Starting a Historical Fiction Series †A Reedsy Success Story

Starting a Historical Fiction Series – A Reedsy Success Story Starting a Historical Fiction Series – A Reedsy Success Story Author R.P. Wollbaum is another example of the tremendous opportunity that indie-publishing represents for writers. He self-published his first book in 2015 and is now working on book 5 of his Bears and Eagles series. He has found his editor and cover designer through Reedsy and has been working with them ever since. His story is quite nice, so we thought we'd let him share it on our blog.I have always been interested in history. As a young lad, I used to listen to the old-timers talk about the old country. There were still a few around that had been born in what they called Russia, now called Ukraine, and they talked about life there. They also talked about life in their new home, Canada and how there had been literally nothing but open sky and prairie when they had arrived. They even told stories they had heard from  their grandfather about life in the ‘Old Country’, and the struggles they faced to make a life for themselves.I had always had an interest in writing. B ut writing things in longhand - my handwriting is terrible- then transcribing them by typewriter was a pain and any hope of finding someone to publish your work was almost impossible. So it was just an infrequent hobby for me.Then life in Canada changed and our young men and women were once again losing their lives in war. This time in Afghanistan and a young man serving as a member of the King’s Own Calgary Regiment lost his life. Most of us in Canada know of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (PPCLI) Battalion. Albertans know about the Lord Strathcona Horse (an armored brigade), and Calgarians know about the Calgary Highlanders. They are all famous Canadian regiments. But the King’s Own Calgary Regiment? Who were they?So I researched this little-known cavalry brigade and thought to myself, what led this young man from a country not known for its military history, to join a reserve reconnaissance battalion? A plotline developed and I worked backwa rd in time to come to a starting point in the late nineteenth century when things were much like they are today, but I definitely still needed to do some worldbuilding. Huge Imperial Empires were dueling over land and prestige. Islamic fundamentalists were fighting to expand their territories and Christians were fighting them.I placed a young educated man, Russian born to German emigrants and his younger brother in a Cossack battalion along with other younger sons of other German families and progressed from there. Each book of the Bears and Eagles series follows the next generation of this family and I place them in times and events that did occur, but perhaps not exactly how or when.The explosion of indie-produced writers made the decision to publish easy, and I made a choice early on to obtain professional help for editing and book cover design. I had enough budget to edit two novels and one book cover. So I published Bears and Eagles, the first book in the series. It was well re ceived for a first effort by an unknown author.My original cover was eye-catching, but its retro art was not particularly suited to my theme. That is when I discovered Reedsy and the services they provided. I chose Dane Low to be my cover artist. Not only was he easy to work with, but I thought his addition of a battle scene into the background of the design was masterful. He is my choice as cover artist for the rest of the series.The original editor I had hired did a good job, but there were mistakes. So I again looked to Reedsy for help. I am a guy. I write for guys, but I have many powerful female characters in my novels, and I made the decision to find a female editor to work with. Kate O’Donnell and I came to an agreement for an editorial assessment of Eagles Claw and right away we had a connection. I take most of what she wants me to do to heart. Although we speak the same language, we have different cultures and usages of language that have to be ironed out at times. S he is Australian, I’m not, and my target market is North American males; but we are able to compromise, both of us being a little quirky and offbeat in our own ways.She was my sole choice for Eagles Talon, the third release of the series. She performed the whole editing process for me and did fantastic work. My work is now being noticed, even though I only first published last June. Kobo has recently asked me to participate in a pilot project they are putting together that may see my hard copies distributed with the Indigo chain. Kate is about to do an editorial assessment of the fifth novel in the series, and I am about to begin rewrites on book four, for which she did everything - from an editorial assessment to a full and substantial copy edit.I have expanded my distribution beyond Amazon and Kobo and have found that other sales channels, for me, sell as well or better than Amazon.  My Reedsy experience has been fantastic. Soon I will be searching for a marketing profess ional to join my team and will be looking to Reedsy once again.My journey continues.You can check out R.P. Wollbaum's Bears and Eagles series on Amazon here.  As always, feel free to leave any questions for R.P. Wollbaum in the comments below. And if you're ready to follow his example and looking for an editor, designer, or marketer, take a look at Reedsy here!

