Email List

If you'd like to know about the latest promos, offers and publications, get on the email list by using the Contact Form on the sidebar. Thank you!

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Blog it, blog it now...

Won TIW Grudge 13...Yes! Thanks for the support (if any)...:-)
http://theironwriter.com/grudge-match-13/
So, what's new?
Waiting for new on the 'Alice' story, waiting for news on another 4/5 anthologies.
And doing the TIW Thanksgiving Continuation Story (7 days)...
For example...part 5...http://theironwriter.com/the-thanksgiving-continuation-part-5/
Still selling a few books here, there...anywhere?

Monday, November 24, 2014

"Reasby Fen" ...TIW Thanksgiving Challenge

Yes, there's a week long challenge on TIW...and I'm gonna have a go...
In all, the story will be 2,100 words, the first part is 900. I rather like it so far, there are so many possibilities where it might go...I have no idea which I will chose...it depends on the next bunch of elements.
My first part of "Reasby Fen" is up on the TIW site, here...
http://theironwriter.com/thanksgiving-the-all-week-story-part-1/#comment-98872

There will also be a Grudge Match up soon...just myself versus a Steven L Bergeron...watch this space.

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Hidden messages...Q71

In my writing I've used references, teachings, sayings to get across a message.
Now I've found another way, a way which somehow 'strengthens' not only the stories but also 'the message'.
However, they're hidden. I doubt if anyone will ever find them or bother...

   In fact, this paragraph in itself is a simple yet essential clue as to how to break my easy, ingenious code. I don't think you will need to be a person with twenty seven degrees to get it right, though. Whatever. All you have to do is try. But do you really care?

On a tangent..what about other writers? Do they do this? Or did they? Without telling?
Anyway, he's a go...on the TIW website...Weekend Quickie 71...
It's here...http://theironwriter.com/weekend-quickie-71/
But also here...:-)


 
Weekend Quickie 71 - Hidden Within

(The feeling of being tired, winter thaw, hamburger patties , armed and dangerous little red riding hood - 250 words)

The winter thaw had begun, with snow melting from trees and small streams of cold, clear water flowing through the waking forest. His stomach growled and clenched.
"Oh, what I'd do for a morsel of meat," he muttered. "I'd even go for a couple of rare, tender hamburger patties." But the hard winter had left him feeling tired.
"Hey!"
Through the naked trees he saw a figure of ruby red.
"What are you doing here?" He saw the flash of red cross his vision and made the decision to run, run as fast as he could.
"You aren't wanted here anymore!"
He knew that voice. A bullet whizzed past his ear.
"The next one'll be your head!"
No place to run…
"You were warned before and now you're back to feel the wrath of my Colt M1911?"
The undergrowth wasn't an option, he had to find help.
"Owooooo!" He listened for a reply to the call as his attacker closed in.
"Owooooo!" A distant, weak answer came forth.
Now the real hunt was on, him on all fours, his assailant two. There was a chance that he might survive this torment, but his hunger grew with every step.
"Don't think you can outrun me, you foul-stinking, flea-ridden old beast!"
Bullets ricocheted off a tree. Without another thought, he dived into the wet, thawing undergrowth, falling through broken branches, spouting plants and rotten leaves.
"Owooooo!" The call was close, strong and clear.
"What the…!" His pursuer screamed. The forest turned red.



..so...did you like the story? 


Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Grudge 13 and Experimental TIW 88...

I'd had enough...so I challenged a fellow TIW writer to a grudge...Grudge 13...The Duel...when it's up I'll call for votes :-) Grrrr!
I also decided to put up my 'experimental' take on TIW Challenge 88...can ya see what I did? It's just an exercise on how far you can go if you really try...hehehehe


TIW C88 - (Richard Russell Challenge) - Experimental Anality

(A bouquet of flowers in a trash can, Draw inspiration from “The Pretender” by Jackson Browne, A critically important secret military message, Encroaching storm clouds)

