After the Apocalypse

With Coronavirus cases now over 750,000 worldwide, deaths over 36,000, and many areas of the US and the world under stay at home orders or lockdown, it might seem like we are experiencing the Apocalypse.

Of course, as I pointed out last week, the Coronavirus while dangerous is nowhere near as deadly as the Spanish Flu of 1918. That bug was killing a million people a week and did so for 25 straight weeks.

But no one today remembers the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 102 years ago.

For that matter, no one remembers the Hong Kong Flu Pandemic of 1968, which killed from one to four million people worldwide. Nor does anyone remember the Asian Flu Pandemic of 1957, which also originated in China, and went on to kill from one to four million people worldwide.

Will Coronavirus be as bad as those flu pandemics? At this stage, we don’t know. Sure experts make guesses — and I emphasize guesses — but even the experts don’t really know. No one will until it’s all over.

Pandemics are a staple in the post-apocalyptic writer’s arsenal of weapons available to wipe out humanity.

However, will a pandemic actually do so? That’s debatable. The Black Death, the most deadly disease to hit the Western world, wiped out 60% of Europe’s population — yet civilization marched on.

Personally, I don’t think a pandemic will be the end of the world as we know it. Not unless the bug that causes it is so foreign and fast acting that we won’t be able to respond in time. Something like the Andromeda Strain.

Be that as it may, pandemics have wiped out humanity in fiction many times over. There are those classics such as Earth Abides by George R Stewart, Empty World by John Christopher, I Am Legend by Richard Matheson, Terry Nation’s TV series and book Survivors, Mary Shelley’s The Last Man, and The Stand by Stephen King.

Indie authors have also jumped on the pandemic bandwagon. Authors such as AJ Newman, Ryan Casey, and AG Riddle.

But as you know, if you are a reader of this blog, I eschew bestsellers. IMO, they usually fail to live up to the hype.

Thus far, I’d have to say the most realistic post-apocalyptic pandemic novels I’ve read are those from the pen of Matthew Cormack.

If you’ve never heard of Matthew Cormack, that’s not surprising. He rather avoids the limelight. He labels himself a “Sunday writer”.

I ran across Mr Cormack in a Facebook writer’s group, where I was looking for some books to read. He offered his book Don’t Dream It’s Over. I read it and loved it. I mean I LOVED IT!!!

Matthew Cormack’s superb world building and very human characters and very realistic situations are what won the day for me.

Don’t Dream It’s Over is the initial novel set in the post-apocalyptic world of the Piranha Pandemic. Don’t Dream was followed by Ganbaru, and the just released The Piranha Pandemic: From Small Acorns… (which I’m very much looking forward to reading).

While the 3 novels are set in the same universe, each one is a standalone work.

Cormack writes about people. His books aren’t prepper manuals, or EMP exercises. They are books about people and how they act under extreme duress. His characters and the situations they get into are very real. These are people who could be your next door neighbor or your relatives.

If Coronavirus were to wipe out most of us who are breathing today, I think the world left behind would be very much like the one Matthew Cormack has created.

Next week, I’ll go into a bit more detail about the books themselves.

In the meantime, they’re only 99¢ each. Surely 3 bucks isn’t too much for some truly top-notch experiences in a world that might be. Experiences that will make you sit back and say, “Thank God I live in this world and not that one.”

Here are the links to the books:

Don’t Dream It’s Over

Ganbaru

The Piranha Pandemic: From Small Acorns…

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

Panic

I’ve been watching the current panic, and in some quarters, hysteria, over the coronavirus pandemic. Being retired and a homebody, the quarantine measures don’t affect me much at all. I do what I’ve done now for years: write, read, manage my book marketing, watch a little TV, play a game. Oh, I mustn’t forget eating and sleeping — I do those, as well.

That we are in the midst of a pandemic is evident from the more or less worldwide spread of this new virus strain from China.

But, then, we must consider flu — the ordinary flu — a pandemic that occurs every year and we don’t get into much of a flap about it, do we now? And in any given year the flu affects a billion people worldwide, and kills anywhere from 290,000 to 650,000 people. In spite of the flu shot. Granted that isn’t a high mortality rate, but I wouldn’t want to be one of the death numbers.

Thus far (8 am, 23 March 2020), we have 351,083 reported cases worldwide, with 15,337 deaths. And lest we forget, 100,569 have recovered from the disease. The current mortality rate (subject to change, up or down) is 4.4%. That is much higher than the flu, but not as high as some other diseases.

The Ebola outbreak of 2014-16 had a 40% mortality rate. Now THAT is bad. Just imagine if that genie had gotten out of the bottle. What saved the world then, was the fact that the West African nations reported the outbreak right away. Just think if the Chinese had been as honest with the Coronavirus.

SARS is a relative of the Coronavirus, and originated in China. In the SARS pandemic, the mortality rate was 15%. Thank goodness SARS affected far fewer people than Coronavirus.

