After weeks of trying to get the format right, I am delighted to say that the paperback edition of the Cosmic Monopole is now available for sale throughout the world!
I use CreateSpace to produce the books. This company is part of Amazon and print on demand. So far I am very pleased with the quality of the product, although delivery is a little slow since they are printed in the USA.
You can buy direct from the Penny Press Store. It will available from Amazon within 2 weeks.
The price is $14.95. A bargain for ten years work!
I don’t think it’s possible to produce eBooks, especially ones with embedded images, without a great deal of technical work. For example, I’m trying to produce a PDF of my new History of the Universe ebook to send to reviewers, and I find the images are too large. There are dozens of them. How to resize them all? There is only one way: write a macro using the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) language. Luckily I’m something of an expert in this. I taught several courses at Coventry University. But what would I do without such knowledge?
The same goes for producing effective Kindle eBooks. To make the NCX (I’ll explain what that is some other time) I had to write a Visual Basic application. It’s just not easy to do this stuff! The author-publisher needs such a huge range of skills I’d say it’s almost impossible to possess them all. In my case, for example, it’s the marketing skills I lack.
But luckily I think I have all the writing skills needed!
And for those who might be interested in such things, here is my current version of the VBA code:
Sub reSizeImages()
‘
‘
‘ 07/05/2012 by PhilBrown
‘ Adjust scale factor of images so not wider than preset maximum
Dim doubleScaleFactor As Double
Dim iMaxWidth As Integer
‘ set max width in points
‘ convert inches to points @ 72 per inch
iMaxWidth = 4.7 * 72
‘ Go to top of document
Selection.HomeKey Unit:=wdStory
‘ find next image
Selection.find.ClearFormatting
With Selection.find
.Text = “^g”
.Replacement.Text = “”
.Forward = True
.Wrap = wdFindContinue
.Format = False
.MatchCase = False
.MatchWholeWord = False
.MatchWildcards = False
.MatchSoundsLike = False
.MatchAllWordForms = False
End With
Selection.find.Execute
Do While Selection.InlineShapes.Count > 0
Debug.Print “Width =” & Selection.InlineShapes(1).Width
If Selection.InlineShapes(1).Width > iMaxWidth Then
doubleScaleFactor = iMaxWidth / Selection.InlineShapes(1).Width
Debug.Print “Old ScaleHeight =” & Selection.InlineShapes(1).ScaleHeight
Selection.InlineShapes(1).ScaleHeight = doubleScaleFactor * Selection.InlineShapes(1).ScaleHeight
Selection.InlineShapes(1).ScaleWidth = doubleScaleFactor * Selection.InlineShapes(1).ScaleWidth
Debug.Print “New ScaleHeight =” & Selection.InlineShapes(1).ScaleHeight
End If
‘ move past that image otherwise endless loop!
Selection.MoveRight wdCharacter, 1, False
Selection.find.Execute
Loop
Hanging perilously above the village of Perrier, to the west of the town of Issoire in the Auverge, central France, stand the proud remains of about 300 caves and cellars, some of which were occupied until the start of World War 2!
The parish register, which dates back to 1585, shows that several hundred “Perriérois” lived in these caves before the great plague of 1630. According to Father Matthew, who was the pastor of Perrier, 17 families still lived here in the 19th century and, on the eve of World War 2, five or six families were still installed!
Geology
There are 90 volcanoes around the city ofClermont-Ferrand, capital of the Puy-de-Dôme department in the Auvergn eregion, to the north of Perrier, yet their true nature was not discovered until 1751.
These and other volcanoes are thought to be created as a result of the formation of theAlpsto the east. The continental plate upon which France sits is being subducted beneath the Italian plate. As the rock sinks it melts and circulates back beneathFrance, surfacing in central and easternFranceas volcanoes.
The cliffs above Perrier were created from the larva and ash ejected from these volcanoes. The softer rock was eroded by rivers, particularly the Allier which now runs to the east of Issoire, and the Couze Pavin to the south of Perrier.
What’s Nearby
Perrier
Many of the houses in Perrier are built with tuff (light, brittle rock) from volcanic mudflows.
There are walks through fields along the Couze Pavin both towards Issoire and out into the other little villages.
Flora and Fauna
The harsh wild places on the hillside are dry and low in nutrients, yet are home to a variety of robust flora and fauna. Locust, ash and wild roses grow on the lower slopes, long-since abandoned by farmers. Chickadees, robins, redstarts, wrens and other birds live in the bushes and nest in caves. Kestrels, red kite and buzzards can be seen overhead. Bees and butterflies breed in the soils. Snakes, frogs, lizards and red squirrels can be found.
Publicity and promotion are the greatest challenges, and I think they are especially acute for self-publishers for several reasons.
