It is MY fault
Bollywood
My passion for films from India for the period from 1940 -1990 raises a question.
I have found subtitles refer to cities by their names since Independence from the Raj; 1949. To me, it is not a problem, I know which cities changed their name Delhi is now Mumbai; Calcutta is Kolkata, and Madras became Chennai after Independence.
The issue is should the modern names be used for films made before 1949, or should modern names be used for the current audience? The truth is, the modern Bollywood viewers have little interest in old movies.
I prefer to watch the old movies as they are films with music, rather than musicals with a little story as films since 1990 have been; I also abhor the sexist attitude of the cinema in India
I wrote for several Charity books
My award winning book of short stories (shown above) was not the first time I had been asked to collaborate with a writer.
Several years before my friend Julia, in Seattle, asked to edit the book, I was invited to write for a series of books for a children's charity.
I was also invited to contribute to a book for the benefit of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre. One friend asked me to write a romance for her friend who had lost the use of her legs in a riding accident, that project didn't materialise as the lady who had the accident lost interest before we got started.
I was invited to write about my time in the Royal Air Force for a book to help a forces charity, that fell though because of a lack of funding. I have been many times to write about my time in the RAF, the truth is I have no idea where to start; I have vague memories, that is all
Getting a Refund
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Though Wordpress say they will refund my subscription, I have my doubts. They say, they will deal with the issue ASAP, but I know how big business works, the little man is ignored.
I had the same troubles with Microsoft when I cancelled my Xbox game subscription, it took several months for me to see a refund.
Why You Should Donate to Animal Shelters This Season
I saw this idea on Twitter, and I agree with it.
Instead of wasting your money on fireworks, why not spend the money on buying some cans of food for animals in shelters? This way, you are not going to cause any distress to wildlife, or risk the loss of property through fire, and you are doing the poor animals a big favour.
My Wordpress Blog
A major project
This week, in conversation with a friend on Twitter, we discussed my life as a writer.
I am a Ghost Story Writer who is regarded highly.
Topics which arose were the length of time I have been writing, 15 years, and the variety of genres I have crossed.
I mentioned my early reputation as a writer of ghost stories, my friend asked had I thought of publishing them? I pointed out many have been for sale for over a decade, but few have sold. I also said I was thinking of combining the stories into an anthology.
This idea caught her attention; I added, to do this would be a major task as many are on my old blog, and would require a hunt to locate them, most would require some edits too.
Though, I write about India these days, I do have a couple of Gothic stories on file, one is designed to be a romance, the other I intended to be a horror story.
A rare insight
I was born in Middlesborough, North Yorkshire. I say I was born in Yorkshire, as it was Yorkshire when I was born, since then the area has changed its name twice.
My family moved to the Bristol area of England in 1963 when my father got a job in the area. I lived in Clevedon, North Somerset from 1963, until 1986 when I got married, and moved to Bristol.
I spent two years in college, in my teens, before I joined the Royal Air Force, in in 1974. While in the Royal Air Force, I served in Scotland, Germany, and Ireland.
I was in Germany months after the Baader Meinhof group were sent to jail, for the period of my tour NATO was on full alert, expecting an attack at any moment.
I was in Ireland towards the end of the period known as The Troubles. Again, this was a time when an attack could come at any time; being English in Ireland at the time was almost as bad as being English during my time at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland. Added to the nationality issue was that RAF Lossiemouth used to be Royal Navy base, so we had the Royal Navy against the Royal Air Force as well.
While I was in Ireland, I was awarded the General Service Medal, it wasn't until recently I felt worthy of the medal, when a man pointed out that any service personnel in Ireland wee liable to come under attack, at any time from a terrorist. I lost the medal several years ago in a fire.
While I have not been on the frontline, like people in Israel, and the Ukraine, I have been close, and I can empathise with the tensions they are under.
After leaving the Royal Air Force, I spent a year unemployed before I joined the museum service in Bristol, were I stayed for 15 years. I was made redundant under the Labour government under Tony Blair, when they implemented the Zero-hours rule; at the time, I was the last man on a regular contract.
Though I lost my job, I didn't see it as a loss, at the time I left, the museum had become a police state. again, going against a Labour policy of banning a closed shop where only certain people can get a job. In some jobs, it is accepted to get a job though your family connection, mainly because those jobs are high-risk such as mining, and fishing.