MERS, originating in Arabia, had a 34% mortality rate. And again, thank goodness, it affected only a small number of people. Otherwise we could have had a genuine catastrophe on our hands.

Of course the 800 pound disease gorilla of modern times was the Spanish Flu of 1918. That affected a third of the world’s population at the time, and killed anywhere from 50 million to 100 million people. At its height, it killed 1 million people a week for 25 weeks running. The Coronavirus stats aren’t anywhere near approaching those numbers. Thank goodness.

The Coronavirus originated in China and so far has affected the Chinese most severely, followed by the Italians, and the Iranians (who were also hard hit by the Spanish Flu). The vast majority of deaths are in those 3 countries. Do keep that in mind.

At present, the percentage of the world’s population that has contracted Coronavirus is .00004%. That is a pretty doggone tiny percentage. The death rate is similarly minuscule.

The Coronavirus is not good, no doubt about it. I don’t want to get it. However, we need to look at this rationally and not emotionally. We aren’t experiencing 40% death rates. Nor are we seeing a million people dying every week.

The actions of the world’s governments may, and I emphasize may, help contain the disease. There’s no reliable data, though, that quarantine is working. The numbers from China’s Communist government can’t be fully trusted because the history of Communist governments shows that they cook the numbers to make themselves look good. And even if quarantine Chinese-style worked, who in the West would want the government imposing those draconian measures? I doubt very many would.

To my mind, though, the greater risk from quarantine measures is shattered economies across the globe. That just might be a bigger issue than the disease itself — affecting far more lives for a far longer period of time.

Every day, around the world, 3,700 people are killed in road traffic accidents. In the 4 months while the Coronavirus has been with us, 447,700 people have died on the world’s roads. Somehow, fifteen thousand deaths doesn’t really compare to nearly half a million. And we do very little to stop the slaughter on our roads. No one has yet to propose we ban motor vehicles. Even the consideration would be considered ludicrous.

Perspective my friends. Reasoned and rational perspective. Coronavirus is bad. There is no cure. But there are many things that have been and are far worse.

Take the same precautions as you would with the flu. The means of spreading are essentially the same. And remember, this disease primarily kills old people. Like me. Don’t panic. Use common sense.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

The Indie Movement

In December 2012 I bought my first book by an indie author. The book was The Emperor’s Edge by Lindsay Buroker. I was favorably impressed. So much so, I went on and bought the series.

From there, I discovered other indie authors who were very good writers. And somewhere in the reading of those authors, my choice of authors shifted from traditionally published to a majority being indie published.

The independent author/publisher movement confirmed all the stories I’d heard for decades — that the big corporate publishers rejected thousands of good manuscripts every year.

Why do they do that? Because big corporations are by nature conservative. Sure they had to take risks to get to be big. That’s when they’re innovative — when they’re small. But once a corporation is huge, they become much more concerned about the bottom line. And innovation takes a back seat to profits.

Random House/Penguin and their behemoth German owners, aren’t going to take the risks that small press publishers might (although even those can be quite conservative). There is always risk with business. More fail than succeed. So the successful eventually begin to conserve their gains. That’s just how it is.

The sole entrepreneur, however, has only himself to be concerned about. 

If I self-publish a book and it doesn’t make money, that only affects me. 

If Macmillan (now a German company) publishes a flop, they are out the advance to the author, the salaries of the acquisition editors, the copy editors, the advertising people, the office rent, the cover artist salaries, the warehouse space, etc, etc. And the shareholders don’t get their dividends — which puts the CEO’s job at risk. And that’s something that just isn’t tolerated.

If I publish a book that goes nowhere, I can leave it on Amazon, and Kobo, and Apple, and wherever else I choose, essentially forever. And let the royalties dribble in. Simon and Schuster (owned by ViacomCBS) can’t afford to do that.

Thus you see the big corporate boys declaring for many years now that vampires are dead. But on the indie scene, dozens upon dozens of those bloodsuckers can be found. And some are making their creators a lot of money.

The big boys don’t want to continue a fad because they don’t want to be left holding the bag when the fad fizzles out. Or can no longer make enough money to meet their bloated bottom lines when the fad tapers off.

What is significant is that James Patterson has now discovered money can be made at the indie price point and has convinced his publisher to take on his BookShots line. The blurb on Patterson’s website reads in part:

Life moves fast—books should too. Pulse-pounding reads under $5 and 150 pages or less. Impossible to put down.

This comes at a time when many indies are moving to longer books and higher prices — in an attempt to look like the big corporate publishers, and thereby make themselves look more legitimate. A bad move, in my opinion.

Patterson, though, realizes money can be made for him and his publisher at the indie price point. And with shorter books. This is truly a return to the ethos of the 1950s. And I think forecasts good things for indies who can, for the most part, turn out shorter works faster.

