The Flood

“You Greeks are all children…. you have no belief rooted in the old tradition and no knowledge hoary with age. And the reason is this. There have been and will be many different calamities to destroy mankind, the greatest of them by fire and water, lesser ones by countless other means….You remember only one deluge, though there have been many.”   Plato, 4^th century BC.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing a lot of reading and hinted at the subjects in my last blog, the idea being to feed into and inspire a new novel.  Now the ideas are starting to gel into something that is intriguing and would keep me interested for as long as it takes to write it.  The working title is ‘The Flood’ or maybe ‘The Watchers’.  Here’s the starting premise:

 100,000 BC and great civilizations on earth develop but are almost wiped out 13000 – 8000 BC by two massive meteor impacts around the end of the ice age (these are fact, of course).  There is plenty of evidence of meteor impacts in minerals deposited worldwide at this period plus clear archaeological evidence of mass extinctions around this time, caused by the massive Tsunamis and ‘nuclear’ winter.  No archaeological trace of the pre-ice age great civilizations remains but …this is where the story starts… there are survivors who preserve the essence of that civilisation.  After the ice age, homo sapiens again develops rapidly and believes that the survivors (The Watchers) are gods and angels.  They warn of the next comet impact which causes the biblical flood & Tsunami (the biblical flood is recorded in all extant cultures and actually happened, probably around 3150 BC).  Enter biblical good guy, Enoch.  They train Enoch in the minimum information the post-flood survivors will need to establish a calendar (Book of Enoch) plus other technologies appropriate to a pre-bronze age farming civilisation that can help relaunch society.  Enoch’s great-great grandson, Noah, and his family survive the flood.  So, we know the ending.

Let’s think about my proposed ‘Watchers’.  They will have evolved over around 200,000 years yet were anatomically more-or-less the same as we are now (AMH – anatomically modern humans).  We have been industrialised for 250 years, we’ve had usable electricity for 150 years, and we have already walked on the moon. Imagine what we could achieve in 100,000 years, or  even 50,000, or even 10,000…

A starting point is The Book of Enoch (http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Book-of-Enoch-ebook/dp/B003DZ1J2M)  which was important to early Christians but which never made it into the Christian Bible.  Interestingly, copies survived from Islamic sources and many copies were found in the Dead Sea scrolls.   I want to re-interpret The Book of Enoch  to reflect his interaction with the Watchers, and to allow for a race that has resulted from the interbreeding of the Watchers. This book refers to ‘angels’, god and bad and makes interesting reading.  The main good guy, apart from Enoch, is the ‘angel’, Uriel.  The book of Enoch also includes a rendition of how to establish Stonehenge-like observatories – v. interesting.

There is one problem in taking the biblical references as a basis for rational fact and that is the ludicrous lifespans of the main characters in pre-flood Genesis.  Enoch was taken when he was still quite young…he was only 365 years old.  Hmm.  I’ll have to find a way around that.

I want the watchers to understand the nature of material, energy, that all matter is light that has been frozen (see Niels Bohr quotes, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/n/niels_bohr.html and also Albert Einstein, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/a/albert_einstein.html).  Interestingly, these nuclear physicists at the forefront of reason seemed to have had an insight into the boundary between the spiritual and the scientific which has been largely overlooked by our über-rational world.

Uriel’s education of Enoch will embrace a number of ideas that are gaining popularity and involve the meeting between science and spirituality.  The interesting aspect will be the way that a super-advanced human intelligence can explain the necessary information to a neolithic man (who was just as intelligent as we are now, incidentally).  Because I want it to be a novel, not a work of philosophy, I want to include properly dramatic elements:  Enoch’s travels with Uriel, conflict with the ‘giants’ (who won’t be giants but a bit bigger than men), conflicts within the Enoch/Noah family and with the other families with whom they live, then the flood itself.  I mentioned before that the flood is fact.  The details are, however, interesting.  We all know about the earth impact that wiped out the dinosaurs but there have been plenty of others before and since.  We are talking big asteroids/meteors/comets, probably more that 1km in diameter that cause massive damage as they pass over, then impact the earth.   If they hit the sea (as most did), the Tsunami is so massive that it could reach to almost all land on the surface of the planet. Scottish peaks, for example, have layers of sea sand and non-fossilised shellfish that you can find today, ie, the Tsunami submerged Scotland.  Some inland seas such as the Black  Sea may be rock pools left by this Tsunami; they are salt water, not fresh as you would expect.  Just a couple of examples of what a Tsunami 3km high can do!

