Little Green Man from Mars is NOT "Out of Print"

Two days ago I mentioned in my "Dear Diary" post that if you don't keep reminding people that you're still alive and that your books are still in print, the public will forget you. Here's a very disturbing case-in-point.

The paperback version of my sixth science fiction novel, Little Green Man from Mars, disappeared again from Amazon.com. Two days ago, in fact. The same day I wrote the "Dear Diary" post. Right afterward. Um hum, you got it. Spooky as hell and not one bit amusing and not one bit "normal". The Kindle ebook is still available but not the paperback. This latest paperback edition has been for sale at Amazon since October 2012 and now it's gone missing again. I repeat. Again.

When will this sick, twisted, malicious game with this novel ever end? When I questioned Amazon about this, they gave me the usual , "it's not us, it's your publisher" routine. When I questioned my publisher, I got the usual "we'll get back to you" routine. When they finally do get back to me (and it'll take them forever) I'll get the usual "it's not us, it's Amazon" routine. OK, people, enough is enough.

You don't get to dick with me anymore because I'm no longer available to be dicked with just because a bunch of creepy pussies and chickenshit cowards are afraid to read (or sell) some of my best fiction. Hard science fiction that reads like mainstream and containing some fine, new concepts about life and the universe that'll give this jaded world the "kick in the head" it so desperately needs.

So, the hell with Amazon. And, if Lulu's part of a big lie, they'd better come clean. You know, there's more to the book world than what Amazon.com tries to feed you. Unless you're among the dark-souled dimwits who just die to be spoon fed more vampire crap. If you're smart you'll ignore the filth Amazon tries to peddle and it bothers me immensely that any "Adult Romances" or "adult fiction" of any kind share the same pages with my books at Amazon. If my books were rated for movies or television, they'd be rated somewhere between PG-13 and TV-14 and nothing more "adult" than that. Amazon.com has very few scruples when it comes to selling stuff. But I do. That's why I'm telling you how it is with my books.

That's right. You can still get Little Green Man from Mars in paperback from Lulu.com and my guess is that you always will. And, hey, guess what? It's a lot cheaper at Lulu and I still make a little money off it, more money from Lulu, in fact, than I do at Amazon on paperbacks. And they're cheaper at Lulu.com! You got the concept. Buy my paperbacks from Lulu and everybody wins. Everybody except Amazon. But, so what, huh?

Post Update 4-9-13: Today, April 9, 2013, I noticed that the latest paperback edition Little Green Man from Mars is back at Amazon.com. I don't trust Amazon or Lulu at all anymore. Let's see how long it takes for this book or any other work of fiction by Michael Casher or Jonco Bugos to suddenly disappear, like they were never there. I know who you people are and what you're up to and who you work for. Nothing ever changes on planet Earth because earthlings love to lie and they're absolutely terrified of the truth. And most of you are as hostile as animals toward anything and anyone different, despite all your deceptive posturing about diversity. If you read something that isn't in line with your beliefs you hate it and you hate the author as well. But most of you love the dark side of life for its "decadently delicious" sensual titillation. It's enough to make me want to withdraw from the human race. Why don't you try the enlightened side of life for a change before you die? You just might wake up. Or grow up. What a shame. This world could have been as close to paradise as any of us will ever get. Too bad nobody but me and, hopefully, a few others, gave a damn. One thing for sure, once I get off this planet, I wouldn't come back here to take a shit.

Busy Work

Click on Pic

Today I wanted to embed this nifty art slideshow from Picasa on two of my blogs so I did that awhile. I put it on the footer area of my Thinck Tank blog and the Think-A-Holic Lounge blog here at Blogger. Then I poured another mug of coffee and added another page to michaelcasher.com called Art Slideshow.

The blog footers have an 800-pixel-wide show and michaelcasher.com has a 600-pixel-wide show (the 800-wide won't fit there). My digital paintings look best on a dark background. So they do.

When I think about writing yet another book that will just sit in another box on the floor I start to pitch and reel. Then I sit down at the PC instead of at the Canon word processor. They're at two different desks in my tiny writing room.

Then I just drink coffee and hide. While I'm hiding, I like to fool around with art and keep busy. It sure beats the pants off running naked through the back yard and screaming, "Why me? Why me?" So it does.

Sun Shower

It doesn't happen when you're looking for it and that's the beauty of a sun shower. The sun shining through a rain shower, or a rain shower passing through a sunny day. No matter how you look at it, it's always a gift, one that opens itself. And if there's a rainbow up above, that's the bow on the package. If you do happen to catch a rainbow there's no need to look for a pot of gold at the end of it because you'll never find one. The real treasure is what you see.