I did it.
I left that place.
But you never ever do.
It has you in its grip.
From the first moment to the last.
A bouquet of flowers in a trash can.
That was the end of the line.
In the shade of the freeway.
I rented myself a house.
And got a job.
Watching the moon.
Sometimes it’s too much.
But mostly it’s too little.
It will not leave my soul.
It crushes me to think this way.
Though I get up and do it again.
Until the church bells ring and howl.
In the wink of an eye.
And lay my body down.
To the dark night.
Encroaching storm clouds.
They crush my mood.
Make me remember those times.
Destroy my waking hours, my days.
When the morning light comes streaming in.
I want to know what became of her.
I want to know where she is.
Whether she is happy or sad.
Where I can find her.
But am I right?
Do I care?
Do I really hurt?
They were only fitful dreams.
I am aware of all this.
But my heart does not comprehend well.
It struggles in the laughter of lovers new.
Waiting for others to bring a chance.
And take my hopes and dreams.
I wish for a halt.
I am a pretender.
Just a pretender.
With my dark glasses.
Smiling through a deep melancholy.
Sitting, watching those of lesser worries.
Crying through masks that are my face.
Tearing at the world with all my might.
Striking foes of which I couldn’t see.
Contending with what could have been.
I died too many times.
All for one mistake.
A secret message.
An important secret note.
She would be here today.
I would see her smile shine.
Watch her dance the way she did.
Believing in what may lie before it comes.
But optimism falls in the great awakening.
Caught between the longing for love.
Gripped in the last fight.
Dying in my arms.
Out of sight.
And out of mind.
I have become a ghost.
There is little left to say.
Perhaps it will all end too quick.
Or perhaps they will stretch time over time.
Increasing the suffering, the pain and hurt.
Ripping my soul from drying bones.
Cutting my chest open, bleeding.
My heart torn out.
Beating no more.
Waiting for a reason.
In an unreasonable uncaring world.
A world full of selfish images.
Will it end, will it finally stop?
And then all this breathing is too much.
From all this impoverishment comes nothing.
Then there was a knock.
And a silence ensued.
So it begins.
I wait for them.
Those temptations of happy idiotism.
They may come at any time.
I keep a warm drink beside me.
A welcome relief for the lonely broken hearted.
And I say let them come all.
They may take what is left.
And I say let them.
There is no more.
Nothing is left.
I cannot go on.
Though this is a beginning.







Monday, November 17, 2014

My Take on TIW C89 DL Mackenzie Challenge :-)

I haven't written a 'battle' scene for a while...so, here goes :-)
My take on this week's TIW challenge :-)


89 - (DL Mackenzie Challenge) - Vengeance

(4 elements - A Montblanc Fountain Pen, Vengeance, Telekinesis, The Tigris River)

Davis took out the little black box and opened it, revealing the pen. It wasn’t any old pen, it was a Montblanc fountain pen, with its hand-engraved gold nib and iridium tip. But it was still a cheap trinket in comparison to the time and blood lost. Here, on this day, thousands of miles from home and burning in the hot desert temperatures, he saw it for what it was. Nothing. Retirement was sweet but vengeance was sweeter. He dropped the pen in the dust as a few shots zinged by his helmet.
"Alpha Niner, Alpha Niner. Some heat on the top. Heat on the top. Send a present from Santa."
"A-Okay, Roger that, Two-six."
Another ring of shots came dangerously close. The Mosul Dam on the Tigris river, apparantly the third of four rivers which ran from the Garden of Eden, if that could be believed,  was not what Davis had envisioned as his last resting place. He knew that history would call this a Peshmerga and the Iraqi Army operation to retake control of the dam from ISIL militants, but those coalition fighters weren’t worth shit. It was up to himself and a few buddies conscripted for the job. Plus the Flyboys, who flew over and hit the ISIL positions once again with two missiles.
"Alpha Niner, Alpha Niner, thanks for the help."
"Roger that, Two-six. Have a good one."
And they were off, leaving Davis alone on this side of the dam to his thoughts while the place settled from the attack. It was here, in Iraq where he’d lost his foot. Only after 6 months of rehabilitation and 3 months with a prosthetic while sharing a room with a crazy guy who believed he had the power of telekinesis did they finally retire him out. Then the picture came. He’d asked a favour for copies of any satellite surveillance photos showing members of the ISIL, hoping to spot the men who’d held him captive, and he found ’him’. He made a few calls and now, sitting behind a concrete wall on a shitty dam deep in Iraq, he was about to reap his revenge. Those weeks of captivity had all but broken him. They questioned and tortured him, spat and pissed on him, and finally this man, the man whose face he would never forget, cut his foot off. But he told them nothing, absolutely nothing. They would have killed him but for the bombing. One moment a gun was held at his head, the next he was alone with the crumbling room. The ceiling fell in on him and broke his chair, loosening his restraints and he was able to crawl and find a way out. The next thing he remembered was the helicopter, taking him away, back to base.
He heard some shouts and watched six armed men climb out of a doorway. One of them was him, the man, more haggard looking than before but still recognisable. The time for vengeance was now.

