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I was getting restless waiting for the train and without thinking pulled my electric cigarette out of my pocket and had taken a couple of long puffs at it before noticing the evil looks that I was getting from my fellow travellers. I held my e cig up for them to see while guiltily saying “It’s an electronic cigarette, safe and legal to smoke in public places.”

The evil looks quickly turned to interest and I heard comments like ‘I’ve heard of them’, ‘they are supposed to be good’ and was asked by an elderly lady who looked as if she thought it was a wind up ‘What are they?”

I showed them my e cig as I replied ”This is a battery, atomiser and a nicotine cartridge. Although the cartridges contain nicotine they do not contain the 4,000 plus harmful chemicals that cigarettes contain. The smoke that you see is just  harmless vapour  not second hand tobacco smoke”.

An elderly couple were the most interested, they asked me if electronic cigarettes really were safe to smoke. My  reply was “As far as I’m aware they are and without the tar and chemicals they have got to be much safer than the effects of smoking normal cigarettes”.

“Aren’t they just as addictive?” a young man asked.

“Yes” I replied, “but I am using them the same way that I would use nicotine patches to wean myself off tobacco”.

I went on to explain that you can get nicotine cartridges in different strengths just like nicotine patches and that this way of quitting smoking was working for me. I told them that after several weeks of no cigarettes I felt fitter and healthier and that I was using the electronic cigarette less and less because I had mainly lost the habit while I was dealing with the addiction.

“Where can you buy them from?” Several of those around me wanted to know and when I told them the Internet lost some interest, but then I could hear them working a way round it with comments like “We can go on the computer at the library”, “…mobile goes on the Internet”.

The amount of interest was amazing and especially from the older end. I’ve seen that before when I’ve been out and about with my e-cigarette. What I think is that after smoking for many years they are getting more and more symptoms of just why tobacco cigarettes are bad for them and that’s frightening. Like me they have probably tried to stop smoking and failed many times and the possibility of a new way that might help them is bound to be of interest to them.

However, no matter how much interest there is a sticking point. As always I was asked how much e-cigs are while I was waiting for the train.

Prices vary, but I paid £50 for my starter pack and 25 extra cartridges – enough to last me for at least 6 weeks. After that there is only the much lower cost of cartridges or refill fluid. I’m personally saving over £20 every week.

As I saw my train approaching and fellow travellers interest waining I asked myself  “What price health?”.

Are you struggling to stop smoking? I was but not any more. Just click on giving up smoking to follow my progress, or visit the stop smoking forum. Grab yourself a free copy of How To Stop Smoking Forever

--> I was getting restless waiting for the train and without thinking pulled my electric cigarette out of my pocket and had taken a couple of long puffs at it before noticing the evil looks that I was getting from my fellow travellers. I held my e cig up for them to

I read Tell No One by Harlan Coben several months ago and remembered liking his writing style when I saw No Second Chance on the library shelves. Harlan is a very good writer who knows how to draw you in and keep you interested with twists and turns in the plot, but the ending of Tell No One lacked the punch that I expected and hoped for as I approached the final chapters.

As I began reading No Second Chance I felt a strong sense of familiarity and wondered if indeed it had been this novel that I’d read earlier. It wasn’t but in both stories the hero is not long married and their wives are murdered in mysterious circumstances. I couldn’t help thinking that Harlan maybe hates women or wives enough to make them victims but I pushed that thought from my mind as I read on.

Dr Marc Seidman is a plastic surgeon, one of the good guys who treats the needy and travels to the third world or war torn countries. His wife Monica is the daughter of a rich man. One morning Marc and Monica are shot in their home and only Marc is left alive, but is severely injured and initially expected to die. Twelve days later Marc wakes up in hospital with no memory of what has happened and finds that their 6 month old baby daughter Tara has been missing since that morning.

There are no clues at the crime scene and no apparent reason for the crime. Kidnapping Tara for ransom is the only logical explanation but no demands are made until the day Marc leaves hospital and is taken to visit his father in law. There he finds that a box with a clipping of Tara’s hair and a demand for $2,000,000 has been delivered. The hair has been DNA tested and found to be Tara’s and Marc is ordered to deliver the ransom by himself and without informing the police.

Marc takes the money given by his father in law and waits at his own home until the kidnappers call with a meeting point. Unfortunately the police learn about the demand and get in on the act. The money is taken but Tara isn’t returned to Marc, all he gets is a message telling him ‘no second chance’.