Teaming Up for Battle

I've never considered having an "alter-ego-ectomy" although having a dynamic alter ego can be a bit trying at times. Especially when said alter ego vacillates between your polar opposite and a near-perfect reflection of you. Backwards, of course, at all times, just like a real looking-glass image.

Therefore, it came as no surprise to me when I got pulled in both directions again after writing and publishing my ninth book, The Truth Is a Lone Assassin. What the worldly and otherworldly forces don't seem to accept is the fact that Jonco Bugos and I are inseparable. Plus the almost proven inevitability that every time we get pulled in opposite directions, one of us invariably spits out another book.   

My Great Big Secret Message From Earth

How's that for persistence? That's right, four years ago today I stopped drinking alcoholic beverages. Do I feel any better? Not really. I'm 61, look 71 and feel 81 and that has nothing to do with alcohol. Is that personal enough for you? Am I sharing or what?

As a matter of fact, not drinking alcohol for four years showed me just how unimportant alcohol is. What alcohol does best is give you a false sense of whatever it is you thought you weren't getting. Happiness, euphoria, importance, love, affection, glory, warmth, success. Who needs a false sense of something when you can have the real thing by working for it or towards it? 

They say alcohol makes you lose your inhibitions. Well, a lot of inhibitions are kept at bay for very good reasons and if alcohol brings them out then my advice to you is to leave alcohol alone altogether. My experience has shown that when you imbibe alcohol you become somebody you're not and that's almost opposite from what the drinking world tells you. Why wouldn't they tell you a lie? They sell you your alcohol.

The real you is who you are when you are alone with just your thoughts. And you certainly don't need alcohol, or any other drug, to take you there. If being yourself is who you really are, without having your thoughts altered by substances or adjusted by others, then you've already arrived at your destination. Nurture that personality and watch it grow.

What The Gods Considered Fair Game

Eye Candy

I did 30 "digital paintings" in the past 26 days. Maybe I'd better quit while I'm ahead. On the other hand, when life hands you lemons and you turn them into lemonade — or a great big lemon drop — it sure beats the pants off writing books that just sit in boxes on the floor.

Once Upon a Time in the East...

...it was great to be alive.

Moving Heads

I decided to update this post from yesterday to today just so I could add this updated professional pic of me, which I took earlier today. No, I'm not looking down my nose at you. My webcam was sitting on top of the CPU and I was sitting down in a chair. So I was.

Now, as for the video, don't ask me why I made it or why I posted it here. Then I won't have to come up with a reason and then I won't have to tell you what it is. OK, that takes care of that.

But, when I don't tell you why I made this video or why I posted it here, don't get the big idea that I'm hiding some great big secret from you or anything like that. That's why I posted this new pic of me. So I could be up front about how I look today, February 25th, 2013.

As for the video again, I'm not sure why I made it or why I posted it here. Hell, after 61 years, I'm allowed to not know something. So I am.

Moving Heads

Moonlighting

This is another digital painting from the part of me that was always there, behind the part of me that was tagged and labeled and maneuvered through life by others and otherworldly forces. I like this part of me the best. This is also the part of me that writes and clowns around and who still thinks the world can be a better place for all of us, if we're willing to do the work to make that happen. Well, that's my little "mini lecture". It goes with the territory.

Me, Myself and I

When I turned fifty I realized I had to do something different with my life. I couldn't multi-task worth a damn, I can't dance and I could carry an elephant better than I can carry a tune. I'm 61 now and, like Harry Callahan told Lt. Briggs in the movie, Magnum Force, "A man's got to know his limitations." So, there it is.

Aurora Solaris

The Truth Is Up and Running

After two years of writing and many, many set backs — including the loss of 30 pages that had to be rewritten from memory and several health issues on the home front — The Truth Is a Lone Assassin is finally a completed novella. This book is my second excursion into "literary science fiction" and my ninth written work. I published this book earlier today and it's available in trade paperback at Lulu.com. 

In a day or two the Kindle Edition will be "Live" at Amazon.com and then I'll post the promotional video for it. The paperback will be available at Amazon.com sometime in mid-March 2013. The 4-6 week delay is nothing more than the time it takes for any book to travel through regular distribution channels from The Lulu Marketplace. I will not make this book available at Barnes & Noble.com unless there is a demand for it there. My first novella, Blind Fool Running, is still languishing at B&N and that is unfortunate for everyone.

