Updates Available…

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A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, authors, Horror, humanity, Manage your content and devices, nonfiction, novel, photos, Short stories, The DiVacci Curse, To Sleep in the Ground, updates

First things first…

I hope that everyone is coping with the pandemic and that lives are being saved by compliance to the worldwide lockdowns.

No offense or disrespect is intended, but I thought that since things seem to be settling down a bit in some areas of the world, and some countries are over their peaks of mass infection, that maybe it was acceptable to post some new info about my books.

Amazon.com has informed me that free updates are available for all three of my e-books.  In order to access the updates, readers who purchased my books in the past can go to their “Manage Your Content and Devices” page in their Amazon account to download the updated and most recent version.  I assume (you know what happens when we do that) that the updates will translate to all Amazon versions of my books no matter what country they were purchased from.  If you have information to the contrary, or would like to chime in with any comments about the updates, then I would be more than grateful and open to them.  Unfortunately, as of the date of this post, the updates are not available for anyone who purchased my books from Amazon.jp here in Japan where I live.  Sorry about that.  I hope it changes.  Perhaps it just takes time for word to spread throughout the entire Amazon kingdom.  That is completely understandable considering the current situation.

As mentioned in previous posts, after I published my first novel, I revisited both my nonfiction book and my short story.  Basic technical changes were made, but I made no changes to the stories.  I just updated and improved the appearance, format and user-friendliness of the books.  I changed some of the front matter to back matter, and made the layout and flow more consistent across all three books.  I also reformatted the photos in my March 11, 2011 nonfiction book among other changes.  I feel that the changes make for a much better reading experience overall.

The free updates are my gift to the readers of my books.  Thank you all very much.  I hope that you will enjoy the improvements.  For those of you who have not yet read my books, then be assured that you will be getting the most current editions and the best possible reading experience that I can offer at this time.  Thank you for your future patronage.

Again, please forgive my selfish post at such a difficult time as this.

I ask your continued prayers for the world.  We are all in this together regardless of gender, race, religion, creed, political ideology, socioeconomic status or income.  Hang in there, everybody.

 

 

 

 

“A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011, Japan Earthquake – A Foreigner’s Perspective” (4th Edition) Now Available!

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e-mail, earthquake, fourth edition, Fukushima, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, grammar, Great East Japan Earthquake, humanity, Koriyama, March 11 2011 earthquake, nonfiction, nuclear crisis, nuclear meltdown, photos, punctuation, revised story, To Sleep in the Ground, tsunami, writing

Lessons learned from writing and editing my first novel To Sleep in the Ground motivated me to revisit my older stories.  A Day of Horror:  The March 11, 2011, Japan Earthquake is my only nonfiction book and the very first book that I self-published.

And was I ever green!  The old cliché that ‘the more you write, the more you learn’ (or something like that) is true.  I cleaned up the grammar and punctuation, and eliminated many redundancies in the story.  The fourth and latest edition is by far the best version of the book.  It’s a better reading experience overall.

The book contains personal e-mails that I wrote to family and friends in America, keeping them updated on the situation in Japan in the days, weeks and months following the initial quake. Photos of the damage to the city in Japan where I live are included, as are photos of one of the port cities devastated by the ensuing tsunami.

If you are interested in how the events of that day unfolded and what it was like to experience the fourth largest earthquake in recorded human history, as well as one of the worst nuclear disasters the modern age has seen, then I encourage you to check it out.  I hope that you find it informative and educational.  All of my books are available through Amazon.

In these volatile times of natural and man-made threats to our existence, parallels can be drawn between current events and the disasters and crisis of the past.  Lessons can be learned.

Thanks for reading,

Brad

Introducing…Marco Dark!

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A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, action, artist, author, Blood, bloodlust, Bradley Lobue, California, casino, claws, corpse, Creepy, dark, desert, dollars, dusk, e-book, euros, fangs, fictionalist, financier, France, French madame, Fukushima Prefecture, Gore, gothic, grim reaper, hacker, hit man, Horror, humanity, Japan, Koriyama City, Las Vegas, lone vampire, loner, manga, manga artist, Marco Dark, money, Nevada, new, nightlife, Northern Japan, novel, Palermo, Pasadena, publish, Read, Review, Scary, Sicily, sociopath, suspense, swindler, The DiVacci Curse, thriller, To Sleep in the Ground, Tohoku, undead, vamp, vampire, vampire action, vampire drama, vampire fiction, vampire novel, vampirekind, vampires, vampiric, vampiric hit man, vamps, wild west, world traveler, writer, yen

My first novel and latest release is now available!