Desperately disappointed, Marc gradually returns as much as possible to a normal life but doesn’t give up hope that his daughter is alive and well. 18 months later his father in law receives another ransom demand for $2,000,000 along with another lock of hair and a message asking if he wants a second chance. After DNA testing it’s found that the hair is from a 2 year old child and a match of Tara’s. At least Marc knows that is daughter is still alive but can he swap a further $2,000,000 for his daughter without the police and FBI finding out and messing things up again?

At this point the pace of the novel became strong. Marc enlists the help of an ex girlfriend Rachael who just happens to be ex FBI. The question is can he trust her? She retired under dubious circumstances and Marc discovers that she had hung around his practice not long before the death of his wife and kidnapping of his daughter. Could she have had something to do with what has happened to Marc, could it be Marc himself as the police begin to think, or could it be somebody else entirely? With the police closely on his tail, the kidnappers always seem to be one step ahead of Marc as he follows clues in the hunt for his daughter and the killer. He begins to suspect that somebody close to him is leaking information but who can’t he trust?

I won’t divulge any more of the storyline, but there are lots of twists and turns to add enough suspense to make me want to keep on reading. Although I guessed whodunit early on, I didn’t guess the reasons behind the crime and it’s aftermath and I changed my mind several times throughout. The lead up to the end was excellent enough to keep me on edge and although the ending was a bit lukewarm it was better than the final chapters of Tell No One. To me No Second Chance was altogether a better read than Tell No One and I felt that this award winning author has improved from good to better than good in the 2 years since Tell No One was published and look forward to reading his future work.

One teeny disappointment was that I would have liked to see two of the characters enlarged upon a bit more. Lydia and Heshy are a gruesome twosome described well enough to make my skin crawl. The thought of that pair in the background added more suspense to the story, whether they had anything to do with the crime or not!

Marc was a likeable and believable character. His grief at the loss of his daughter and wife was portrayed well and made me want to find out if he gets Tara back. He is quite an ordinary guy really, but his search brings out a toughness and tenacity in him that you can only admire.

I was interested to read that Harlan Coben doesn’t start with an outline to a novel. He just plans a beginning and an end, with the core happening as he goes along. I suspected that during reading because you get quite far into the book before you see that it is heading in any particular direction. With some writers the result can be messy with too many loose ends, in No Second chance the loose ends are tied up despite there being so many twists.

Highly recommended if you like an intelligent thriller with enough twists to keep you guessing right through the book.

Review Source: http://creativewriter.me.uk

--> I read Tell No One by Harlan Coben several months ago and remembered liking his writing style when I saw No Second Chance on the library shelves. Harlan is a very good writer who knows how to draw you in and keep you interested with twists and turns in the plot, bu

If you look around the Internet there are several recommended styles of article marketing so how do you decide which is the right way for you? On the one hand there are those who swear by writing several articles a day and submitting them to as many directories as they can. Then there are those who write one article and either use software to spin them into several articles or make small changes like title and first paragraph and submit the similar articles to the same sites. Then there are those who write one quality article daily, weekly or monthly and just submit to a few sites.

All of those ways of article marketing may work, but which works the best? Lets just go through the different ways.

1. Most of us do not have the time to write several articles a day and if they are about the same subject, intending to promote one particular site those articles can become repetitive and lose quality to quantity. Of course some people can write several good articles a day but I do not think that I am one of them.
2. Spinning articles might be a great time saver, but when you look at the results of spinning they can be laughable. The articles often do not make sense to the reader and can be difficult to understand in much the same way as badly translated articles. Many directories do not want those articles; I know that I do not want articles on my site that visitors may have difficulty in understanding.
3. Changing the first paragraph and or the title of an article and submitting it to different sites is great, that means there is not so much of a duplicate content issue. Submitting the altered versions of the same article to the same directories is not on. Last week a joker submitted the same article to my directory with slightly different titles 4 times using 4 different accounts. As if I was not going to notice the similarities when I looked at the list of articles waiting for approval!
4. Then there is quality and submitting to fewer sites. A quality article is a pleasure to approve. I enjoy reading the article, I know that the quality of my site is going to improve and I know that the quality articles are going to bring in more traffic to my site. I also know that a quality article does not need to be submitted to hundreds of sites or spun. A quality article will be picked up on by publishers and replicated pretty darn quick.

You can guess which article marketing style I prefer; its quality all the way. Looking at number 4 I sound like a proper know it all. I do not think that I know everything but I do know what my site stats tell me. The author articles that get the most hits are nearly always the articles that I have regarded as high quality, or have been interesting enough to read all the way through.

I have different ways of defining quality that may make me seem contrary, but I have always looked at things in different ways. A business colleague calls me a lateral thinker, I think he means a pain in the b**t!