In 2011, an injury I had during my years in the RAF returned. The original injury was a slightly torn tendon in my left foot, on a rainy Friday in 2011, the injury became a torn tendon, leaving me disabled. I was fortunate, the injury happened while I was at home, five minutes either side of that time, I would have been about a mile from the house.
It was at this time, I decided to write short stories for my friends online. Mainly, because I am not a TV junky; I can watch TV, but I can't spend all day watching it, these days I do watch more, but that is more YouTube than TV.
My early rep as a writer came from writing ghost stories, which I still write, and enjoy. My most notable period came during 2012, when a collection of short stories I wrote earned an award, and my science fiction series - Forgestriker - sold well.
I class myself as a writer, not a genre-writer, I have written stories in many genres, but I cannot write a sex story; I have written stories with sex in, but not a story were sex is the theme.
My latest stories are spiritual stories, and stories based in, or around India.
Limited Edition
For an inexpensive Halloween gift that last, why not buy my Limited Edition ghost selection, what makes this Limited Edition special?
In this collection are two versions of my popular ghost story which are no longer available to read, or buy online.
The original ghost story, written for the online magazine Vintage Script in 2011 was written for Halloween that year, and was taken offline the following week.
The slightly edited second version written was written for a charity for children, that book is no longer on sale.
The eBook also contains my family version of the story, and a newer story more in line with the horror genre; for the price of one eBook you get four short stories.
Though this is my most popular ghost story I never liked it.
Getting a Refund
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Yesterday, I paid for a plan on Wordpress, thinking it would cost $100.00, I got charged $196.00 which is far more than I can afford or justify spending on a site which may not yield sales for my eBooks.
After finding about the extra expenses, I quickly cancelled the plan, I was told I would be refunded; I hope so, the site has taken their money, and I am now in debt for a month which will cost me around £20.
They were quick to take the money, I doubt they will be so quick to issue the refund.
My Phobia
The popular theory to beat a phobia is to tackle it head on, I tried that with my phobia of public speaking, and for me it was a disaster, not the speaking event but the aftermath.
I was invited to read a segment of one of my books at a meeting, the book I chose was the second in my science fiction series (shown above).
I was nervous, but once I started to read, I enjoyed the reading, and I was well received - or so I thought - things after the event took on a sinister tone. I think the cause could have been jealousy from one of the more well-known writers in the group.
Later that week, I re-posted a post against dog fights, and the leader of the group twisted the meaning to say I said I was in favour of the fights, as an animal lover I am very anti-dog fighting. I have had dogs for many years, and I love them like our children.
Before I had the opportunity to defend myself, the witch hunt was over, I had been tried, and convicted by a kangaroo-court. It had taken me years to get the courage to speak in public, the last tie before that night was when I was in college. My phobia is so strong, I turned down an opportunity to talk about birds to a scout group while I was stationed at RAF Lossiemouth, Moray, Scotland.
Or am I mad?
I once thought coffee was responsible for my weirdness in writing, so i checked myself in for a brain scan, it came back with no issues. That did not help, it only raised more doubts, was I crazy? Who can define crazy?
This is crazy, I began this site this afternoon, and it is already doing as well, if not better than my blog on Google; which has a three-month head start.
I need to be careful what I write, my stories are often scary enough to give me bad nights, and I know what is happening, can you imagine what it would be like for a person reading the story who has no idea what lies ahead?
I can get ideas from almost anywhere, sometimes I need to temper my flow, as I did with A Sailor's Love, I stopped the story, which began with a 1,500 word blog for a friend, when it reached 35,000 words as I had been working on the story for 2 1/2 years. I stopped the story, the story didn't end. I could have gone on longer, I thought it would not sell, I was correct; after 8 years it hasn't sold a copy.
Carmilla
Where are you?
I am reaching the Far East now
My Wordpress Blog
Several years ago, I had a successful blog on Wordpress, today, with help from the agent of Tricia O'Malley, I have begun a new era on Wordpress with a new site.
My hope is the new site may bring in eBook sales to pay for its upkeep during the coming year.
A large deposit
Tonight, I foiled another attempt to scam me.
