Saturday 22 October 2011

Regaining democracy.. in fiction

Today I am selling books... ebooks and a freebie audio book.  I can wrap it in a friendly blog, but what I am trying to do is to sell books. Like most other people I need to, but unlike most other people I wouldn't say the quality of presentation was that good.  Everyone Can be a herO is fine. Micheal Smith of the Green (living) Review liked the book enough to suggest that we made an ebook too, and when I told him I hadn't ever done one before, he very kindly rolled up his sleeves and did it.
Where The Fox Goes is words... nothing but words. I thought that was what stories were about. It's also a very low download at around 600kb..  Everyone Can be a herO is around 1 MB and that includes one picture.
  These are people's books, about regaining democracy and not accepting a post democratic society, about warm friendly people who don't just care about their own problems but are prepared to step in and help their neighbours, Where this leads them and the adventures they have is part of the stories.. One thing is certain, they don't use violence to solve problems..They are too bright to do that.
     Everyone Can be a herO is for teenagers, but other people read it.. This is set in the future and is a school library book due back in 2040. There has been another nuclear accident, but this time it's in Britain. It isn't as bad as Fukushima or Chornobyl but the same problems are there.  The people who are left behind are the ones who can't buy their way out... but they are some of the best ones and they are trying to grow food organically and share what they grow.  The oil ran out some time before the accident and they have already come to terms with this, there were even some surprising benefits, what wasn't so good was the nuclear legacy.... and  the baddies have decided that there are a few quid to be made from it.
    "Where The Fox Goes" is Christian family fiction with a difference, it doesn't fit a conventional pattern and you don't have to be a Christian to read it.. There are various extracts  you can read on my website, including this one from "  The Fight to Save the Allotments"..Ivan is talking to his grandchildren.
     “Maybe I’m wrong, maybe I’m right, but when ordinary people have something special, that they work hard  at and take care of, someone always seems to come along and tries to take it away from them on the pretext that they’re doing it to improve things.  Really, all they’re bothered about is making money out of it. Even if you can’t see who it is, they’re always there.” He smiled wryly. “It’s power or money, but it’s usually money.” he added. http://www.insideoutsider.co.uk/page24.html 
  I have left the ebooks as pdf's  because people have so many different readers that it seemed silly to try to limit what I was selling. If you have problems with this, please email me and I'll do my best to sort it out for you.  Should you have a more modern Kindle, apparently  you can just copy them into "documents" folder on your Kindle device when it is connected to your Mac or PC via USB cable.
To find out more, my website is pretty basic but it is solar powered!!  http://ww.insideoutsider.co.uk

Tuesday 18 October 2011

natural gas extraction - hydraulic fracturing.

     Since the discovery of massive amounts of shale gas in the U.K. I have been curious as to the extent of damage to the environment by hydraulic fracturing.  Having a strong conviction that there are few truthful official sources of news coming out of the country, when someone can make a bob or two at our expense, and here I include the BBC's coverage of nuclear power and accidents which I, personally, would find laughable if it wasn't so sinister, I was grateful to come across the review in Grist of the best green films in 2010.  This included a film called  Gasland by the avant garde filmmaker, Josh Fox, who grew up in Pennsylvania on a gas rich shale formation and has chronicled the impact of natural gas extraction known as hydraulic fracturing, on the American landscape.
     It's a very good review and if you live in the North West of England and haven't read it yet, I would strongly recommend it  http://www.grist.org/article/2010-01-29-the-best-green-films-at-sundance  as I would also strongly recommend a visit to the Gasland website  http://gaslandthemovie.com/
     These people have already walked the walk.  And yes, if you read the review in Grist, there is the famous clip of flames coming out of the drinking water tap.  It lasts around 15 seconds and it is spectacular!
    There are much better wind turbines on the way, with far higher energy output and much quieter and safer.  We have solar power.  Just for once, wouldn't be lovely if people cared about people and made a future we could look forward to leaving to the next generations?

Thursday 13 October 2011

Train drivers in Japan ask for your help.

Years ago when I wrote "Everyone Can be a herO",  I envisaged that train drivers would be some of the people who might be at risk during and after a nuclear accident and wrote this into the story.
Sadly, even this is coming true, but we can do something about it if we are prepared to stand up for the Japanese rail drivers when they need international support.  Please could you pass the message on to other people. This isn't fiction, this is real.
  There is a link to their attachment which I have placed at the end of their letter which explains in full the situation they find they are in.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Wednesday, October 12, 2011 7:01 PM
Subject: Doro-Chiba QR#34: strike against radioactive workplace

Dear Friends,
Japanese rail workers launched a historic strike against radioactive exposure of train crews and passengers. "We are not slaves of the Government and Tepco. Refuse to be exposed to high radiation from Fukusima Daiichi!"
Please forward this email as widely as possible, send protest messages to the Japanese government’s email form below and organize anti-nuke struggle all around the world.
And please read and fill the attached endorsement form of November 6 rally and send back to us.
In Solidarity,
International Labor Solidarity Committee of Doro-Chiba
These are the two attachments:  The first one explains the situation the drivers are in  far more fully.
Doro-ChibaQR_034.pdf, Endorsement_to_Nov_6_Rally.doc   in English.

Thank you.