What do you find interesting?

 Blockbuster

Money talks

This afternoon on WhatsApp, I was approached by another attractive young lady who said she wished to be my friend.

We hadn't been talking more than half an hour, when she said she has a "private" account, and sent me the contact info; from this I considered this to mean a sex chat line. I have nothing against the girls, or how they get thier money. These days, it is hard to get a job with so many illegal immigrants.

Perhaps, if she'd taken time to get to know me, I may have accepted her offer.

As we began the chat, I asked her a simple question, "What do you ind interesting about me?" To which she did not answer, but changed the chat content. Following this, I said, "I'm willing to chat about most things, but money." After I didn't rush at her offer, she stopped the chat

Starmer OUT

 Illegal Immigrants 

Rats deserting a sinking ship

The way Labour are heading, there won't be a party left at the next election to fight for. 

There are so many defections that Starmer won't be able to rely on the illegal immigrant voters he's allowing to enter the country to save the party he destroyed.

A quote comes to mind when I see the defections "Rats desert a sinking ship," in this case the ship has had its bottom ripped out, and the candidates realise this with each propostion put forward by Rachel Reeves. Her mistakes have lost more voters than Yvonne Cooper welcoming the immigrants, and Sarah Rayner's rants together

Ubereats

 Ordering food online

Incomplete orders

In the last four months, I have had incomplete orders FOUR times. It is't if we order hard items to find, my daughter an I eat what is called a basic diet

This is not a SCAM

  Alan Place - Book Marketing Consultant

What makes me different?

Reently, I wrote a post on what I consider to be the book marketeer scam, in that case why am I putting my services for sale?

I am different to the rest in several ways.

What are the differences?

A) - I will be honest with you.

B) - I will charge little compared to other people.

C) - I have real qualifications.

HONESTY

My charges are small as I won't lead you on with false promises; I will be brutally honest, after 15 years as an Indie Writer, I learned a lot of things about the publishing trade.

COST

My charge is the cost of an eBook from my stock.

QUALIFICATIONS

I was a writer for over 15 years, with many stories to my name, including a series of eBooks which sold over 15,000 copies. I am an awardwinning writer.

The collapse of Horny Devil Publishing

 When my writing began

A Terrible site

Since I turned down the offer to write for Horny Devil Publishing in 2012, I have wondered why they closed down a few months later?

I had a friend who accepted their offer at the same time as I was asked, she said she sold more of her work via her website, than through the site.

As they approached me to write sex stories, and their remit was "keep it legal, but anything goes," I wondered had they been closed because they had crossed some rules of decency, which was one of the reasons I turned the offer down. Another reason in though I write stories with sex in, I don't write stories where sex is the theme.

The main reasons they were closed are bad customer reports, their covers were reportedly murky black and white, with a splash of red, and their overheads were more than other publishers who offered quality.

Apparently, none of the staff had any concept of what it takes to publish a book.

For months, I asked myself the question "Did I miss my opportunity," especially as I never got a real contract offer in my 15 years as a writer. People I knew at the time would tell me, "If you are asking the question, you know the answer."

I did miss the only opportunity for a contract, but from the reports, it appears they would not have helped me sell my books

I would have given my Award up

  A Writing Contract

                                                  The Chronicles of Mark Johnson

In 2012, my book, The Chronicles of Mark Johnson, earned an award from a non-profit organisation in the USA.

At the time, I thought this was wonderful, even if it took months to accept the concept of me earning praise. In the aftermath, I would have given the award up for the opportunity to have earned a contract to write.

I did get invited to write for a publisher in Miami, Florida, but I didn't like the remit that anything goes, "but keep it legal," it didn't matter as for some reason they were closed down several months later.

The only other offers came from Vanity Publishing companies. This concept is they will publish your book, but you have to pay for the first book; if that succeeds you may get the offer for writing a second book under contract. If you are going to self-publish the first book, why giv the firm the praise for the second, when they had no faith in the first book?

I do NOT use Twitter

 A site for Scammers

Once it was a good site

This morning, I decided to stop using Twitter, other than for posting YouTube links, or the occassional link to my eBay page, which is also running down.

I have never had any success with the site, so this decision will not affect me.

