and the next day

Ellie is still not here. She avoided the Friday 13th birthday and hopefully she will make her appearance later today.

It has been raining after a sunny week. Somebody in Europe has won the big Euro lottery so it's our turn to shake our fists and growl in their direction.

The book viral people have just sent an email -"we aren't posting reviews on Amazon or Goodreads any more" which was the only reason I joined them. Still got one good review. How sincere it was I don't know but at least it's external and not from the family.

Twitter. I'm wondering how to sort the genuine interest from the 'sales hullabaloo'

I am exhorted to buy Twitter followers. I did one mutual backscratch where the guy said,  'Download my 99c Kindle and I'll get you to all my followers 232,000'

Nonsense. I did his review and nothing happened. I wrote something nice about a chapter (which btw, I thought was crap)...

Where are we today?

My daughter Lucy is in the maternity ward somewhere in Manchester. Ellie, my granddaughter, whahey! simply refuses to get a move on and will require some incentive. It is Friday 13th June 2014 so nobody wants to force that one. Not really superstitious but would you walk under a ladder with a guy with a pot of paint up there? No.

How's the book coming along? I'd like to say very well but I'm an impatient sod..come on! Ridley! Get it on film! FFS! Or the bloke who did Batman..

No, Twitter followers are mounting (at 519 today) hardly viral, barely a sneeze really. The publisher bloke tells me off for my impatience and wary dread of trooping round book shops. Wanna stock my book? No, we're full. Apparently I have the wrong attitude - I'm not selling a story, I'm selling me. Sell that and the book sales follow. Hum. What if I don't want to be sold? I emailed all of the Waterstones that the PR guy contacted. 1 reply and they, my heroes at Waterstones Leicester, have asked me to do a book signing in July. The Peterborough branch said wait, we've had signings, people just walk past them and ignore them. Another said they'd had a minor celebrity who sat on his ass all day getting more and more depressed. I am told not to listen to this negativity. I do remember as a salesman, the differences between positive and negative and fantasy and reality which swing on two wheels in the air and when positive and fantasy coincide - well you know the rest.

Highlight of the week is BookViral's review. I reproduce it here:

Posing an enthralling and harrowing apocalyptic vision The Quiet Government Men is the debut novel from author Chris Cauwood and it makes for a thought provoking read. First impressions are strong with Cauwood setting tone and tenor for an easy flow of events, revelations, character development and execution of an intricate and intriguing plot. This is no trite post-apocalyptic world that Cauwood creates and as his narrative progresses it becomes increasingly clear that there is much more to this novel than first appears. Too many novels pay superficial deference to originality and it is always refreshing to find a writer who demonstrates diversity in thought and execution, whilst avoiding the pitfalls of overt imitation. Cauwood certainly sets himself apart with his chilling dystopian undertones and with a well-considered cast of characters he brings notable depth to his tale.

 

An intriguing and entertaining debut, The Quiet Government Men is sure to attract a host of followers for author Chris Cauwood and is certainly deserving of your attention. It is definitely recommended.

I hesitate to use the term

I hesitate to use the term which covers 'it's all going to go badly wrong' because the media have got hold of it and are boring people to death - same as they do with celebrities, politics and whatever they see as of interest to the public...

I'm not sure if it will go wrong myself. Nobody is. I read, by a significant Met Office lady, that the fight is on; that some scientists who dare to disagree with their fanatical colleagues are being shoved out of and from committees for reporting the truth.

I would start a neighbourhood watch vigilante group against such people and those who scratch 4 x 4 vehicles and spit in open Ferraris - narrow minded, mean spirited, vicious vacuous petty morons.

Rant over, I do love what is happening around the world with sustainables and alternative materials. Look at this in China and Japan.

Someone loves their planet

Look at this and this ⇧ and this ⇓

⤶

Or this. I can't find who did this...

or this

If you're saying, 'I don't like it, I'm not living like that, I want to live near me mam.'

Well, just maybe you're gonna get wet...

Why? What's it all about?

Easier to point you to www.governmentmen.com Please return when you've had a look.

So you came back. Obviously a discriminating person without limited attention span. Or...you didn't go and look and now I'm suspicious - of what you will make of the following...

Now you're back

Quiet Government Men. Well, Men and Women of course but it makes for a clumsy title and I imagine seeing 'Men" and 'Women' in the same sentence implies a different dynamic. Perhaps it should be called Quiet Government People? Nah! It stays. Perhaps another story 'The Quiet Government Women' when I've got this one going.

Quiet and Government in the same sentence? Depends on your attitude to the term government. Could be a sinister interpretation - and perhaps, should you care to read it - available at Waterstones, Walkers of Stamford and of course UK and International Amazon - perhaps it damn well is.

Anyway the women in the story are not sinister but some of the men are.

That's that cleared up.

Climate Change. It is the driving force behind the story. Nobody listened, they went down the pub, watched football, soap, X Factor and just got on with it. No point fretting about something that may never happen. Eddie Izzard had a piece where James Mason and friends visit Transylvania en route for Count Dracula's castle. They stop at an inn where the locals, all speaking in Devon accents, tell him, 'Don't go up there! Stay safe down here!' whereupon JM says 'OK but if we stay here there wouldn't be a story...'

So we've got Hurricane Noah, a super storm, maybe even a 'Hypercane"  and somehow sea levels rise so quickly we are all caught off guard.

[google or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercane]

Floods in Somerset last winter. Localized and there were emergency services and community spirit to help but what if the flooding were much much worse?

Well, everyone complains about the interfering nanny state. Usually the same people who say 'What's the government doing about all this?'

Here begins the series of what ifs

What if the government were dead - all central direction gone to ratsh** ?

Imagine the power's gone off
 Sewage spreading disease
 Food distribution in chaos
 Low ground under 20 metres + of seawater
 Crops
 Livestock
 Phones cut off
 Mobiles dead
No internet
 Inconvenient or what?

At the same time a mother of all storms grounding all aircraft, sinking ships, multiple deadly lightning strikes...?

Now, what if there were a privately funded organization quietly preparing? Who foresaw the barbarism and social breakdown; an end to the world of culture, education and knowledge gained so far?

That's my attention span [ + domestic duties reminders shhh ] for today