June 2012
1 post
Tax and Beer....
THE TAX SYSTEM EXPLAINED IN BEER Suppose that once a week, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this..
The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay £1. The sixth would pay £3. The seventh would pay £7. The eighth would pay £12. The ninth would pay £18....
April 2012
2 posts
Weekend at last....
….and it will be a weekend of writing and working out in the gym I think…
2 tags
Volume three
Started on volume three of the Thoughts of Mountains series (Though I haven’t published volume two yet) The first chapter of volume three is here…..http://www.scribd.com/doc/89099987/The-Opening-of-Volume-Three Please pop over for a read and let me know what you think :)
March 2012
1 post
Early start...
Up mega early in the morning for a phone call from a chap who can’t seem to get his head round an eleven hour time difference……
February 2012
4 posts
Grimm?
Where is this Grimm thing going?
Back home
A good heavy workout and a healthy tea of baked salmon and veggies today. Just a little reparation for the over indulgence of the weekend :)
Blood pressure
… some idiot woman from the occupational health department managed to raise mine this morning when she decided to park her car in the same space already occupied by mine. Damaged my wing mirror in the process…. silly moo…. still, at least she had the honesty to own up to her crass stupidity.
Scribd.com
Passed the 300 reads mark on scribd.com …. thanks people :)
December 2011
1 post
3 tags
Who's reading this?
This seems to be attracting a lot of attention recently…. I need to get on with writing the rest of the book I think! http://www.scribd.com/doc/69327066/Power-Fail-Short
November 2011
1 post
3 tags
Back once more..
Greetings. Been away from here for a while (doing my other job, which has been nocturnal recently) but back to the land of the living now. Just spotted a bargain BTW it’s here http://www.amazon.co.uk/Waking-Carag-Crieth-ebook/dp/B00556O2I0/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1321555693&sr=1-1
Volume 2 has been unavoidably delayed and will now likely be published in the...
September 2011
4 posts
Garat's Revelation
There is an excerpt from Volume 2 of The Thoughts of Mountains here http://jottify.com/works/garats-revelation/
Please pop along for a read and let me know what you think :)
Commas free to a good home...
Well, been proof reading my second book and removing superfluous punctuation. I now have a very large bag of commas and a matching semi colon if anyone would like them :)
New site for writers
Love this site. It’s new but well worth a visit. Pop over and have a look if you have a moment. http://jottify.com/
Done....
Well, the writing stage of volume 2 is finished ‘phew!’ Now for the hard part, checking continuity and proof reading, could take a week or two, but will be worth it :)
August 2011
7 posts
Almost there...
Another good day at the keyboard and now only two chapters to go. Volume 2 on target to be finished by the weekend !!!!
Good Morning!
Good morning everyone out there. A peaceful day of writing planned for today, hope I make as much progress as I did yesterday with volume 2. Will let you know later :)
A hard days fun
Had a hard day writing today, good fun and good progress on volume 2 of the series. Ideas flowing and scenes coming to life. A few more days like this and volume 2 will be finished !!!!
Back again
Greetings virtual world. Been out of circulation for a few weeks, doing my day job and then a holiday in Spain. Back with a vengeance this week though, working on my web site, blogging and finishing my next book. I’ll be updating daily on progress, and enjoying any feedback you can offer via any of the links on the ‘find me’ page of my web site at www.theblackcrown.co.uk
New Website
Greetings all. I have a new website (still working on it). It’s here: www.theblackcrown.co.uk
Please pop along and have a look. I would appreciate any opinions/advice as building websites is not really my forte. You can contact me at any of the links on the site, or at steve@theblackcrown.co.uk
Thanks,
Steve Jones Snr
Simple....
The world is a very simple place… it is only people who do not understand this that make it seem complicated….
4 tags
Back to Italy….
I left Sarajevo with a much deeper insight into the effects of war on a country and it’s people. War was scary now.
I had a few weeks at home before my next assignment, but had little time for my book, as in nine weeks the list of ‘things to do’ on the fridge door had grown considerably. By the time I was due to fly out again I had forgotten where I was up to with the book.
When I arrived at the...
July 2011
12 posts
4 tags
Old idea for a new book......
The light was painful. It had seemed faint when he had seen it first from a distance. The tunnel he had traversed to reach the source of the light had not been there before, he was sure. He turned and stumbled blindly back along the tunnel and into the comforting darkness.
He opened his eyes again and strained to see his way but the effect of the strong light had left him temporarily blinded. He...
3 tags
Old idea for a New Book......
…… An idea I had for a book some years ago has raised it’s head again. I have posted an excerpt on AKGMag, and it will be available to view in a day or so. Would like some feedback on what people think, so will post the link as soon as it’s available….
5 tags
Upside-down houses……
……Each day, as we were traveling to work, we would see odd looking unfinished structures. A concrete pillar at each corner, a reinforced concrete slab for a roof, and another slab for each level of the building. There was a concrete stair outside, leading up to the top level. After several weeks of traveling back and forth past these structures my curiosity got the better of me and I had to ask...
Next week....
…. off to jolly old Ireland again tomorrow… hope to be back by Friday for a decent weekend off…. not to mention a big BBQ and beer session :)
Harlow...
….spent two nights in a dump masquerading as a hotel in Harlow (Oasis hotel)… but on the upside… did find a very nice pub/restaurant/hotel in Old Harlow (The Green Man).. bet you can’t guess where I’ll be staying next time :)
3 tags
Web site progress....
…..figuring out how to do stuff slowly but surely. Working on the characters on the test site and hoping it will go live next week :)
Google +
In order to network as socially as possible, I am now on Google + here https://plus.google.com/103107971320440694264 :)
4 tags
A well deserved weekend off.......