Quality that is extremely well written, but on occasion no matter how well an article is written if the content is dry and boring the article is not going to fly for the majority of readers unless it contains specific information. I do not claim to be an extremely good writer, I think that I am an adept writer who can occasionally pull off unexpected great results almost by accident. I have had enough of those accidents to be able to figure out why those articles are hitting the spot and why articles such as this one is unlikely to produce masses of hits.

One of my accidents was an article about where I live. I wrote it as an example because I wanted members of my travel site to write about where they live. It started out as an article about a regular town and without initially intending to I added paragraphs about places of interest and tourist spots within 10 miles. It dawned on me after writing the article that although I live in an industrial town that would not be considered on it’s own a tourist centre, like most places there are tourist spots close enough by to include a mention in an article.

That article does better for hits than most articles of my own and those of authors on my sites that have been especially written for article marketing. I asked myself why and came up with 2 reasons. One was that I had added a good variety of keywords and phrases without thinking about it. The other reason I suspect is that the article is unique, very different to any other travel article that I have seen out there. It is also obvious that I know the place well whereas most article marketing travel articles don’t give you a sense of the authors knowing the places that they write about and show little personality.

Another accident was an article written a month ago about my bad experience with a spyware fraud. I was so cheesed off that I turned to writing to make myself feel better. I have never known an article get so many hits in such a short time. It has been picked up by a lot of webmasters, bloggers and ezines and I am sure it still has plenty of scope. I have even seen it on some geek sites, now that’s something I never thought would happen to an article of mine!

I think that the article is doing well because it is offering information written from obvious personal experience that people want and need and those people have had the common sense to do a search before being scared into parting with their money.

The top 2 articles on my directory every month are my own scam warnings. They are only on a couple of my sites so the hits are not spread between zillions of article directories. Again I am providing information that people want and need. Neither of the articles were written for the purpose of article marketing and a variety of keywords and phrases happened naturally.

So to me a quality article is reasonably well written, packed with information written from experience that people want or need, unique or as different to other articles as possible and showing some personality.

The fatal flaw in my accidents is that I have not used the articles to promote money making ventures, just my sites in general. I will have to get a grip and accidentally make some money from them!

I’ll end this far too long article by including a quote from a forum that made me think. ‘Thats a major problem I see in article directories — its so difficult to find good content in them that they are not nearly as useful to article consumers as they could be.’

Submit your travel articles to top  travel article directory Articles Abroad and find free content for your travel websites and ezines.

--> If you look around the Internet there are several recommended styles of article marketing so how do you decide which is the right way for you? On the one hand there are those who swear by writing several articles a day and submitting them to as many directories as

I used to read a lot of novels and then after a break of several years rediscovered reading for pleasure last year. I have found that my tastes have changed and that some of my previously favourite authors have become too predictable and just don’t do it for me any more.

I recall reading and thoroughly enjoying some of Maeve Binchy’s novels a decade ago. Maeve was a relatively new author back then and producing what I felt were lightweight but really enjoyable reads with interesting and believable characters. Great for bedtime reading without being too challenged. When I saw Scarlet Feather on the library shelves I wondered if my tastes had changed too much, or I would be able to turn back the years and find the same level of pleasure as I had in previously reading this author’s work.

Scarlet Feather is the name of a Dublin based catering company owned by Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather. Cathy is married to lawyer Neil Mitchell and Tom lives with his beautiful would be model girlfriend Marcella. After years of working hard for others they find suitable premises to run their business from and with financial help from Tom’s brother and Cathy’s aunt, good imaginative food and recommendations it looks like their business will do as well as they dream.

The first function that we read about is a New Years Eve party at Cathy’s in laws Hannah and Jock Mitchell’s home. Hannah and Jock live in a big house where Cathy’s mother Lizzie used to clean. The Mitchells and in particular snobbish Hannah had been against Cathy and Neil’s marriage and Hannah takes every opportunity to let them know that. Cathy has to grit her teeth and listen to her mother being referred to as ‘poor Lizzie’, but Cathy knows that her mother is only poor in a financial sense. She might have had to spend her working life cleaning and supporting her 6 children and a husband whose office is at the bookies but happiness does not always come with money and a big house. We see that Hannah is a bitter and lonely lady whose husband is a weak yes man who spends most of his free time on the golf course. Even so you can still feel Cathy’s anger at the slights and feel angry with her.

The party is interrupted by the arrival of 9 year old twins Simon and Maud. They are Jock’s brother’s children and have been left to fend for themselves with no food or money. Their father has disappeared on a jaunt to England and isn’t traceable. Their alcoholic mother is in a clinic and their older brother Walter who is supposed to be looking after them is at the party.

