Hello, friends and fans!
Welcome to another “Peek At My Week”! Here’s a look at some of my latest news: August 14, 2023! Here are some things that happened this past week.
News About Writing & Publishing: This Is The Current State Of Things
Let’s take a look at the current status quo on various ongoing issues affecting my writing or publishing:
- Writing: The first book in my new sci-fi adventure series (“Threaders”) is coming along nicely. I’ve titled it “Freedom Inc”, and it’s already almost 30,000 words in. I already finished the first part of the story, which introduces the lead character (Tang Gunar, a cybernetically enhanced gunslinger) last week, and now I’m working on the second part where I introduce another main character (Mycos Atellu, a swordsman and adventurer). I’ll let you know what happens next!
Into Adventure!Freedom. Independence. Friendship. You could have it all! Or, you might die trying. The only question worth answering is: How bad do you want it?
Bad enough to become a threader – drifters who make their way across space doing anything they could to make money, just to be able to reach the next port? Mostly, threaders were just one payday away from being actual space pirates – or bums marooned in the ass-end of space, widely regarded with mistrust and suspicion.
For Tang Gunar, Mycos Atellu, and those who join their crew, there is no other choice but to adopt this identity as an act of survival, rebellion, hope and defiance as they embark on a journey to seek adventure and fortune on the Fringe, to find out where it will lead them, together.
- What Readers Say: I’m not sure, I know I can’t please everybody (so I’m not trying to!) – drop me a line and let me know how you think I’m doing – or, preferably, leave me a review!
Other Stuff:
Here’s a few of the other things that happened this past week:
Seeing Red
The screenshotted post below was made on Friday morning (11 Aug) in our residents clients-only Whatsapp group run by our security company for our suburb. Of course, as soon as I read this person’s post, I saw red. In fact, I was enraged. Below, the original post and my response in the group, which prompted the admin to intervene and shut down the conversation within minutes.
Not only did this presumptuous individual name and shame the people who live there (who aren’t even in the group because they’re not clients of the same security company) but he also included their address and a photo of the front of their home with his post to clarify who it was he was speaking about.
Just a few things stand out to me about it:
1) Whoever this guy thinks he is, people in my area are seemingly reporting to him on their neighbors activities for petty little things that are not only NOT criminal acts, but are in fact none of their fucking business – plain gesê.
2) He seems to think people need permission (from whom?) to give food to passing homeless or poor people who ring their bell to ask for help. He’s in for a surprise if he thinks anyone – including me – is going to ask his (or anyone’s) permission for anything like this. What I do with my charity or my food or whom I choose to give it to, is entirely my business – and if anyone doesn’t like it, they can piss right off.
3) Security companies in South Africa aren’t allowed to so much as remove non-paying tenants from properties belonging to their clients, or to chase people squatting on properties not belonging to their clients, or to stop-search anyone walking in the street – so what makes this guy think their suggestions at semi-public meetings are in any way binding or legally enforceable? They are in fact suggestions, nothing more, and worth bugger-all in the real world.
4) I get that he’s likely speaking from a place of fear and even hysteria in this case, after all, a woman was just murdered by an intruder in her lounge a couple of blocks away three days ago – but he’s also speaking from a position of privilege as someone who’s never been hungry or destitute before – or who is just really selfish, doesn’t give a shit about other people, and would rather influence others to withhold charity from those who need it, and is willing to bully them to toe the line if that’s what it takes.
5) “This is not acceptable” he said. Actually, EVERYTHING he said was unacceptable to me, in point of fact, the concept of crime-ridden neighborhoods is unacceptable to me, as are the notions of poverty and destitution – but instead of tackling those issues, he’s targeting those under the wheel and those trying to help them. But, most of all, what tops all of that is the thoughtless brutality which some people can so easily dish out towards others. His statement was nothing more than an exercise in the denigration of the humane and the promotion of the inhumane – and to cut it down to the very root, it was nothing less than bullying, and I won’t accept that.
Next time someone rings my bell to ask for food or the like, I will be sure to lay it on nice and thick just so whoever is spying on the neighborhood for him can enjoy the show, take photos, and have something to ineffectually gossip about, as they seem to have nothing better to occupy their time.
Wankers.
“I Feel Like A Disappointment To My Family”
I posted the following as a response to a kid in a neurodivergent/autistic group on Facebook, who said he felt like he was a disappointment to his family:
I was treated as a disappointment by my family – first because my dad turned to alcoholism to deal with his own problems of not fitting in and not being able to deal with social pressures – and they tended to treat me like a likely failure just because of him being my dad.
Aside from that, I wasn’t the studious type who got A+ in every test score or exam, unlike some of my cousins who were, and went on to become doctors and lawyers, I didn’t fit in very well myself either.
I was put through EEG’s and diagnosed with an unknown but benign brain dysfunction as a preteen, because I had issues with algebra and some maths, although I wasn’t diagnosed as autistic. Back then I doubt it would’ve occurred to them. It never occurred to my parents or to me until this year.
At 17 I had a mini breakdown resulting from school pressures and dealing with my sexual orientation and gender identity (I’m trans, MTF) which I hid due to my own religious upbringing and fear of embarrassing my family. The following year (1992) on finishing high school, I was drafted into the army.
I spent decades of my life denying my own true self because of family pressure and not wanting to disappoint them, and all it did was ruin my life. At 25 I got married (as a man) to a woman, basically just to make them happy.
After just two years, I couldn’t handle it anymore and exploded out of that closet and never went back. Naturally, my divorce was another embarrassment to my family, and even today, some 23 years later, some relatives still refuse to speak to me.
To make a long story shorter, the number of relatives I’ve remained in contact with at all has dwindled over time, first due to my transitioning in 2006, then walking away from Christianity (2008) to coming out as lesbian (2009), to embarking on a journey of self-discovery in traversing a spectrum of occult religions through the 2010’s, finally arriving at atheism.
Now at 50, my grandparents, parents, aunts and uncles and several cousins are all dead, and aside from the odd exception, the remainder apparently do not wish to be associated with me for some reason. 😏
Finally, at this point in my life, I’ve been made aware that I’m on the ND spectrum, and I have to say, looking back, it explains a helluva lot.
I know what it’s like to be treated like “a disappointment to my family” – and let me tell you this: in the end it doesn’t matter. Those to whom you do not matter, should not matter to you. It sucks though, if you have to be dependent on people who don’t accept you and treat you like a disappointment.
If they love you, it wouldn’t matter to them what you do, or what you’ve done, or what you are or were – especially if you’ve done nothing fundamentally wrong.
Being treated like a disappointment by people who should love and accept you for who you are is just wrong. It’s abuse.
That’s why the saying “blood is thicker that water” is absolute bullshit. Firstly it’s a corruption of the actual original which goes: “the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb”.
The modern version isn’t a simplification – it’s a corruption – it means the opposite. It means that people related to you aren’t necessarily closer or more important than those you make friends with and have proven themselves true and loyal.
Be the fundamental you. Unapologetically. Freely. And honestly. Find your tribe 🙂.
I wish you good luck, joy and happiness.
That’s all for this week!
As always, I’ll keep you posted about any further developments. And remember:
In spite of some of my books having been on Amazon since 2005, not one of them has yet reached the magical 51 reader reviews yet! (The highest number any of them has, is ten – which is a pretty good number, but still not high enough for Amazon!) I would really appreciate your help on this! Come on, leave a review – it’s free! 
I wish you all a pleasant week until next time!
