Did my periodic check of my sales on Fiction Wise today. Here is the list of my book sales:
Stardogs 2 in position number 6
Cliffs of Time in number 7
Seeds of Chaos 2 in number 9
Stardogs 2 in number 12
Orion, the Hunt in number 23
Daughter of the Dark in number 27
Mother of Light in number 28
Goddess of Life in number 30
Seeds of Chaos 1 in number 31
Dual Visions in number 34
Men of Eros (Digest) in number 42
Midnight Raunch (Digest) in number 52
Beyond the Stars (Digest) in number 66
As you can see from 34 books 10 of them are mine. That is nearly 30 % of all the books published by MSFiction and sold on Fiction Wise. I have to admit that is impressive. If only the numbers were there to make it really special, but it still makes me feel good.
I’ve been busy with writing ‘The Mindgod’. So far, I’ve written 40,000 words. Most of the novel I copied (and translated where necessary) from my scribbler. I also edited it and re-wrote some at the same time. Now I’ve come to the end of what I’ve written, and from now on I’ll be working from scribbled outlines and vague ideas. That means it will go a bit slower. It’s been years since I wrote it (over twenty!) and, of course, I don’t remember exactly where I was actually going with the story (If I even had it mapped out in my head at that time). I wrote an ending for it but I’m not sure if I’m going to use it. We’ll see.
Right now, there is so much work in the yard and that keeps me from writing, but the work needs to be done. We’ve raked and cut the grass, collected and burned the fallen willow branches. It was a huge pile. I’ve tilled my garden once. Now I want to put in some fertilizer. In the past I’ve used Alfalfa pellets. They are actually rabbit food but Alfalfa is a good fertilizer. Last year, in the fall, I tilled a lot of leaves into the garden. They should help to make the soil fertile.
I also bought a couple ‘Goodland’ Apple trees. They need to be planted. The one I planted two years ago, died and my one good producer, a ‘Parkland’ Apple tree, didn’t have any apples at all last year. I hope it isn’t giving up now, I need that tree.
Today is quite cold (4 Celsius) and it is drizzling off and on. Not a nice day. It better warm up because I usually plant my garden in the last week of May when we shouldn’t get any more frost, but here are never any guarantees.
In case I don’t get a chance to post something until Sunday, have a Happy Mother’s Day.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
Monday, April 20, 2009
S-Words
Smart, Stupid and Stubborn. They all start with the letter S. In fact, Stupid and Stubborn have the same first three letters. That’s quite a bond. Well, sometimes it is Smart to be Stubborn and Smart to take a Stand, but sometimes it is outright Stupid. I’m talking about Chrysler and its employees. Chrysler is on the verge of bankruptcy. Extreme measures have to be taken to Save the company and thousands of jobs. This is not the time to play tough, concessions need to be made. But of course, the Unions with their own agenda won’t listen to reason.
Electricians, Plumbers, and other construction workers earn about $30.00 an hour in Manitoba. Those are considered top wages. These tradesmen (I refuse to use the word ’Tradesperson’ or ‘Journeyperson’. It sounds so Stupid) work in all kinds of weather conditions. Much of the time outside. They have to go through years of apprenticeship training and go to school to get their papers before they can earn these wages.
Now, $60.00 an hour (that is after the drop of $19.00 Chrysler and the government propose) is not such a bad wage. I’m sure there are many unemployed workers who would gladly work for that. I’d bet that even a lot of employed workers would jump at the chance to work for that kind of money.
We are in a deep recession and being reasonable only makes common Sense.
I know what it means to make concessions. In the late eighties and early nineties, I experienced economic difficulties and had to adjust my prices down. Way down. Was I happy? Of course not, but it was a matter of Survival. Swim or Sink. I chose Swimming, barely Staying above water and I Survived the crisis. Nobody worried about me then.
I won’t feel Sympathetic either when Chrysler goes bankrupt because its employees (and Union) refuse to be Smart. Those unemployed autoworkers won’t find another $79.00 or even $60.00 an hour job. They’ll be lucky and happy to find work that pays minimum wage.
Somali Pirates is another S-word. Our Canadian government sent a helicopter and a Destroyer into the region plagued by pirates. Yesterday, they chased a pirate boat for Seven hours to finally catch and disarm Seven pirates only to let them go again so they can hijack another ship and take more hostages. Wow! Two S-words immediately pop into my mind: Stupid and Suckers. Those pirates must be laughing their heads off, while every other country groans. Any respect we had went out of the window. How many dollars did that useless little maneuver cost the Canadian Taxpayer?
But why are we Surprised? We let known terrorists into our country. When we catch them, we don’t send them back to their own country because they might be prosecuted there. We even pay them millions of dollars compensation when they have the audacity to sue us.
In days gone by, they used to hang pirates from the gallows. After all, they are nothing but common criminals. But, then again, we treat criminals with kid’s gloves. We call them misguided, troubled Souls.
Sorry about that but it needed to be Said.
Electricians, Plumbers, and other construction workers earn about $30.00 an hour in Manitoba. Those are considered top wages. These tradesmen (I refuse to use the word ’Tradesperson’ or ‘Journeyperson’. It sounds so Stupid) work in all kinds of weather conditions. Much of the time outside. They have to go through years of apprenticeship training and go to school to get their papers before they can earn these wages.
Now, $60.00 an hour (that is after the drop of $19.00 Chrysler and the government propose) is not such a bad wage. I’m sure there are many unemployed workers who would gladly work for that. I’d bet that even a lot of employed workers would jump at the chance to work for that kind of money.
We are in a deep recession and being reasonable only makes common Sense.
I know what it means to make concessions. In the late eighties and early nineties, I experienced economic difficulties and had to adjust my prices down. Way down. Was I happy? Of course not, but it was a matter of Survival. Swim or Sink. I chose Swimming, barely Staying above water and I Survived the crisis. Nobody worried about me then.
I won’t feel Sympathetic either when Chrysler goes bankrupt because its employees (and Union) refuse to be Smart. Those unemployed autoworkers won’t find another $79.00 or even $60.00 an hour job. They’ll be lucky and happy to find work that pays minimum wage.
Somali Pirates is another S-word. Our Canadian government sent a helicopter and a Destroyer into the region plagued by pirates. Yesterday, they chased a pirate boat for Seven hours to finally catch and disarm Seven pirates only to let them go again so they can hijack another ship and take more hostages. Wow! Two S-words immediately pop into my mind: Stupid and Suckers. Those pirates must be laughing their heads off, while every other country groans. Any respect we had went out of the window. How many dollars did that useless little maneuver cost the Canadian Taxpayer?
But why are we Surprised? We let known terrorists into our country. When we catch them, we don’t send them back to their own country because they might be prosecuted there. We even pay them millions of dollars compensation when they have the audacity to sue us.
In days gone by, they used to hang pirates from the gallows. After all, they are nothing but common criminals. But, then again, we treat criminals with kid’s gloves. We call them misguided, troubled Souls.