Back in the pulp magazine era, many of the magazines cost a dime. Today, depending on what standard you use, that dime would be equal to anywhere between $1.50 and $6. In the 1950s, paperback books could be bought for a quarter. Or $2.50 to $4 in today’s money. Essentially the price range of most indie books today.

I’ve said for quite awhile now, that the indie movement is essentially a return to the Pulp Fiction Era. To be successful, a writer has to turn out a good story in a popular genre that is exciting and generally fast-paced. The writer must also write lots and publish often. To be sure, as an indie, there are more factors involved than what faced the average pulp fictioneer, because today’s indie author is also a publisher. But the basic formula remains the same.

Today is a good day to be a writer. A self-published writer. An independent author/publisher. It’s also a good day to be a reader, because there are many excellent self-published books available to read.

Thars gold in them thar books. So get crackin’!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading! (and writing!)

Books: What Price Value?

Okay, folks, today I’m ranting. Just letting you know!

Recently, my 4800 word story, Ancient History: A Modern Ghost Story, received a 1 star review on Amazon. Here is the review in its entirety:

23 pages long

The story was going along great. Then it just stopped!

I wish I had looked at the length of the story before I bought it. Even .99 is too much for a book that's only 23 pages!

My immediate takeaway was:

• He liked the story
• He didn’t like that it was a short story
• He thinks short stories should be given to people for free
• He admitted that it was his own fault he didn’t look at the length before he bought

Yet, reviewer Thomas thinks it’s totally fair to punish me for his oversight and dislike of short stories! An interesting approach to life that. Blame others for your own mistakes.

Our reviewer thinks 99¢ is too much to pay for a short story — and he is certainly entitled to his opinion. However, by way of comparison, Lawrence Block charges $2.99 for his short stories.

Now granted, I’m not Lawrence Block and I certainly don’t pretend to be in his league. But then I don’t charge $2.99 for my short stories or five bucks for my novels either.

I do however put a price tag on my work that is, I think, fair given my writing ability and the entertainment value of the stories.

After all, reviewer Thomas, there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch — in spite of what you think. Everything has a cost. Everything.

For an indie author to put a book in your hands, Mr Thomas, that writer has to spend time writing the story. And who wants to work for free? I don’t and I doubt you do either.

Then there is the cost of getting a cover for the book. There is the cost of editing and proofreading the book. There is the cost of formatting the book. And there is the cost of marketing the finished product.

From that 99¢, I get a mere 35¢. Amazon gets the rest. 

Ancient History was published 1 July 2016. I have yet to even make back the cost of the cover — let alone all of the other costs associated with the book.

I’m not grousing about the 1 star. Win some, lose some. What I find insulting is Thomas’s attitude that I should give my stuff away for free. How about this, Mr Thomas, tomorrow you tell your boss you don’t want to get paid. You’ll put in your 8 hours for free. Bet you my pension you’ll never do that in a million years. Yet, you would deprive me of a lousy 35¢. Thanks, pal.

I don’t believe in free. I think the laborer is worthy of his hire. When authors want to give me a free book to review, I tell them it’s my policy to buy the book. If I like the book, I’ll review it and promote it. In spite of that, sometimes I get free books. But my policy still holds. Because if I like the freebie, I will buy a copy — so the author gets his money. The money he is due for entertaining me.

At the end of the day, I think we indie authors are our own worst enemy. We have trained readers, like Thomas, to expect something for nothing due to all the freebies we give out. And I admit, I used to be in that camp. But I ain’t no longer.

Hear ye, hear ye! I am not giving out free books or free anything except to those who sign up for my mailing list or are on my mailing list. Because a mailing list is like a club, and with club membership comes benefits.

You want free stuff, Thomas? Join my mailing list.

Okay. Rant over.

Comments are always welcome! And until next time, happy reading!

A Free Justinia Wright Mystery

Yes, Virginia, a free Justinia Wright mystery is coming to readers everywhere — but only if they’re signed up for my mailing list. It’s something like Henry Ford’s “You can have any color you want, as long as it’s black.”

I don’t do free very often. So this is a great opportunity to get a Justinia Wright novelette simply by joining my mailing list. Which you can do here.

The Justinia Wright Private Investigator Mystery series has been getting positive attention of late. I was named among the Top 25 Mystery Writers You Need to be Reading by international bestselling mystery and thriller writers Caleb and Linda Pirtle.

Of the latest Tina and Harry adventure, Death Makes a House Call, readers are saying:

First rate entry in a great series.

…if you like well-drawn, fascinating, and believable characters…not to mention clever writing (with lots of laugh-out-loud moments), give this author a try!

This book is highly entertaining…

…well-written and worthy of all five stars.

If you haven’t read any of the Justinia Wright mysteries, you can find them on Amazon.

I will start serializing the novelette to my mailing list on Friday, March 13th — so don’t wait to sign up! The game is afoot!

Sign up here — today!

Comments are always welcome! And until next time — happy reading!