True Life and Fiction

 I 've finally done it, taken the plunge, ventured into the unknown. Well, sort of. As most of you know, I've been publishing independently for a few years now under a pen name. Now, I've published my first work on Smashwords. Go ahead. Check it out, it's free! Why would I offer my work for free, you ask? I know this flies in the face of what many would consider traditional wisdom, but believe me, there are larger, unseen forces at work here. About a month ago, I posted an article here about how one might find success as a new author. Now is the time to put some of this advice in action. I will continue to offer stories, some previously published elsewhere, some new, for free as I gain some readership. This is extremely critical for me as an independent and because I tend to write across genres. Also, because I tend to occasionally venture into weird, high-brow, succinct, and downright cerebral stuff. Sorry. My bad. Back to the current subject. I have alre

O kay, so I really do not have much interesting to say. Just wanted to post a link to a new video I posted on youtube. Actually, this video is not new, but from way back in 2008 while I was training the Iraqi Air Force in Kirkuk, Iraq. For those of you that may be unaware, Kirkuk is the city in Iraq where Saddam Hussein dropped chemicals on the population (Kurdish) and attempted to make the survivors march East into Iran. Funny thing, we trained pilots for the Iraqi Air Force that were Kurdish, Sunni, and Shiite. I know that may not mean much to normal civilians and the uninformed public in general but let me explain. For centuries, a genocidal war has been waged between these three groups (and more) as each one truly believes the others have no right to life, and should be in charge. Sure, the infighting wavered just a little when all the groups were busy hating on America. Of course, with America (and the west) out of the country, they're back to fighting each other. Just