Free Essays on Curleys Wife Of Mice And Men

Appearance Curley’s wife is an unnamed character in the book of Mice & Men. Her appearance is more of a show girl image. She is described in chapter 2, page 32 as having full rouge lips, wide spaced eyes, heavily mad up. Her finger nails were real, her hair hung in little rolled clusters like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules on the insteps of which were little bouquets of ostrich feathers. On page 81,chaper 4, there is another good description of her when she enters the bunk house and asks â€Å"any of you boys seen Curly?† . ‘Her face was heavily mad up. Her lips were slightly parted. She breathed strongly, at though she had been running, with an appearance that did not suit her surroundings’. She is called by different names such as Loo Loo (page 56) by the other men. On other occasions she is called rat trap (page 36), tart (pages 31, 32 and 105), good looking (page 35), girl (page 40,85 and 100), jail bait (page 57), bitch (page 35 and 90), tramp (page 35 and 104). History Curley’s wife lived in the Salinas when she was a kid. She then met an actor who said she could be in a show but her mother wouldn't let her, because she was too young. She also met another guy who promised her a place in the movies because she was a ‘natural’. He said he would write her a letter from Hollywood but it never came. Curley’s wife thought her mother had stolen it (Page 93 & 94). She never made it in the movies but she still hoped to before she died (Lennie killed her). Personality Curley and his wife have recently got married. His wife is discontent and doesn’t really like Curley. She wants to be accepted and have more friends, so she flirts with the workers. She has a very split personality. She threatens Crooks when he annoys her. She is kind to Lennie and opens up her dreams and inner feelings to him. But she ... Free Essays on Curleys Wife Of Mice And Men Free Essays on Curleys Wife Of Mice And Men Appearance Curley’s wife is an unnamed character in the book of Mice & Men. Her appearance is more of a show girl image. She is described in chapter 2, page 32 as having full rouge lips, wide spaced eyes, heavily mad up. Her finger nails were real, her hair hung in little rolled clusters like sausages. She wore a cotton house dress and red mules on the insteps of which were little bouquets of ostrich feathers. On page 81,chaper 4, there is another good description of her when she enters the bunk house and asks â€Å"any of you boys seen Curly?† . ‘Her face was heavily mad up. Her lips were slightly parted. She breathed strongly, at though she had been running, with an appearance that did not suit her surroundings’. She is called by different names such as Loo Loo (page 56) by the other men. On other occasions she is called rat trap (page 36), tart (pages 31, 32 and 105), good looking (page 35), girl (page 40,85 and 100), jail bait (page 57), bitch (page 35 and 90), tramp (page 35 and 104). History Curley’s wife lived in the Salinas when she was a kid. She then met an actor who said she could be in a show but her mother wouldn't let her, because she was too young. She also met another guy who promised her a place in the movies because she was a ‘natural’. He said he would write her a letter from Hollywood but it never came. Curley’s wife thought her mother had stolen it (Page 93 & 94). She never made it in the movies but she still hoped to before she died (Lennie killed her). Personality Curley and his wife have recently got married. His wife is discontent and doesn’t really like Curley. She wants to be accepted and have more friends, so she flirts with the workers. She has a very split personality. She threatens Crooks when he annoys her. She is kind to Lennie and opens up her dreams and inner feelings to him. But she ...