All of the characters will be real people just like us.  Nothing biblical or supernatural.  Every action and event must be rational.  The main characters will be the watcher, Uriel (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Uriels-Machine-Ancient-Origins-Science/dp/0099281821/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1368968195&sr=1-1&keywords=uriels+machine), Enoch and Noah.  The underlying message will be a metaphor for the modern world and the crises that mankind faces.  Spirituality meets science.  String theory meets philosophy.

http://sacredsites.com/europe/sacred_geography.html

PS.  Having had the idea to re-tell the Noah story, and thinking it would be original and new, I now hear that there’s a film coming out in 2014 entitled ‘Noah’ with Russell Crowe in the title role (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1959490/).

Bugger.

What are we made of?

Time for an update.  I printed copies of my books (via Lulu -  recommended for hard copy) and put them in the local English language bookshop but few have sold; they’re few out of thousands, besides, the proprietor can’t remember how many he’s sold and I’ve already paid for them.  As a primary outlet it leaves a lot to be desired.  Also, I am now really committed to the entire ebook idea and the Kindle in particular which, I think, will inherit the earth so hard copy is not at the forefront of my thinking.  There have been lots of successful self-published writers but I’m always reminded of Joe Cawley’s book, More Ketchup Than Salsa (http://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Ketchup-than-Salsa-Confessions/dp/095724990X – it’s actually a good book to be read in a Lancashire accent) because he has made a success simply by telling his customers about the book.   They tell their friends and so it goes on.  Now that I’m running our guesthouse (www.casaluiz.com) I have the same opportunity and have started to do the same thing, to the extent of giving copies of one book in the hope of downloads of the others.  We’ll see what happens.  I’ve already managed to get two more reviews, which is better than I’ve done over the past few months.  The personal touch seems to work.

I’m reading a lot.  One of the writers is Portuguese Nobel laureate José Saramago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Saramago) who died in 2010; Portugal’s most celebrated writer.  His style is rather like Paulo Coelho and I suppose the nearest UK equivalent would be J C Ballard.  Interesting reading but very inward looking, philosophical and allegorical.  I have to admit to being fascinated by this style which is so different from the run-of-the-mill novels; more style than substance but whose ideas live with you afterward the book is closed (metaphorically speaking with a Kindle).

I am still awaiting inspiration for my next book, having abandoned my last efforts of a sequel to Flight Into Darkness out of boredom.  I think you can only invest months of your life in writing if the idea is one that galvanizes you to write and I await that idea.  The allegorical Saramago style may offer a lead but I’m not sure if I have enough literary insight to see it through.  I always think of writing as being on many different levels:  1.  Say it like it is: modern journalism.  2.  A glimpse into the inner worlds of characters: normal novels (the level where most of us write).  3.  Deep inner worlds:  great literary fiction.  How to get from 2 to 3 is the question but I think it involves avoiding the superficial and trite and becoming embroiled in the subconscious, to some extent, seeing literary links between unconnected things, thinking in a more profound way about subjects and more deeply about characters’ motivations.  Ian McEwan does this well to name but one of hundreds.

So, I seek abstract ideas that interest me.  Here’s one that appeals:  In Don Miguel Ruiz’s book ‘The Four Agreements‘ he says ‘we are all light’ (http://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319).  Oh, yeah, you say…garbage you say, I’m skin and bone with a soul…new age crap.  However, lets associate another idea to that.  Scientists do not truly understand gravity or the reason that one mass attracts another; we all know it happens and can measure it but we don’t know why.   The Large Hadron Collider at Cern in Switzerland may offer an insight in that they have seemingly isolated the Higg’s Boson (http://www.howstuffworks.com/higgs-boson.htm).  Now this particle is postulated as being what gives mass to the particles in atoms, the protons, neutrons, electrons and fundamental particles that make up everything.  It is probably the most numerous particle in the universe (90% of the universe is dark matter) but the most elusive.  Without this so-called God Particle, matter is…well, what are atoms?  They are nothing.  they are weightless, massless, incapable of interaction or even of holding themselves together.  They are massless…they are radiation.  And what is light?  It’s the visible part of  electromagnetic radiation.  Therefore, what are we made of?  Well, light is close.  Science and philosophy collide.

