Welcome. My name is Lester Fisher, author of Happenstance. I’m so happy to have you as a visitor to my blog about my new book. This project is very special to me, and I hope to share some of that excitement with you here.
I’ll be using this blog to interact with you about Happenstance, expanding on some of the topics in it and blogging on some of the ideas related to my book. This is a great place for you to get to know me, and I’m looking forward to getting to know you, too. What did you think of Happenstance? What questions do you have for me? How do you relate to my book?
I’ll be returning here frequently with new posts and responses to feedback from you. Until next time, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Testing the blog again, to see what is being forwarded to my personal email
It is taking a very long time to get the website working well. I am not experienced in WordPress, so I have to depend on the Authorhouse staff to make changes to everything except this blog post. However, I cannot be critical of the staff, because they have had the great misfortune of having very recently endured Typhoon Rei (December 12 to 22 2021). We are hopeful for their speedy recovery! I am directing my Red Cross donation to Typhoon rei!
So good to see that the Authorhouse staff have made the necessary changes to the Review section. I most appreciate that under the difficult situation of the aftermath of Typhoon Rei, they are still working. My sincere appreciation to them.
Good News! The Kirkus Indie Review has completed a review of my first book, Happenstance. It will soon be available for display on this website. I am pleased that it was quite favorable.
I really would like to hear any comments readers might have about Happenstance of Against the Tide. They can be good, bad or indifferent. They will all help me understand, and use that knowledge in completing my third book, Three’s a Charm.
I just had a phone call from my principle contact at Authorhouse.com, Max Baker. We had not communicated since before the Typhoon Rea. I was concerned for his health, both because of Rea and because CIVID is omnipresent around the world now. I just heard on National Public Radio that Omicron is the dominant strain world wide. So you can image how relieved I was to here that Max just had a cold. I have been so impressed with the Authorhouse.com staff, and with Max in particular! They are continuing the campaign to advertise my books, and figure out the best way to get exposure in the very very competitive world of books.
If any perspective reader wants a quick look at the book, but does not prefer the format presented in Excerpts, then they can try this widget:
https://www.book2look.com/book/7ykyCONGxI
Since a person wishing to put up a review or comments about my books cannot do that in the Reviews section, you can post those comments here, and I will see that they are transferred to the Reviews section. Thank you for visiting my website
This is actually the correct link to the Book2Look.com sample of Happenstance.
https://www.book2look.com/book/7ykyCONGxI
Passing this on from Angie on goodreads:
“Hi authors. If you’re looking for free reviews, you may want to try Readers Favorite.com. It usually takes about 3 – 4 weeks, but can take longer, for reviewers to get to your book. Four and five star reviews are posted on their site, KOBO, Google Books, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest”.
Hello Lester,
Happenstance is up on First Chapters now. Thank you for your submission. https://preciousdikko.wixsite.com/firstchapters/post/happenstance-by-lester-fisher
Best wishes,
Precious Dikko
I am having a hard time mustering much interest in promoting my books, because of the suffering of the People of Ukraine. Particularly the desperate conditions of the soldiers and civilians trapped in Mariupol. My wife and I know a young Ukrainian teenager who returned to Odessa to be with her family to face the danger of Russian invasion. NATO must take a stronger stand against Putin or he will continue to try to gobble up Odessa and Moldova and beyond.
UPDATE
My wife and I were greatly relieved to hear this week (August 14 2022) that the Ukrainian teenager who was in Odessa and her family have emigrated to Vancouver British Columbia! We have much respect for Canada’s participation in the relocation of war refugees.
Russia continues to lob cruise missiles at Ukrainian cities, but there are reports that there have started to be explosions on the Russian side of the boarder with Ukraine. It is not certain whether they are attacks by the Ukrainian military or attacks from dissenters within Russia.
Putin is a menace to mankind! Attacking Kiev when the Secretary of the United Nations is visiting.
Featured Book in BookMad Magazine. My book, Happenstance, is listed in http://www.bookmadmag.com.