The Risk and the Unknown of the Genetically Modified Foods Research Paper

The Risk and the Unknown of the Genetically Modified Foods - Research Paper Example The analysis establishes that consumer background and diversity influences significantly intentions to purchase GM foods, which further suggests comprehensive study of consumer market to understand fully differences in market segments and the way they respond to GM food issues. Risks of GM foods in the analysis include uncertainty or lack of understating regarding GM food and potential environmental hazards of GM foods, which influence consumers’ attitude negatively toward GM foods. The paper discusses and traces relevant concerns and crucial issues facing GMOs prevalent in food supply in US and other nations across the globe. Instead of the paper addressing policy issues, the paper analysis intends to provoke thought in analysts as a way of determining whether GMOs are, ultimately worth the risk or rather they should be reduced or banned entirely in foods. The paper offers relevant information to prove that GM foods should be restricted until further knowledge is derived rega rding the effects of GM foods on human health. Even after two decades of debate on genetically modified foods, concerns still abound regarding the safety of GM foods and the debate persists as an essential issue in the world. Consumers in various nations are extremely cautious regarding GM food issue due to several factors. Most notably, there have been publicized food scares in US, Europe and Asia leading to negative development of negative attitudes toward GM foods. As well, inadequate knowledge and awareness about GM foods, the absence of trust in professionals and regulators to administer risk influence consumer perception of GM foods. Moreover, increased trade and globalization boosts exchange of food products among trading partners, which further complicate the issue of food safety management; thus, making people reluctant to embrace GM foods fully (Martinelli, Karbarz and Siipi, 2013). Resistance to change is inherent in individuals and usually serves to defend human beings f rom threats of the unknown. For a long period, humans have pushed the boundaries and experimented outside their zone of comfort and recommendation, which brought about space exploration, advanced science and technology. However, pushing the envelope seems to interest only certain individuals in the society to engage in the unknown making only those individuals involved comfortable with their performance. Therefore, from such an understanding it is obvious that expecting society to fully engage in an activity that may entirely be beyond their comfort zone is neither advantageous nor ethical, which is the situation regarding the use of GMOs in food supplies across the globe. Though scientific manipulation of plants and other organisms provides the world with more productive crops, the fact remains that extend of drawbacks exhibited in genetically modified organism are not entirely understood. Hence, incomplete knowledge existing with regard to GMOs in food led many nations to ban them entirely; although the US and several, other developed, nations still embrace GM foods. The reason GM foods exhibit clear and definitive concern for human population regards the unknown level of impacts GM foods pose to human health. Nevertheless, societies deal differently with ambiguities resulting from advances in technology, depending on how much uncertainty a community can tolerate. Especially useful in this analysis is the uncertainty

Marketing Gum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Marketing Gum - Essay Example 02). History of Chewing gum In the late twentieth century, chewing gum was exported to the United States of America (USA) from south eastern region of Mexico, known as Yucatan Peninsula. Mexico’s relationship with the USA developed tremendously in relations with the chewing gum market. Apart from modernity and consumer culture, chewing gum also boosts a person’s sporty appearance. Most of the sportsmen were spotted chewing gum during matches, which became a popular concept among teenagers and youth (Redclift, 2004, p. 05). Market of chewing gum in United Kingdom (UK) The market for confectionery in the UK is huge. The per capita consumption of confectionery is 15 kg annually. The chocolate confectionery segment has a market share of 65 % (Gibson and Williams, 2000, p. 265). The sugar free chewing gums are a rage in the UK. Sales of sugar free chewing gums doubled during the period 1993 to 1998. Currently, the market share of sugar free chewing gums is 73 % (Gibson and W illiams, 2000, p. 266). The major reasons of increased sales of chewing gum were due to health factors, it was considered healthy for dental reasons and nasal congestion. The Chewing gum market has made interesting developments gradually. Initially, chewing gums were sold in some basic flavours like mint, vanilla and strawberry. Chewing gum has seen some major modifications. Vitamin and mineral enriched sugar confectionery items are being sold in the UK markets like hot cake (Gibson and Williams, 2000, p. 266). The target market of sugar free confectioneries is the diabetic patients. Sucrose filled confectioneries are being replaced with fructose ones (Gibson and Williams, 2000, p. 266). The following chewing gum brands are popular in the UK market: 1) "Big Red" (Wrigley UK ) 2) Big Babol (Perfetti Van Melle ) 3) Trident Halls and Dentyne (Cadbury Schweppes) Market leaders of chewing gum market- Wrigley’s and Cadbury Schweppes The market leaders of the chewing gum market in t he UK are Wrigley’s and Cadbury Schweppes (Plunkett, 2008, p. 21). Wrigley’s is a subsidiary company owned by the US company â€Å"MARS† it was founded in the year 1891 by William Wrigley Junior (McNamara and Brozyna, 2008, p. 125). Initially, the sales of chewing gum skyrocketed, but in the late 2005 there was a stiff competition from Cadbury Schweppes, who invested heavily in their chewing brands â€Å"Trident and Dentyne† (McNamara and Brozyna, 2008, p. 125). Wrigley’s had dominated the chewing gum market for more than 100 years, but the drastic slide in its sales due to increased competiveness from Cadbury Schweppes made them aware of consumers’ changing taste and preferences. Wrigley revamped its marketing strategy and introduced a variety of chewing gums which were tasty and healthy at the same time (McNamara and Brozyna, 2008, p. 126). Wrigley’s continues to devise new marketing strategy. Recently, it has filed a patent to laun ch a chewing gum that has the effects of mouth wash and the target market would be consumers of all ages (Nieburg, 2013).Wrigley’s has also appointed hollywood actor Antonio Banderas as their brand ambassador (Reynolds, 2013). Key Factors of the External Environment of Chewing Gum Market in UK Economic Factors –The chewing gum market has not been affected due to the recession. This is mainly due to the low price of chewing gums. The consumers have not compromised on their healthy lifestyle. The increase in sales of Cadbury diary milk

