Fantasy & Reality
Among a recent donation of books to my curbside enterprise was The Other Side of Gold by Alexander Jacobs. Obviously fantasy, I was uncertain whether it was geared to kids, so I looked inside and discovered it was likely self-published. Since nearly all of my 13 books are self-published, I decided to give Jacobs’ work a shot, although I’m not a fan of the genre. Published in 2012 through Amazon affiliate CreateSpace, now KDP, it is the story of a twelve-year-old male living in a world where everyone is controlled by an implant, a gold leaf. Somehow he is not affected. He is forced into training to become a soldier. He meets people who want change, and helps. The narrative includes elements such as flying trees, witches, telepathic communication, etc.. Although a bit overwritten, the prose and dialogue are solid and there aren’t any more errors in the text than in many books produced by regular publishers. 16 users at Amazon have rated the novel, forging to an impressive consensus of 4.7 on a scale of five. I rate it three. I’m more interested in the writer than his work. To my chagrin, I was unable to find a bio, but his website lists a follow up to his first effort, The Ethereal Hand, and he may be working on another. And in a blog about writer’s block at the site, there is a picture of him, I assume, a handsome young man who seems in his 20’s. I’ll include it below. I wonder how old he was when he wrote The Other Side of Gold. As for sales, the ranking of each novel is in the six million range. Keep in mind that there are probably 10 million original titles listed at Jeff Bezos’ behemoth. If all editions of books were included, that total may now be 20 million. Anyway, well done, young man. He is offering both editions free at his website: AJWRITING.COM
Lead headline at nypost.com cites a surprising circumstance in the Big Apple liberal bastion: “Nancy Pelosi booed in appearance at NYC’s Global Citizen music festival.” Great, but her constituents would probably re-elect her by a wide margin. Many deem other leaders, not their own, as the problem.
On top of the protests, more good news on Iran, NYP headline: “Elon Musk opening up Starlink in Iran.” Throwing the mullahs out seems like an impossible task, but you never know.
And in Vladville, headline from foxnews.com: “Thousands of Russians arrested while protesting Putin.”
Things worked out nicely for the floating book shop today, from parking to sales to the rain holding off to the availability of a parking spot at my regular nook for tomorrow’s session. My thanks to the kind folks who bought. Here’s what sold between farts: Power Sleep: The Revolutionary Program That Prepares Your Mind for Peak Performance by James B. Maas, Megan L. Wherry, et al.; Why Can’t I Be Me?: Understanding How Personality Type Affects Emotional Healing, Relationships, and Spiritual Growth by Mark A. Pearson; Hand Me Down Dreams: How Families Influence Our Career Paths and How We Can Reclaim Them by Mary H. Jacobsen; Career Recharge: Five Strategies to Boost Resilience and Beat Burnout by Beth Benatti Kennedy; American Gods by Neil Gaiman; Theodore Boone by John Grisham; The Melody Lingers On by Mary Higgins Clark; two books in the Minecraft series; five installments of The Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney; Love: A Fruit Always in Season by Mother Teresa of Calcutta and Dorothy S Hunt; The Peanuts’ Guide To Life by Charles M. Schulz, Bill Cosby, et al.; Please Understand Me II: Temperament, Character, Intelligence by David Keirsey. I am blessed.
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