The rude and bad mannered twins are allowed to stay the night and decide to pick Jock and Hannah’s bedroom to sleep in. They create havoc with Hannah’s make up and the party guest’s clothes and the following day flood the bathroom. Their uncle and aunt don’t want them so Cathy and Neil take them in for a few days. They haven’t much time for the children because of Cathy’s new business, Neil’s work as a lawyer and the committees formed to help others that he is part of. Simon and Maud are then passed on to her parents Lizzie and Muttie who are only related by marriage to the children but offer the children love, stability and their first real home.

Simon and Maud who start out as children from hell quickly became my favourite characters in this novel. I loved the way Maeve described the pair who are what I would call real characters. The neglect from their upper class parents who we meet later on the book is sickeningly sad and these parents don’t even seem to realise that they are being neglectful. It is no wonder that they are a disagreeable pair when they have had little attention and know that nobody loves or really wants them. After fending for themselves so much they are more like mini adults but like children they ask the most awkward questions. “Do you only mate once a week Cathy?” made me smile, just as much as the changes in the children once they were looked after properly and gradually realised that others felt them worth caring about and wanted them around.

At first Cathy’s character didn’t gel on me. She seemed driven to succeed more to prove her in laws wrong than anything else. As the storyline develops Maeve shows us Cathy’s love and talent for the work she is doing and you want her to succeed despite some tough setbacks. There are hints of reverse snobbery with Cathy’s dealings with her mother in law and you know that the relationship will only work if they accept each other as equals who both love Neil. I began to like the character when she was placed in situations where quick thinking solved problems and stopped others from being upset.

I didn’t like Neil’s character very much. He seemed at times distant and cold to me, spending too much time making a name for himself promoting good causes and letting down those around him when they needed him. A man who believes that whatever he is doing is more important than the work of others and it might be but there has to be some balance.

Tom is a likeable character. A charmer who doesn’t know it and he is dependable. His partner Marcella comes across as selfish in her aim to become a professional model but that is only one side to her character.

There are other diverse characters and several entwined storylines. It isn’t a vastly exciting novel but it was still a very good read and just as enjoyable to me as Maeve Binchy’s other books. I found the characters believable and the insights into the many different relationships interesting. I know little offhand about Maeve Binchy but I feel that she is a lady who observes a lot and knows what makes people tick.

Maeve is from Dublin and her stories are usually set in or around there and about Dubliners. I’ve never been to Dublin but this author gives me a real feel for the place and those who live there. I loved Maeve’s often humourous behind the scenes descriptions of the functions and partys that Scarlet Feather cater for, the diverse guests and mishaps that Tom and Cathy have to deal with and still retain a professional image. Those descriptions are so true to life that I wondered if they had been drawn from real experiences.

I was drawn into the story right from the first page and hated putting this easy to read book down. The 10 chapters of this 598 page book are long so telling myself that I’d go to sleep at the end of a chapter meant reading on long after I should have been asleep. I was happy with the not unexpected ending which seemed to me left open enough for a sequel.

After reading Scarlet Feather I know now that I will look out for the books that I’ve missed from this author who is now restored to one of my favourites.

Review Source: http://creativewriter.me.uk

--> I used to read a lot of novels and then after a break of several years rediscovered reading for pleasure last year. I have found that my tastes have changed and that some of my previously favourite authors have become too predictable and just don't do it for me any

During my time running a home business I have come across many scams, what I called the downside of the business. Of course in what we call real world businesses there are scamsters intentional or not, we’ve all heard of cowboy builders or that we should check our bank statements for mistakes or over high charges.

What seemed worse to me was that in biz ops many of those scammed were desperately trying to start an home business with a pitiful amount that was all they had to spare. They didn’t just lose their money they lost the hope and dreams that they had of using their money to build a better future. That is why I have always given out scam warnings.

I published a magazine and I had to decide on an advertising policy and stick to it. My policy was not to accept ads for anything illegal or unethical. It wasn’t always easy, I had many an argument with plonkers who insisted that my policy was wrong. But, why should those who wanted to rip my readers off use my magazine? Why should I risk being closed down by the Trading Standards Authorities for the sake of a few bob – not worth it! Therefore I kept my magazine clean and always warned my readers whenever a new scam appeared.

I am not an expert on the law, but I have a darned good idea of what is not legal or ethical, or what will never do anything but lose money for you! During my magazine publishing days the question that I was most asked was ‘How do you identify a scam?’

It isn’t always easy to tell what is real and what is not, but I follow these guidelines:

·        If it sounds too good to be true then it probably isn’t.