Many Teenagers Run Away from Home Essay Example for Free

Many Teenagers Run Away from Home Essay Each year, many teenagers run away from home. Why do you think are their chief causes? There are many teenagers who run away from their home. Recently the problem of teenagers running away from home is getting more and more serious. This happens in big cities and small towns, and our country is no exception. Each year, many teenagers run away from their families. But it all depends on the person. The main reasons of teenagers’ running away are in surrounding community. The closest people in the world are our family. But if there are some problems in family, then person, especially teenager, who is formed own current psyche, escape from the hopelessness. Nowadays it is very difficult to live with the society around us. Many people try to find a benefit only for themselves, trying to deceive someone in order to satisfy their needs. They deceive each other without thinking that makes a pain and mental injury. There are several reasons why teenagers run away from home, normally these reasons are related to conditions in the families, bad influence of their friends and financial problem. The first cause of running away is conditions in the family. One of the reasons is because they come from broken homes where their parents are divorced. They do not get enough love and care from their parents. As a result, they will go and find love and care elsewhere. Some parents have the habit of quarrelling in front of their children. The children feel ashamed of their parents and cannot stand this kind of environment. In the end they run away from home. Some parents are too strict with their children. They always punished, scold and lecture their children. They also put too much pressure on their children especially in their studies. Actually they should encourage and guide them more instead of putting unrealistic goals on their lives. Most teenagers do not like to be restricted and treated like children. They want to have their own freedom. They like to be creative and learn things for themselves. To overcome the problem, parents should learn how to care and love their children. They need to be sensitive and careful not to do certain things in front of the children. For example, if they have conflicts among themselves, they need to settle it on their own first instead of arguing or quarrelling in front of their children. In many families children are afraid of talking to their parents and asking them for what they want. For this reason the misunderstandings between them grow bigger and bigger. This often ends in a big quarrel. The second reason that leads to run away teenagers from their home is bad influence of their friends. They find their own way of escape by running away from home. They tend to spend their time with their friends than staying at home. That is the beginning of the problem. If they mix with the wrong group of friends, they will get involve with all kinds of wrong activities. For example, under the influence of bad friends, teenagers who escape from home may fall under alcohol dependence. Teenagers abuse alcohol. They seem to be getting a hold of alcohol at a younger and younger age. Since alcohol is used to celebrate and have fun, teens that abuse alcohol most likely has no idea of the affect alcohol and its abuse can have on their bodies. If they find bad friends that influence of them, they begin to offer drinking and in the end teens used to drink and become an alcoholics. Then finish their life in the street. Also teens may become drug addict, which in turn lead to depression and suicide. The most common reason why teenagers use drug is to relieve stress. Many of them have to suffer stress from family condition. One of the explanations is that drugs users have a poor family life. The majority of drug users have had an unhappy childhood which includes cruel punishment and parental neglect. Many teenagers become a fraudster and a thief when the run away from home. Thus the undergrowths, which are associated with bad friends, began to becoming fraudsters or steal on the street. Eventually they are arrested for petty theft and in the future they have no chance to make something of life, because they have a criminal past. The last cause of teenagers running away is financial problem. The most teenagers run away from their house for financial problem in the family. Mendicancy is big problem nowadays, especially in our country. A lot of people standing on the street and ask money. Most of them teenagers, I am sure that they have family and house, but anyway the escape from their home. The main reason it is financial problem. They become a thief and begin to stealing bags, wallets, mobile phones and others valuable things. If someone steals so they can survive or to help other people that are in need then in most cases its alright. To steal just because they didnt want to pay for something even though theyre capable then its wrong. These people should be punished in order to learn that they were wrong for stealing. But these teenagers who have home and family, who must study, help parents, they should not steal. But others teenagers find not good pay jobs, such as water in cheap cafes, cleaner, job in car washing, janitor and so on. They need the money, but they have not opportunity and choice and they have to work in such jobs as these. They have not education and no one can help them with good job. Every teenager who run away from home, have made a bad decision. They got themselves under the pressures that they felt the need to escape from. Instead of facing their problem and solving it, they chose to run from it. When they have the right decision to change some of the things that may be going on in their lives, the pressure lessens, and there is no more need for them to escape. If they learn to solve their problem and their parents will help them to do so, without cursing and impose their goals and solutions, then the escape of teenagers reduced many times. In conclusion, there are so many teenagers who run away from their families. There are many reasons for it, but one solution parents must be more careful, understanding and loving. If parents will pay enough attention to their children, the children answered them reciprocate and they the same as apply to their children in the future. For teenagers is very important parents’ attention, their understanding and advice. Parents should only speak with their child and all this will not happen. I think the main problem of this issue is misunderstood of our parents, because they forget that they also be teenagers, they want fence in all things. But this lead to lies quarrels and finally escapes from home.