Sorry about that but it needed to be Said.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Signs of Spring
Spring is here for sure. I counted over 50 Robins in our yard today. And a whole bunch more in the neighboring properties. They were digging in the grass, sitting in the trees and singing their beautiful songs. They won’t be around for a long time, probably just passing through. I also saw two red-winged blackbirds and one woodpecker. In addition to the many sparrows and juncos (another type of sparrow). A couple of blue jays also made their usual appearance by our bird feeders.
Took a walk down to the Red River. The water is still high and moving quickly. We’re expecting another crest in a few days. It wasn’t exactly warm today, only 5 degrees Celsius. Next week they promised us warmer weather.
Looking forward to working in the yard again…cough…cough…
Took a walk down to the Red River. The water is still high and moving quickly. We’re expecting another crest in a few days. It wasn’t exactly warm today, only 5 degrees Celsius. Next week they promised us warmer weather.
Looking forward to working in the yard again…cough…cough…
Saturday, April 18, 2009
FictionWise Stats
Periodically I check my sales on FictionWise. I did yesterday and found that 9 of my 13 books available on FictionWise are in the top 27 in sales, that means 1/3 of the 27 books sold on that date are mine. 'Cliffs of Time' is at number 3 position, 'Orion, the Hunt' at number 7. In fact, Orion is my bestselling book so far. Pretty impressive I’d say. Unfortunately, it doesn’t mean that my books are selling hundreds or even thousands of copies (sigh!). When it comes to being profitable these sales mean little since I get only pennies for each book sold, but I’ve whined about that before. They are good for my ego and that’s all, but I’m still happy.
I had an interview with Whohub. If you are interested in reading it here is the link: whohub.com/hegro
I’ve been able to do a bit more writing. I put aside ‘Epsilon’ and Book 4 of ‘The Xandra’ and started a novel, which I wrote years, and years ago. I never finished it and I’m determined to finish it now. So far, I’m up to 20,000 words. Part of the novel is written in German (yes, that’s how long ago I started writing it!), which means I have to translate it into English. The novel is titled ‘The Mindgod’, but that may not be the title when I’m finished with it. I had a dream last night where an old man asked me if I was still writing. When I answered ‘Yes’ he said, “That’s good. You always finish what you start.” Maybe that is my subconscious telling me to finish all the stuff I’ve started writing. Wow! I have a lot of work ahead of me.
All of the snow is gone now. We are lucky because we are not living in the Flood zone, even though we are close to the Red River. They declared Winnipeg a disaster zone. Most of the farmland south of Winnipeg is flooded and it looks like a huge lake. The Red River is 20 km wide in some areas. Some towns are isolated islands, cut off by flooded roads. North of Winnipeg many houses and cottages have been destroyed by giant chunks of ice that were pushed on land.
It proves again, Mother Nature is stronger than ‘Mighty Man’. Floods, hurricanes, snowstorms, earthquakes. We are helpless against the forces of nature. But of course, that is not enough. We still have to make war and kill each other. Another Canadian soldier, a young woman, was killed in Afghanistan a few days ago. What a shame. I cannot support that war, not anymore, even though I support the young men and women who are there fighting a losing battle. You can’t fight religion. We in the Western World are trying to push our ideas on people who have lived with their customs for over a thousand years. You can’t change people unless they want to change. Yes, it is crime how the women are treated in those countries and we want to help them, but what is the price we have to pay to bring about changes? How many people have to die? Do we have the right to interfere in other people’s affairs?
People in the so-called civilized free world have always meddled. Missionaries went to Africa to enlighten the people who lived in the jungle. They were perfectly happy before the Missionaries came. They didn’t want to be ’enlightened’. I could go on but I won’t. Those are facts of history and can’t be denied. Do-gooders and fanatics always believe that only their view is right and everyone else is wrong and needs to be freed from their evil ways.
Of course, there is more behind it than what it looks like at the surface. The need for power and control is one of the factors driving some of these people. Money and greed are two more. Let’s face it, we are a violent race, and this will go on forever as long as mankind does not evolve and learn from mistakes.
I had an interview with Whohub. If you are interested in reading it here is the link: whohub.com/hegro
I’ve been able to do a bit more writing. I put aside ‘Epsilon’ and Book 4 of ‘The Xandra’ and started a novel, which I wrote years, and years ago. I never finished it and I’m determined to finish it now. So far, I’m up to 20,000 words. Part of the novel is written in German (yes, that’s how long ago I started writing it!), which means I have to translate it into English. The novel is titled ‘The Mindgod’, but that may not be the title when I’m finished with it. I had a dream last night where an old man asked me if I was still writing. When I answered ‘Yes’ he said, “That’s good. You always finish what you start.” Maybe that is my subconscious telling me to finish all the stuff I’ve started writing. Wow! I have a lot of work ahead of me.
All of the snow is gone now. We are lucky because we are not living in the Flood zone, even though we are close to the Red River. They declared Winnipeg a disaster zone. Most of the farmland south of Winnipeg is flooded and it looks like a huge lake. The Red River is 20 km wide in some areas. Some towns are isolated islands, cut off by flooded roads. North of Winnipeg many houses and cottages have been destroyed by giant chunks of ice that were pushed on land.
It proves again, Mother Nature is stronger than ‘Mighty Man’. Floods, hurricanes, snowstorms, earthquakes. We are helpless against the forces of nature. But of course, that is not enough. We still have to make war and kill each other. Another Canadian soldier, a young woman, was killed in Afghanistan a few days ago. What a shame. I cannot support that war, not anymore, even though I support the young men and women who are there fighting a losing battle. You can’t fight religion. We in the Western World are trying to push our ideas on people who have lived with their customs for over a thousand years. You can’t change people unless they want to change. Yes, it is crime how the women are treated in those countries and we want to help them, but what is the price we have to pay to bring about changes? How many people have to die? Do we have the right to interfere in other people’s affairs?
People in the so-called civilized free world have always meddled. Missionaries went to Africa to enlighten the people who lived in the jungle. They were perfectly happy before the Missionaries came. They didn’t want to be ’enlightened’. I could go on but I won’t. Those are facts of history and can’t be denied. Do-gooders and fanatics always believe that only their view is right and everyone else is wrong and needs to be freed from their evil ways.
Of course, there is more behind it than what it looks like at the surface. The need for power and control is one of the factors driving some of these people. Money and greed are two more. Let’s face it, we are a violent race, and this will go on forever as long as mankind does not evolve and learn from mistakes.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter
Spring is here for sure, even though we still have snow on the ground. We’re finally getting warmer weather. The coming week it is supposed to stay above zero Celsius even at night. That means the snow should be melting away. I picked some pussy willows yesterday and I saw my first Robin. The geese are also coming back in huge flocks.
I did not get a chance to take a picture of the Robin I saw, but I found this one on this cool site http://www.treknature.com/gallery/North_America/Canada/photo48252.htm
Happy Easter to everyone.
I did not get a chance to take a picture of the Robin I saw, but I found this one on this cool site http://www.treknature.com/gallery/North_America/Canada/photo48252.htm
Happy Easter to everyone.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Only the geese are happy
Took a ride down to Lockport for a look at the St. Andrews Lock and Dam. This is what it looked like:Like the title says: Only the geese are happy.