In the last 18 months, I have been plagued by people trying to either scam me, with Crypto choices, or book marketing promoters who do not understand I have no interest in writing these days

I saved myself from buying a Computer game

 Frostpunk

Tropico 5

Several months ago, I was enticed by the prospect of the computer game, Frostpunk. City building games such as the Tropico series are the games I enjoy the most, so I thought I would get Frostpunk as it is a city building/ survival game.

I didn't get to playing until a few months ago, as my year has been uprooted with the loss of my wife in January. A few weeks ago, I began playing the game, then decided, it was a good thing I did as I was planning to buy Frostpunk 2 soon; it is no use buying the sequel when I can't play the original.

I am getting on well with Tropico 5, I may get Tropico 6 in the near future if my finances improve.

There's a ghost in the house

 A Love that cannot be rekindled

Too many memories to count

Since my wife of 38 years passed away in January, 2025, several ladies have asked if I would be interested in a romance. How many were genuine, I have no idea.

I have to tell them I am not interested, it is too close to my wife's death, and her love was the love of my life, to consider another romance would not be fair to the lady.

Lana Pawcel

Before going further, I should explain the identity of the writer, Lana Pawcel.

Years ago, I was connected to a chidren's charity, so to keep my outside writing seperate I used pen names, one was Lana Pawcel.There is a funny story behind the name. One writer in the USA, who I had been chatting to for months, asked was I male, or female?

As I no longer have a reputation, or other connections to consider, if I write I use my name. 

My first short story, unpublished, was written for three ladies I knew who liked my work. This story was a comedy, the story was about a writer who wished to be read, yet retain his identity. Like Lana Pawcel, the name was an anagram of mine - Ecalpnala.

Alan Place - Trendsetter

The Rani Mukerji Trend 

The Madhuri Dixit Trend

On Twitter, I have noticed my posts about either Rani Mukerji, or Madhuri Dixit draw likes, and reposts.

I have enjoyed watching Rani for years, until last year, when she did The Fame Game, shown on Netflix; I was not a fan of Madhuri; the reason being she, like many actresses in Bollywood was shown as the romantic interest in musicals with the likes of Aamir Khan, or Anil Kapoor.

What puts me off Anil Kapoor is his films, like those of Salman Khan are about him; he is not in the film,the film is centerd around him.

Life without Facebook

 A blog without Facebook

The Death of my blog

I won't pull my punches, the ban by Facebook which began in February has killed my blog.

Readers have dropped from 100 a day to below 30, and posts rarely get more than 5 readers.

On a personal level, the ban made little impact, as the only person I was in contact with, outside my family was my late friend, Julia Petrakis, who lived in Seattle; she passed away not long after my wife in January, 2025. I stay in contact with my family via WhatsApp.

It's hard to Believe it's June

 Monsoon Season in India

                                                               Believe it or not

Time - 10:15 GMT

Date - June 12th, 2025

My first thought this morning, besides thinking of the loss of my wife in January, was when will it rain?

The sky is so dark I've had to put the lights on in the front room to see.

It is hard to imagine, we haven't passed the longest day yet, and already the available light is so low.

My next thought was this is like the monsoon season in India.

I am in no doubt, sometime today, Bristol will have a heavy rainfall.

How would you feel?

 The Doctor's Dilemna

                                                                 The Love Triangle

The Hindi romance, Dil ek Mandir, is a classic love triangle, but with an added edge of mystery as one of the triangle is a doctor who treats cancer.

Rajendra Kumar (left) is a doctor who is in love with Meena Kumari, to further his career he leaves India to train in the USA, on his return, he finds she has married Raaj Kumar.

Desolate, he dedicates his life to becoming a cancer specialist; this is where the dielmna begins. He is treating a patient, when the parient's wife turns up. She is none other than his former lover, what to do?

As a doctor you are duty bound to heal people, but knowing the man you are treating married the lady you loved must have made the choice to operate rather galling.

Why is my support of Israel waning?

 Another possible scam from a Jewish lady

The third attempt in a year

Tonight, I thwarted another possible scam from a lady from Israel.

Why do I think that?

The lady feigned concern over the loss of my wife in January, even saying because I think of my pain, it is there. How callous can you be?

She switched tack to talking about money, when I said that was my busines, she stopped chatting. This is the third time in a year, a lady from Israel has trid to scam me; once, it was actress Gol Gadot

The Shefali Shah Mystery

 The Birthday confusion

Did someone read my post?