When you log in, type Control-F, then write in ‘Happenstance’. It will take you directly to my book ad.
Here is a direct link to my KIRKUS review in KIRKUS magazine:
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/lester-fisher/happenstance-9/
If you have read the book, I would appreciate a comment on this page of KIRKUS REVIEWS Magazine.
Just got a new ****review from India! Dakshita Matta on https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59007694-happenstance
It will be posted on my Review section soon. She obviously understood that I tried to be as honest as I could be, sometimes painfully so, to produce my memoir.
I am so angry about Mariupol! I am glad they were able to rescue some of the people hold up during the siege, but The wounded soldiers and the core of defenders that have held the Russians at bay for weeks will go down in history with the Spartans at Thermopylae, who held off a Persian army of thousands with 300 warriors. The Russians are attempting to cut off Ukraine’s supply lines at Mariupol and Odessa. Then on to Moldova, and then what other non-align nations while NATO stands off passing weapons to the Ukrainians who are dying for Democracy!
I have been writing President Biden frequently to try to encourage him to take a stronger stand against Putin. So far I have just entered the messages on the Whitehouse.org “Contact us messaging, and have no copy of what I said. But today I decided to make an MS Word document of these letters to have a reference point. I have not decided to blog these emails yet, but I might do so in future depending on whether they are having any impact and whether my assumptions prove accurate. “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it” {Edmond Burke}
about Goodreads.com about AGAINST THE TIDE. January 26, 2022
This is a continuation of the memoir of Lester Fisher. Volume I is HAPPENSTANCE. This volume 2 takes the author THROUGH his return from the Peace Corps in Kenya to his career with Weyerhaeuser Genetics Research Division. He brought a family of seven from Kenya to a 4 acre homestead in Tenino Washington, and supported them on his Weyerhaeuser salary. Those children have gone on to be a missionary, a businessman, a certified public accountant, and a forest ecologist. And now among their offspring, there is a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, a masters in Public Health, and other productive jobs in America. By all accounts, the struggle was worth it!
This is my recent email to the Joe Biden:
Aloha Mr. President
I hope you realize that after the NAZIs took possession of Poland, the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor, Singapore, Hong Kong and other Allied positions in the far east. Chamberland did not stop Hitler in Poland, and the USA and Britain did not move to stop the Japanese in China, until they attacked Pearl Harbor. They cut off the supply of oil and pig iron to Japan, but it only stimulated the Japanese to take over the south Pacific oil fields and redouble their efforts in China. Are your military advisors in the US and NATO unaware that placation and boycotts will not stop a ruthless leader? The British surrendered to the Japanese, but The Ukrainians understand that surrendering to Putin will only encourage him to go farther into Europe. He will start with the nonaligned countries, but inevitably he will attack NATO nations, probably Poland and Finland… just like Hitler. You cannot put the entire burden on Ukraine. As in WWII, we start this engagement with outdated nuclear weapons, a trained volunteer military, and effective tactical weapons. But Putin is putting his nation on a war footing, and China has a rapidly growing military might. It is a dangerous world, but it becomes increasingly more dangerous the longer we fear to call Putin’s bluff. “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.” (Edmond Burke)
Aloha Mr. President,
Having said what I did in my last message, I do have to qualify that I think there are great improvement in the delivery of military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. I heard today that Germany is considering providing tanks to Ukraine. The artillery will be essential, and the drones and anti-missile systems will be a great help to Ukraine. But you must admit that their infrastructure is rapidly being destroyed. Russia may be suffering and, since they have lost such a large number of troops, you wonder why Putin won’t quit? Well, it is because he considers Ukraine a great embarrassment to his imperial Russia, and he knows that he can totally crush Ukraine, even if he eventually loses the war. What I don’t understand is how we can let Russia cut off Ukraine’s lines of supply and yet we depend on their army to defeat the Russian advance. Is it only because we fear Putin’s nuclear capability, which Putin has effectively used as a deterrent smoke screen? Believe me, if Putin thinks he can continue to nibble away at the surrounding states, he will continue to do so, no matter the cost. Only an all-out affront on his aggressing troops will convince him to stop.