·        If you are unsure ask for a list of at least 10 satisfied customers that you can contact.

·        Don’t believe anybody telling you that it is easy to make money. It is rarely easy to make money unless you work at the mint.

·        If you are denied irrevocable proof of earnings run!

·        Don’t believe anybody telling you that you can make money quickly – the only people who make money quickly have spent time and money building their businesses up to enable eventual faster gains.

·        If a plan isn’t legal one of the reasons would be that it doesn’t work and many others have lost money through it.

·        Anybody asking you for money for paid work is a scamster. If the work is genuine then there should be no fee.

·        If you get a letter or email telling you that you have won a large amount in a lottery or competition that you haven’t entered it is without doubt a scam. They are after a fee to transfer winnings that don’t exist.

·        If you get an email telling you that you are needed to help transfer large amounts of money out of an African or almost any other country bin it. This type of scam originated in Nigeria and they are called the Advanced Fee 419 fraud scheme. They are after your bank details, or a payment to help them get non existent cash out of whatever country they say they are from. Millions have been lost to this type of scam and murders have been committed. Do not reply, do not let them have your money.

If you suspect that something is a scam the simplest thing to do is google the names or key words. Many of the scams have been running for years in some form or other and are well documented on the Internet. I hope that this article will help to stop you from being scammed.

Written by Patricia Jones who has long been an opponent of scamsters.

Patricia owns several websites including:

Eprofits Centre which offers free digital downloads a business article directory and much more.

Articles Abroad is a niche travel article directory

--> During my time running a home business I have come across many scams, what I called the downside of the business. Of course in what we call real world businesses there are scamsters intentional or not, we’ve all heard of cowboy builders or that we should check ou

I was luxuriating in the sensuous feeling of water cascading over my body when it happened.

It was Boxing night and I was thinking about the evening ahead working at the local pub. I didn’t feel like working that night after an hectic Christmas Eve and Christmas day behind the bar.

What I would rather do was curl up in front of the fire with a bottle of wine, a box of chocolates and a good novel. No television to disturb my quiet pleasure, at least not until later on.

I remembered that my all time favourite film Psycho was on at midnight and made a mental note to record it. A pity because the conditions were ideal that night for maximum enjoyment. It was already dark and the wind was howling enough to add a perfectly creepy atmosphere to the suspense provided by the film.

Shivering, I recalled the tension as the woman was attacked in the shower. Pictured the knife being raised, piercing the shower curtain, entering her body, blood mingling with water as it swirled and flowed down the drain.

A noise startled me. I laughed aloud at seeing the blind being shifted by the wind and not Norman Bates.

As I closed the window I told myself off for thinking about Psycho while in the shower. Why couldn’t I think about my second favourite film Jaws? My vivid imagination produced a ridiculous yet fearful picture of an open sharks mouth coming up through the plughole.

I was backing away when the room plunged into darkness; water stopped falling and the comforting purr of the wall heater ended.

Total silence – complete darkness. I waited fearfully listening to nothing. My mind saw someone entering the house. A gloved hand reaching out to turn off the power …

My fear grew as I heard a door creek open downstairs, footsteps slowly mounting the steps, getting closer as I stood there passively awaiting my fate.

I was horrified to realise that I hadn’t locked the bathroom door. Hoping that it wasn’t too late I jumped out of the shower to a clatter of knocked over bottles which would surely warn the intruder of my presence.

The footsteps were getting close, would I reach the door in time? I had my hand on the bolt as I heard my daughter’s voice call out “Mum, what’s happened?”

“It must be a blown fuse”. I replied.

I’d forgotten that my daughter was visiting for Christmas and that I wasn’t on my own in the house as normal.

This happened 12 years ago. It wasn’t a blown fuse but something more major that I had to get an electrician to fix the next day. We both finished getting ready, her for a night out and myself for work at a neighbour’s house and I took the contents of the freezer to the pub to store in their big freezer.

What was really odd was that the following year on Boxing Day afternoon I was madly washing and ironing clothes to take with me on holiday to Malta the next day when the power went again. The trip switches didn’t work and there was a smell of burning around the main fuse box.

I called the Yorkshire Electricity Board emergency line and an electrician arrived at around 4.00 pm. It turned out that the YEB fuse box had burnt itself out. The electrician told me that the fuse box was around 60 years old and that he was surprised that the house hadn’t set on fire because the main wires leading into the fuse box must have been slowly burning themselves out for some time. I would have pushed the fuse box into overload with my higher than normal in a short time use of electric which probably saved the house and my life from the smoldering wires gradually setting the wooden shelves above on fire.