I realise I am probably taking credit for something I had nothing to do with, but at least the confusion is settled.

What was the confusion?

I was looking through IMDb, and Wikipedia for the birthdays of ladies in Bollywood I consider attective, when I came across an anomaly.

The information on Shefali Shah (above) was misleading; IMDb said her birthday is 22nd of May, and Wiki couldn't decide between June, or July 22nd. Now they agree, it is May 22nd

Would you believe them?

The enduring enigma of Sridevi

Dynasty

Since the beginning of Bollywood in the 1940's, there has always been the Kapoor family involved.

In the late 60's they were involved in a suspicious death; the death of actress Sridevi has never been solved, and never will be while there are Kapoor family members in Bollywood.

Not only have the not disclosed how she died, they have BLOCKED any formal investigation since her death in 2018.

There are many unanswered question in this case.

One of the most asked is why did Sridevi, the biggest star in Bollywood come out of retirement to marry a man 15 years older than her, who has two children?

An answer would be pressure from the Kapoors to destroy her career, but she had been in reirement for three years at that time.

A burning question in my mind is why did she change her life insurance to covering her death in Dubai, and why did the payout cover the cost of her husband's debts at the time?

Those are the main questions, the truth is, after so long, if they did tell the world what happened that night, would you believe it? Or would you think how much time they had to change facts to suit thier needs?

The Yorkshireman who despises York

 A Viking Heritage?

There are cities other than York

This may come as a surprise, I come from Yorkshire, a fact I am proud of, yet, I despise York, why?

Nearly every documentary about Yorkshire centres on York, to the exclusion of other cities such as Sheffield, Leeds, and Doncaster, which have a far greater and interesting history.

I would consider outside London, York may be the most photographed city in the UK; the only city close could be Bath, another city I despise, both Bath and York are over-rated, and overpriced.

My late wife and I had a running joke, as I loved to cuddle her, she put that down to my possible Viking heritage, especially as my beard had tinges of red in. I don't discount the possibility, however, I loved geography, but never had the urge to travel. If I had not joined the Royal Air Force, I doubt I would have got a passport; to me there is such a lot to see in the UK, I didn't need to leave.

Each dawn I die

 The Invisible man

Vanished

There is a theory which until this year I didn't believe, now I do.

Pyschologists say a sign someone is thinking of suicide begins by cutting themselves off.

As I have no contacts online, nobody would miss me if I went offline. The only contact outside my children I have is with two ladies on Twitter, one in the USA, and the other in the Ukraine. My friend in the Ukraine is concerned about my mental health after losing my wife in January.

My only other friend died in March, I think, Julia lived in Seattle; we had been friends for 13 years before she passed away.

The title of the blog is not only an eye-catcher, it is true, each dawn I die a little more inside

I am hard to define

 I have an eclectic taste

A man of many tastes

Over my life, I have been asked many times who, or what do I like the most?

My answer is always the same.

It is easier for me to tell you who, or what I dislike.

The only thing for certain is I dislike films, or books which depict violence for its own sake.

When I was a writer, I never wrote sex stories; I have nothing against sex in a story, but I couldn't write a story were sex is the theme, I did try once. To clarify the point, I have written stories with sex in. A little rough sex is good for a story, my view, but I once wrote a series of stories for a lady in London, what aroused her was blood-letting, but were does that lead?

In 2012, I got my only offer of a contract by a firm in Miami, Florida, which I turned down on those grounds. That was the only offer I had in 16 years as a writer, for months I asked myself, did I do the right thing? Several friends commented, if you're asking yourself the question, in your heart you know the answer.

I checked on the site later, to find it had either closed down, or been forced to close. A friend who joined the firm at the time of my offer told me, she sold more of her books than the site did.

When I had a reputation to consider, I would second guess my replies to requests, now, with no sales, or reputation to think of, all that matters is could I write the story?

One strange request came from San Diego, California. I was asked to write some fake reviews to boost products, the odd aspect of the request is it came from a person "claiming" to be a lawyer.

Medical Aftereffects

 Swollen foot 

                                                                                        Ankle Strain 

Yesterday, I was concerned about the possibility of my right ankle giving way, the area arounf the tendin has been swollen for days; making even a short walk painful.

After a little research, I found the swelling was NOT caused by a tendon strain; it is the after-effect of an anti-cholosetrol tablet I am prescribed.