping for better things in 2024 Each year, for the last seven years, I have said things can't get worse, and they do. I am not challenging 2024 to be worse than this year as I am sure next year will be as bad. The early months on eBay , I was the victim of several people running a scam . My eBook sales on Draft2Digital  are so few it is hard to count. The blog has had its moments, but still ends another year on a low reader scale.  I thought I would miss writing , but I soon got passed that stage; t wasn't hard when nobody reads what I wrote. I intend to make a definite start to reading again in the new year; on my list is a collection of ghost stories by Rudyard Kipling , and Gormenghas t by M ervyn Peake .  Who knows, the way I feel I may start reading A leister Crowley .

I am amazed  Many years ago, I started to write a science fiction series online, but I stopped, why? First, let me explain the heading. It takes a lot for me to astounded by my writing ability, but I was amazed when I checked the files for this story . I thought I stopped writing this serial after 11 chapters, the reality is I wrote 15 before I stopped. Why did I stop? I stopped writing the serial because I was writing more pages a week, than I was getting readers for the story. That does not mean I wrote a lot, it means nobody cared to read it. At the last count, the story is over 120 pages long. Could I return to the story? Yes. Would I? Probably not, it was written when my eBook  series -  Forgestriker -  started to sell.; but those sales died after a year. I got the idea for the story from watching young people playing online games , rather than reading ; and the news of libraries closing.