Just an idea.

Committing to the Kindle

Hi again….yes, I’m still alive!  Sorry for no posts recently but I now find myself running our guesthouse (www.casaluiz.com) while Luis spends more time looking after his ancient mother.  The bottom line is that I ain’t been writing a lot.  However, over Christmas I managed to acquire two Kindles (!) and I have to admit to being completely addicted to the whole concept;  the ability to carry thousands of books with you, to read in the dark (mine is a Kindle Paperwhite), to download new books with a single click…the whole thing is seductive and guaranteed to empty your wallet.

Anyway, having committed to Amazon and the Kindle I decided to upload all five of my novels to Amazon KDP.  Until now, there was only Flight Into Darkness.  To those of you who are thinking of doing the same thing, I must reiterate that the process is really easy.  You need your MS in Word format, get rid of headers and footers and any other formatting (borders and gutters, etc, and get rid of page numbers.  Choose a serif font such as TNR or Garamond and you’re almost ready.

Next is to get an ISBN number.  Normally you need to pay for them but if you upload to Lulu ( http://www.lulu.com/) as a dummy book, you can get them for free, then delete the project.  Then put the ISBN in the title pages of the book.  The ISBN needs to be different for hard copy and ebooks, of course, as it’s a unique identifier.  Next, you need cover artwork.  I decided to do my own using Photoshop as I didn’t want to fork out the 500€ that four new covers would cost me.  They can be changed at any time, of course, if I decide to get more professional, but I’m pleased with my results.  Then you need to go onto Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing (https://kdp.amazon.com/self-publishing/signin) and get started.  I managed to do all four books in about 4 hours and they were ready for me to download onto my Kindle that evening, making me my first customer!

That’s it, really.  I then updated my website (I use IPower) with the new links and deleted the free PDF downloads in accordance with Amazon’s rules.  Have a look at 
http://rogerhardynovels.info/index.html/
and click on the links;   I won’t add all the links here as there are different ones for Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.com.  If you are not in the UK, you cannot select Amazon.co.uk and have to redirect to Amazon.com.  The old problem of prices is still there; you set your prices and Amazon changes them without telling you.  I set a price of $2.99 for all books but when I connect to Amazon.com from Portugal the price for each  is $6.14.  In the US, the price is still $2.99, I think.  Id be interested in knowing what the UK price is (it should be about £2) because I cannot get it from Portugal!

As for hard copy, there is always Lulu or CreateSpace (Amazon, again) but I have to say that I think that’s a dying business.  EBooks is where it’s at.

Coming back to marketing, that’s the next step.  I was waiting for reviews but have got rather frustrated.  One problem is that any reviews you get for Amazon.co.uk do not transfer to to Amazon.com, so waiting for, say, ten reviews on each is going to take a long time.  One advantage of the Kindle is that customers are urged to leave reviews.  Next, I think I’ll simply go to the local English-language press and get them to give me a plug.  After that, I’m not sure  but you will be the first to know!

Inspiration and marketing

I have taken to revisiting a lot of classical music that I got to know as a child but which I seldom listened to as an adult because familiarity bred something like contempt.  No, contempt is too strong a word; it was more a case of heard that, know the notes, now, let’s move on.  So, it’s been a lot of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky.   As an adult, you listen with different ears and I am again quite bowled over by the imagination and originality of pretty much everything Beethoven wrote and the magical lyricism of Tchaikovsky.

Tchaikovsky’s final symphony (No 6, the Pathétique) has been described as a suicide note, but I read a letter from the great composer  and this gives a totally opposing viewpoint.  I stumbled across this which applies to writing as much as it does to music:

“The kernel of a new work usually appears suddenly, in the most unexpected fashion.  If the soil is fertile, that is, if one is disposed to work, this kernel will sprout roots with irrepressible strength and speed, will break through the ground, will put forth branches, leaves, twigs, and, finally, blossoms. I cannot describe the creative process except by this analogy.  The whole difficulty lies in getting that kernel to appear and making sure that it lands amid favorable conditions.  All the rest looks after itself.  It would be useless to try to put into words for you the boundless delight that seizes one when the main idea has come and when it begins to assume definite shape.  You forget everything, you become a madman for all practical purpose, all your insides quiver and throb, you barely have time to make your sketches, one idea chases the heels of the last.