Isn’t it weird that the only times that I have had problems with the electricity were on Boxing Day two years running.

www.ebook-world.co.uk

www.creativewriter.me.uk

--> I was luxuriating in the sensuous feeling of water cascading over my body when it happened. It was Boxing night and I was thinking about the evening ahead working at the local pub. I didn't feel like working that night after an hectic Christmas Eve and Christmas

This adventure game starts in El Marrow where Mexican Manny Calavera is a travel agent in the land of the dead. When people die he goes to the land of the living to collect their souls, brings them back to El Marrow and sells them tickets for their four year journey to eternal rest. The best tickets are for luxury packages and can only be bought by those who have led a good life.

Manny needs to sell lots of luxury packages to earn his way to eternal rest. Something strange is happening. None of Manny’s clients merit a luxury package – they have either led bad lives or somebody has fixed the computer to make it look like they have.

Enter Mercedes Colomar (Meche), who Manny falls for *sigh*. She swears that she has lived a good and honest life and he believes her and not the computer. She leaves without the ticket for the luxury package that she is entitled to and Manny starts to become suspicious of his boss Don Copal and fellow travel agent Domino Hurley. He encounters Salvador Limones, the head of the resistance to the dodgy goings on; who recruits him to investigate for the cause.

Manny needs to find Meche who has already left El Marrow. He can’t leave on foot and the only way for him to get out is to be driven by a demon in a bonewagon. He finds demon Glottis and off they go to search for Meche with lots of adventures on the way.

Despite the title the game is not grim. It’s funny in parts and really interesting. There are 55 different characters and most of them have a human form but look like they have a paper bag on their heads with features drawn on them. You can see what Manny looks like on the picture above. Demon Glottis looks like the Honey Monster – remember those Sugar Puffs adverts a few years back. He’s big, friendly and cuddly and manages somehow to squeeze into the bonewagon that takes them on their journey.

There are hundreds of puzzles that give clues to help Manny in his quest. The clues are usually in the dialogue that Manny has with Glottis and others that he meets. Phrases appear on the screen and you point your curser and click on the ones that you want to hear spoken and hear a reply to. There are always several choices including some funny one-liners. When you spot and work out the clues you know where to go and which items Manny needs to pick up to use or save in his inside jacket pocket until later. It’s amazing just how many things he can get in that pocket without it bulging!

The game is split into 4 years. The first year is set in a petrified forest and Manny and Glottis have to find their way through and past some beavers with flaming tails. The forest looks appropriately spooky but it was a little too dark in places for my liking.

The second year is in Rubacava where you meet more of the characters and search for clues in bars, casinos an old boat, a lighthouse and a morgue. They meet the top man in the crime ring, mobster Hector Lemans who is one dodgy character. Manny and Glottis want to sail on a ship in the morning and need to find and overcome certain things before they can do that. I liked the Rubacava scenery, it was interesting moving from one location to another but I did get lost a few times.

The third year sees them travelling to the Edge Of The world, on the sea and under the sea and encountering a huge octopus. They have more things to overcome before they can go on to the fourth level and end their journey at the Ninth Underworld with a few more adventures back at the others and some new locations first.

The 3D graphics are great and according to the package Art Deco and Aztec inspired environments. I have never played a game like this before and certainly found the graphics and the whole idea impressive. I was captivated by the game but being honest I didn’t understand how to solve the clues at first and had to refer to a cheat site to help me. Once I got the hang of it the game ended all too quickly, but I still got several weeks of fun playing it.

As the characters are already dead they couldn’t be killed again. The designer gets round that cleverly by providing guns that turn the characters into flowers. It sounds naff I know but in this game it works well.

The background music is jazz and apparently swing era be bop. I was too enthralled in the game to notice it much but liked it when I did.

Grim Fandango was released by LucasArts in 1998 and was selected the best game of the year by Cnet Gamecenter and Gamespot, I can’t say that I’m surprised. It’s typical good versus evil with lots of entertainment and atmosphere on the way.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
Windows 95/98 DirectX-compatible computer
Pentium 133 or faster
32MB or higher
Quad speed or higher
2MB PCI Graphics card
100% Windows 95/98-compatible 16-bit sound card
Optional support for joysticks and gamepads
Microsoft DirectX 6.0 is available on the Grim Fandango CD and must be installed to play the game
Your system may require the “latest” Windows 95/98 drivers for your particular hardware
3D Acceleration: Optional 3D graphics support requires a 4MB PCI or AGP 3D accelerator

I bought my copy in a second hand gaming shop for £5 but would have been happy to pay more for it I’ve enjoyed playing so much.