Friday, November 14, 2014

My take on TIW Challenge 88 :-)

Finished 'Alice on the Outside-In' and sent it in. I'll know whether it was accepted into the Alice anthology by mid-December.
Another anthology is coming up, the "Desert Bus"...I have a nice little story in there...if it's accepted...
Here's my take on TIW Challenge 88 (the normal take...I also did an 'experimental'...in DS4)


(A bouquet of flowers in a trash can, Draw inspiration from “The Pretender” by Jackson Browne, A critically important secret military message, Encroaching storm clouds)


88 - (Richard Russell Challenge) – The Mission



Years of careful planning, manipulating my contacts, creating double agents, spending well over the budget, living on handouts and favours, and getting my arse kicked from here to Timbuctoo, all for nothing. I had set up the last piece of the puzzle, the last part of a long, suffering mission, to send a message of utmost importance and find out once and for all who was in charge of the Stargate Project. Although publicly thought to have been terminated back in ’95, it had been kept alive by a few fanatics and Head Office wanted answers fast. Though it hadn’t been that fast, heads would roll, namely mine. And what did I have to show for it all? Nothing, absolutely nothing. A critically important military secret message destroyed by some dork who, after breaking up with a girl in the park, threw his soggy wet bouquet of flowers in a trash can! Go figure! I had placed the newspaper around the message in the trash can in the stipulated area of the park as instructed and knew that it would be safe even with the encroaching storm clouds threatening to pour down. But that guy with the flowers! Soaked, completely socked, his bunch of chrysanthemums saturating everything. Ruined. If anyone did pick it up, they wouldn’t be able to read it and send the message on! I watched for hours but no one came. Not even a sighting of some menial player. One broken relationship and my career was down the tubes.
So now what? I couldn’t go back to Head Office empty-handed after all this time. They would deny all knowledge of myself and the mission. They might even try to get rid of me. Best to creep away, go rent myself a house in the shade of the freeway, like the old Jackson Browne song, and go and lay in the sun ’til my days are done, find myself a girl…

"Don’t turn around."
There was a gun in my back. An old trick, observe the observers.
"Tell me the message."
"I don’t know what you’re going on about. Please, take my money and let me go." Never break your cover. I slowly took out my wallet, containing not only my money and cards but also a smoke bomb.
"No, don’t tell me…I…I already know. And don’t open your wallet."
What was this? Was this guy psychic or something?
"Yes. Now. Put your wallet back into your pocket and walk away. Slowly. Don’t turn around."
  "Okay, okay." I did as he asked and started to walk away. Hearing rushed footsteps move away, I turned to catch a glimpse of my assailant. It was the man with the flowers! I ran after him but without looking back he seemed to know I was chasing. I saw him turn a familiar corner and I took a shortcut to cut him off, but he was gone. Disappeared into thin air. My only hope was that my message would get through…but how?



Monday, November 10, 2014

New Interview from Line By Lion Publishing :-)

Well, that's the end of my 'Featured Week' on Line by Lion Publications facebook page...
https://www.facebook.com/LinebyLion
Thank you to them for putting up my stuff (Manna-X, Dani's Shorts 3)
...and here's the interview, if you missed it :-)

And finally, and Question and Answer session with our featured Author, Dani J Caile - Warning, Silliness ahead!

How did you get started writing?
- Someone dropped me on my head when I was a baby and I haven't been the same since.

What drew you to writing in the first place?
- The promise of fame and fortune...see, dropped on my head...

What do you enjoy about writing?
- The endless, excruciating hours alone in front of a computer monitor searching for that one perfect sentence.

What do you do other than writing?
- Sleep.

Favorite Color?
- Mancini.

Favorite Food?
- Trains.

Favorite type of book, or genre of literature?
- Good ones, rare though they may be.

What is your favorite word?
- Remnant.

What is your least favorite word?
- He/She.

What things do you enjoy most?
- Breathing.

