Iskander: Blog

My recent novel Through different Eyes is scoring well at 8.74 (and still rising).

So it's well worth a read! It's a Premier members only story - but it is available on Bookapy as a complete eBook (and as a paperback elsewhere)

Why not check it out!

I'm now working on several new projects - join my newsletter (link in my profile) to stay up to date, read excerpts and extras!

As always, take care of you and yours,

Robert
(Iskander)

With Through different Eyes complete, it only remains for me to thank you for reading. It's pretty hard for a Premier members only story to gain enough readers to feature in the top lists - but thanks to your votes, Through different Eyes is now #4 in the Top 50 Completed Serials, by Rating, in the Last 30 Days.

I'd love for Through different Eyes to make it into the Top 50 Long Stories This Year (it would be #13 at present) and even the Top 50 Classic Long Stories - but to do that, it needs 100 votes - and it's not there yet although it's scoring high enough.

Interestingly, 202 people have put it into their library - so it would be tremendous if some more of those people would vote.

If you would like a peek at what I'm working on next (three projects but I've not yet decided which to prioritise), hop over to my profile and join my mailing list using the link there. You will get some previews over the next few months and a chance to have your say.

Once again - many thanks for reading, and please vote if you haven't already done so!

Robert Hart
(Iskander)

The epilogue for Through different Eyes has been posted. The story is related by Mutti Frida, who revisits Ravensbrück for a rededication of the camp memorial in 1975.

I am also proud to tell you that Through different Eyes has made it to the longlist (about 50 books) in the PageTurner 2023 writing awards. There's a way to go yet, but even this is rewarding - as are your continuing votes here on Stories-on-Line.

Thank you.

I looked down at the letter in my hand. It invited me, Frida Schmidt (née Karpinski), to attend the rededication of the Ravensbrück Concentration Camp memorial. I watched, detached, as the letter wobbled, exaggerating my trembling hand.

Seeking the chair, I groped behind me and fell onto the seat.

As a nearly sixteen-year-old, I had run from those gates into the cold spring of 1945. The SS guards inexplicably herded several thousand German nationals from the camp. I’d never returned; nor did I wish to. I knew too well its miasma of suffering, cruelty and evil. The camps had drained the life from my mother through a decade of imprisonment, forced labour and starvation as she struggled to keep me alive.

I dropped the letter on my desk; the memories spread the trembling across my body.

Breathe, Frida, the way Col does.

This brings to an end the stories in the Cold War and before series. It's been quite a journey as these stories mark my debut as a published author. I started writing Through my Eyes. Again. in October 2019 and, I hope, I've learned much since those first tentative steps.

If you are interested in staying current with my writing, please drop me an email here on Stories on Line. I'll be happy to add you to my newsletter. You can also join my discord (see my profile).

Thanks for coming on this journey with me...

... and don't forget to vote!

Iskander

(Robert Hart)

Chapter 20 of Through different Eyes has been posted. This is the final chapter - but there is an epilogue to come next week.

Thank you for reading - and please don't forget to vote!

I left the Munich University bookshop, walking into the sunshine of an Indian summer and stood, savouring the view. I’d seen photographs of the wrecked city of 1945 and today’s cityscape astonished me. Restoration work was not yet complete, but the careful blending of old and new delighted me. Mutti and I had lived amidst the concrete bleakness of Leipzig’s reconstruction under communism. Despite this, when we visited on our return, there had been a sense of people shaking off twenty years of restrictions, seeking a new identity. Willi’s remarks about the young people he had met on his visit to east Germany seemed almost prescient.

Where are you Willi? I tried searching for your doctor mother – but still nothing. Jennifer said you’d come looking for me …

Walking away from Mrs Henderson had meant walking away from my single remaining link to Willi. Reliving that decision caused emotion to slice through me. I needed the rhythm of movement to soothe me.

I strode for a tram, my textbook-loaded bag’s gentle thud on my hip helping me contain my inner turmoil. In our apartment, I started preparing tea with Imbi threading through my legs, purring happily. Aunt Anastasia’s money had allowed me to fly him here and he was settling in, although I expected he would find the upcoming winter challenging. With the shepherd’s pie in the oven, I sat with Imbi sleeping on my lap, glancing through my Russian textbook whilst at least half my mind gnawed at the fruitless search for Willi.

Always there, coiled like a serpent waiting to strike, was Mrs Henderson’s offer: acquiesce and Willi would be mine. Jennifer’s warning of what this would do to me had been stark. I would have to ignore it were I to succumb to Mrs Henderson’s blandishments. The endless, self-destructive lies required for Mrs Henderson carried more weight than Jennifer’s warning.

My most recent newsletter included an excerpt from one of the three new projects I'm working on. The next couple of newsletters will include an excerpt from the other two.

If you are interested in reading these and helping me choose which one I progress first, please drop me an email here on Stories on Line. I'll be happy to add you to my newsletter so you get to read them.

Thanks for reading...
... and don't forget to vote!

Iskander

(Robert Hart)

Chapter 19 of Through different Eyes has been posted. The story is approaching the end - one more chapter and an epilogue to go.

Once again, thanks for reading and voting for this story.

I found a café and had a coffee to settle myself. Sitting there, I racked my brain trying to think of some other way to find Willi. An hour later, I walked up the stairs beside a greengrocer in Wood Green. Several office doors lead off the landing; one proclaimed itself to be “Wallis Investigations”.

I knocked – without reply, but the door opened when I tried it. I found a desk with a typewriter and another door, through which I could hear an indistinct voice.

Someone on the phone?

A minute later the door opened to reveal a fair-haired man with an open and innocent face. He was in his early thirties.

He blinked. “Ah – right.” He waved at the desk and typewriter. “Let’s see if you can do better than the last one.”

I gave him a blank look. “Sorry?”

“You’re here about the secretary job – although I asked for an older woman, not some wet-behind-the-ears dolly bird.” He sniffed. “Well, sit down and I’ll give you some dictation.”

I smiled at him. “Mr Wallis, I think we are at cross-purposes. I’m not looking for a job.”

He blinked. “You’re not?”

“No, I’m not.” I gave him what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “I’m thinking of hiring you to do some work for me.”

He blinked again, his fair complexion showing a faint blush. “Er … sorry.” He gestured to his open office door. “Um … please come in.”

He directed me to one of a pair of chairs beside a low table. “How can I help you … er, Miss?”

“Miss Miller. I’m trying to find someone I’ve lost touch with.”

He reached round to his desk, grabbing a spiral notebook and biro off the blotter. “Go on.”

“He’s a young man, my age and probably studying physics at university somewhere in England, but we’ve been out of touch for several years.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I’ve been in Australia.”

“I see. Please go on.”

“Before we go further, I need to find out if you can do this sort of work.
He gave me a confused look.

“Please tell me about your organisation.” I looked towards the empty outer office.

He looked at me for a few seconds. “It’s only me at present – but as you know, I’m trying to hire a secretary.” An embarrassed smile flitted across his face.

“How much experience do you have?”

“Oh – I have lots of investigative experience … with the Met.”

“The Met?”

“The Metropolitan Police. I left them last month to set up my business.”

This sounded fishy.

“When you say left, were you sacked?”

In my last blog, I talked briefly about the three new projects I have before me. I'm trying to decide which of these to progress.

People on my mailing list have managed (so far) to tie two of these projects...

You can join my mailing list, get a glimpse of these and influence them.

Drop me an email here on Stories on Line. I'll be happy to add you.

Don't forget to vote!

And thanks for reading!

Iskander

(Robert Hart)