A little update
Spring is supposed to be here but looking outside it doesn’t appear that way with all of that snow still on the ground. We had some warm weather a couple of weeks ago and the snow was beginning to melt. But then it got cold again and we had another snowstorm which dumped more snow onto the ice that had been forming. The culverts are still frozen and the water has not been able to drain toward the Red River. We don’t live far from the river. I’m a bit worried that we might get water in our basement from overland flooding. We’ve never had problems before but that doesn’t mean anything. Like they say when you invest money in the stock market: Past performance does not guarantee future results.
The river rose quite a bit last week and there was some flooding along River Road. A few houses had their basements filled with water. Now the municipality raised the surface of the road by putting gravel on it. In some places the road was raised up to six feet. Actually, the road is acting like a dam that is supposed to keep the water away from the properties on the other side. The river level has dropped a little but it will rise again when the water comes up from the States. Maybe even higher than before. Apparently it is not to reach the level we had in the Flood of the Century in 1997. Much of the land south of Winnipeg will still be flooded. Winnipeg will be spared with the expansion of the floodway around the city.
This is a picture of the ice that was pushed up onto the road while it drifted down the river toward Lockport.
This is River Road with a view toward Lockport. It won’t take much until the water floods the road
We went to the Museum of Man and Nature in Winnipeg last week to see the display of dinosaur skeletons. The display was lent to the museum from China. Some of the skeletons are genuine but most were replicas of originals. To read about dinosaurs is interesting but to see the skeletons is mind boggling. It is hard to believe that these giant creatures once roamed the Earth so many millions of years ago. I’m glad I wasn’t alive then. But maybe I was? Some people call me a dinosaur.
I haven’t done much writing. Been busy installing a new floor in our kitchen. I used those laminate floorboards that just click together. Apparently it’s easy and anyone can do it. What a nightmare with all the angles around the counters! It took me a whole week of measuring, cutting, and clicking (and cursing) until I finally finished it. I still have the back hall to do but that will be a cinch now that I’m an expert. (Ha, ha…)
I’ve been tracking my sales on Fictionwise and found that my books seem to be selling quite well. Six of my books were in the top twenty sellers on March 14, with ‘Mother of Light (The Xandra, Book Two) being at number 7, Goddess of Life at number 9 and Seeds of Chaos, Book One at number 10. Seeds of Chaos, Book Two was number 5 in overall sales in the twenty days before March 21. Dual Visions was number 4 on March 21 and Cliffs of Time reached number 7 on March 29 in overall sales.
Stardogs Two (Redemption) reached number 3 in sales on February 7. How many books that translates into I have no idea. Unfortunately, the money I receive for my books is so pitiful it is hardly worth mentioning. Fictionwise takes most of the money. It seems to be the Law of the Universe: The one who does most of the work gets rewarded the least.
But that’s okay…I guess. I write for fun and not for the money (Grrr….)
The river rose quite a bit last week and there was some flooding along River Road. A few houses had their basements filled with water. Now the municipality raised the surface of the road by putting gravel on it. In some places the road was raised up to six feet. Actually, the road is acting like a dam that is supposed to keep the water away from the properties on the other side. The river level has dropped a little but it will rise again when the water comes up from the States. Maybe even higher than before. Apparently it is not to reach the level we had in the Flood of the Century in 1997. Much of the land south of Winnipeg will still be flooded. Winnipeg will be spared with the expansion of the floodway around the city.
This is a picture of the ice that was pushed up onto the road while it drifted down the river toward Lockport.
This is River Road with a view toward Lockport. It won’t take much until the water floods the roadWe went to the Museum of Man and Nature in Winnipeg last week to see the display of dinosaur skeletons. The display was lent to the museum from China. Some of the skeletons are genuine but most were replicas of originals. To read about dinosaurs is interesting but to see the skeletons is mind boggling. It is hard to believe that these giant creatures once roamed the Earth so many millions of years ago. I’m glad I wasn’t alive then. But maybe I was? Some people call me a dinosaur.
I haven’t done much writing. Been busy installing a new floor in our kitchen. I used those laminate floorboards that just click together. Apparently it’s easy and anyone can do it. What a nightmare with all the angles around the counters! It took me a whole week of measuring, cutting, and clicking (and cursing) until I finally finished it. I still have the back hall to do but that will be a cinch now that I’m an expert. (Ha, ha…)
I’ve been tracking my sales on Fictionwise and found that my books seem to be selling quite well. Six of my books were in the top twenty sellers on March 14, with ‘Mother of Light (The Xandra, Book Two) being at number 7, Goddess of Life at number 9 and Seeds of Chaos, Book One at number 10. Seeds of Chaos, Book Two was number 5 in overall sales in the twenty days before March 21. Dual Visions was number 4 on March 21 and Cliffs of Time reached number 7 on March 29 in overall sales.
Stardogs Two (Redemption) reached number 3 in sales on February 7. How many books that translates into I have no idea. Unfortunately, the money I receive for my books is so pitiful it is hardly worth mentioning. Fictionwise takes most of the money. It seems to be the Law of the Universe: The one who does most of the work gets rewarded the least.
But that’s okay…I guess. I write for fun and not for the money (Grrr….)
Monday, March 02, 2009
King Cobra
My novel ‘Mark of the Cobra’, which I pulled from publication by MSFiction last year has now found a home. I did some revisions, changed the chapters around, changed the title to ‘King Cobra’, and sent it to another publisher. This publisher concentrates more on erotica and is more suitable for the type of novel King Cobra is.
I don’t write sweet romance. My stories are mostly geared up to male readers. I’m not saying that women can’t enjoy them if they like these kinds of stories. By all means, do read them. Most of my stories have a male protagonist. The heroes are tough and usually oversexed (horny?).
King Cobra has a lot of sex in it and also some violence, but I believe it is basically a good story, a thriller, and I didn’t want to re-write the whole book, as my editor at MSFiction suggested. Had I decided to do that it would have been a different story, not the one I wanted to tell. Maybe some day I will write a novel with the title ‘Mark of the Cobra’, but it will be another story.
I am busy with other works right now. I’ve reached 60,000 words with my Science Fiction novel ‘Epsilon’ and I have much more to go before it is finished.
Right now I’m taking a break from it and I’ve decided to write Book Four in the Xandra series. I had some ideas kicking around in my head and they wanted to come out. So far I’m at around 13,000 words. I’m aiming for 75,000 words, but this is something hard to predict. It all depends how it progresses. Usually, once the story starts to grow, more characters want to join and the novel becomes longer than planned. Strange, how things sometimes develop. A minor character who was only mentioned briefly suddenly wants a larger part in the story. And that is a good thing. That is how a story gets fleshed out and more interesting. This creation process is a wonderful thing and sometimes I ask myself Where the heck did this come from? It seems the deeper I move into the new world I’m creating the more stuff I notice and the more is to tell. Sometimes I have no idea where I’m going with what’s happening to the characters but it always seems to come together in the end. It is not only the reader who enjoys reading a story; the writer also enjoys writing it. And that is a good thing because I don’t read that much any more. If I didn’t find pleasure in writing where would I find my enjoyment? How would I be able to explore new and wonderful worlds?