After a short break I'll probably (I'm not sure yet) go back to writing my tenth book and my seventh science fiction thriller, the one I began way back in March 2009 and then had to put on "hold" because of surgical and hospital emergencies for both me and my elderly mother. My tenth book is entitled "The IIIrd Option" and it's a hard science fiction story sculptured around several controversial metaphysical themes, including shadow life masquerading as real life and false human beings who populate planet Earth and many other worlds in The Milky Way Galaxy. It will be the most violent novel I've written so far. And there's a reason for that. The completion date for this thriller is open because I've scarcely begun writing it again. Post Updated 2-8-13 for Kindle Edition availability

Winter Pissing Contest

Of course I didn't post photos on the Internet of me or anybody else "taking a leak". Only a sick, degraded fool would do that. But I did use a low-life disgusting hyperbole to involve you in some Appalachian winter humor. For reasons I've been unable to fathom most of the world is head-over-heels fascinated at the very idea of men peeing. I think that somehow defines what we've become as a species. You follow? But, hey, it's not too late to fix that. Cultivating a clean mind is a lot easier than you think. One more thing. If you don't like the fact that I "caught you with your pants down" (another below-the-belt hyperbole), keep the damn things up.

Click on Picture for "Pissing Contest" Results

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The "Unsilent Minority"

I've nothing to hide about being a gun owner and I want to be up front about the fact that I do own legal firearms. My small collection of simple firearms is for hunting, target shooting and, to a lesser degree, protection. They were all legally purchased from FFL dealers in regular, retail shopping outlets in the late, great 20th Century. I'm not a gun lover. I'm a gun owner.

No, this isn't me. This is one of The "Unsilent Minority".

I'm one of the millions of Americans who own simple, non-military, legal firearms and who never talk about them in public and who are never scared — not for one moment — that somebody will come to our homes and take our firearms away from us. We don't think about that because we're confident that that will never happen in this country for many, many reasons, including the fact that as long as our nation has millions of sane, quiet, cool-headed citizens with traditional firearms in their homes, no foreign country will ever invade us and vanquish us. Not without one hell of a fight.

We're "The Silent Majority" and we're America's backup army. Let's hope they never need us but we'll be ready if they do. In the meantime, we'll legally hunt for wild food, break clay pigeons, plink tin cans and punch holes in paper targets for recreation. And keep our firearms quietly and securely out of sight. And the biggest thing about the right to bear arms is that those of us who take advantage of that right feel very privileged to have it. The gun owners in the "Unsilent Minority", as I like to call them because they're so vocal and often disturbingly animated, don't represent American gun owners at all. They only think they do.

So, we might not dash into the Second Amendment fray and make fools out of ourselves by waving guns around for the cameras, like the "Unsilent Minority", and holler about freedom and rights because we're already secure in that knowledge. We guarantee the right to bear arms by being good citizens who are smart enough to know that keeping a cool head is the best way to own guns and the only way to secure the freedom we're privileged to have. We're the "Silent Majority". We're the ones who keep our heads while others about us are losing theirs. (This post was updated on 1-25-13)

A Head Banging Experience

Don't tell anyone but during the month of December I rewrote the 30 pages that went missing last fall from my second novella, The Truth Is a Lone Assassin. That's right. You got it. Jonco Bugos now has two literary novellas under his belt. The Truth Is a Lone Assassin is no Blind Fool Running but it was never intended to be a clone or a sequel or, heaven forbid, a competitor.

But it's a bit of a shocker, if you can allow yourself to absorb and enjoy the important expository nature of the narrative which is, by the way, periodically relieved by the ongoing story line, a rather compelling tale about a man who makes the most startling discovery anyone could ever make. I finished writing this novella on January 1, 2013. Now I'm finishing up the "building" of the the book for paperback publishing.

I designed the cover myself — just like I did for all my books — and I just finished writing the description for the back cover. I also made a new promotional video for this novella, replacing the old video, but I will not air it until the Kindle Edition is "Live" in the Amazon Kindle Store. Superstitious? You bet I am because I know the real truth about superstition. Did I make copies? You bet I did. I have Kindle and paperback backup copies coming outta my ears.

Right now I'm in the process of doing what no writer should ever, ever have to do. I'm doing the sixth "read/edit" of the entire manuscript. Poor Appalachian hick writers like me do all our own work and wear all the publishing hats we have to in order to get the job done. The writer hat is the only one that really fits me but I wear them all. No one else is going to do it for me.

I plan to publish this ninth book in paperback before the end of this month (January 2013) if everything goes right. Then I'll publish the Kindle Edition, which is a digital manuscript of the exact same text, formatted for the Kindle reader and the Kindle apps for Android, Blackberry, iPhone, iPod, iPod Touch, Mac, PC and Windows Phone. And anything else Amazon comes up with for the mobile market.

Wish me luck. I'll need it. I don't think my head can take any more keyboard abuse. Thanks for your time.

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