I just got another excellent review on my second book Against the Tide. Dakshita Matta ranked it five our of 5 stars. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59696153-against-the-tide
I am so relieved to hear that the Ukrainian soldiers including the wounded were able to leave Mariupol! They will always be counted as national heroes and maybe even live to tell about it.
But regarding the Russian take over of Mariupol, I think it is a travesty that with all the NATO ships in the Mediterranean, they can’t seem to stop the Russians from cutting off Ukraine from the Sea ports that are so vital to Ukraine’s international trade. They are/were the breadbasket of Africa, not to mention all of Ukraine’s other products which had sustained vital and growing democracy. Now Ukraine is beginning to look like it did post WWII. So far, no where near the 4 or 5 million war dead of that earlier war, but casualties are mounting nevertheless…
Happenstance and Against the Tide are now available on First Chapters: https://preciousdikko.wixsite.com/firstchapters/post/against-the-tide-by-lester-fisher.
They are easier to read on her website than the Widget that was produced foe me by Authorhouse.
Finally was contacted by John Coyne, who saw my name on Peace Corps World Writers. I hope this will lead to cooperation with PCWW for the publication of my third book Three’s a Charm. I also hope they will consider listing my books on PCWW. It is another way to get the books out to a receptive audience.
I was mortified to hear that the defenders of the Mariupol Steel plant, were not released to the custody of the Ukrainian army. The wounded were transported to medical facilities under Russian control, and the soldiers that surrendered were placed in Russian custody. Whether there will be any exchange of prisoners is undetermined, so the fate of all of them is in jeopardy. There is a minimal Ukrainian force still holding out in the steel plant including the commander. Romanized: Sláva Ukrayíni! and these brave men.
Interesting reading here, dear. I should remember to check this more often
https://youtu.be/ZgXNVA9ngx8
(Where have all the flowers gone, Peter Paul and Mary)
Will humans ever learn that war solves nothing?
On this Memorial Day, I am remembering my Grandfather, Navy WWI, my step-father, Army WWII, my mother, WAC WWII. My decease family would not have understood why the USA cannot outlaw AR15s when Canada just did that. They would not understand how Congress can vote to support sending munitions to Ukraine, but cannot decide to protect our children from slaughter at the hands of AR15-equipped shooters. For that matter, they could not have understood that after we helped to pull Europe out of two World wars, that we cannot stand firmly against Putin’s unlawful and barbarous invasion of Ukraine. They knew all too well, if you do not stand up to tyranny of any kind, you only invite more tyranny.
I wish we could collect all the non-military AR-15 and other semi- or automatic-weapons and send them to Ukraine, where they actually need them!
The Sales report up to March 31st just came out on Authorhouse today. In six months I sold 10 hardcopies, 15 softcopies, and 34 e-books. I don’t know if I should be crestfallen or jump for joy! This marketing books in the 21st. century is tough! We will launch my social media campaign with LAVIDGE on June 6th. My reviews so far have mostly been good, but I could use more. If you read my books, please write a review on Goodreads.com, or Amazon.com, or here on this blog (I will transfer it to the Reviews section of this website). Namaste, Mahalo, Danke, Gracias, Asante Sana, and Thank you!
Aloha Mr. President,
Trust your judgement!
1) I know that you know that Putin cannot be stopped by a war of attrition in Ukraine. It goes against his nature to concede.
2) You know that NATO conceded to Putin in Chechnya, Georgia, the Balkans, Crimea and how many other conflicts?
3) You know that Putin will not directly confront NATO, because he is not stupid.
4) You know that if Putin wins concessions from Ukraine, and takes additional territory, that he will feel justified to continue to invade other nations which he considers rightfully Russian property: Belarus, Moldova, Bosnia and Herzegovina, to name a few. Even the non-aligned nations in the middle of NATO territories are not immune to Russian subversion.
5) You also know that the 29 Non-Aligned Nations (as of 2021) will be made vulnerable to invasion by any aggressive nation if Russian continues to ignore international law on sovereignty of independent nations.
