It's a helluva lot easier to write a book than it is to sell it. To be honest, it's even harder giving one away than writing it. I should know. I've done both. Well, again, to be honest, I haven't really sold that many.

Even the cover art can be a real Herculean task. Look at it? What does it look like to you? A romance novel? Maybe. But, what is Che doing floating ghost-like above the lovers? 

Then there's the title. The working title was Rumba. That was the first edit. Rebels on the Mountain is better, but not by much.

I suppose it's time to repackage it. I doubt if the publisher will be willing to pay for it so it will have to come out of my pocket. He might be inclined to make the investment but for the fact that it hasn't sold enough copies to recoup his original outlay.

The manuscript itself doesn't seem to be holding back sales. Indeed fourteen of the sixteen reviews it has received are 5-Star. The others are 4-Star and one of those was the most effusive in praise.

At any rate, I've started with a new synopsis. Please read it (below) and let me know what you think. Thanks.

I wish I were a humorist like Mark Twain, someone who could help people laugh at our foibles and defuse the anger that pervades political discourse these days.

Anger in politics is nothing new, not in America. We the People have been persecuting each other since long before we even became a nation. The Sons and Daughters of Liberty frequently rallied to tar and feather Tories and then run them out of town on a rail. The end of the Revolution didn't end the acrimony. Legislators caned one another on the floor of Congress or retired to the edges of Washington to add orifices to each others' bodies with pistol and sword. Then came the Civil War, the biggest political brouhaha of all times.

Things didn't get any better in the Twentieth Century. Labor unionists and armed thugs hired by mine and mill owners regularly dented each others' craniums with brickbats and billy clubs. And, let's not forget General MacArthur leading the troops to disperse World War I veterans who wanted nothing more than their promised due. Need I mention the Civil Rights riots, KKK lynchings, and assassinations?

Ever since ReadWave began tracking the geographical locations of readers, I have received a notice whenever 50 people located in the United States have viewed one of my stories. Of course, many more than that have read these stories before ReadWave began this service.

The most recent story to earn this distinction is "Failure", the tale of people who don't learn from their mistakes. "Failure is, of course, included in the collection of my short stories that appears on this website.

The thing that I find most interesting is that I have a popular following in other places. A large number of readers in all cases are located in London, England. I even have a modest following in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Although I have not yet been discovered as an author, certainly not a best-selling author, it is satisfying to learn that my stories are being read and appreciated. I hope that every reader knows how much I appreciate them.

The electoral tide in America seems to be changing in 2014 and may have repercussions well into the future that I have chosen to explore in this, my latest short story.

Ambushing the President appears together with the complete collection of my short stories at this website. 

History is our story written from a distance in time. The writers of history depend upon official records and, in modern times, film and photographs, as well as letters and diaries to study historical eras. Christian Hill's record of his service in Afghanistan, Combat Camera, should help them as well as it helps us in understanding what is happening there.

Christian served four months of 2011 as a Combat Camera Team leader with the British Army's Media Operations Group in Afghanistan. He shares with us a unique vantage point from which to view that conflict. Every soldier has a different perspective. Infantrymen see little beyond a fifteen degree swath a few to a couple hundred meters in depth depending upon the terrain. At the other extreme, pilots see the war from the vantage point of altitude, but miss many details. Christian's view of the war was far more comprehensive than first-hand experience. He gathered it second hand, collating soldiers' stories, as well as intelligence reports. 

It's an honest question. People always complain about politicians lying and yet they vote for them. Often, it seems, the best liars are the most likely to be elected. In a recent interview, Si Robertson of Duck Dynasty fame said he couldn't be a politician because he couldn't lie and everyone in his kitchen laughed. 

Are you laughing, too?

I have just completed this political season writing for an honest man who entered the political fray. His budget was only a fraction of his major opponent and I worked for free. The contest was important to me. I love America and fear that it needs better people in Washington. We've already had too many disappointments.

Writing for his political campaign took me back, way back, to my days in advertising.

The following was written by me on behalf of a candidate for Congress who sadly failed in his bid to represent his party. 

Whomever you elect to represent California's 45th Congressional District in Congress will be a freshman. Every one of your four candidates is equal. One claims an advantage because she has served in the California legislature; however, legislative experience in a state house doesn't apply. Congress and state houses resemble each other only superficially.

Sure, both Congress and state houses are bicameral. They have two chambers. However, six cases argued in the Supreme Court in 1963 and 1964, collectively known as the Reapportionment Cases, decided that states could not justify apportioning representation in their state senates on the same basis as the United States Senate.

The following was written by me on behalf of a candidate for Congress who sadly failed in his bid to represent his party. 

Wasn't this issue settled back in 1984 when President Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act? I guess not. It appears that, like so much of the legislation coming out of Congress, it wasn't well-thought out. Maybe this is the problem with electing politicians to represent us in Washington.

Politicians will tell you whatever you want to hear. They'll stand in front of a group advocating amnesty and pronounce their support, and then rail against it at another venue. Ultimately, we don't know what they'll do when they reach Washington. Most likely, they'll ignore the issue unless it's shoved in their faces. That's when they'll craft another piece of legislation designed to offend the fewest voters, but not reconcile the issue, much like the 1984 legislation.

What will American healthcare of the future look like under Obamacare? Take a look at the healthcare provided to America's veterans. Sarah Palin was eviscerated for suggesting that there would be death panels and yet, we have since learned that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (commonly referred to as Obamacare) does, in fact, provide for a panel of unelected bureaucrats who will make life and death decisions as to who is worth saving and who isn't (on a purely economic basis of course). Now, we discover that veterans would be lucky to have even that much consideration. Instead, they are relegated to secret waiting lists where they will be left to die without any right of appeal. Even criminals are treated better than that.

The following was written by me on behalf of a candidate for Congress who sadly failed in his bid to represent his party. 

My opponent in the race for California's 45th Congressional District, Mimi Walters, seems to have been so busy collecting gifts from special interests that she missed the news that China is no longer funding the US deficit. None but the Democrats can argue with her basic premise that "It's time to stop the borrowing and force Washington to live within its means, instead of stealing from the pockets of future generations or borrowing from China and other countries." However, she can't attack the issue if she doesn't have a clear understanding of it.

Mimi, China isn't funding America's deficit.