What do you enjoy least?
- Not breathing.

What sound or noise do you love?
- The sound of my heart beating.

What sound or noise do you hate?
- The deep resonating vibration of nearby communal heating systems which fry my brain.

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
- Politician...no, wait, I'm a teacher, that means I'm a Politician's puppet. Okay, then policeman...no, wait, that means I'm a Politician's puppet...etc

What profession would you not like to do?
- Teacher.

Saturday, November 8, 2014

Trouble in Hungary...Capitalism?

Thought there was a better way to say this....but this is good, too....

This link is a joke about Capitalism...go and look...and then come back and read this version of 'Hungarian Capitalism' below...just a few things which have happened recently...remember to come back and read :-)

http://www.tickld.com/x/capitalism-explained-this-is-so-accurate-it-hurts


Hungarian Capitalism: You have two cows. You say the Socialists killed the other four and the people believe you. You create a Special Task Force who will do anything you say and 'take out' anyone you feel is not working 'for the greater good of the country'. You take control of the Media, replace all positions of power with your own people and increase taxes on anything from text messages to internet, take people's private pensions to pay for state pensions, close schools for 'special needs' children and integrate them into mainstream education, cut the Education budget by 25%, increase money to Sports by 25%, build a huge very expensive and fancy useless football stadium in the tiny village you were born in and piss off the EU with your taunts and policies. When there are shouts from the USA of corruption within the Hungarian Tax Office, you send your Special Task Force to 'clean up' the place, leaving no trace of evidence. When hundreds of thousands of demonstrators against the new Internet Tax force you to cancel that idea, one of the successful demonstration organisers with a history of suicide mysteriously dies under a speeding train. You finally sell your two cows to the Russians, asking for a massive loan to buy ten more from them, and tell the people that due to pressure from the USA and the EU, you have asked the Russians to come back into Hungary, after 25 years of 'freedom', to protect your cows (which you no longer have).

Oh yeah, and monitor Facebook for any posts like this one!!!! 
They'll be knocking on my door soon...



Wednesday, November 5, 2014

Won Challenge 86! :-) "Motion in the Potion"

Oh my, that Scallywag really has a go when they want to...check out their latest post on the TIW blog...http://writingstylesandtips.wordpress.com/2014/10/31/newsflash-attack-of-the-chinese-chickens/

And...I won! Yes, Challenge 86! I won with my Batman story! Strange how it all happened, I was put 2nd and I asked for some feedback from the judges as to what the problem was with one of my best stories in the last 6 months...and 2 of them came back saying they'd put me in 1st place...contrary to what the Judges Excel spreadsheet said...so I sent a message...and the mistake was corrected :-)
One more wonderful DJC story in the TIW2 anthology :-)

"Tales from Darker Places", the 'Halloween' anthology is going strong on Amazon :-)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ODS3HQY
Although I think it's still free on Lulu.com....gotta check that...here it is :-)
http://www.lulu.com/shop/the-indie-collaboration/the-indie-collaboration-presents-tales-from-darker-places-a-chilling-horror-anthology/ebook/product-21850137.html

My freebies are moving along on Smashwords.com, Dani's Shorts 3 is almost at 200 downloads, whereas 1+2 are almost at 500 :-)

The Steampunk anthology "Circuits & Steam" is selling well, just got a nice royalty cheque from that one :-)

And sold a few ebooks in the last 30 days :-)
For example, 'Bethlehem Fiasco' on Amazon.com Australia is now #26,765 Paid in Kindle Store


There's an 'Alice in Wonderland' anthology thing going on, I have 2 weeks to hand in something, gthen wait 1 month to see if my story is chosen...written only 150 words so far, though (of 4000)...!!!

All going well...kinda...:-)

When I'm gonna write another novel, I have no idea...one is brewing...
('How to build a castle' is still waiting for a cover...)

Featured Author over at LineByLion :-)

Wow! It's so great to be connected to a publisher :-)
Yes, this week I'm the 'featured author'!!!
So far they've shown my Bio, 'Manna-X'....maybe later they'll show my interview :-)
Here it is...https://www.facebook.com/LinebyLion

Working on that Alice thing, called it 'Alice on the Outside-In'...I'm at 2500 of the 4000 words, but it also needs editing, etc...only 10 days left to hand it in!! Will I make it??