What happened to Victor after he escaped in Rozafa’s Secrets?

Victor managed to escape the communists in Albania, the repressive government of the German Democratic Republic and the Russian KGB stationed in the GDR so even though he is 40 years older he never lost his ability to adapt, endure and escape.

Victor is coming

Spring of 2019

Short of a major catastrophe it will be hitting the streets in the next few days both print and Kindle. Due to some technical difficulties in getting my internet hooked up my own page will be the last to be updated with this books links. Sorry, but I am working out of my favorite pub right now and in Casperia, Italy, Al Solito Posto. They were kind enough to loan me a table on a busy day to submit my over due manuscript. Salvatore and his wife are great people. It doesn’t look busy when I took this picture, but it was when I came in a couple of hours ago and it will be again about 10PM when the crowd returns. Happening little town Casperia.

My books will be available on Amazon.com and here in three days!!!

Thanks for stopping by,

See ya at the Forge!

Vince

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Due to some technical difficulties my release has been delayed, but! The good news is things have started to move forward again. My proof required some formatting adjustments and they are being reviewed by the printing gurus now. So it shan’t be long.

Back cover

The Perception of Culture

    Ever wonder what it really means when they say a city has so much culture? I have and have thought about it a lot. Textbook definition culture of Dictionary.com:

1. the quality in a person or society that arises from a concern for what is regarded as excellent in arts, letters, manners, scholarly pursuits, etc.

2. that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc.

3. a particular form or stage of civilization, as that of a certain nation or period: Greek culture.

   Ah, so that’s what it means, but is that what people really mean when they say, such and such city has so much culture? I think more than anything they simply mean there are more people and there are opportunities to do more things. Isn’t it the same?

   I grew up in New York City. If you were to ask a Manhattanite they would tell you I lived on Mars because I grew up in Queens, on the North side at that, so I might as well be living on Long Island. Most Manhattanites think much of themselves and I guess in a way they should for putting up with all the hassles of living in Manhattan, but what do I know of such a worldly place. Okay, don’t get your danders (sic) up, you know it’s true.

   I use Manhattan as an example because I often hear the culture remark in my travels always by a native living in one city referring to another. Usually it comes right after the infamous line “There’s nothing to do here.” Maybe you have heard that one. I can remember saying it often when I was growing up and I had the best of many worlds right at my fingertips: Australia, China, Japan, Europe, Africa and South America, it was all there. I only had to hop on a bus or train and it would take me to a place that I could see those worlds, eat their foods and experience some of what those places are like. But I didn’t do that, I hung around the school yard playing Chinese handball, blackball, stickball, basketball, chasing squirrels and rats in the woods of Kissena Park or skipping stones in Kissena Lake. It was terrible, there was nothing to do!

   Growing a bit older I ventured out and hung around with my friends in the local taverns chasing women, imbibing too much too often and there were only about 300 such establishments within a 30 minute walk from my house, call it 40 on a slow day. Still the cry would come, “There is nothing to do!”

   Having travelled the world for over 40 years now I have heard that said in many languages, it is what propels, I believe, people to a wanderlust or at the very least to move to a new city in the hopes of finding something to do. Most people refer to it as a city having more culture.  When I was young I always thought “Culture” meant a different lifestyle and a different way of doing things. Today I find it pretty much means the same thing all over: a city with restaurants, movie theaters and other amenities that allow us to get out of our houses, embellish our lives or in some cases distract us from our lives. I believe it is the grass is greener syndrome stated in another way.

   So how is your city or town’s culture? Are you helping to increase that which is excellent in the arts, manners, etc., or is there just nothing to do in your town?

I want to thank you for stopping by and of course all my books are available here on my site and Amazon and other popular book sites online.

See ya at the Forge!

Vince

 

HEALTH AND PROSPERITY TO ALL THROUGHOUT THE

NEW YEAR!!!

   Thank you for all your support throughout 2017, I look forward to seeing you in 2018.

See ya at the Forge!!!

Vince

PS: Derrick’s Deaths continues to come along nicely and will be ready for it’s Spring release.

 

Hi Everyone!   

I secured my 1^st National Novel Writing Month win! And the crowd roars – I turned in over 52,000 words. It was an interesting exercise and I would recommend it for anyone who is writing.

So what did I win! I got this nifty certificate and the opportunity to take advantage of several discounts not available anywhere else at this time.  

I used the Scrivener compile function for the first time and there are things I like and don’t like, but I will see if it is just my ignorance of the system before I make up my mind. It was a lot easier creating a word doc then copy and pasting everything.

I have 52,246 on Scrivener and NaNoMoWriMo has 52,204. I have no idea why there is a difference, but in this instance it doesn’t matter.

Did I learn anything? My process works for me. I didn’t really get “Writer’s Block”. I took breaks, created mental distractions, walks, etc. and I didn’t write every day.  Some days I wrote less than my goal and others I wrote significantly more and I am okay with that. There were days that I could have made myself write more, but I could see where meeting the end goal was going to happen so I wasn’t worried.  

My official certificate allows another bragging right; “Veni, vidi, vici”, I came, I saw, I conquered.

 Fanni, Jennifer and Josh will have to patiently wait their turn. Derrick Garraghan and Katherine Culver have waited theirs and are bursting to get to their second round. It is a little strange not finishing the project, but this part of the learning curve that I expected and will let you know how this portion goes later on. So as of right now I have three works in progress with Derrick’s Deaths leading the parade.

 

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  

See ya at the Forge!

Vince