When Elitists Control The Book Industry, Everyone Loses.

I read a great article by Mercy Pilkington, as it not only illustrates how difficult it is for independent authors to break into the industry but also the BS that's perpetrated by higher ups in the industry to prevent indie authors from getting ahead. I can say for a fact that the Canadian book industry is just as biased towards independent authors. Adding to Pilkington's article, government-funded organizations such as the Canada Council for the Arts (CCA)—with regards to authors—only hands out grants to those they refer to as 'professional writers.' What's their definition of a professional writer? Someone who's not self-published. By that definition, Joe The Plumber and Sarah Palin are considered to be professional writers, even though Joe's first book tanked and Harper Collins claimed that Palin didn't even write what they considered to be a book. Although it may be their intention to promote the arts in Canada, they're doing the opposite because by excluding Indie authors, the CCA is hurting many careers.

Those who've read any of my books would know that they're all professionally edited, have professionally-designed book covers, and are professionally researched. They can also be found in bookstores and in libraries across the island of Montreal and in Barbados. I also do my own promotion, attend book expos, and even got a television interview last summer.

What's good about being traditionally published is that the publisher takes care of the editing and distribution of their books. On the flip side, even if an author is traditionally-published, publishers won't necessary allocate huge funds that are needed to promote them—leaving their authors to do most of the marketing themselves. Furthermore in most cases, the author has no say on how the book cover will look. As for the price (which is usually very high) publishers control that too. When that's all done, the author usually only keeps 10-15% royalty off of the sale of their own book. On the other hand, independent authors usually keep 70%.

There's a popular myth that all indie novels are substandard. Rubbish. Not all traditionally-published authors are bestsellers. To be fair, I've read some great novels that were traditionally published. Consequently I've also read some that were so bad that I wondered how high on crack the editor was when they chose to accept the manuscript.

Mercy Pilkington did a great job exposing the truths about the publishing industry in general. As for my opinion about the Canada Council for the Arts, I don't have any respect for them. With the funds they receive from the Canadian government, would it hurt them to have a grant section that's reserved for indie authors? By the same token, would it be to their detriment that they recognize the achievements of Canadian indie authors. By implementing guidelines that are designed to exclude an important segment of the arts community, they not only come across as being unprofessional and uninformed, but also a sad bunch of elitists.

Mornin' Barbados Welcomes Thriller Author, Russell Brooks.

Don't teach me about structural racism or else I'll file a racial discrimination complaint against you.

Professor Shannon Gibney

Minneapolis Community and Technical College will certainly be losing applicants from the African-American community in the upcoming school semesters, after Black professor, Shannon Gibney, was reprimanded by the school's vice president of academic affairs after three Caucasian male students filed a complaint against her. What was Gibney's offence? Teaching structural racism in her Introduction to Mass Communication class. According to Gibney, the three students interrupted her while she spoke—often becoming hostile, and saying comments such as: "Why do we have to talk about this? It's like people are trying to say that white men are always the villains, the bad guys." In order to take control of the situation, Gibney suggested to those students that if they didn't appreciate the subject matter being taught, that they should file a complaint with the school's legal affairs department. They did, and Gibney was formally reprimanded on the grounds that she created a hostile learning environment for trying to educate her students about the existence and operations of structural racism.

Fortunately, Gibney and six other professors are filing a class-action lawsuit against MCTC on the grounds that it is a discriminatory workplace. The fact that these students were so uncomfortable with the topic proves that they're the ones who needed to be taught about it the most. As for the vice president of academic affairs who didn't find fault with the students for filing such a ridiculous complaint, he's better off being in the classroom as he's clearly unqualified to do his jobs.

Source: Raw Story

Knockout Game Turns Deadly as Grandma Shoots Teens. She then celebrates by Twerking over her victims.

Many of you by now would've heard about a trending game called Knockout, where the goal is to sneak up on an unsuspecting pedestrian and knock them unconscious with a single punch. In many cases, the bonus would be to steal the victim's valuables. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm sickened at seeing youths behave in such a callous manner for the sake of amusement. Many stories, no doubt, have arisen. Unfortunately, some of them are fake.

One such fake story is of a 60-year old woman, named Beulah Montgomery. The story claims that after being punched, she grabbed her gun and shot two of the victims as they attempted to flee. This story has gone viral, setting off emotions of thousands of gullible readers. I saw the post on a buddy's Facebook page, and when I read it and then the comments below, I couldn't help but laugh. I left a comment on his page, listing the reasons as to why this story is an obvious fake.

The first clue was that neither the actual date nor the time of the so-called incident was mentioned. The location, such as the street intersection, nor the city, and the state were left out. As for the so-called Neighborhood Watch program this woman allegedly belong to, that was also missing. It was mentioned that two teens out of the seven were killed. But how old were they? And what were their names?

The most obvious hint that this story is fake is that it wasn't even covered by the mainstream media.

Real news stories always answer the who, what, where, when, why, and the how. This article didn't answer three of them. My advice to you, as I gave to my Facebook buddy, is that when you see a trendy story, don't let your emotions take over and buy into it without reading it objectively.

KNOCKOUT: A sick game.

Seeing youths behave this stupidly really irks me. I certainly hope that the aggressors in these attacks—including the peers who stood by and cheered them on—face justice and that examples are made of them. There isn't any excuse for this behavior. When youths show this level of apathy towards strangers, I fear how they'll turn out as adults.

However, there's something else that bothers me. The news team that covered this story only showed African-American youths attacking their victims. Are we to believe that African-American teenagers are the only ones participating in such an abonable and sick game? That's how it's presented by this news crew. A coincidence? I doubt. Poor editing and news gathering? Most definitely. One would've expected a seemingly professional CBS news team to have known better.

Pandora's Succession $1.99 today and tomorrow (Reg. $3.99)

My debut spy thriller, Pandora's Succession, is on sale for $1.99 (Reg. $3.99) until Saturday November 23, 2013.

Sequel news: Currently going through the second edit. Expect THE DEMETER CODE to be available in the early part of 2014.

Website Amazon Kobo BarnesAndNoble Sony Diesel Smashwords

Barbados Trip 2013, Wedding Recital.

Hello, Everyone,

My recent trip to Barbados wasn't all about writing my current novel, meeting fans, and making new ones. My cousin also got married to her boyfriend of 15 years. And as a gift, I played my violin for them during the ceremony. It was so hot that the fans in the church were blowing at full blast. And although it was cool inside the church, the noise from the fans made it difficult for me to hear myself, let alone the organist who accompanied me, but I still got through.