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Tuesday, October 14, 2014
Thursday, October 09, 2014
Hot Deals!
I'm having a Kindle Countdown deal on GRAMMAR SLAMMER, my book about how to deal with all those annoying grammar points students pester you with:
It'll be available here on Amazon for 99 cents for a few days, then the price goes up to $1.99 and then $2.99 and so forth.
Now I'm also trying out my own e-book store at e-junkie (off-putting name though it is, it seems to work well.) I'm offering a special deal there, also, if you haven't read my first two memoirs yet -- you can buy both TO TRAVEL HOPELESSLY and VODKABERG in PDF and EPUB formats for only $5. A savings of,like 20 percent of something. (You have to use Paypal.)
SPECIAL DEAL -- TO TRAVEL HOPELESSLY + VODKABERG only $5 HERE.
And now you can get my latest memoir REQUIEM FOR A VAGABOND as a paperback:
Buy it HERE as a paperback at Createspace
(Or, of course, you're welcome to get it HERE on Amazon as an e-book.)
(I would of course be happy to toss in REQUIEM FOR A VAGABOND into the bundle, so you could read the whole Burnout Trilogy, but it is currently enrolled in KDP Select, which means I can't sell it anywhere else other than Amazon. They did in fact block my account once for playing fast and loose with KDP Select, so of course I have to keep my Corporate Overlords happy.)
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Big Time!
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #63,542 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #3 in Books > Travel > Specialty Travel > Senior Travel
- #10 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Travel > Middle East
- #20 in Books > Travel > Middle East > General
- This is it baby! The big time! My latest memoir has reached #3 in SENIOR TRAVEL!
I'd like to thank all the little people, who allowed me to rise to these stupendous heights with appreciation of my awesomeness.
BUY IT NOW AND LET'S GET ETX TO #1 IN SENIOR TRAVEL!
Get it HERE on Amazon US / HERE on Amazon UK / Get it HERE on Amazon CA
Get it HERE on Amazon AU
A few songs I listened to while I was writing it, to get you in the proper mood:
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
REQUIEM FOR A VAGABOND Available Now as an E-Book on Amazon
All right, my latest memoir, the third book in my "burnout trilogy," REQUIEM FOR A VAGABOND is currently available as an e-book on Amazon. It highlights the last five years, most of which I spent in the Middle East, and my Girlfriend Experience.
Get it HERE on Amazon US / HERE on Amazon UK / Get it HERE on Amazon CA
The blurb:
"A funny thing happened to me, when I moved to the strictest Islamic country on earth, shortly after my 40th birthday, my life stripped of drugs, alcohol and women: I felt happy."
In middle age, English Teacher X makes a major life change: He leaves behind a life of debauchery, darkness, drunkenness and devoshki in Russia, and takes a job in the strictest Islamic Kingdom in the Middle East.
His life suddenly full of sunshine, sand, sobriety, and an adult-type salary, he also unexpectedly finds himself in a long-distance relationship with a sweet and loyal yet oh-so-stubborn and provincial Russian girl. With plenty of money and a new optimism, finally it seems that a "normal life" is within his grasp...
However, things rarely run smoothly in the world according to ETX, and he soon finds himself adrift again, returning for the first time in many years to his homeland, a very troubled, and sick America, with a new career as an independent author of "erotica" and an untoward yet timely interest in survivalism.
More alienated than ever and haunted at the image of being the oldest guy in the club or one of the younger guys at the whorehouse, X bounces around exotic destinations (including Cyprus, Costa Rica, and return visits to his old home of Vodkaberg in Russia) and struggles to find a place for himself in a rapidly changing world.
But a new high-paying job in the Middle East looms, which might be the best thing that ever happened to him ... or the worst ...
Packed with eccentric English teachers of all ages and plenty of sexy-but-difficult Russian women, set against a backdrop of the Arab Spring and the Mayan Apocalypse, X's latest memoir is another dystopian look at the profession of TEFL, expat life, and the myth that travel broadens the mind.