6) Therefore, as you have rightly declared, it is the duty of the United States to defend the territorial integrity of our allies as well as our friends from incursions by any nation. That includes Ukraine.
7) Therefore, I assume you know that NATO must do everything necessary to ensure that Russia does not annex any portion of Ukraine.
As of April 30th 2022, Authorhouse has my sales at 73 books. That is 12 new books (all e-books). On May 6th I had my first session with the Lavidge social media publicist. The program will take 6 weeks. In our scheduled meetings Michelle will train me to use Facebook, Instagram and one other (LInkedIn or Pinterest). She is supposed to train me, write content for me, and ? I intend to get bang for my buck here. Hopefully the sales rate will go higher than 10.3 books per month!
Aloha Mr. President,
1. Are we really going to let Putin starve Ukraine like Stalin did?
2. In the process Putin is cutting off wheat supplies to Africa, and fertilizer to our allied nations?
3. How can a navy, the size of Russia’s, contend with the Armada of NATO fleets? Russia’s ships could not blockade Ukraine’s southern ports if the NATO fleet blockaded them.
4. I know I am not advised by the largest military on earth, but I cannot understand how helpless the NATO forces seem against the Russian Bear.
5. Do you really believe that Putin would order a direct attack on the NATO fleet for trying to maintain freedom of the Mediterranean Sea lanes?
6. As I have previously said, seems to me that Putin is seeing how far he can push without an all-out response from NATO. He has done this for many years as you well know.
7. All the NATO weapons supplied to Ukraine will be useless, if Putin destroys the Ukrainian economy, levels their cities and starve their population.
Aloha Mr. President,
I am glad to see reports that the high-tech rocket launchers are having some impact on the Russians in Eastern Ukraine, although they are still too few to guarantee victory. I also commend your efforts to supply anti-missile rockets to Ukraine. It seems like we have expended thousands of Patriots to defend Israel against scuds, but the infrastructure of Ukraine is being slowly brough to its knees by Russian cruise-type missiles. I appreciate your efforts to maintain unity of purpose among the NATO members, even to the point that Turkey did not block the entry of Sweden and Norway into the European Union. I wish you “God speed” in your negotiation with the Saudis, as distasteful as that negotiation may be. But the blockade against Russian oil is still causing you precarious loss of support in the US polls. A great burden rest on your shoulders now, because if the disruption that Putin has caused leads to the loss of the Congress during your second term, the likelihood that we will see an end to Russian aggression will be greatly reduced. I know you are loathe to initiate warfare, but I think one of the only trump cards (pun not intended) that you have is to take decisive action against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Contemporaries of mine say, “he is too old, too addled”. I say to them “Could you have taken on all the issues at your age that he is dealing with at his?” I say “steady hand on the tiller”. But most of the current complications in world affairs were planned by Putin and he has to be stopped.
1. Are we really going to let Putin starve Ukraine like Stalin did?
2. In the process Putin is cutting off wheat supplies to Africa, and fertilizer to our allied nations?
3. How can a navy, the size of Russia’s, contend with the Armada of NATO fleets? Russia’s ships could not blockade Ukraine’s southern ports if the NATO fleet blockaded them.
4. I know I am not advised by the largest military on earth, but I cannot understand how helpless the NATO forces seem against the Russian Bear.
5. Do you really believe that Putin would order a direct attack on the NATO fleet for trying to maintain freedom of the Mediterranean Sea lanes?
6. As I have previously said, seems to me that Putin needs to be pushed out of the Mediterranean and more proximate coastal seas.
7. If you don’t want to committee NATO seamen (although I am sure there are NATO countries that would gladly commit men and material to a blockade) Then turn over ships to the Ukrainians. Russia does not have that many ships to waste.
8. All the NATO weapons supplied to Ukraine will be useless, if Putin destroys the Ukrainian economy, levels their cities and starve their population. Opening their sea port at Odessa would be a huge relief to Ukraine and the whole Mediterranean region.
Malama pono!