……looking forward to this weekend. No work! Hopefully have some time to work on my website (if I can figure out how to do stuff on it) Want to have some character descriptions up there by Sunday.
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The lost generation......
……We had all noticed that, each evening, there had been loud music playing in the next street over toward the river. We headed in that direction.
Turning the corner into the musical street, we were all very pleased to see that it was lined with bars, all brightly decorated and all playing different tunes. Loudly.
They all seemed to be competing to drown each other out. The resultant cacophony was...
Drogheda
Just been out to a traditional Irish local pub. No beer pumps on the bar, your man has to go out to a room in the back to get your beer. They have a Thin Lizzie tribute band on on Thursday night, may have to pop in for a listen for a while. Ireland rocks 8-)
Back to Ireland
Back on the ferry tomorrow morning for another week in Ireland. Lot of work to do, but hopefully be finished by Friday then it’s home for a weekend off :)
The Emerald Isle
…..been out of circulation for a while over in Ireland, and will be next week too. Hopefully get a little time for some writing next trip so that I’ll have something more interesting to post next weekend….
June 2011
8 posts
Celebrating......
……BBQing tonight, and will be raising a few glasses of the foaming mead afterwards to celebrate the new job :)
BARNES & NOBLE | The Waking of Carag Cri'eth by... →
For anyone in the USA who enjoys fantasy, you may enjoy this….
Jamming LOUD
Been jamming with the guys tonight (first time in months) boy have they got loud. Had to get them all to get their levels right. They’ve come on pretty well in my absence, maybe arrange an open air gig this summer :)
3 tags
ebook is now available for Amazon Kindle
Check it out here http://www.amazon.com/Waking-Carag-Crieth-ebook/dp/B00556O2I0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=A7B2F8DUJ88VZ&s=digital-text&qid=1307743595&sr=1-1
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The future......
Pleased to be able to announce that I have a new job….. one that will give me more time for writing…. volume 2 is on the way….
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Promethium..... awesome metal band....
Check this out…….. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=drfQRmQ9QOA
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The (half) day off….
……It was Friday evening, and I suggested to the foreman that we should maybe take the day off on Sunday. He didn’t seem too comfortable with this and asked if he could talk to the rest of the crew before we made a decision, I agreed. He came to my table in the restaurant that night, after long and sometimes heated discussions with his men, and told me that they would prefer to take only half a day...
3 tags
All work and no play….
…..The next nine weeks were chaotic. We worked twelve hours a day, seven days a week. On the upside, I did actually manage to get some work done on my book. Each evening, since I had spent all day with my crew (struggling to communicate), they didn’t seem to mind my spending a little time alone at my own small table in the restaurant. This was no doubt a relief for them too, as they seemed a...
May 2011
24 posts
4 tags
Soldiers make you feel safe?.....
……It was still quite early, so I decided a nap was in order. I returned to my room, lay on the bed and awoke three hours later. I showered and changed, then headed back down to the restaurant to see what was on the menu for dinner.
I stepped out of the elevator and into a crowd of uniforms heading in the opposite direction. Deftly side-stepping through the onrushing army I managed to narrowly...
5 tags
Ebook....
Started the ball rolling to have my first book released as an ebook. It will be available for Kindle and Epub (amongst others).
My publishers have everything they need to get things moving now, so hoping it won’t be too long before it’s out there.
4 tags
Sarajevo…..
…..I was picked up from the airport and driven to the hotel by a driver that may or may not have been able to speak English. He never tried, just a grunt when I acknowledged the card he was holding up at the airport, a second grunt as he nodded his head to indicate which car was his and a third when we arrived at the hotel to indicate that we had arrived, and I should get my own suitcase out of...
5 tags
The beginning of the end….
…….The next couple of weeks were really busy. My crew and I couldn’t afford to share the relaxed attitude of the plant management. We had a job to do and a limited time to do it. So the days were long and the evenings short and very little writing was done.
The last truck left for Sarajevo and I had a few days at home arranged before we started to install the equipment in it’s new home. I said my...
5 tags
AKGMAG http://www.akgmag.com/
Good place to go if you are looking for something to read (I’m on there too) http://www.akgmag.com/article/The_Making_of_the_World.htm
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Luuuuuuuuuuuunch….
…..We set out in three cars and drove for only five minutes to reach a rather smart restaurant. On entering, we found ourselves to be the only customers and a waitress showed us to a large table. There were twelve of us in all and all but myself and my boss seemed to know what they wanted for an aperitif. I’d had a conversation with a friend in the pub before I’d left home, he had visited Italy...
4 tags
The executioner….
…..I got my wish. My work crew spent the next two days finding their way around, I.E. visiting every pub, club and eating establishment in town, leaving me in peace with my writing. The book was coming along well now, almost 100,000 words. I reckoned that I needed around 20,000 more to make it a reasonably sized manuscript for a first fantasy novel. The story had taken shape quite well, but I was...
4 tags
Venice? Yeah, right….
……After a short break at home, I found myself on a flight to Venice. Wonderful I thought, the art, the architecture, the history….ahhh! Finally, for the first time in two years, a project in a place I wanted to go.
I arrived at Marco Polo Airport, and was met by a driver who didn’t speak a word of English, but seemed to know where I wanted to go. We set out from the airport and he drove…..and...
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Goodbye Berg….
…..The time came for me to leave Belgrade and move on to the next project. The work here was complete, the line was running, and my work crew had loaded up their van ready for the journey home.
I left my laptop in my room that evening, as I was meeting the plant manager and the work crew team leader for dinner in Berg’s restaurant. I thought it was going to be a quiet meal and a beer with two...