WARNING! Contains bad language, graphic content, middle-aged white guy angst, and a complete lack of authentic cultural experiences..
* * *
The beta readers I used were a bit divided in their reaction to this, which is essentially of course focused on getting older. One said he liked it better than VODKABERG in that it was more varied, and that it was my "most optimistic" book, while another found it "considerably more racist and misogynistic" than my other books. Hey, an artist has to grow, right?
It's about 100,000 words vs. 50,000 words for my first memoir, TO TRAVEL HOPELESSLY and 120,000 words for my second memoir VODKABERG, and features return appearances by numerous characters from VODKABERG, including Crazy Bob and Pterodactyl Girl (and the city itself.)
My original plan was to have a middle section with all my backpacking and youthful adventures; that didn't happen, as I ended up writing more about my 2012- 2013 sojourn in America and my friends and family there. The youthful adventures will be a next, separate book, I guess.
Despite the author mostly being sober and isolated and / or hitched up the last five years, I hope there are enough whacked-out colleagues and entertaining bad behaviors (mine and other people's) and slutty Russian chicks (a half-dozen or so) in there to hold most people's attention despite the general theme of entropy, failure, impotence, illness, and death.
Enjoy!
(It's on sale now for the full price -- $3.99 -- but I'll be having a countdown promotion the week before Halloween, so if you can wait, you can get it for 99 cents. I'd start it like that now, but Amazon won't let me. You can get it free in that Kindle Unlimited deal, also, And hell if you really can't pony up $3.99 just e-mail me and I'll give you one.)
Get it HERE on Amazon US / HERE on Amazon UK / Get it HERE on Amazon CA
The blurb:
"A funny thing happened to me, when I moved to the strictest Islamic country on earth, shortly after my 40th birthday, my life stripped of drugs, alcohol and women: I felt happy."
In middle age, English Teacher X makes a major life change: He leaves behind a life of debauchery, darkness, drunkenness and devoshki in Russia, and takes a job in the strictest Islamic Kingdom in the Middle East.
His life suddenly full of sunshine, sand, sobriety, and an adult-type salary, he also unexpectedly finds himself in a long-distance relationship with a sweet and loyal yet oh-so-stubborn and provincial Russian girl. With plenty of money and a new optimism, finally it seems that a "normal life" is within his grasp...
However, things rarely run smoothly in the world according to ETX, and he soon finds himself adrift again, returning for the first time in many years to his homeland, a very troubled, and sick America, with a new career as an independent author of "erotica" and an untoward yet timely interest in survivalism.
More alienated than ever and haunted at the image of being the oldest guy in the club or one of the younger guys at the whorehouse, X bounces around exotic destinations (including Cyprus, Costa Rica, and return visits to his old home of Vodkaberg in Russia) and struggles to find a place for himself in a rapidly changing world.
But a new high-paying job in the Middle East looms, which might be the best thing that ever happened to him ... or the worst ...
Packed with eccentric English teachers of all ages and plenty of sexy-but-difficult Russian women, set against a backdrop of the Arab Spring and the Mayan Apocalypse, X's latest memoir is another dystopian look at the profession of TEFL, expat life, and the myth that travel broadens the mind.
WARNING! Contains bad language, graphic content, middle-aged white guy angst, and a complete lack of authentic cultural experiences..
* * *
The beta readers I used were a bit divided in their reaction to this, which is essentially of course focused on getting older. One said he liked it better than VODKABERG in that it was more varied, and that it was my "most optimistic" book, while another found it "considerably more racist and misogynistic" than my other books. Hey, an artist has to grow, right?
It's about 100,000 words vs. 50,000 words for my first memoir, TO TRAVEL HOPELESSLY and 120,000 words for my second memoir VODKABERG, and features return appearances by numerous characters from VODKABERG, including Crazy Bob and Pterodactyl Girl (and the city itself.)
My original plan was to have a middle section with all my backpacking and youthful adventures; that didn't happen, as I ended up writing more about my 2012- 2013 sojourn in America and my friends and family there. The youthful adventures will be a next, separate book, I guess.