Check out ‘King Cobra’ here and don’t be shocked by the explicit picture: A1AdulteBooks
You can also go to my website to read more about it.
I don’t write sweet romance. My stories are mostly geared up to male readers. I’m not saying that women can’t enjoy them if they like these kinds of stories. By all means, do read them. Most of my stories have a male protagonist. The heroes are tough and usually oversexed (horny?).
King Cobra has a lot of sex in it and also some violence, but I believe it is basically a good story, a thriller, and I didn’t want to re-write the whole book, as my editor at MSFiction suggested. Had I decided to do that it would have been a different story, not the one I wanted to tell. Maybe some day I will write a novel with the title ‘Mark of the Cobra’, but it will be another story.
I am busy with other works right now. I’ve reached 60,000 words with my Science Fiction novel ‘Epsilon’ and I have much more to go before it is finished.
Right now I’m taking a break from it and I’ve decided to write Book Four in the Xandra series. I had some ideas kicking around in my head and they wanted to come out. So far I’m at around 13,000 words. I’m aiming for 75,000 words, but this is something hard to predict. It all depends how it progresses. Usually, once the story starts to grow, more characters want to join and the novel becomes longer than planned. Strange, how things sometimes develop. A minor character who was only mentioned briefly suddenly wants a larger part in the story. And that is a good thing. That is how a story gets fleshed out and more interesting. This creation process is a wonderful thing and sometimes I ask myself Where the heck did this come from? It seems the deeper I move into the new world I’m creating the more stuff I notice and the more is to tell. Sometimes I have no idea where I’m going with what’s happening to the characters but it always seems to come together in the end. It is not only the reader who enjoys reading a story; the writer also enjoys writing it. And that is a good thing because I don’t read that much any more. If I didn’t find pleasure in writing where would I find my enjoyment? How would I be able to explore new and wonderful worlds?
Check out ‘King Cobra’ here and don’t be shocked by the explicit picture: A1AdulteBooks
You can also go to my website to read more about it.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
President Barack Obama
I watched the Inauguration of Barack Obama with a lump in my throat, because I realized that I was witnessing something that would go down in the history books as one of the momentous events in the history of the world. Yes, the world, not just the United States of America. The fact that a black man whose father was not allowed in a restaurant frequented by white people not that many years ago could become the President of the mightiest country in the world was historic in itself, but I believe that President Barack Obama has a greater ambition than just being the most powerful man on Earth. He has a vision that will bring about great changes, not all of them popular with some people. It won’t happen overnight; many people will be disappointed and wonder if they made the right choice when they voted for him, but he has a difficult job ahead of him. There will be those who will try their best to make sure he fails, those whose toes he has to step on, those who want to control him, those who want to keep things the way they are. The greedy and the power-hungry who brought the economy of the world to the gloomy state where it is right now will want him gone. The enemies of the free world want him gone. Not everybody voted for him for their own reasons. Many are afraid to have a black president, afraid of what he might do to upset the status quo. That is the chance you take every time a new president is elected, no matter what his color.
The color of President Barack Obama’s skin should not matter; what matters is his charisma and his vision. Our world is facing an uncertain future and we need men like him. Men who are not afraid to change things, men who don’t abuse the power they have been given by waving a sword in front of them but reach out with an open hand, offering help instead of threats.
Maybe this will usher in a new and better world. Let’s hope so.
The color of President Barack Obama’s skin should not matter; what matters is his charisma and his vision. Our world is facing an uncertain future and we need men like him. Men who are not afraid to change things, men who don’t abuse the power they have been given by waving a sword in front of them but reach out with an open hand, offering help instead of threats.
Maybe this will usher in a new and better world. Let’s hope so.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Orola, Warrior Priestess
It is finally available from MSFiction: Orola, Warrior Priestess. The book was written in the space of about 10 years. It consists of a number of short stories featuring Orola. She lives on the Island of Witches. She is not quite human and possesses certain abilities. She is a warrior priestess who worships the god Solar who resides on one of the moons circling the planet she lives on. It is a primitive planet, forgotten by the rest of the Galaxy. Orola travels across hostile territories to find out what happened to one of her sisters who was the adviser of the queen in one of the provinces to the north.
The short stories are all connected. They are not about love and romance. They are dark stories, dealing with rape and revenge and contain much erotica. When I originally sent them to my publisher MSFiction I wasn't sure if the book would be accepted. It was, but my editor culled much out of the stories to make them acceptable for publication. I am happy with the way the book turned out.
To find out more about the book visit my website or check out MSFiction for an excerpt.
The short stories are all connected. They are not about love and romance. They are dark stories, dealing with rape and revenge and contain much erotica. When I originally sent them to my publisher MSFiction I wasn't sure if the book would be accepted. It was, but my editor culled much out of the stories to make them acceptable for publication. I am happy with the way the book turned out.
To find out more about the book visit my website or check out MSFiction for an excerpt.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Changeling
We went to see the movie Changeling. Clint Eastwood did a wonderful job as the director and Angelina Jolie’s performance as the mother whose son disappears is superb. The storyline is set in the late 1920s when women had few rights. What makes it so heart wrenching is the fact that this is based on a true story.
I read the reviews before we went and as usual, some reviews were positive and some negative. This is not a movie for people who love action flicks, because it is not that kind of a movie. Younger viewers probably won’t like it either. There are no gadgets, no ear-deafening endless car chases, no computer generated animation, no mindless fight scenes. This a wonderful movie and I am glad I decided to go and see it, even though it was darn cold outside. This movie touches you heart and leaves you wondering about the awful things Humans are capable of doing to others. There are such few good movies made these days. Changeling is one of those good movies.
I read the reviews before we went and as usual, some reviews were positive and some negative. This is not a movie for people who love action flicks, because it is not that kind of a movie. Younger viewers probably won’t like it either. There are no gadgets, no ear-deafening endless car chases, no computer generated animation, no mindless fight scenes. This a wonderful movie and I am glad I decided to go and see it, even though it was darn cold outside. This movie touches you heart and leaves you wondering about the awful things Humans are capable of doing to others. There are such few good movies made these days. Changeling is one of those good movies.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Of civilized men and uncivilized mice
Enough of political comments. I’m not really into politics at all, but sometimes there are things that irk me and I need to get it off my chest.
It’s cold outside today…still. Minus 34 Celsius and minus 43 windshield factor. That is damn cold. The same is forecast for tomorrow. Sometimes I wonder if I’m living on a hostile alien planet. How Humans survived in this type of environment is sometimes hard to grasp. Sure, now we live in houses heated in the winter and air-conditioned in the summer, but our ancestors didn’t. The aborigines on the North American continent lived in tents. In the summer they were plagued by mosquitoes and in the winter they had to deal with the extreme cold. The smoke from the fire in the middle of the tent couldn’t have been very pleasant.