The Last Samurai :: essays research papers

The Last Samurai-Scene 11 - 17   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The scene started off with a man by the name of Capt. Nathan Algren (Tom Cruise) laying on a floor wearing dirty garments and yelling out the name of a man that he had just killed before his capture. The Captain was captured during a fight between the Americans and the Japanese, but instead of killing the American, the Samurai leader Katsumoto (Ken Wantanobe) wanted him alive so that he could learn from his enemy’s ways. The Captain was staying in Katsumoto’s ex brother-in-law’s house with the now widowed young lady and her children. The lady was very un-accepting of the war hero at first, because he was the man who killed her husband, but as the story grew, she, along with the rest of her Buddhist tribe grew to like the American. As the American got stronger and was given more rights by their tribe, he started to learn the art of Japanese language and symbolism. While he was learning the semantics of another culture, I noticed that he had completely forgotten his ways as an American soldier and instead, took on the way of the Samurai. As the ways of the Samurai embodied him, he grew emotionally and spiritually enough to the point of complete change of being. He was now willing to fight for the Samurais, and although they did not have all the weapons that the Americans possessed, they did have much more structure of discipline and self control.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The clip ends with the American apologizing to the young lady for the slaying of her husband. She accepts, and then tells him in Japanese that they ware each doing their duty, and that it was only karma that took her husband. I would have to say that it was the semantics of this Japanese culture that he was learning that intrigued me the most about this film. That is why I chose to tie in the concept of semantics with this movie clip, because its definition is very culturally-bound in a way that combines the study of words and meaning with the ways of the Japanese.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Semantics ties into this scene from its beginning when the Captain first gets a glance of how these natives speak, all the way though to the ways that they write and prepare for war. The Japanese had a very different way of structuring words than the American had ever seen, but as he started to take part in their teachings, the Captain started to be able to write and even speak in their native language.