A wealthy French madame, a misguided manga artist, a greedy financier, a malicious computer hacker and a homicidal sociopath.  What do they all have in common?  They all have contracts on their heads.  The one hired to fulfill those contracts is Marco Dark.  He’s cultured, sophisticated and intelligent, and the most lethal hit man on the planet.  He’s also a 200-year-old vampire!  Journey with Marco as he traverses the globe plying his deadly trade…and pray that you’re not on his list!

“To Sleep in the Ground” has taken twenty years to complete since its original conception.  I encourage you to check it out.  You can access a sample of the book via the link at the end of this post.

If you read Marco’s story and find it entertaining (or not) then I request that you write a review.  Let’s be honest, reviews and word of mouth sell books and reviews are a great way for readers to express themselves, too.  I’d also like to hear your comments and opinions about “To Sleep in the Ground” on this blog.

Celebrating Apollo 11!

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50th Anniversary, Alabama, Apollo 11, Cape Canaveral, celebration, earthling, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Florida, gravity, humanity, Huntsville, Kennedy Space Center, lunar landing, lunar module, Michael Collins, moon, moon landing, moon walk, NASA, Neil Armstrong, One small step, peace, Progress, Space Camp, Space Coast, The Eagle Has Landed, Titusville, Tranquility Base

It was fifty years ago that three men with more courage than most could muster defied logic (and gravity) to boldly go where no earthling had gone before. Two of those men on that particular mission became the first humans to set foot on the moon.

I was still baking in the oven at the time, just a few months away from joining the ranks of humanity, so I wasn’t able to witness it as the images were televised live all across the globe.

I attended Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama in late August of 1984. What an amazing experience that was! I have been a huge supporter of NASA and the U.S. space program ever since.

I lived in northern Florida on the east coast of the state for a few years before moving to Japan. I have been to Kennedy Space Center several times throughout my life. I was fortunate enough to view eight space shuttle launches with the naked eye. I wasn’t in Titusville at the time, but anyone living along the “Space Coast” from Jacksonville to West Palm Beach (and maybe further) could see the launches clearly on a nice day. I never saw a night launch in person, but I hear that they were spectacular. I wish I could be at the Cape for the festivities for the 50th anniversary celebration this year.

Thank you, Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Aldrin and Mr. Collins for taking that “one small step” and inspiring us to reach for the stars!

Happy Easter to one and all!

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blessings, charity, Christian, consideration, Easter, faith, forgiveness, hope, humanity, love, peace, respect, understanding

I hope that you all have a nice, warm, safe and blessed spring.

The 8th Anniversary of the East Japan Earthquake

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A Day of Horror: The March 11, 2011 Japan Earthquake-A Foreigner's Perspective, Climate Change, climatologists, e-book, e-book price reduction, earthquake, Eastern Tohoku, environment, Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, Global Warming, humanity, Japan, March 11 2011 earthquake, meltdown, meteorologists, Mother Nature, nuclear crisis, nuclear meltdown, Progress, radiation, reconstruction, recycle, The 8th Anniversary of the East Japan Earthquake, The Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami, writing

I deliberately avoid posting about politics on social media.  I’m not qualified to talk about climate change or global warming, or what impact humanity has upon the environment. I’ll leave that to the climatologists, meteorologists and scientists of the world. The city where I live in Japan has a good recycling program and I do my part. In this post, I’m not going to share my personal views on the topic of whether or not climate change is real. My opinions would be inappropriate and irrelevant.

What I do know, based on personal experience, is that on March 11, 2011, Mother Nature had her say, and had a lot to say, when she unleashed her fury upon the Eastern Tohoku region of Japan. I witnessed the fourth largest earthquake in recorded human history. I live thirty-six miles west of the site of one of the world’s largest nuclear meltdowns. I lived it. I was terrified by it. I am still haunted by it. I will probably never be free from the memory of it in some capacity.

The Earth doesn’t care how we feel about climate change. It does what it wants to do, when it wants to do it, and it doesn’t give a damn what we mere humans think of it. It makes the rules and we have to suffer the consequences; good or bad, instigated by us or not. We are at its mercy. It’s the price we pay to live on this wondrous ball of life rotating on its axis in space.

If you’re interested in knowing more about the events of March 11, 2011, and its impact on the environment and the people of southern Tohoku, from someone who was there, then I respectfully encourage you to read my book. It’s available through Amazon in most countries where Amazon operates. I recently decreased the price of the book rather significantly, but Amazon retains the right to fluctuate the pricing when necessary. Thank you for understanding. You can access the book directly through the link provided on the “My Books” page of this blog.  My humble thanks to all who have already purchased and read the book. Your kindness and consideration is truly appreciated and will not be forgotten.