We get our streets plowed by huge machines so we can drive in our heated cars, warm and cozy. Those natives had to stomp through high snow. They had no roads. They had no chainsaws or even other saws to get firewood, no augers to drill a hole through the ice to fish or to get drinking water.
What a hard life it must have been!
Of course, it wasn’t any different thousands of years ago in Europe or in the rest of the world. Just think about the primitive people with their weapons made from bones or stones, hiding from lions, tigers and other carnivores hunting for food. And Humans were considered food animals.
Those times fascinate me and I like to write stories about it, set on other planets where I can add my own unique dangers and challenges the people face. That is fine in stories, but actually living in those conditions is not for me. I enjoy going hunting in the fall when I spent a few days in the bush with friends. We hunt deer, walk around in the bush or sit on stands waiting for the deer to come by. It is cold sometimes. At other times it rains. It can be miserable. But we enjoy it. Don’t ask why. We sleep in a trailer or in a van.
After a week of that I am ready to go home to a warm house and a comfortable bed.
There is only so much I can stand of primitive living. Actually, compared to how the primitive people lived, those days in the bush are still quite civilized.
Talk about living in a warm place brings up another matter. There are other critters out there who also seek warm places for the winter. I’ve been busy catching them for the last week. I’m talking about rodents, mice actually. I made the mistake of leaving a bag of birdseeds standing on the floor in my garage. When I noticed holes in the plastic and seeds spilling out of the bag, I knew I had uninvited guests. They even tried to take up residency under the hood of my car. That called for extreme measures.
I bought a couple of mousetraps, baited them with peanut butter in the beginning, but now I’m using small pieces of cheese. So far I’ve caught 16 mice. They are living (sorry, were living) in the wood I have stacked up for my wood stove. It makes for perfect living conditions…for mice. I had no idea there were so many. At first I thought I had only one mouse. How naive can you be? It probably started with one. That one called all its relatives and now I have a tribe. I hope I’ll be catching the last one soon. I always worry they might decide to look for refuge inside the house. Can’t have that.
I’ve been busy with more writing on my novel ‘Epsilon’. 19 Chapters and around 57,000 words so far, but much more to go.
Orola, Warrior Priestess, should be available from MSFiction tomorrow. Finally.
It’s cold outside today…still. Minus 34 Celsius and minus 43 windshield factor. That is damn cold. The same is forecast for tomorrow. Sometimes I wonder if I’m living on a hostile alien planet. How Humans survived in this type of environment is sometimes hard to grasp. Sure, now we live in houses heated in the winter and air-conditioned in the summer, but our ancestors didn’t. The aborigines on the North American continent lived in tents. In the summer they were plagued by mosquitoes and in the winter they had to deal with the extreme cold. The smoke from the fire in the middle of the tent couldn’t have been very pleasant.
We get our streets plowed by huge machines so we can drive in our heated cars, warm and cozy. Those natives had to stomp through high snow. They had no roads. They had no chainsaws or even other saws to get firewood, no augers to drill a hole through the ice to fish or to get drinking water.
What a hard life it must have been!
Of course, it wasn’t any different thousands of years ago in Europe or in the rest of the world. Just think about the primitive people with their weapons made from bones or stones, hiding from lions, tigers and other carnivores hunting for food. And Humans were considered food animals.
Those times fascinate me and I like to write stories about it, set on other planets where I can add my own unique dangers and challenges the people face. That is fine in stories, but actually living in those conditions is not for me. I enjoy going hunting in the fall when I spent a few days in the bush with friends. We hunt deer, walk around in the bush or sit on stands waiting for the deer to come by. It is cold sometimes. At other times it rains. It can be miserable. But we enjoy it. Don’t ask why. We sleep in a trailer or in a van.
After a week of that I am ready to go home to a warm house and a comfortable bed.
There is only so much I can stand of primitive living. Actually, compared to how the primitive people lived, those days in the bush are still quite civilized.
Talk about living in a warm place brings up another matter. There are other critters out there who also seek warm places for the winter. I’ve been busy catching them for the last week. I’m talking about rodents, mice actually. I made the mistake of leaving a bag of birdseeds standing on the floor in my garage. When I noticed holes in the plastic and seeds spilling out of the bag, I knew I had uninvited guests. They even tried to take up residency under the hood of my car. That called for extreme measures.
I bought a couple of mousetraps, baited them with peanut butter in the beginning, but now I’m using small pieces of cheese. So far I’ve caught 16 mice. They are living (sorry, were living) in the wood I have stacked up for my wood stove. It makes for perfect living conditions…for mice. I had no idea there were so many. At first I thought I had only one mouse. How naive can you be? It probably started with one. That one called all its relatives and now I have a tribe. I hope I’ll be catching the last one soon. I always worry they might decide to look for refuge inside the house. Can’t have that.
I’ve been busy with more writing on my novel ‘Epsilon’. 19 Chapters and around 57,000 words so far, but much more to go.
Orola, Warrior Priestess, should be available from MSFiction tomorrow. Finally.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Happy New Year
I can’t believe we are already four days into the year 2009. It’s been nearly a month since my last post. Our political situation has not been resolved, just postponed. The Liberals have a new leader and gained back some popularity and the NDP have lost ground with the general public. People don’t like radicals. Unfortunately, they’ll be rearing their heads again. Leighton has openly admitted that he wants to bring down the Conservative government. No matter what. This time he may not get the support from the Liberals. One can only hope. Right now is not the time to go crazy. The economy is getting worse, even though governments around the world are trying to stimulate the economy by pumping billions of dollars into it.
The autoworkers are fighting for their jobs, but if they don’t make any concessions, they’ll lose them. They’ll never find a job again that pays them that much money. An autoworker makes more money than a professor!
If they want people to buy American cars they’ll have to bring down the price and stop building gas-guzzlers.
I know our next car will probably be a foreign car. It’s just plain economics. Many are built right here on the North American continent. The workers work for lower wages. $45.00 an hour is not exactly a low wage. Just talk to anyone who works for minimum wage! The same people who buy cars.
Sometimes you have to face reality. I remember in the late 1980ies and early 1990ies after the market crash of 1987 the building industry came pretty well to a standstill. I was an Electrical Contractor at the time. All the General Contractors I worked for either retired or quit building. Suddenly, I had no work. I put in a lot of bids but couldn’t get any jobs. My prices were too high. I vowed I wouldn’t work for less, but financial hardship forced me to adjust. I lowered my price and voila, I did get jobs.
Sure, I was not happy, but at least I was making money to pay the bills.
That is the way life is. You either adapt or you perish. It’s as simple as that. You can’t force things. Force has never been the answer to anything.
Something else I would like to mention. We have a lot of problems here in Winnipeg with car theft. People are getting fed up with it. We had our car broken into a number of years back. The police did nothing. If they do catch those criminals, they usually end up on the street again so they can keep on doing their business. Stealing cars, smashing them and possibly even killing innocent people while on their joyride. A couple of days ago, one of the car thieves got beaten up when he was caught breaking into a car. His picture was put onto the internet. Big uproar from the Bleeding Hearts. It’s funny how criminals always end up the victims.