Winning the Fight against Super Bugs

The term ‘antibiotics’ refers to substances that kill bacteria or prevent their growth. Antibiotics are natural substances that are released by bacteria and fungi into their environment to fight other organisms. The use of antibiotics by organisms therefore represents chemical warfare on a microscopic scale. The activity of antibiotics was discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928 when he observed that colonies of the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus could be destroyed by the mould Penicillium notatum.The significance of the discovery was however not realized at that time, and it was only in the 1940s when Howard Florey and Ernst Chain isolated the active ingredient and developed the substance in its powdery form, that it was realized that penicillin and other antibiotics could be used as very effective medicines to kill certain types of disease-causing bacteria within the human body. Bacterial infections can be fatal, especially for young children and babies who do not have adequate immunity.Labeled as the ‘wonder drug,’ the use of antibiotics to combat bacterial infections resulted in a significant decrease in the deaths due infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia. Antibiotics are not only used to used to treat human ailments but also bacterial infections in plants and animals. After having been effectively used for almost half a century, a new challenge loomed up in front of humankind in the form of bacteria that turned resistant to antibiotics. These bacteria are known as the ‘superbugs’. Natural antibiotics have probably existed as long as microorganisms have.Certain types of bacteria have therefore undergone adaptation and mutation to overcome the action of antibiotics. These bacteria have learnt to deal with practically all types of antibiotics that are available. They pose a serious problem in the form of diseases that cannot be treated with any medicines. As antibiotics treatment of bacterial infec tions continues, the number and variety of super bugs are bound to increase. It could eventually come to a pass when bacterial infections become as fatal as they were in the days before the discovery of antibiotics.This could lead to a depicted scenario in which the very existence of humankind could be threatened. There is, however, good news. A research led by Dr Adrian Lloyd of the University of Warwick’s Department of Biological Sciences has succeeded in unraveling how the super bug Streptococcus pneumoniae develops its penicillin immunity (University of Warwick, 2008). This finding opens up many new avenues of disrupting the process of development of resistance to antibiotics by the Streptococcus pneumoniae specifically and other super bugs in general.This could enable scientists to restore penicillin as a weapon against these bacteria, as well as restore the efficacy of other types of antibiotics against their respective bacteria. Essentially the study found that a prote in called the MurM was at the root of the development of resistance to antibiotics by the bacteria. Very simply put, Penicillin normally kills off the S. pneumoniae by inhibiting the formation of Peptidoglycan an essential component of the bacterial cell wall which protects the otherwise fragile bacterial cell.When Peptidoglycan is not produced, the protective cell wall of the bacteria is not formed leading to the death of the organism. It had been observed that the protein MurM was linked to changes in the chemical makeup of the Peptidoglycan that was found in penicillin-resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. The protein MurM has been found to lead to the formation of particular structures known as the ‘dipeptide bridges’ in the peptidoglycan resulting in the formation of a bacterial cell wall that is resistant to penicillin.â€Å"The Warwick team were able to replicate the activity of MurM in a test tube, allowing them to define the chemistry of the MurM reaction in det ail and understand every key step of how Streptococcus pneumoniae deploys MurM to gain this resistance. † (University of Warwick, 2008). This will enable the Warwick team and any other pharmaceutical researchers to zero in on MurM reaction in the Streptococcus pneumoniae and develop drugs to disrupt the process of development of resistance to penicillin.The result could be designer penicillin antibiotics to be deployed effectively against penicillin resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. Since the same mechanism works in the development of resistance to antibiotics in other bacteria such as MRSA, the findings of the Warwick University research could open up more fronts in the fight against antibiotic resistant bacteria. Moreover, the researchers have been able to readily reproduce every stage of formation of the peptidoglycan required by the Streptococcus pneumoniae to build up its penicillin-resistant cell wall.This provides pharmaceutical companies different levels at which to attack the process of development of antibiotic resistance that could lead to the invention of an array of modified penicillin for penicillin resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae. The significance of the new findings can be gauged from the fact that Streptococcus pneumonia causes 5 million fatalities worldwide in children. In the United States, it is the cause of infection in 1 million elderly out of which 7% end in fatalities.In every day life the finding can be related to arming a conventional missile with a nuclear warhead. The enemy in this case are the bacteria, and the war is not for the annihilation for the survival of humanity. References -01 University of Warwick (2008, March 15). How Antibiotic Resistant Bugs Became Resistant To Penicillin, And How Penicillin Could Work Again. ScienceDaily. Retrieved January 1, 2003, from http://www. sciencedaily. com ¬ /releases/2008/03/080312100041. htm