Chess and Chekhov

During my childhood, we went on a vacation by means of a tank. At least, that what it felt like to me. When you're a kids, everything feels (at least) three times as big. So my parents station wagon - grey, rusty and Japanese - to me was a tank. Most of our vacations in that era took place in Germany. These days, that's a short a hop...but back it was a survival trip that crossed half the world. (Today, if I want to travel as far as Germany felt back then, I'd have to book a ticket to Pluto.)

To survive this trip - not to mention my three sisters - I had to deploy multiple methods. The top three consisted of reading, sleeping and listening to music. The latter came in two categories. For the kids there were children's song, among which Sesame street - especially Bert and Ernie - were the most popular. These were mixed with musicals. This probably wasn't just because my parents liked them, but also because they had long playtimes. (Thus allowing them to have background music, while still focusing on the children and the road.)

In our family, there were two. A Dutch musical called Chekhov (about the Russian writer) and an American musical called Chess. As a kid, I wasn't the biggest fan of these musicals. In fact, there was plenty of grumping and complaining when these musical started from the beginning again. (They liked to loop them.) But times changed and my knowledge of English improved...

These days when I suffer from writer's block, the best cure is...listening to Chekhov or Chess. (And if that doesn't work, I still have a huge collection of other music. This column - for instance - was partially written to Bob Dylan's 'The Times They Are Changin') En the chances didn't stop there. The 'tank' was sold ages ago, while me and my sisters moved out centuries ago.

And now the hard part of this column. The punch-line.....But maybe it's already in here. (Thank you, Mister Dylan.) Times change. And so does our perspective. When we look at the world, we look through our eyes. But is this best thing to do ? Maybe we should try to watch the world from the perspective of our children ? Try to imagine how they will be when they grow up ? And how those people would see the world ? Decide for yourself.

Column is up

Howdy world,

Well, my column is up. Now I have to start gathering votes. It's almost dinner time here, but I'll try to up the translated version in a couple of hours. If you want to vote regardless, simply click the link and then click the button stem. (Stem is Dutch for vote.)

http://www.metronieuws.nl/lezerscolumn/ed-dantes/mens-maatschappij/2016/05/schaken-en-tsjechov

Outcome of yesterday's R and D

1. After a lot of digging and searching, I found a (Dutch) page with a list of blogs. I submitted my Blog for it. I don't know if it will be placed, but if it is, I'll put the link up here.
2. I've also submitted another column for Metro. Alas - like the site - above, I'm also waiting for this to go through a review process. And again, I'll put the link up ASAP. But in this case, I'll also put up a translated version of the column.
3. A critical look at my Bol.com page showed that it has one whopper of a flaw. It has zero reviews. So I send some mails around asking for some.
4. Speaking of reviews....there are lots of list out there with tips on how to promote your book. And one tip they all share. Ask a newspaper for a review. So I've a copy to the local paper - De Stentor - and kept my fingers crossed. (I send it this morning. And since today is Sunday, it'll probably be a couple of days before I get a reply. If I get one at all, that is.)

That's it for now. More on this as things develop.

Promoting Hollywood

Hello world,

Time for an update.... My attempt to promote Hollywood by means of the paper has failed...spectacularly. I spent 75 Euros on advertisements and didn't sell a single book. The column got 6 votes, but needed 70 plus. Furthermore, I send a copy of Hollywood to Marvel Entertainment. (This happened a while back) The result...zero. (To be honest, I was expecting this, but it still sucks.)

So I'm spending today doing R and D on further options. First up, a minor review/upgrade of this Blog/site. By my count this will be version 2.1

(The original color scheme with way to many labels was 1.0, then I cleaned up the labels - creating version 1.1. Next I added the 'about me' page, creating version 1.2. And then I changed the color scheme, creating 2.0.)

Alas, only for Dutchies

Hello world,

My column is now open for voting. Alas, it's a Dutch newspaper. Which means that (likely) only Dutchies can read the column. But if you want to vote/stem anyway, you're more then welcome.

http://www.metronieuws.nl/lezerscolumn/ed-dantes/actueel/2016/05/misschien

Marvel's cruel pun (and a small update)

Hello world,

Just a little fun fact, since today is mother's day (at least in the Netherlands)...

Spoilers ! (If you haven't seen season 2 of Agent Carter yet)

You have been
w
a
r
n
e
d

For those of you out there who have seen it. Remember how Anna Jarvis got shot and now can't have kids ? Well, today is mother's day, of which the modern version was created in 1914 by a lady called....Anna Jarvis. To paraphrase Peter Latimer of Warehouse 13. ' Not cool, Marvel, not cool !'

Furthermore, I'm going to continue work of Chapter 10 of Battlestar Xanthi: A Collection of Memories today. And I have a column for Metro (a Dutch newspaper) in the pipeline ( you can submit columns on-line and then people can vote. Win and you get published + 100 Euros), along with open reply requests for Frontier Fleet. All in all, it's going to be a busy day. So I am out of here....

Chapter 9 is up !

Hi all,

Chapter Nine is ready, steady, go ! So, time to start work on Chapter Ten....