First, if I may make a wild generalization, authors tend to be what I will call “solitary” people. I think they have to be; otherwise they could not invest the required time in writing. Solitary people are not always good at self-promotion. They don’t much like talking about themselves, for example. But that is exactly what you have to do. Many readers buy books because of who the author is. They want to know about authors. They explore the author’s world as they read. It’s an intimate relationship, so this reticence to open up can be a problem.
Second, and not unconnected with the first, the author’s first priority is to get on writing their next book, and promoting the previous one(s) seems like a waste of time.
Third, professional marketing of books by large publishers is an expensive and skilled job which authors just can’t afford and don’t have the knowledge to implement. It requires not just one part-time person but a team. So the self-publisher is battling some huge competition.
However, there are some possible advantages that the self-publisher has over the larger company.
The book market is changing rapidly and larger firms have as little knowledge of the new world of on-line, electronic books as small ones. So the self-publisher can get ahead by exploiting the marketing opportunities offered, for example by social media.
Second the self-publisher knows his author and his books better than any publisher ever could.
Third, if the author can get in contact with his readers then he can get feedback and so, if he is willing to go along this route, change his work in response. But, of course, this is a whole different topic!
This short walk between two pubs is ideal for those who want to relax in a quiet part of Gloucestershire. It passes through two lovely villages, one of them amazingly well preserved and prosperous, and passes near a number of interesting landmarks.
Warden’s Way
Part of the walk follows the Warden’s Way.
Naunton
Dovecote
On the walk you will pass the Dovecote, apparently built about 1600. Enter at your own risk. There are 903 nestholes and a lot of bird droppings there. It is not open at all times. There is a “nesthole sponsorship” scheme to preserve the dovecote.
For further information click on the image.
Church
St Andrew’s Church has a handsome Perpendicular tower with pinnacles and gargoyles and the interior has a beautiful carved early 15th-century stone pulpit and font.
Guiting Power
This extraordinarily well-preserved Cotswolds lies on a tributory of the river Windrush, its russet-coloured houses clustered round a sloping green. The buildings are restored by a self-help housing trust, initially set up for twelve cottages in 1934.
In the mid 1970′s, Raymond Cochrane (who came from a wealthy Scottish family, decided to re-build Guting Power as it was quite decrepit. He bought most of the houses in the village and re-built them, fixing their rents at a pepper-corn level in order to preserve the native population. Woodhouse at the time was in a very poor state.
Amazingly for a village of this size, Guiting Power now has two pubs, two church/chapels, two shops and a guest house. It’s a miracle of survival. The tourist board is equally enthusiastic:
“This delightful village is a fascinating example of the unconcious harmony created by Cotswold masons over the centuries. The cottages, shops and inns are all beautifully cared for. The Farmers Arms in the village and the Hollow Bottom Inn on the road leading to Winchcombe form welcome breaks on a number of glorious walks that can be taken in this area – north-westwards to Guiting Woods, south-eastwards down the Windrush Valley to Naunton, or south-westwards to Hawling.”
Guiting Guest House
They proudly state that:
“Our Guests are assured of a very warm welcome at Guiting Guest House which is a delightful and tastefully restored 16th Century Cotswold stone former farmhouse with all modern facilities. An atmosphere of warmth is created by exposed beams, inglenook fireplace and solid elm floors from the Wychwood Forest. The open fire lends itself to a relaxed and informal welcome as guests are greeted with a cup of tea and perhaps a slice of homemade cake.”
Nearby is Guiting Grange. This extensive Grange was built on the site of an earlier grange belonging to the Benedictine Abbey of Winchcombe, which was recorded circa 1162. It was rebuilt in Italianate style in the mid 19th century. The grange was apparently demolished and rebuilt around 1970, but this is not clear.
There’s no doubt that yoghurt is delicious and useful both to eat and as a cooking ingredient, but the price in the shops is exorbitant. The cheapest price for a litre is about £1 and that is for plain unflavoured yoghurt. Typical prices are several times this.
I therefore started making my own. It costs about half the above. The added benefits are that I do not need to keep going to the shops to buy more.
I use an EasiYo pot which I bought over the Internet for about £10. It contains an inner pot with a 1 litre capacity and an outer container for the hot water. The vendor wants you to also buy their own mix, but you can use ready ingredients available from any grocery store.
You need an existing yoghurt pot to gain the friendly bacteria, a yoghurt maker, long-life milk and milk powder. Here is the method.
Add 100 ml of existing joghurt to the inner pot. Add 150 ml of milk powder and mix well. Fill up the inner with long-life milk (low fat if required). Stand inside the outer pot. Fill the outer with boiling water. Leave for about 10 hours. Chill. Brilliant!
You can make several batches before the inner pot will need to be cleaned.