Most of these car thieves are repeat offenders. The police know their names. Many of them come from a certain ethnic background, but it can’t be mentioned because it would be considered racial slur. That is illegal in Canada.
Yeah, the criminals always hide behind the law. That’s what makes a free country like Canada and the United States so great.
Years ago someone I know beat up a guy who tried to break into his neighbor’s house. Broke his arm. Guess what? He was sued by the criminal for assault. What a joke!
It seems criminals have more rights than law abiding citizens.
I’ve been getting some writing done over the holidays. I’m trying to write something every day; even it is only a couple of paragraphs. Eventually I’ll get the story finished. I’m close to 50,000 words now with my novel Epsilon.
I also dug up some ideas I had written down. Beginning of stories.
One is about an Immortal, no title yet, but it takes place here on Earth. The other one is also about Immortals, but the background is more complex. In the far future. On some other planet. Perhaps more than one. The title so far is Yulan.
The third story starts out with a bit of humor. Titled Mark Cannon. Private Investigator. I don’t know where I’m going with that one.
A fourth story I started long time ago is about Rhodar, the Barbarian. The title Saleen. Rhodar was featured in one of my stories in the book Tapestry of Dreams.
If I get stuck with Epsilon I have those to work on. That way I won’t sit idle. Who knows, another story might just pop into my head.
My book Orola, Warrior Priestess still isn’t available. It was supposed to be published before Christmas, but it didn’t happen. My publisher at Midnight Showcase Fiction had her computer crash on her. I’m hoping the problem will be resolved soon and Orola will be available. I will post it here and on my website.
Thanks for visiting and reading.
Leave a comment.
The autoworkers are fighting for their jobs, but if they don’t make any concessions, they’ll lose them. They’ll never find a job again that pays them that much money. An autoworker makes more money than a professor!
If they want people to buy American cars they’ll have to bring down the price and stop building gas-guzzlers.
I know our next car will probably be a foreign car. It’s just plain economics. Many are built right here on the North American continent. The workers work for lower wages. $45.00 an hour is not exactly a low wage. Just talk to anyone who works for minimum wage! The same people who buy cars.
Sometimes you have to face reality. I remember in the late 1980ies and early 1990ies after the market crash of 1987 the building industry came pretty well to a standstill. I was an Electrical Contractor at the time. All the General Contractors I worked for either retired or quit building. Suddenly, I had no work. I put in a lot of bids but couldn’t get any jobs. My prices were too high. I vowed I wouldn’t work for less, but financial hardship forced me to adjust. I lowered my price and voila, I did get jobs.
Sure, I was not happy, but at least I was making money to pay the bills.
That is the way life is. You either adapt or you perish. It’s as simple as that. You can’t force things. Force has never been the answer to anything.
Something else I would like to mention. We have a lot of problems here in Winnipeg with car theft. People are getting fed up with it. We had our car broken into a number of years back. The police did nothing. If they do catch those criminals, they usually end up on the street again so they can keep on doing their business. Stealing cars, smashing them and possibly even killing innocent people while on their joyride. A couple of days ago, one of the car thieves got beaten up when he was caught breaking into a car. His picture was put onto the internet. Big uproar from the Bleeding Hearts. It’s funny how criminals always end up the victims.
Most of these car thieves are repeat offenders. The police know their names. Many of them come from a certain ethnic background, but it can’t be mentioned because it would be considered racial slur. That is illegal in Canada.
Yeah, the criminals always hide behind the law. That’s what makes a free country like Canada and the United States so great.
Years ago someone I know beat up a guy who tried to break into his neighbor’s house. Broke his arm. Guess what? He was sued by the criminal for assault. What a joke!
It seems criminals have more rights than law abiding citizens.
I’ve been getting some writing done over the holidays. I’m trying to write something every day; even it is only a couple of paragraphs. Eventually I’ll get the story finished. I’m close to 50,000 words now with my novel Epsilon.
I also dug up some ideas I had written down. Beginning of stories.
One is about an Immortal, no title yet, but it takes place here on Earth. The other one is also about Immortals, but the background is more complex. In the far future. On some other planet. Perhaps more than one. The title so far is Yulan.
The third story starts out with a bit of humor. Titled Mark Cannon. Private Investigator. I don’t know where I’m going with that one.
A fourth story I started long time ago is about Rhodar, the Barbarian. The title Saleen. Rhodar was featured in one of my stories in the book Tapestry of Dreams.
If I get stuck with Epsilon I have those to work on. That way I won’t sit idle. Who knows, another story might just pop into my head.
My book Orola, Warrior Priestess still isn’t available. It was supposed to be published before Christmas, but it didn’t happen. My publisher at Midnight Showcase Fiction had her computer crash on her. I’m hoping the problem will be resolved soon and Orola will be available. I will post it here and on my website.
Thanks for visiting and reading.
Leave a comment.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
More political comments
Well, Michael Ignatieff is the new leader of the Liberal Party after they ousted Stéphane Dion. Bob Rae graciously stepped back. He realized the rest of the Liberals didn’t want him. That means there was nobody else left. Talk about a democratic vote. Let’s hope Mr. Ignatieff has more sense than the rest of them, forgets about overthrowing the legally elected government of Canada, sits down with the elected Prime Minister and starts working for the country. It is time they stop bickering and begin earning their high salaries. Jack Leighton of the NDP is obviously not going to give up that ill conceived scheme. The Unions won’t let him.
The Bloc Québécois don’t care either way. Their only interest is the province of Quebec. They couldn’t care less about the rest of the country.
I’m wondering, if we should have another election and the Conservatives don’t get a majority government, will this whole cycle start again? Will they finally give up and let the democratic process take over or will they carry on with this madness?
The whole world is in turmoil. Our country is in a recession. People are losing their jobs and all these politicians can think of is saving their own skin. The country be damned.
Of course, the United States have their own problems. A governor trying the sell Obama’s vacated seat in the Senate is only one thing. Now there are forces out there who want to find out if Obama was involved in that scheme. He says he didn’t know anything. I wish that is so, because otherwise we’ll face more disaster. They’ll bury him.
The Free World has many enemies. They want to destroy the United States of America, and with it all the other democratic countries who enjoy freedom. They are using this Freedom of Choice against us. We can’t let that happen. That is one of the reasons this whole fiasco we have with our own Canadian government right now must be stopped. Democracy must prevail.
Sometimes I wonder who is behind all this turmoil in the world. Obviously, it is man-created, like most problems we’ve had throughout the centuries of man’s existence. Nobody will ever find out who is responsible for the chaos we are in, but we can be assured, somebody will make money from it. Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.
It is fun to write about these things in a novel. But that is fantasy. It doesn’t affect us; only entertains. Possibly makes us think. What is happening right now in the world is reality and no fun at all.
The Bloc Québécois don’t care either way. Their only interest is the province of Quebec. They couldn’t care less about the rest of the country.
I’m wondering, if we should have another election and the Conservatives don’t get a majority government, will this whole cycle start again? Will they finally give up and let the democratic process take over or will they carry on with this madness?