The "tells" were there, questions such as do I own a house, and do I use Paypal or CashApp are sure signs a scam is being enacted. Other signs were there too, what would I do with a deposit of $30,000?
I replied, my reaction would be where did it come from?
The easiest way for me to spot the scam is from the start, why would an attractive young lady wish to contact me?
The Outer Limits
As I expected, the price of setting up a website is beyond my expense ability.
The price is too high for me by a long way. You can argue that if I had a website, my eBooks could sell better. Which may be true, but to set up a site, I would need to spend more than twice the amount I earn a year on a good year, and I haven't had many good years since 2012.
Also, to invest in the site, I would need the belief in my ability to write enough to make it worthwhile, and that is something I no longer have.
Recently, I started to write a story, and I found it is taking days to do the amount of writing I used to do in a couple of hours.
Know your limits
From 2012 - 2016, I was a driven writer who was concerned about his reputation, and his lack of eBook sales.
I would spend nights concerned over what I could do to improve sales, then one day, the dime dropped. It didn't matter how hard I blogged, or wrote, I was hindered by living in the UK, and having no money for publicity.
Once I recognised my dilemma, I stopped worrying myself ill, and gained a calmer approach. Over the ensuing years, I have also stopped worrying about my reputation; there are still stories I won't write, but now, I am writing - all be it infrequently - what I wish, and not caring who says anything; after all, this blog is FREE. I don't bother about grammar these days, why should I, when I only get a dozen or so readers?
Welcome readers from across the globe
A lady of Mystery
By checking my online stores, you may notice a lady called Lana Pawcel selling her books on my pages, and wonder who she is?
Behind Lana is a mystery, and a case of not knowing who is writing to you.
The humour in the story comes from a time when I was in a writing site based in Germany.
I had been on the site chatting to members for several weeks, when she appeared; one of the first comments I got was are you male, or female, from a man who had been to a University, and yet had no idea who I was despite our chats.
The friends who knew me, could see the joke, Lana Pawcel is an anagram of Alan W Place. Lana was a pen name I used as I was writing for a charity at the time, I didn't want this book to get linked to our work for a children's charity.
The demise of Alan Place
I am in no doubt, 2012 was the year my life as a writer ground to catastrophic end.
The year before, I had earned an award for a short story selection. All 2011, someone I knew in the writing community trashed my book online, despite the fact I beat her in three writing contests, she kept saying she was the better writer.
Of course, 2012 was the year of the Mayan Calendar, and the end of the world as we knew it. Authors flocked to the trend of writing about the calendar, and the end of the world. They can't sell the books now, but they made their mark.
After that trend came Harry Potter, and authors copied J.K.Rowling themes to get sales, I was not one of them.
I did get some success in 2012, my last, I wrote the short story which became my Amazon bestseller, Holding Richmond.
The FREE reader
Today, we welcome readers in the state of Lithuania to the blog.
While I am pleased to welcome new readers, I am under no illusion that one of the main reasons is the blog is FREE.
Years ago, I did consider doing what some of my colleagues did, charge a fee to read the blog, but even then I struggled to get readers.
I would like to think readers find the blog entertaining, I have never been a writer who blogs about the latest trend; there are many writers who do that, I wanted to be my voice, and I paid the price.
I have several long-time admirers of my writing
A means of Escape
Alan Place's Anthology
One project I have in mind is an anthology of my short stories.
I have literally hundreds of short story sections I could include; these are stories in themselves, but I would struggle to turn them into anything larger.
These stories cover modern romance, supernatural, Gothic romance, Gothic horror, and almost all genres.
There is one genre I have not written, that is sex stories. I am not a prude, I have written stories with sex in, but I cannot write a story were sex is the theme, I did try, and I failed.
I am regarded as an excellent writer
The first question a book promoter usually asks me is what genre do you write?
My reply is I don't write in a genre, I see myself as a writer of several genres.
To explain this situation, I will expand.
The book on this post is the first eBook I sold, to a lady in Berlin, Germany.
The story is a noir thriller which has been highly praised for its authentic feel by a former police officer in Queensland, Australia.
My early reputation as a writer was based on my writing of ghost stories.
My bestselling eBooks are a Science Fiction series called Forgestriker.
The latest book I wrote is a mystery set in India.
I recently updated my romance set in Israel to include the main female character travelling to India, with the possibility of further stories, if the book sells.