Only one thing is necessary, that the main idea and the general contours of all the individual parts must appear without being sought, but rather spontaneously, as a result of that supernatural, incomprehensible, and inexplicable force we call inspiration.”

For me, that spells out the creative process better than I could have ever described it.

Now, regular readers of this blog will know that I’m self-publishing and am finding it heavy going.  That’s because I want to be a writer, not a marketing man.  Writing is one thing but marketing is another and there is no link between the two; one is pleasure, the other is a pain.  But if you self-publish, there is no one else to do it.  The conventional Dickensian publishing route had many benefits but the main one is that the writers write, the publishers publish and the marketing people do the marketing.  Heaven, if you can get there!  For me, having established the uploads, website and blog, the starting point for the marketing is reviews…and I’m still waiting.  Marketing. for me, is getting people who have never heard of me to download my book, but without reviews, it’s a non-starter.  Enough griping.

I received a tweet from fellow writer Angela Kelman (http://gelakel.wordpress.com/) nominating me for a Liebster Award (see her blog) .  I’d never heard of these but it appears to be a writer’s chain letter; ie, you get nominated as one out of eleven and nominate a further eleven writers who all have less than 200 followers.  You ask them questions and so it goes on, via Twitter.  Nice idea and I’ll give it some thought.

Thanks Angela!

 

Sunsets and fruit flies

I’ve just spent ten days in the UK, visiting family and friends, the first time for a year and a half and the longest time I’ve spent over there in eleven years.  So, impressions as an expat…? Well, it’s nice to be able to speak colloquial English without worrying whether anyone will misunderstand it.  But, overall, it’s changed so much.  In short, I found it frenetic.  High streets are full of pound shops and the TV is dominated by ambulance-chasing solicitors and ‘compare the meerkats’ sites.  What was 4 TV channels is now a million, all of which remind me why I stopped watching TV years ago.  The motorways are an obstacle course and it’s still raining in Manchester.  On the up-side it’s great to see my adult kids, confident and comfortable.

Now I sit here, back in Portugal, watching the sun kiss the horizon and disappear.  Today, 17:30, a whole 10 minutes later than before Christmas, and so the new year starts with its promise that it’s going to be whatever we want it to be and that summer is coming.  Every now and then, we get a plague of fruit flies which plunge into my wine glass with reckless abandon.  Now is one of those times.  I fish them out and squash them into nothing but occasionally get one in my mouth…a little extra protein, I like to think.  I don’t know much about fruit flies but I’m pretty sure that if they were exterminated completely, the world would hardly notice.  Still, they probably enjoy their brief existence even though they mean nothing to us.

We all have problems – life wouldn’t be life without its problems – but when I contrast mine with those of my family, I realise that mine are rather selfish, possibly self-inflicted and rather inconsequential.  And, I think it’s part of growing older because such things should be related to those with the larger measure of life to live and the most to achieve in their lives.  The future belongs to them and we older buffers can merely observe and mutter.  Don’t misunderstand me – life has not passed us by – it’s just that our contribution is less important and, on occasions, simply out of step with the modern world.  We have been deluged by a tsunami of new technology and, although I have tried to keep up, you reach a point where you feel out of your depth. My parents don’t even have internet and are happy in their ignorance.

As I watch the sunset and squash a fruit fly, I wonder whether they have souls.

…and a few words from Beelzebub

Here’s the draft prologue for A Comedy for the End of Time:

Please permit me to introduce myself; I am the Lord of Chaos, at your service.

You think you don’t know me but, actually, we’ve met on many occasions and I’m usually just behind you.  Mostly, you never notice me.  Of course, I don’t announce myself or flaunt my power, unlike certain deities I could mention, although I should really use the past tense there.  No purple trumpets announce my arrival, oh, no.  No flocks of bloody angels, dropping shit on your head.  Still, they say it’s lucky and we all need a bit of luck.

I honestly think that demanding worship is the beginning of the end.  Such arrogance!  You see, I always like to think that reticence is like virginity; you can only lose it once and I’ve managed to keep my purity for…well, let’s just say a long time.  Of course, I’ve had to learn how to keep myself in the shadows because modesty is a jewel to be kept under the cloak, a gem that I alone can see, a possession that only I can take pleasure from.  It’s like a cat taking a soft delight from the name that only he knows and cats know a thing or two.  Creatures of the night.  Feral, but deigning to accept kindness thanklessly, like royalty.  How I like cats.  You think that you take pleasure from your possessions but, actually, you only get satisfaction from showing them to others.  Otherwise, why have them?  Keep them to yourself, that’s the secret.  What does a cat own?  His dignity.  His name.  Nothing more.  My name?  Oh, come now.  Do you ask a cat its real name?  Of course not.  He’d never tell you anyway.  It’s a secret, you see.

