Omachuck: Blog

I intended Chapter 1 to appear last night, but was late enough that I passed the moderators' bedtime. No big deal.

Chapter 2: Recruiting A Hero will be submitted as soon as I finish this note. In it Pēteris learns a little about Chaos and is tempted to go to Crossroads and learn more. This is a short chapter and one of the reasons I'm going to daily posting.

Here is a peek behind the voting curtain. Please understand this is not a complaint, but an explanation of why your vote is important (as are your comments and feedback.) I say behind the curtain, because authors can see voting results earlier than you can.

Shortly after Pēteris appeared there were 132 downloads and 4 votes. All were 7 or higher, but the score was 6.36. An hour later, there were 211 downloads with 8 votes. Again, all were above 7 or above, and the score was 7.68. I can see how many votes were for each rating, but that isn't important for you to understand what I'm trying to say. The score that you see is not an average, but a comparison to ratings for other stories.

I don't get a big ego boost from a particular score. Sure I like a high score, but, more to the point, I can use the score changes from one chapter to another to judge and adjust my approach and subject matter.

So folks, your votes are important to me and to others, particularly new writers. Please take the time at the end of each chapter, or at least each story to vote and give us yet another tool. Consider your vote to be an investment, not a payment...

One more thought: I could never have predicted how much fun I'd have writing these stories. Your enjoyment is almost a by-product. If any of you are tempted to jump in the author pool, I urge you to do it. It took me 68 years, and I glad I finally did.

As I wrap this up and proceed to sending Chapter 2, the statistics stand at 328 downloads, 19 votes, and an overall score of 7.78. Isn't technology interesting?

Looks like you folks are liking the story. Thanks!

Tonight the first chapter of twenty-two is being submitted to SOL moderators for posting. Pēteris takes place in Lazlo Zalezac's Damsels In Distress Universe. The plan is to post every evening until the complete story is uploaded. Some chapters are short - please consider them appetizers for the longer ones that follow.


I've tried to stay within Lazlo's original parameters, but if you've read any of my Swarm Cycle stories, you know I have to push the envelope just a little.


Voting is turned on, and if I can figure out how to do it, I'll turn on comments. Please give me feedback and vote. It helps me improve.


Enjoy!

This feels like maybe I'm getting hysterical - but really I'm just pissed.

A reader sent the following in response to my last blog:

"I went on books.google.com to check both this Martin Ycaza alias (at least I'm assuming it is)as well as the Hooriya Ahmed thief. I found the books that were listed on Amazon on there as well.

Please repost this for all the authors to see.

Let's get these fuckin' theives!"

So I did some more poking and found the jackasses Amazon version reviewed on Goodreads along with a load of others. Looks like the problem is far beyond Amazon...

These jerks are stealing a lot. If we have someone who is an attorney, it might be worth sending Amazon a cease and desist letter or even filing a class action suite on behalf of all victimized SOL authors.

The latest that I found is Al Steiner's. https://www.amazon.com/Babysitter-Adults-Only-Martin-Ycaza-ebook/dp/B01N3Y411C/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1489765236&sr=1-1

Mike

I just visited Amazon and wrote my own condemnation of the scumbag Hooriya Ahmed for plagiarizing/stealing Stupid Boy.

I checked to see if there were other listings with him as author. Looks like the jackass has ripped off other books. You might want to check.