THESE SCAMS NEED A HAM

 

And then there’s Spam, but I’ve already done plenty of blogging about that. This is something different, but equally despicable!

Being an independent author, I don’t have a publisher behind me to promote my work. But my phone rings constantly from scammers ready to pick up this slack. Every time I release a new book I’ve been told it’s so special or outstanding that it will be featured prominently at a book festival in some exotic part of the world. – Yeah sure!

One scammer offered to turn a novel of mine into a movie, -- but I was expected to pay for it! I told them they had me confused with the new billion-dollar lottery winner and hung up!

And then there was the scammer who pretended to be from Paramount Pictures who informed me that this same novel was set to become a movie and they wanted to buy all rights. A red flag shot up when he kept referring to me as Deanna. My name is Dianne.

Also, on my Facebook author page I’ve received messages from so-called other authors who claimed to love a novel of mine so much they want to help me promote it. “Oh my publicist is wonderful and she has helped me tremendously,” they say.

I tell them I’ve hired publicists in the past who made big promises, but all they did was take my money. I wasn’t interested! They insist theirs are different. And no matter how hard I try, they refuse to change the subject. I end up blocking them! – I strongly suspect they ARE the publicist trying to drum up work.

Recently, I discovered a call on my answering machine from a podcaster who wanted to promote my latest novel: A Balmy Winter on Topaz Waters. The call stank of phish, so I deleted it.

Next day, I received an email from this same podcaster praising my novel in gushing terms along with a fluffy romantic synopsis.

I emailed back inquiring if they’d actually read my novel. Despite the sound of the title, it wasn’t a dreamy romance any more than The Silence of the Lambs was about a shepherd who sang lullabies to his flock!

So, I was expected to promote it as something it isn’t. – Not happening!

This is the reason I rarely answer my phone anymore.

APPLE PIE ON THE 4TH OF JULY

 

When it comes to movies I’ve never cared much for superhero silliness. However, on this holiday I need noise to blend in with the booms & blasts outside to make it less distracting. And some years it’s difficult to find a war movie I haven’t already seen.

It’s become even worse since our trump-turd governor DeSantis has made holiday fireworks in private (unprofessional) hands legal.

If anyone wants fireworks, there are plenty of places they can watch them for free!!! The 4^th is no longer a holiday to which I look forward. However, I’m determined to make the best of it with tasty victuals.

As to pastry, I’m a cake person. But last Thanksgiving I bought a read-to-bake, Marie Calendar Dutch Apple Pie on sale & it was so delicious I vowed to enjoy another on the 4^th. That aroma of baking is so intoxicating it has me dancing around my kitchen.

And what is more American than apple pie! Apple pie on my table and fascism in the White House! The latter has me crashing to a thud. How could such a thing happen in this country? How was someone as despicable and corrupt as trump even allowed to run for office again! This would-be dictator tried to overthrow our government? And worse, how could someone of such low caliber ever be elected?

But then, I recall a statement from Nobel Prize winning author Sinclair Lewis, “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross.” This is exactly what has happened!

And Sinclair Lewis earned his Nobel Prize! No one gifted it to him!

How can anyone be so dim as not to see we have a con artist & convicted rapist for president! His major skill is lying. And at his side is the first whore, -- No, the other one, J.D. Vance! – Remember when he called trump America’s Hitler? Actually, trump is more like Caligula!

Strangely, here in Florida, trump and his lackeys are popular. And Florida supporters are pictured as rednecks, swamp dwellers, and religious cuckoos. I’ll admit plenty fall into this category! However, the trumpers I know are all educated transplants from the Eastern Seaboard. Of two most fanatical, one couple is from Connecticut and the other New York with their accent & attitude intact. Trump can do no wrong in their eyes.

I guess they must enjoy paying higher prices for everything while turning a blind eye to all the rampant grift in Washington along with a deaf ear to the multitude of lies.

Never did I imagine such a thing as this would ever occur during my lifetime, or that I would be ashamed to be a citizen of the United States.

And to all those trump turds telling me to leave and not let the door hit me on the way out; hear me loud and clear, I’m NOT going anyplace! Trump is the one who must go and soon!!!