I miss the old man, really I do.  Oh, yes, we had fun together but I have to say that he was the creator of his own undoing.  You’d think he’d have been smarter.  I told him so many times but, you know what he was like; never listened to anyone.  Like talking to a brick wall.   In the end, I gave up.  He thought he knew it all but there’s a salutary lesson for you:  you create something and it turns round and pisses on you.   I’ve seen it so many times with big corporations.  To be honest, I’ve been there to nudge the odd elbow but that’s all part of the fun.  Now, where was I?  Oh, yes.  Education, you see?  You allow education and people suddenly start to think and then they think they’re in control.  Replace the irrational with the rational and there’s no need for gods.   I, on the other hand, prevail because I am not sustained by adoration or fuelled by the irrational.  Rather the opposite.

You’ll think I’m a sentimental old fool but I still mourn the old bugger.  You see, if there was a void before he started the avalanche of events that would eventually lead to his own demise, then he probably created me as well.  Frankly I can’t remember that far back.  I mean, who remembers their own birth?  Anyway, he’s gone now but I’m still here.  Who would have thought it?

Now you’re beginning to ask yourself about my motivation.  Why do I do it?  Well, it’s based on thermodynamics. Let me explain.  In the beginning was the word and from that came the universe, born in chaos.  Enter, yours truly.  The chaos diminished and congealed into the starry, starry night.  Not my doing – blame the old man.  But every time you light a match or burn some fuel, you’re helping to bring chaos back because those processes only go in one direction; they are irreversible.  So, from chaos came order and from order comes chaos.  It’s a natural cycle, so I’m not doing anything unnatural, despite what you hear.    But the one thing has always troubled me is that knowledge is a paradox.  Eve, lovely girl, took an apple from the tree of knowledge and the industrial revolution was its ultimate expression.  How quickly you’ve progressed from cow shit to cyberspace, to a world that’s starting to glow, where half die of obesity while the rest starve.  You see, knowledge itself will lead to chaos without any help from me.

So much for the science but I’m not much for academic matters and prefer to concentrate on you because you are far more interesting.  Of course, I do what I can to bring chaos from order but, frankly, I don’t need to do much because you mostly do it yourselves; I simply allow human nature to do what it does best.  Sometimes you need a helping hand to speed matters along but mostly I can rely on – pardon my frankness – your greed and stupidity.  Please don’t take offence; I just say it like it is.  Take capitalism, for example.  What a fabulous creation that was.  All my own work, even if I say so myself.  People get rich, people get poor, economies have to grow and grow, everyone wants more and more yet needs less and less.  The entire edifice is madness.  I can sit back and enjoy a whisky, watching events unfold before my eyes.  You could as well.  Human nature at its best.  A little madness is necessary in all things.

Do you like the theatre?  Me too.  Well, this is like the stage but it’s far more entertaining because it’s real.  The actors are flesh-and-blood.  They’re you.  And, before you start jabbing your finger at me, I should point out that I am the director, not an actor.  Like all good directors, I set the scene, make a few suggestions and let you improvise.  I need only get involved if things seem to be going off the rails.  The actors are the important players.

What of wars?  Wars are not started by governments, they are started by people.  Great decisions that affect the whole of mankind are made by people – like you – and me – but it was Plato who said that you are puppets in the hands of ideas.  But whose ideas?  Pardon me if I allow myself a little smile.  You see, conflict will always exist where people have different ideas.  There is only one society where everyone has the same idea and that it totalitarianism.  That is order.  Democracy is chaos.  I like democracy.  Democracies do not attack other democracies, they are attacked by the others.  So, do I get involved in wars?  Absolutely not.  Conflict may be chaos but the outcome is order.  In any case, wars proceed under their own momentum whilst I sun myself and have a cocktail.  I read about them and shake my head sadly.  A million die here, another million there.  What does it matter?  I’m really not in the numbers game.  You’ll think me heartless but, in a world of limited resources, the true irony is that there is only one thing on the earth that is unlimited and that is human beings.  You will continue to make more of them.  That gladdens my heart.