I wasn’t too sure which to choose when filling in the difficulty and complexity slot below. For me it was very difficult at first but for players used to this type of game I would guess that it would be much easier but difficult enough to keep you playing for a while.

Grim Fandango is available on Amazon.co.uk for £5.50 and Amazon.com for $22.89, or if you would like to download a playable demo visit www.lucasarts.com/products/grim/grim_spotlight.htm

Obviously I can highly recommend it and will play it again in the future once I’ve forgotten what the clues mean. I just feel disappointed that there doesn’t appear to be a sequel, if there was I would be rushing to buy it.

Get the game at Amazon.co.uk

--> This adventure game starts in El Marrow where Mexican Manny Calavera is a travel agent in the land of the dead. When people die he goes to the land of the living to collect their souls, brings them back to El Marrow and sells them tickets for their four year journe

Scam emails seem to be breeding. I don’t usually reply to them but as Attorney Kenneth Moore sent me 3 identical emails on the same day I thought I’d have a bit of fun with him.

Dear Correspondent.

I am compelled to write you this email for the following reason:-

One of my client, who is now deceased, in his Will, left his entire Estate and Cash deposit, valued millions of US dollars,The truth is that l do not know if you are the beneficiary or not.,For over two years, l have tried effortlessly to locate the person on the will without success, which mandated me to contact you.

Can you get back to me urgently if you are capable of investing these funds in any profitable ventures in your domain? You can reach me via this email address: kennethmooreesq@strompost.com further explanation.

Regards,

Attorney Kenneth Moore

Tel:+447035901857

Dear Kenneth,

I’m sorry for not getting back to you sooner. You see when I first read your message on September 2nd I was so excited that I fell off my chair and landed on the cat who shocked scratched the dog on her nose. The dog chased the cat out of the house and a driver swerved to avoid them both and crashed into my wall.

The driver got angry with me and is suing me for car repairs and his whiplash injuries. I broke my arm when I fell off the chair and am off work. With my loss of wages I can’t afford to pay the driver and the vet is chasing me for an unpaid bill from when I took the dog in because the scratch became infected.

When I fell off the chair I knocked my computer off the desk and it wasn’t working until my brother came round and fixed it today. My brother who is also called Kenneth (maybe you are related) advised me to sue you for giving me a shock, not just once but 3 emails!

I told him that no I didn’t want to do that. After all you are the bringer of good news, even if it caused all of those accidents. I have been trying to think who could have left me all of that money. It can’t be Aunt Flossie because you said ‘his will’, anyway Aunt Flossie was so broke she dried her teabags on her washing line and reused them.

It could be Uncle Gerry, he was stinking rich but I’d be surprised if he left me even his toenail cuttings after I nearly poisoned him with my homemade chicken pie. I didn’t know that you had to thaw frozen chicken before cooking it.

I’m getting so excited here I’m rambling on. I look forward to you getting back to me with more details. I certainly have a profitable venture to invest the money in. I have a brand new invention of a toilet seat called ‘Embarrass Not’ that sings when you sit on it to cloak your natural functions. I will send you a free sample if you let me have your postal address and you need never be embarrassed again.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely
Patricia

Hopefully I won’t get a reply, but if I do I’ll add it here.

Anything like this that comes by email or letter is sure to be a scam. If you want to believe it do a google search and you’ll soon find out the truth.

When I did a search I found that I wasn’t the only one to receive the scam email and he has been sending the same one out for quite some time. He would only be doing that if he were making money from it, so please don’t let scamsters like him take you in.

I would always advise not to reply to the scam emails, because you might get more trouble than just losing money. Several years ago I got fed up with the amount of Nigerian fraud emails that I was getting and sent an email back basically saying get lost scammer but less politely. What I didn’t realise was that it was my business email address with my telephone number in the signature.

Late that evening I received a menacing phone call from the scammer and the same happened the following evening. After that I stopped answering my phone for a while in the evenings.

P.S.
I used to walk past a house where an old lady hung teabags out on her washing line and I remember reading about a singing toilet seat invention years ago, so my reply wasn’t that far fetched!

Written by Patricia Jones who has long been an opponent of scamsters.

Article Source: http://bb-space.co.uk

--> Scam emails seem to be breeding. I don’t usually reply to them but as Attorney Kenneth Moore sent me 3 identical emails on the same day I thought I’d have a bit of fun with him. Dear Correspondent. I am compelled to write you this email for the following

Eighty-year-old Troy Phelan jumps out of his wheelchair, practically runs across the room out onto the terrace and dives from the top floor of his 14 story building to his death. The sick, sad, lonely self made multi billionaire knew that he wanted to die, knew that his family wouldn’t mourn him much and wanted to cause them as much grief as he could by setting the scene for the last act of his life.

