Alan Place - Writer of Science Fiction

 My Golden year

Forgestriker

2012 was the year my Science Fiction series was at its foremost, that year, the Forgestriker series sold over 1,000 eBooks. A friend in Canada said, "If that had been on Amazon, I would be classed a bestseller." However, it was on Draft2Digital, so it went unnoticed.

Why am I using X?

 Promoting my work

Twitter Promotions

There is one reason I still use Twitter, to promote my blog. I often see posts asking "Would you unistall X for $1,000?" Happily, as I use WhatsApp to chat on. I also see posts asking "Would you uninstall Facebook?" That would be difficult for me, as I haven't used Facebook for over a year, and I have NOT missed it.

What would I like?

 To earn my royalties this year

Draft2Digital

My goal as a writer this year is to sell three of my eBook content on Draft2Digital, by doing this I can be paid my royalties for the first time in three year. After that, I may write again, and add the new book to my Amazon page

The cheat who lost

 My Golden year

Why cheat?

2012 was my summit as a writer, two of my stories earned an award, and I beat my harshest critic in contests THREE times that year. Usually cheats win, but I would rather come second knowing I did my best, than win knowing I cheated.

Here are some examples of what I am talking about. In 2012, I beat my critic, despite her asking a friend to hack a site, to eliminate one of my stories, which came back to beat hers on its return. The same year, she proclaimed a prize she had "claimed" on LinkedIn, that was until I pointed out, I had bought the story months earlier from a friend, and posted a photo of the book the story was in.

My Golden year

 The year of the Awards

Two Writing Awards in a year

In 2012, both of these books earned an award. Chronicles of Mark Johnson earned an award given by a site based in the USA. Sea Ghosts earned an award given in a writing contest set up by Facebook.

Yet, this was not the best part for me, personally. My joy came from beating a writer I used to know, not once, but THREE times in contest in 2012. Despite going against the site rules, which didn't apply to her, or her freinds, she often tried to ridicule my writing as inferior to hers.
It was an opinion not shared by many people on the site. One contest was set up by a friend of the writer, and I didn't wish to enter, I knew her tactics from old, "Win at any cost," which often included hacking a site. Against my wishes, I was coaxed by my freinds to enter. the other writer invited her friends to come to view my publis humilation. I amgine her horror when despite the site being hacked, and one of my stories being deleted, the story came back to take fourth place, well ahead of her best story, which came 10th.

I did consider going to the site, and posting about my win, but chnged my mind, it isn't my style to brag, and besides, her freinds already knew the news.

The double life of John "Mad Jack" Adams

 Sea Ghosts

Rudyard Kipling

I would say most people have heard the line from Rudyard Kipling's poem, Pook of Pook's Hill, "Them that ask no questions are told no lies."

It depicts the story of piracy during the 18th century on the coastof the UK. When times are hard, and food short, be grateful for anything. Wreckers were common along the shores, these people would move beacons used to guide the ships through safe safe channels to pull them onto rocks, then rush to the scenes to pick what they could, killing any survivors of the wrecks.

My short story (shown here) is a fictionalised version of the life of a man who led a double-life, one one hand John "Mad Jack" Adams was a king's man who checked for the smugglers. On the other hand, his knowledge of the shipping, meant he became one of the most feared pirates along the coast of Yorkshire.

This story has a sad ending, only told in my story.

In 2012, my story earned an award in a writing contest set up by Facebook.

This is Your Life

Alan Place -Senior Citizen

Romance in Whitchurch

Over the years, I have talked to many Senior Citizens, and felt sorry their lives focussed on going out twice a week for a treat. This week, it dawned on me, I am now one of them. Twice a week I go to the Whitchurch Inn, Whitchurch, Bristol, to meet my friend, Clara. I have been so often, I am now classed as a regular

Destiny

Romance in Whitchurch 

Alan Place - man of mystery

My friend, Clara, who lives in Whitchurch, Bristol, told me she thinks we were destined to meet as we get on so well with our online chats. I think we are detined not to meet, I live a short way from Clara in Hartcliffe, and visit Asda near her, yet we have yet to meet, on our dates, something always happens to bar our way

Is that Madonna?

Hollywood Mysteries

Lupe Velez

Recently, while shopping at Asda, one of the guards asked me, "Is that Madonna?"

I was wearing the t-shirt above, an item I bought from Hollywood Mysteries, a channel on Youtube I regulary watch.

The t-shirt shows 1930's acttress Lupe Velez who comes from Mexico

Alan Place - Award Winning Author

The O. Henry Award

                         Double Award Winner in 2011

One question I used to ask myself was which would I prefer to win, the Nobel Prize for Literature, or the Pulitzer Prize?

They are both titles worthy in their own right, the Pulitzer is for Journalism, a style which suited my inquisitve mind, a little like Kolchak.