And please don’t blame me for great disasters.  Frankly, when I see one of those, and I’ve seen plenty, I take a holiday because they have an uncanny ability to bring out the best in people which makes me sick because subverting genuine goodness is difficult and simply becomes frustrating.

So, there you have it.  My role is to bring us all back to natural chaos and, in the process, I can entertain myself.  Do I want you to suffer?  No.  Not unless it’s absolutely necessary.  We can work together and I am reasonable.  Think of me as the joker in a pack of cards.  We all need some entertainment because existence would be dreadfully dull without it.  You, like all animals, have a limited time span.  I, on the other hand, have eternity and, believe me, an eternity without a few laughs is not worth thinking about.  Oh, I almost forgot to tell you.  There is no heaven or hell.  The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones…to quote the Bard.  He was usually right, but then he had a helping hand.

I would like you to be happy, but what is happiness?  You can’t define happiness any more than you can define darkness.  Darkness is the absence of light.  Happiness is the absence of things that make you unhappy.  That’s it.  You can’t define something that exists by virtue of other things not being there.  Therefore happiness is an abstract concept that defies any objective description.  Still, you should be happy but remember that really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people’s.  I should, however, also state that, in my experience, pure evil is rare and normally couched in madness.  It is far more the case that good intentions so often have unexpected results.  In fact, it is only me that truly expects them and therein lies the true path to chaos.

So, am I selfish?  I confess that I am.  Do I have enemies?  Yes, of course.  Things do not always go my way but therein lies the challenge.  However, remember that my enemy’s enemy is my friend.  Am I paranoid?  Possibly, but even paranoids have enemies.  I am even-handed, though; I neither love nor hate.  I have no principles and that is my greatest virtue.  Can I be tragic?  Yes.  My tragedy is that, in the end, I will succeed and be the only one left standing.  Of course, we’re talking about a long time from now, when time itself will cease to exist, and where will the fun be then?  I’d rather not think about it, so let’s not go there.  Sometimes, when I’m nursing my drink and get melancholy, I wonder whether it’s the entertainment that sustains me, just as it was the blind adoration of the ignorant that kept the old man going.  But, when the fun dries up and chaos is all about me again, will I also cease to exist?

Ah!  Enough of this maudlin’ stuff.  Philosophy was never my strong point either.  I, like you, exist for now.  What the future holds, I have no idea…I’m not a fortune teller, although I can clearly see the consequences of actions.  I do my best under difficult circumstances.

Damn…my glass is empty.  Just wait there while I get a refill.  I’ll be back in the twinkling of an eye.  I may even be standing behind you.

Only joking.

A Comedy for the End of Time

Listen! I’ve had an idea!  I’ve been wanting to write a set of short stories that are parables for the 21st Century.  Working title is ‘A Comedy for the End of Time’.  The subjects are therefore global warming & climate change, BigPharma, the blogosphere, WMDs in the hands of terrorists….you know…the usual stuff.  Have a look at
http://www.jamesmartin.com/film/watch.cfm
which gives some interesting background and ideas.

Followers of this blog will note that I am finding self-publishing heavy going on the marketing side.  This is because I have come to realise that to successfully launch a book as an unknown writer  you need to know about a thousand people who will actively read, review and tweet.  Anything less is farting against thunder.

Now, here’s the idea:  a number of us unpublished writers get together and compile a set of short stories based on the above premise.  The overall style should be light and ironic but this doesn’t preclude tragedy.  The only central character is a Beelzebub/Mephistopheles character who appears and nudges the occasional elbow at the right time.  He can be a she of course…equal opportunities, M/F.  I’ll publish a draft prologue to give you the general idea.  Watch this space.

The plan is that this should be a cooperative, democratic and fun.  We will jointly decide which stories make it by voting and we cannot vote for our own.   My only proviso is that each story should be professionally edited.  Once we have a compilation that we’re all happy with, we self-publish on Amazon for the Kindle, then…here’s the clever bit…we ALL do the marketing and shotgun the world.  I’m posting this on The Word Cloud as well.  if you’re interested, please give me a shout!  My email address is rogerjhardy100@yahoo.co.uk and I can be contacted on Skype (rogerjhardy100) or on 00351 282 354058.  Drop round for a coffee!