I love Lee Child’s style. He writes from inside Jack Reacher’s head with short, phrased sentences. Some examples:
-An absolute difference. No confusion.
-Some kind of unimaginable stress in the floes.
-Sighed and flopped his head back onto the pillow.
Killing Floor, first of the Jack Reacher novels about a drifter with Sherlock Holmes’ mind and the ability to fight five men at a time and win, is full of these pithy sentences in which the subject is missing.
The story is engaging and sometimes deeply gripping, for example the confrontations with inmates in the local gaol.
However there are things in the story I don’t like. I don’t like co-incidences. In my writing I make a lot of effort to avoid them. They make for lazy plotting. Now I admit that sometimes an author needs a co-incidence or two make the story work but I’m sorry to say that in this book there are an awful lot of them. For example:
Reacher just happens to get of a bus on impulse and walk to a town where a man has just been murdered. He just happens to walk right past the body and gets arrested as a suspect. The dead man just happens to be his brother. No, sorry, I don’t think so. And this is just a few of the co-incidences basic to making the plot work.
And I lost even more sympathy with Mr Reacher when he starts shooting people in the back in cold blood. Okay so his brother had been killed along with a number of others but this is no excuse to murder others.
About 60% through the novel, it turns into a search for the solution to the mystery, although to me the solution already seems clear. Kliner is forging something, probably dollars, and shipping them abroad. Reacher and his cop-friends should organise a raid on the factory. Hidden slips of paper and secret keys and uncontrolled crowds in airports just don’t seem very relevant or interesting.
The plot is predicated upon the ‘fact’ that Reacher’s brother has halted counterfeiting in the US, but no evidence for or explication of this incredible achievement is presented until 75% of the way through the novel. I believe the incredible facts need to be justified early if the reader is going to swallow them, but perhaps I am picking nits.
But for my taste Reacher is too clever by half. Alone and with no training he manages to solve the mystery, and achieve what the CIA and the world’s leading forgery experts (bar one) had failed to achieve, simply by reading a publicly available Senate report. The man is a genius! Sorry but I don’t believe in Superman or magicians who can pull rabbits out of empty hats.
And having solved they mystery with genius he makes the elementary mistake of rushing off alone into the night without telling anyone what he has found. If you are going to portray a genius then at least give him some common sense!
But at least he heads towards somebody he thinks is an ally. The friend tells a colleague. The colleague turns bad. Reachers back in deep trouble. Maybe he’ll learn from his mistake?
But no sign of it here. Reacher traces a runaway with divine insight. He guesses his strategy, his route, the names he uses in all the hotels, it’s so unlikely that (if Reacher had not been a god) it would have been laughable.
“I’d never believed in luck,” Reacher writes 95% of the way through the book as he enters the enemy’s lair, “…but now I was lucky in a big way.”
When it’s freezing outside most of us want the security and comfort of a warm home with the result that we turn up the heating. But heating a room is a very inefficient way of getting warm. It costs much less simply to put on another layer of clothes.
Adding layers is a very efficient way of keeping warm. Air gets trapped between the layers and its an excellent insulator. So to save money, go and buy a vest and some tights or long underwear and turn down the heating by a couple of degrees and watch your bills drop as your temperature goes up.
Obviously this requires a change in culture. How will you explain to friends and family why your home feels cold to them, for example? You will need to be prepared for their reaction, and have your arguments marshalled.
You can both save electricity and avoid spoiling chilled or frozen food by ensuring that doors of your fridge and freezers always close themselves firmly.
So how can you achieve this marvel of efficiency?
The basic idea is simple. If your appliance leans backwards slightly then gravity will automatically pull the door closed if is left open.
To achieve this, every appliance is fitted with two adjustable feet but very few people know about them or adjust them correctly.
You need to be able to push the top of your appliance backwards so you can manipulate the little feet in the two front corners of the base. If your appliance is small they can be adjusted by one person. For a large appliance, two people are advised.
If necessary, pull the appliance forward so that you can reach the feet, then push the top and lift the front so it leans and the front feet lift off the ground.
For a heavy appliance, use a thick book or other robust object to support the fridge. Push it under the center front so it leaves the feet clear.
Now turn the two feet towards the left. This will unscrew them and make them descend. Turn them both the same number of times so they are the same length.
After about three turns, lower the appliance and test whether the door closes. If not, repeat the operation. Also check that it does not look as if it is leaning back too much. If so, screw the feet a little higher and check again that its doors will close.
As an author, networking and publicity are obviously all-important.
Some years ago I started a topic on ResearchGate called “Science Communication”, to help scientists discuss how to communicate their subjects with the public.
Now I find it has 12818 followers, all of them scientists. This feels like a great opportunity to get more reviews for The Cosmic Monopole.
I’ll put out an invitation and see if there are any takers!
