Short Story for April - Market Forces

next story is up  on  smashwords:  I wrote it while living  in  London in  106 St Georges Rd, opposite the Imperial War Museum. An uncle had lectureed me about his fears of flooding, especially south of the river, and he was particularly disturbed by the fact that it was a basement flat. Anyway, his worries affected me.

I was also involved in telesales and publishing. It was an eye opener and made me realise how awful the '80s were, how greedy they were and sadly, its only got worse.
I have tried to de-80s it a bit. maybe wrongly.

March's story is now up  on Amazon: The Birth of Barley-boy. I sort of remember writing  it. I was 19 and had just read Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons. The plan had been to write a book, and this was the first chapter. I wrote 9 or 10 chapters in all but stopped as i had lost the plot.
The problem was that after my first story ( a short book , 50,000 words, The Felix Tale) i thought that instead of having  a very fixed plot in  my head, that it would be more fun to write with only a vague idea of what the end should be and that that would  leave me very free with how to get there. The problem was that it just to too out of control: i lost the plot.
I thought for a few days that i could write it backwards - i knew the ending and therefore i could write the last chapter and then the one before. But that was just stupid. So i stopped and wrote the second Felix Tale (also a short book - 50,000 words or so).
So, i then showed this to a cousin, and he said that this first chapter was great and that i should forget the rest. So there you  have it: The Birth of Barley-boy.
Also available at Smashwords .

Bored - story for february

so, it was so much easier this time getting  it acepted on  Smashwords - first time in  fact. For some reason it took 2 goes to get on  amazon. not sure why, i cut and pasted into the Carp Pond story so it should have all been pretty well the same...

On Smashwords here the story is available in many more useful formats.

Since putting bored up it got a noticeable immediate bunch of views. I suppose because the 'Murder Mystery' category is more popular. no sales yet.

There has been a slight complication to this whole 12 stories in  12 months. I got it into my head to also release a  tune for each story, and a video. And the video is completely nightmarish. its done but it won't render. or it will render but only if i break it up  into parts, and those parts keep getting  smaller and smaller as i get closer to the end. its a bit like infinity - will i ever reach the end??

The Carp Pond available in all formats at Smashwords

The Carp Pond is now available at Smashwords in all sorts of formats - for those who cannot cope with Kindle, iStuff or Nook: The Carp Pond at Smashwords.
Goodness knows when it will be arriving  at the other stores - itunes, Barnes and Noble, Kobo and Sony but i suppose at some point this month.

Will it be before the next story appears - i have no idea.

First Story: The Carp Pond is up and here's the plan

SO, the first paragraph could be better i feel but the first short story The Carp Pond by TWG Fraser is up, at least on  Amazon so far, others will follow:


So, i would be lovely if you  could buy it and review it.

Reviews
It seems that short stories are quite popular. So to get some reviews could help push it up  the ratings in  its given genre and then maybe i could get a sale from an unknown person!

Which would of course be incredible.

Good bad reviews: 'i hated it but if you  like Enid Blyton then this is for you' is great compared to bad good reviews: 'This is my brother, its great.' So please, if you  can't write a good review (which i completely understand could be difficult), do please write a good bad one. 20 reviews, good or bad, does imply sales of many more - thus popularity!

The Plan
The plan is this: try to put up  12 stories over the next 12 months, perhaps finishing and coinciding  with my 50th birthday in February 2014.

I am not sure if i have 12 stories. Here's what i think i have:

1. Jan 2013: The Carp Pond
2. Feb: Bored
3. Mar: Imperial Ends
4. April: The Birth of Barley Boy
5. May: The Prussian Story
6. June: Market Forces
7. July: hmmm  not sure
8. August: Unwritten - L. O. S. T.
9. September: Unwritten - How I stopped the English invasion of Scotland
10. October: The Tears of Winter (not sure this is such a good title tough it is a fairy tale)
11. November: The Felix Tale I
12. December: The Felix Tale II

And in  fact this all comes together as the Felix Tales.

The DayDream
As a professional day dreamer here's the plan. Kickstarter the printed version - softback, hardback, woodcuts, readings etc... next year.

Help
Well, obviously, reviews would be great. If anyway would like to help editing  these  things that would be great.

Anyway, thanks and good luck.
tom