Meanwhile… #5: As the World Turns

• General News:I suppose being in South Africa, we’ve made out quite well without the fallout of Trump’s insanity affecting our lives here very much. Some thousands of local neo-Nazis (calling themselves “Afrikaners”) are taking up the orange oompaloompa’s offer of “sanctuary”, seeing as they’re so “terribly oppressed” here (because they’re no longer special as they were during the Apartheid regime they so long for the return of) . I personally think they should be called Afrikarens instead – and that’s the whole anagramatic truth! Anyway, South Africans could do with less racists and neo-Nazis around, polluting the air with their toxic, fragile airs of perpetual victimhood and blameshifting. Like the rest of us white South Africans, they’ve had 30 years to acclimatize and to fit into South Africa as a democracy – and instead, they’ve created little laagers for themselves and entertained the delusions of separatism and nationalism that led to Apartheid in the first place.
  I only wish the whole lot of these insipid, small-minded bigots would pack their little tassies and fuck off to Trumplandia – where they would soon miss the warm homeliness of good old South Africa. As I’ve said recently in many posts in social media on this matter: the grass on the other side of the fence may seem greener – but that’s only because it’s plastic, and right now it’s actually on fire. As we surpass Trump’s first month in office – he is now rapidly entrenching himself as a dictator at the head of a coup of the United States – that fact is only becoming increasingly glaringly obvious.I hope those leaving are made to forfeit their citizenship – we don’t want them back.

  If you sympathize with these vile people, you can just pack your shit and go with them. The rest of us don’t need you – and I certainly don’t, not even as a reader. This may sound harsh and even self-destructive to a degree, but if you’re one of those people, I don’t care – I didn’t write for you, and I doubt you’d even have heard of me – or my books. I cast people like you as the villains in my stories. In my world, fascists, neo-Nazis, racists, TERFs, homophobes, bigots and bullies – you’re all the monsters I was educated to see you as – not celebrated as the would-be saviors you are today in places where common sense and reason have broken down. So if that offends you, my books are most definitely not for you. That said, I’m sure some who read this will be elated to learn that I’m not wholly negatively unaffected by the recent rise of totalitarianism in the USA – nor by its steady creep into all aspects of US-owned publishing and media distribution.

  My book sales on Amazon have completely tanked since the orange oompaloompa took office, for example. As a student of cause and effect, I’ve a pretty good idea that the currently unfolding totalitarian coup of the USA, coupled with the lunatic utterances and policies of the Traitor-In-Chief, have had a profound effect on their economy – coupled with other saner countries’ desperate scramble to cast off from the rapidly sinking, burning mess that was the USA – and the US Dollar. People there just don’t have money to spare for frivolous things like books right now – and considering growing Trumpian crackdowns on free speech and dissent – as I will explain in another point further down, I don’t think many existing Amazon readers would be keen on still buying books from the American platform anyhow. I also think that with many people around the world actively boycotting US products, such as Canada, Amazon is also experiencing an overall dip in sales of everything across the board (even going so far as pulling out of Canada entirely). Honestly, I don’t even mind, given the circumstances. I’ve never been a fan of Amazon and have always believed they’re an unavoidable evil that has monopolized the publishing industry for the better part of two decades. But even should Amazon wane in the immediate future – or even fold in the medium-term, that’s just fine by me. To repeat myself, I’m still looking for the right home for my books outside of the US. Right now I’m still looking closely at a few contenders, but rest assured that I’ll definitely let you know of any changes.

  Writing isn’t my primary income, for a start. I have a job. Writing only ever provided me with “pocket-money” anyway, and I still have other bits of writing income being generated elsewhere – so if you’re one of those poised to celebrate my demise, you’re a bit premature!

  That aside, we carry on. I’m South African, not British – we don’t “stiff upper lip” here – we make fun of bad situations, mock the villains so severely that it sets their ears on fire, and get on with the business of living in spite of them.
  

• Cover Reveal: The following cover-reveal took place on Saturday for the next edition of the Science Fiction Novelists 2025 SciFi Anthology, to which I contributed. This is the third year I’ve contributed two short stories – and this time, one was accepted (Goodnight, Mr. Gleeb”) and the other rejected as “too political” (“The Day The Sun Went Out”) – yes, I shit you not. I’m unsure what will happen next year with this series of anthologies, as this is a US-based publication – and at this rate, just having my name on their cover might even get their book banned next time, to say nothing of the ones already previously published.
  

• Current Writing Projects: I’m doing some work on the first part of “Flushed” (book 5 in Panic! Horror In Space), but I’ll keep you updated on that as time goes by. Honestly at the moment, with so many sinister, disturbing distractions, it’s difficult for me to focus on writing cheerful, humorous stories that relatively few will probably even read within my lifetime. In the meantime, if you like, you can keep up by bookmarking What’s Brewing?
• Book Availability:As of February 26, Amazon will no longer allow you as a reader to download copies of Kindle eBooks you already paid for and thought you owned. In future, Amazon will be able to update, change, alter, sanitize, advertize in or simply DELETE books from your catalog that you already paid for, without bothering to notify you. You will no longer OWN digital copies of books you paid money for. Watch this video explainer below:

  What this also means for me as an author, is that I can basically forget about selling books on Amazon anymore – as I don’t think that people are really going to pay for books they can’t keep – or books whose covers or contents that keep changing based on whoever is running their censorship department, or to include new adverts for Amazon crap, and whatever contents they don’t want you to read are altered or deleted.

  The answer to that is to buy hardcopies, but I’m not sure that will really be a solution – as I don’t see anything preventing Amazon from altering the content of print books before you order them in any case. Additionally, I’m well aware that print copies are also much more expensive than eBooks, as well as less convenient for the waiting time – which is why eBooks from Amazon were always cheaper and more convenient. Not so anymore, it seems.

  As an author, I appreciate all your support over the years – but fear not, I’m not giving up! I just want you to know where you stand – and to let you know that if you’re interested in getting my eBooks from a place where you OWN the digital copy, can download and keep it, and read it on any electronic device. In any event, I encourage you to visit my eBook store on Payhip.com instead.

As always, I’ll keep you posted about any new developments. Until then, be kind, be strong, take care of each other, and all the best!

Remember, keep reading!

Cheers!

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