The story I am working on is a modern erotic romance, with a strong female character as the leading role.
If you were to ask what do I like to write the most, my answer would be stories in the Gothic style, I have two on file now.
As you see, it is hard to pin my style down; I've tried most genres, my Amazon bestseller is a western horror short story called Holding Richmond.
I saw on Barnes & Noble some people complaining that my books are no more than a chapbook, a book containing a chapter, what did they expect for $2.00 at the most?
Halloween is almost here
I earned my early reputation as a writer of ghost stories, not all of my stories are scary, most of my stories are about lost souls trying to cross over, rather than scaring people; I have some scary stories for sale.
One pair of stories - Amelia/ The Lost Years, can be read as either two stories, or a two part romance.
You may ask, what makes the book above Special?
The four story selection contains the only edition of my original version of the Old Church Ghosts.
PC Gaming
Tribute to B.R. Chopra DVD box set
My adopted home
Eyes across the seas
Hello Poland
A Complex Question
With Halloween on the horizon, what better as an inexpensive gift, than my Special Edition ghost story selection, what makes it special?
This eBook features four editions of my popular ghost story "Old Church Ghosts," what makes it special is the original story is no longer available to be read online; it was written for a magazine in 2011 especially for Halloween, then taken offline in November.
For many years, I have pondered whether to upgrade some of my eBook selection to books; there are several issues I can't beat, the main one being if I can't sell many eBooks, how can I sell a book?
I am an award winner
The Terminator
This month, I think two writers on X had their accounts terminated for crossing the line between aggressive marketing, and bullying. Both are bestselling writers trying to coax me to spend more than I wanted.
They aren't the only people trying to use their celebrity status to influence me, last month Gal Gadot attempted to scam me into buying her children a Steam game card.
The first author who was guilty is Linda Lael Miller who with her agent Lina Cruz AKA Joy Mautin used her status to scam me; it was my fault for falling for the scam, after a 15-year struggle for recognition as a writer I was desperate for a break, and it cost me $150. I had my suspicions soon after Lina and I settled on the price, I agreed to $100, and when she upped the price to $150 I should have pulled out.
The second writer is Tricia O'Malley who tried to get me to buy a website to increase the sales of my eBook selection. I realise $9 a month is a small amount to pay for the possibility of greater sales, but it is more than I earn at the moment in a year, so I cannot justify spending over $100 even for one year.
In Discussion
My main sales channel
Draft2Digital
Over the years, Barnes & Noble have been my main sales channel on Draft2Digital. I would estimate about 8%% of my eBook sales are from there.
I earned over $440 dollars from B&N, while that may appear good for an Indie Writer, I have been on the site for almost 12 years, which brings the sales to less than $4.00 per annum.
A Better Site
I am an excellent writer
If I am known for one thing it is I rarely sing my praises, my credo is "Self-praise in no praise."
I would rather copy and paste a nice comment from another person praising my writing, than go on about how good I am.
I joke about an adage I use which to me is a truism - a person who pats themselves on the back too much, can end up with a dislocated shoulder.
I knew of one such person, she would constantly put me down on the site we were on, always praising herself.
Then one day, the axe swung my way; I was invited by a friend of hers to enter a writing contest the friend was running, at first I declined as I knew the tactics of her friend - win at any cost - however, I was coaxed by some of colleagues in the writing community to enter.
The person invited her friends to view the contest, which she was broadcasting as her showing me up on a public forum, boy was she wrong, despite getting a friend to hack the site to delete one of my stories, (which was returned), my story came back and outperformed her stories for a second time. I didn't get a prize, though I had been in the running for at least third from the start, ans her last trick was to send in a "ringer", a cheat to force me down to fourth. Not that it mattered, as none of the top three got anywhere in the end.
I did consider going on the site, to show her up, but that isn't my style, and there was no point as she'd invited her friends to the show, so they knew how badly she was shown up. This was one of three contests I beat her in that year, and I was supposed to be a bad writer, if I beat her, what did that make her?
I have often been cited as a bestseller, which I dispute as my eBooks have not sold well, other than my Science Fiction series over a decade ago.
I know what I am capable of, when I was on the Upwork site, my writing was constantly praised for its variety, and quality, and I had several repeat offers of work as a writer from clients.