Despite the author mostly being sober and isolated and / or hitched up the last five years, I hope there are enough whacked-out colleagues and entertaining bad behaviors (mine and other people's) and slutty Russian chicks (a half-dozen or so) in there to hold most people's attention despite the general theme of entropy, failure, impotence, illness, and death.
Enjoy!
(It's on sale now for the full price -- $3.99 -- but I'll be having a countdown promotion the week before Halloween, so if you can wait, you can get it for 99 cents. I'd start it like that now, but Amazon won't let me. You can get it free in that Kindle Unlimited deal, also, And hell if you really can't pony up $3.99 just e-mail me and I'll give you one.)
Friday, September 19, 2014
Saturday, September 13, 2014
Survive!
Often ,when I was out traveling the world and banging hot international babes, I wished I was an alpha male.
It was an amazing experience -- albeit an expensive one -- and anybody who thinks that hippies are unathletic or helpless needs to check out these people -- they run up and down the mountains in sandals with the agility and stamina of billy goats.
And our highly competent, tireless, and self-sufficient "alpha" head instructor?
A 31 year old female.
ME! Positive and enthusiastic!
What do you think about THAT?
You know, a REAL alpha male -- a guy with practical skills and knowledge; a reliable, responsible, trustworthy protector and provider. Not some doofus that all the guys in the gym and all the sluts in the club look up to because they never had good father figures.
To that end, I started taking a variety of survival training,programs a few years ago; the last one was a SERE course where I spent the night sleeping under a fallen tree in the hail after being pepper sprayed and tasered and interrogated.
(I probably could have hired a dominatrix to give me the same experience more enjoyably; perhaps that's a project for another time.)
So anyway, I just finished what will probably be the swansong of my survival courses -- a seven-day survival hike in the mountains and canyons of Utah. (For once I will link to the company.) It was more of a hippie "primitive living" style thing, not the paramilitary themed stuff I did previously.
We hiked more than ten miles a day (on average) through spectacular scenery -- pine forests, sage brush fields, mountains and canyons -- and ate nothing but berries and plants for the first 30 hours. We drank river water, though we did treat it with Aqua Mira drops. We slept under improvised shelters made from rain ponchos and wool blankets and paracord, and started our own fires with bow drills.
(I probably could have hired a dominatrix to give me the same experience more enjoyably; perhaps that's a project for another time.)
So anyway, I just finished what will probably be the swansong of my survival courses -- a seven-day survival hike in the mountains and canyons of Utah. (For once I will link to the company.) It was more of a hippie "primitive living" style thing, not the paramilitary themed stuff I did previously.
 |
| I walked across this entire canyon. Seriously. |
 |
We hiked more than ten miles a day (on average) through spectacular scenery -- pine forests, sage brush fields, mountains and canyons -- and ate nothing but berries and plants for the first 30 hours. We drank river water, though we did treat it with Aqua Mira drops. We slept under improvised shelters made from rain ponchos and wool blankets and paracord, and started our own fires with bow drills.
It was an amazing experience -- albeit an expensive one -- and anybody who thinks that hippies are unathletic or helpless needs to check out these people -- they run up and down the mountains in sandals with the agility and stamina of billy goats.
And our highly competent, tireless, and self-sufficient "alpha" head instructor?
A 31 year old female.
Did it make me feel more "alpha?" Well, I suppose so -- thinking you can do something and knowing you can do something like that is not necessarily a profound difference, but it is a difference.
And on the last day during the graduation ceremony, the other students had to say which positive things we liked about each other -- and about me it was said, "X was always positive and enthusiastic about everything, and always seemed to be living in the moment and reminding everybody how beautiful everything around us was."
ME! Positive and enthusiastic!
What do you think about THAT?
But of course, all that living-in-the-moment stuff disappears pretty quickly once you get down from the mountain . . .
Tomorrow: heading off to Marmaris,Turkey to meet the refuses-to-be-ex-Girlfriend. The next memoir is getting a final polish and will be available in the next week or two.
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