The whole world is in turmoil. Our country is in a recession. People are losing their jobs and all these politicians can think of is saving their own skin. The country be damned.
Of course, the United States have their own problems. A governor trying the sell Obama’s vacated seat in the Senate is only one thing. Now there are forces out there who want to find out if Obama was involved in that scheme. He says he didn’t know anything. I wish that is so, because otherwise we’ll face more disaster. They’ll bury him.
The Free World has many enemies. They want to destroy the United States of America, and with it all the other democratic countries who enjoy freedom. They are using this Freedom of Choice against us. We can’t let that happen. That is one of the reasons this whole fiasco we have with our own Canadian government right now must be stopped. Democracy must prevail.
Sometimes I wonder who is behind all this turmoil in the world. Obviously, it is man-created, like most problems we’ve had throughout the centuries of man’s existence. Nobody will ever find out who is responsible for the chaos we are in, but we can be assured, somebody will make money from it. Sounds like a conspiracy theory? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.
It is fun to write about these things in a novel. But that is fantasy. It doesn’t affect us; only entertains. Possibly makes us think. What is happening right now in the world is reality and no fun at all.
Monday, December 01, 2008
Another political comment
Jack Leighton, the leader of the NDP, has been recorded as saying that the idea of overthrowing the government has been planned long before the election. They (the Liberals, the NDP, and the Bloc) have been waiting for an opportunity to put their plan into action. And Prime Minister Stephen Harper fell into the trap.
Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, and Dominic LeBlanc had a secret meeting yesterday to discuss who should be the next leader of the Liberals and therefore the next Prime Minister after the coup.
Their current leader, Stéphane Dion, is to be replaced because he didn’t lead the party to victory in the last election. Dion never struck me as being ‘Prime Minister’ material. I guess the Liberals realized this too late and now they are trying to discard the people’s wishes and take over the government by force.
They (the Coalition) have no concrete plans as to what they are going to do after their successful attempt. All they have are big words about what needs to be done. Their main objective right now is gaining power and keeping the money flowing into their coffers. Never mind who pays for this.
They have no plan. They don’t even know who is going to be their leader. How in the world can we trust people like that?
We send observers to other countries to make certain that voting is done in accordance with democratic principles and without cheating, yet here we are facing a hostile takeover of a government that was voted in by a democratic process. How can we ever criticize others if we allow this to happen?
Jack Leighton, Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, Dominic LeBlanc, Gilles Duceppe, and who knows how many others have been scheming to overthrow the legal government.
Isn’t that called Conspiracy? Isn’t that a punishable offense?
Just wondering.
Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, and Dominic LeBlanc had a secret meeting yesterday to discuss who should be the next leader of the Liberals and therefore the next Prime Minister after the coup.
Their current leader, Stéphane Dion, is to be replaced because he didn’t lead the party to victory in the last election. Dion never struck me as being ‘Prime Minister’ material. I guess the Liberals realized this too late and now they are trying to discard the people’s wishes and take over the government by force.
They (the Coalition) have no concrete plans as to what they are going to do after their successful attempt. All they have are big words about what needs to be done. Their main objective right now is gaining power and keeping the money flowing into their coffers. Never mind who pays for this.
They have no plan. They don’t even know who is going to be their leader. How in the world can we trust people like that?
We send observers to other countries to make certain that voting is done in accordance with democratic principles and without cheating, yet here we are facing a hostile takeover of a government that was voted in by a democratic process. How can we ever criticize others if we allow this to happen?
Jack Leighton, Bob Rae, Michael Ignatieff, Dominic LeBlanc, Gilles Duceppe, and who knows how many others have been scheming to overthrow the legal government.
Isn’t that called Conspiracy? Isn’t that a punishable offense?
Just wondering.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Unbelievable. A political comment.
Unbelievable! We’ve finally voted in a government after spending 300 million tax-dollars on the election. Now the opposition, who promised to work with this government and try to turn the economy around, decides they want to topple it. The Liberals, the NDP, and the Bloc Québécois want to form a coalition government. The Bloc, which is a party only in and for the province of Quebec, immediately puts conditions on this preposterous plan. They want more federal money for Quebec and government employees in Quebec are required to speak only French. Pardon me? Only French? And the rest of Canada has to speak French and English? But that is another subject.
What makes this planned coup almost laughable is the blatant transparency as to the reason: 30 million dollars. That is the money the government is not going to give to the political parties. In other words, this whole thing has nothing to do with the good of the people but only the good of the politicians.
One commentator on TV said, “This is Democracy at work.”
I would like to dispute that. Democracy was at work when the people of Canada spoke in the last election. And they clearly voted for the Conservative Party. If not for the Conservatives then for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They didn’t want the Liberals, not the NDP, and certainly not the Bloc Québécois. I still can’t understand how a party that has no members in the rest of Canada can have fifty seats in the federal government.
The Bloc has no interest in Canada. Its only interest is the province of Quebec. In fact, that party wants to destroy Canada.
Overthrowing the government by a non-confidence vote now will put Canada on the same level as the so-called Banana Republics. It will wipe out the respect we have in the world that sees us a stable country.
Right now, we need stability to bring back confidence in the markets and in the economy of Canada and the rest of the world. The kind of behavior these political parties are showing is dangerous and irresponsible. It clearly shows that they don’t have any interest in the welfare of the citizens of this country but only care for themselves.
Since the Liberals, the NDP, the Bloc, and the Green Party rely on federal money because they don’t have any backers only means they are not popular and possibly not wanted by the majority of Canadians. That is Democracy at work.
We don’t need or want a government that gets into power by force. We are still living in a Democracy and we’d like to keep it that way, even though there are forces out there that want to change that. That worries me. Maybe we should have a closer look at the people who are behind this.
Just my opinion.
What makes this planned coup almost laughable is the blatant transparency as to the reason: 30 million dollars. That is the money the government is not going to give to the political parties. In other words, this whole thing has nothing to do with the good of the people but only the good of the politicians.
One commentator on TV said, “This is Democracy at work.”
I would like to dispute that. Democracy was at work when the people of Canada spoke in the last election. And they clearly voted for the Conservative Party. If not for the Conservatives then for Prime Minister Stephen Harper. They didn’t want the Liberals, not the NDP, and certainly not the Bloc Québécois. I still can’t understand how a party that has no members in the rest of Canada can have fifty seats in the federal government.
The Bloc has no interest in Canada. Its only interest is the province of Quebec. In fact, that party wants to destroy Canada.
Overthrowing the government by a non-confidence vote now will put Canada on the same level as the so-called Banana Republics. It will wipe out the respect we have in the world that sees us a stable country.
Right now, we need stability to bring back confidence in the markets and in the economy of Canada and the rest of the world. The kind of behavior these political parties are showing is dangerous and irresponsible. It clearly shows that they don’t have any interest in the welfare of the citizens of this country but only care for themselves.
Since the Liberals, the NDP, the Bloc, and the Green Party rely on federal money because they don’t have any backers only means they are not popular and possibly not wanted by the majority of Canadians. That is Democracy at work.