One award I never considered was the O. Henry Award, for short stories, which is more my style of writng, much like Mickey Spillane, if something is in one of my stories it is there to move the story, not as a page-filler 

I am closing my eBay shop

 eBay shop run down

More trouble than it is worth

From this month, I am closing my eBay store. The reason is it has never been a successful venture, as a one-person venture, it has always been a case of cutting the costs to below a reasonable value, to get a sale

Friday the 13th

I had the feeling something would go wrong

Romance in Whitchurch

This week my friend in Whitchurch, Bristol, Clara and I had been planning to meet today (Friday). We talked about meeting on Friday, I never realised, until this morning what the date was, Friday the 13th. When I saw this, I was tempted to call the date off, but we'd been building up to our meeting all week.

I had the ominous feeling today would go wrong, and it did. Clara's car had a fault, so she couldn't meet me, and I found I didn't have enough to pay for a lunch out, one of the few treats I allow myself, so, I had to return home after a disasterous day

Youtube Premium

Romance in Whitchurch

                                         Making cutbacks

There are several reasons why I stopped my Youtube Premium payments this month.

I am in a relationship with my friend, Clara, who lives in Whitchurch, Bristol, which means I am not in my house at least two nights a week.

I had the account mainly for my late wife, who couldn't move around the house without severe pain, and spent her last days watching cartoons. I rarely watch Youtube, other than a few channels featuring documentaries on history.

I needed to cut my expenses, and this was one area which came to mind easily, it is worth the money, if you have the time, which I don't have now.

The final nail in the coffin of the Labour Party

 Is this the end for Labour?

Labour brings the UK to its knees

The current Labour Party has seled the fate for Labour. For years, Labour have been losing the popular vote of the man on the street, the core of the party, set up after the General Strike of 1929, had been the working man, since the late 1940's, the party has not gained the voters, it has been holding on to what it gained in 1929.

Now, even hard-core areas like the docks of Liverpool, and Glasgow have turned from Labour. Labour has failed so badly since the last election, it will struggle to be the third party in the next election with many of its former member joining Nigel Farage's Reform UK party.

Reform UK go on about the rise of the party, it isn't rising, it is filling up with exiles from the Labour party. No matter how you twist the numbers, Labour always fails the people of the UK.

Starmer should be sacked

 Labour Lies

Labour ARE losing seats everywhere

This graph from two years ago depicts the collapse of Deutsche Bank. It could also be used to depict the UK under the Labour Party. It isn't only the Starmer government, it has happened to the UK under every Labour government since the 1980's when between them Tony Blair and Gordon Brown out the UK in so much debt it took decades to clear. Typical of Labour Party, when they lose power, and the next government has to introduce cutbacks, they get the blame for cutbacks, not Labour for forcing the cutbacks to be made.

Starmer should be sacked for incompetence. If he resigned, it would look like he had some honour, which having sold out to the Muslim Brotherhood he proved he has no honour.

More blog readers in Australia than the UK

 Welcome Australia

This week on the blog

The news from the blog this week is that it gets more reader activity in Australia, than the UK. This news does not suprise me, the blogs I wrote have always struggled to get readers in the UK. My other blog had a huge following in Russia years ago. Despite hundreds of posts about Israel, the blog never had any readers there

What do you expect?

 Alan Place - Indie Writer

A Multi-Genre Writer

I was shocked at the news I had sold a children's short story eBook this week. The shock was more that I had sold an eBook than anything else. eBook sales over the last decade have been scarce, if not rare, for me, which is why I was further suprised to read that Writers Realm, and Thevoguewriters wish to promote my work on their sites on Twitter.

There are few genre types I have not written, I did try to write a sex story, but found it hard to write a story were sex is the story, stories like the one on this post, and A Sailor's Love contain sex, but it is part of the story arc, not the theme

Alan Place - Children's author

 My Charity work

The Peacock Writers

I am not known as a chidren's author, though for several years I was a member of the charity, The Peacock Writers, who were mainly a group of writers in the USA, who wrote for charity.

With the sale of my eBook, Elfenmere, this may change.

I am used to changing the genre of my stories, a fact which amazes and and amuses some writers I used to know. I have always said, "I am a writer, not a genre-writer.

Twitter Promotions

 Writer's Realm and Thevouguewriters

I can believe now

For over a decade, I had friends in the USA telling me I was an excellent writer, I had doubts about my value as a writer, as I struggled to get sales and recognition, while lesser writers I knew were getting contracts.

Last night, that changed as two sites on Twitter asked to promote my writing, both Writer's Realm and Thevouguewriters asked to promote my work, for far less than the asking prices of several sites I approached, and with thousands of people watching the sites, there is a better opportunity for sales of my eBook content

What a SHOCK!

 Children's eBook sale

A new sales genre?

Today brought a double shock to my world, not only did I sell an eBook, but it is in a genre I hadn't sold before, Elfenmere is a children's short story about conservation.

For several years I wrote for a children's charity group called The Peacock Writers, but I have written few stories for children. The Peacocks brought published two books a years with the proceeds going to charity