We don’t need or want a government that gets into power by force. We are still living in a Democracy and we’d like to keep it that way, even though there are forces out there that want to change that. That worries me. Maybe we should have a closer look at the people who are behind this.
Just my opinion.
Time flies
Hard to believe this is the end of November. I went on my yearly deer hunting trip from November 8 to November 14. I can't say I was successful. I didn't see any deer from my stand. The area where we hunt is changing. Many trees have died because of the beavers that build dams and flood the land. There is a lot of swamp now where forest used to be.
The weather didn't co-operate either. It rained for a couple of days. It was much too warm for the hunt. Most of the deer were still on the surrounding farmland. They only come into the bush once it gets cold and the snow gets too high. No snow this year.
I had to re-build my stand this year. The wood was beginning to rot. The old one lasted 15 years. I guess that it not bad. I didn't build a new one, as I had planned, just fixed up the old one. It should be good for many more years, but I may have to build another one at another spot. I checked out the area where we hunt and I found a nice clearing that looks promising. But that will be next year. Let's not rush it.
Since I came back I managed to write a bit for my novel Epsilon, but progress is slow. Right now I am in an organizing and cleaning up mode. My garage needed to be cleaned out. It is beginning to look good now. I never realized how big it is. I took a few trips to the dump and threw out a lot of stuff. I've retired from my Electrical Business and there was a lot of stuff I thought I could use, but that is not going to happen anymore. Things like old panels, pieces of wire, boxes, screws, bolts. I found stuff I didn't know I had.
Hard to throw things out, but sometimes you have to make a decision. You know the old saying: If you haven't looked at it for three years you don't need it. Well, some of the stuff I had was older than that, much older. It's is in the dump now.
The weather didn't co-operate either. It rained for a couple of days. It was much too warm for the hunt. Most of the deer were still on the surrounding farmland. They only come into the bush once it gets cold and the snow gets too high. No snow this year.
I had to re-build my stand this year. The wood was beginning to rot. The old one lasted 15 years. I guess that it not bad. I didn't build a new one, as I had planned, just fixed up the old one. It should be good for many more years, but I may have to build another one at another spot. I checked out the area where we hunt and I found a nice clearing that looks promising. But that will be next year. Let's not rush it.
Since I came back I managed to write a bit for my novel Epsilon, but progress is slow. Right now I am in an organizing and cleaning up mode. My garage needed to be cleaned out. It is beginning to look good now. I never realized how big it is. I took a few trips to the dump and threw out a lot of stuff. I've retired from my Electrical Business and there was a lot of stuff I thought I could use, but that is not going to happen anymore. Things like old panels, pieces of wire, boxes, screws, bolts. I found stuff I didn't know I had.
Hard to throw things out, but sometimes you have to make a decision. You know the old saying: If you haven't looked at it for three years you don't need it. Well, some of the stuff I had was older than that, much older. It's is in the dump now.
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Coming soon
Just finished sending back the edited version of 'Orola, Warrior Priestess'. My editor culled quite a bit out of the original version to make it more marketable and to make certain it doesn't contain any material that is not approved by presently accepted moral guidelines. The stories have much erotic content. I wrote them years ago when I didn't worry about having them published.
Sometimes as writers we might go a little overboard and go past what is accepted by the 'Moral Police' and what isn't. That is fine when we write for our own amusement but not when it is intended to be published. Then out comes the editor's red pen, and that is okay with me. I believe the final result is a good book and I'm looking forward to its publication.
I have to thank my editor, Jane Carver, for spending so much time with the book and caring enough to make it a good read.
Actually, it contains seven short stories featuring Orola, but they are all connected, even though I wrote them in the span of about ten years. I wrote the last story first. Then I began writing more, following Orola on her journey across a planet filled with dangers until she ended up in the place described in the final story.
The first story 'The Kiir' was already published once by itself and once in the digest 'Midnight Raunch'.
I haven't done much otherwise with my writing. The novel I'm currently working on, 'Epsilon', has progressed to about 30,000 words. I've been too busy working in the yard and getting our property ready for the winter. Once the snow is on the ground and nothing else to do outside but shoveling snow I should be getting a bit more time to devote to my writing.
Sometimes as writers we might go a little overboard and go past what is accepted by the 'Moral Police' and what isn't. That is fine when we write for our own amusement but not when it is intended to be published. Then out comes the editor's red pen, and that is okay with me. I believe the final result is a good book and I'm looking forward to its publication.
I have to thank my editor, Jane Carver, for spending so much time with the book and caring enough to make it a good read.
Actually, it contains seven short stories featuring Orola, but they are all connected, even though I wrote them in the span of about ten years. I wrote the last story first. Then I began writing more, following Orola on her journey across a planet filled with dangers until she ended up in the place described in the final story.
The first story 'The Kiir' was already published once by itself and once in the digest 'Midnight Raunch'.
I haven't done much otherwise with my writing. The novel I'm currently working on, 'Epsilon', has progressed to about 30,000 words. I've been too busy working in the yard and getting our property ready for the winter. Once the snow is on the ground and nothing else to do outside but shoveling snow I should be getting a bit more time to devote to my writing.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
The launch of my new Website
Well, I finally did it. I have a Website. I call it 'Herbert's World'. (Very imaginative, I know, since it is so close to Herbert's Place, but I think it is appropriate. I had so many ideas about what to call it, but I couldn't come up with anything better. It took me a couple of days to whip it into shape, but I found it quite easy to manage. It is not much different from a blog. In fact, I have another blog now as part of my website. Eventually, I will fade out this one with news from my writings and use it for different stuff, like discussing books and other things.
I invite you to check out my new site. Just click on 'Herbert's World' and it will take you there. Paste it into you Bookmarks so you can find it again for future visits. I'll be looking for you there. You won't find any flashing lights. The site is quite simple but functional. I'm happy with what I created. I like the option of many pages, something this blog doesn't have. It is easier to organize everything.
Should you visit, leave a comment on my new blog. There is even a picture of me there in 'About me', (no need to comment on that, though!)
See you there.
I invite you to check out my new site. Just click on 'Herbert's World' and it will take you there. Paste it into you Bookmarks so you can find it again for future visits. I'll be looking for you there. You won't find any flashing lights. The site is quite simple but functional. I'm happy with what I created. I like the option of many pages, something this blog doesn't have. It is easier to organize everything.
Should you visit, leave a comment on my new blog. There is even a picture of me there in 'About me', (no need to comment on that, though!)
See you there.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Comment by bionicperry on Mark of the Cobra
Thank you, bionicperry, for the comment. I appreciate it. Mark of the Cobra wasn't really rejected by my editor. Had I insisted, she would have published it, after a major edit, but she didn't care for the concept of the story. She didn't believe it was marketable in its present form. And I respected her view. Sometimes we have to listen to others, may they be editors or even readers.
I was disappointed, of course, not to see my hard work in print but, hey, I saw the 'error of my ways' and I move on.
I was disappointed, of course, not to see my hard work in print but, hey, I saw the 'error of my ways' and I move on.
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