A short time before his death Troy who was one of the richest men in the USA was examined by 3 notable psychiatrists and pronounced sound in mind. Then he signed a 90 page professionally prepared will sharing his billions out equally amongst his 6 children from 3 broken marriages. All of who were in the room with their individual lawyers at the time of the examination and signing. His families, their lawyers and the psychiatrists then left the room totally satisfied with the filmed proceedings.

Camera still running, and with just 3 others remaining (Josh Stafford, a partner in the law firm and Troy’s gofer Snead) Troy shredded that will and produced and signed an handwritten 1 page will revoking all others and leaving his billions to illegitimate daughter Rachael Lane. Only Troy knew of her existence and nobody including him had more than a vague idea where she was.

In a letter to Josh he ordered the contents of the will not to be disclosed until January 9th, one month after his death. In that final testament all he left his 6 legitimate heirs was payment of any debts incurred before the reading and that would be only on condition that none of them contested the will. Immediately after signing the will he jumped to his death leaving behind a great deal of controversy and uncertainty.

His slick lawyer Josh Stafford was faced with the problem of finding Rachel Lane. All he had to go on was that she was a trained doctor and a World Tribes missionary in Brazil working for a religious outfit who had been sworn to secrecy about her. As far as his 6 children were concerned they were his heirs and had no idea that the final will had cut them out. Their problem was in getting enough credit to buy the expensive things that they desired and would be able to afford once they inherited the money.

At this stage I pondered on the fairness of a man that can play games with his children and detest them so much that he can disregard the security of their futures yet leave a massive fortune to a daughter that he had only met once and 20 years earlier. We learn that he had little interest in them as children and that each had received a trust fund of $5,000,000 on reaching 21, excepting for his weird 14 year old son Ramble whose money was waiting in trust for him. The 5 who had received their trust funds had gone through most or all of the money and some were in debt. Troy had worked hard for his money and was certain that his incompetent children and their partners would fritter the fortune away. I can understand that point of view but heck what’s the point of having money if you live austerely as Troy did and don’t enjoy it.

Josh decides rather strangely to send 48 year old food litigation lawyer Nate O’Riley to Brazil to look for Rachael. At the time of Troy’s death alcoholic Nate is drying out in a rehab centre for the umpteenth time and hardly the most suitable choice for the task and the temptations on the way. With 2 failed marriages and children that don’t like him, Nate’s excess baggage includes self-pity and to a certain extent the self-delusion of an alcoholic who has often stumbled at the hurdles of reform.

Nate travels to the Brazilian jungle while the Phelan heirs and their many legal advisers wrangle greedily over the inheritance. The book swings back and forth between both aspects of the story but my favourite parts were the descriptions of Nate sailing down an alligator infested river in a storm and the settlement of hostile semi-naked Ipica Indians and their surroundings.

I won’t say any more about the plot except that the will was read 2 weeks instead of a month after Troy’s death as he specified. I found that rather odd and there was no real reason given for not carrying out Troy’s last wishes, certainly not enough to affect the plot.

I haven’t read anything by John Grisham before and only picked this book in the library because of reading enthusiastic opinions about some of his other books. I wasn’t disappointed in my choice and found the storyline interesting enough to want to read to the end and find out what happens although it didn’t totally absorb me to a point where I couldn’t put the book down. I found some of the plot implausible but it seemed to strengthen rather than weaken this piece of fiction.

The main character Nate was well described and it was quite easy to build up empathy with him, but in parts I wanted to give him a big nudge with an extreme part of my anatomy. Part of the implausibility of the book was the speed in which Nate managed to travel to a remote part of Brazil called the Panatel, have some adventures and find Rachel with little information to go on.

When Rachel finally comes into the story I found it hard to find any empathy with her. She’s a good woman, dedicates her life to her religion and caring for natives in a remote part of the world with little access to what we call civilisation. Suffers unimaginable hardships every day stoically. A tough lady yet disappointingly little of her personality is exposed.

My favourite character was Jevy, Nate’s guide and translator in Brazil. Jevy had lived in the USA for a while and one day wanted to go back there. He came across as a caring, loyal, humorous and intuitive young man and was used in the story to keep Nate’s feet on the ground. I would liked to have seen the character expanded upon and explored more.

The Testament drew to a satisfying conclusion, leaving me with lots of things to think about. We all have to die sometime but wouldn’t it be awful dying knowing that the uncaring vultures waiting to pounce on what we leave behind are our children and the ones that we would most want to mourn us. It made me think about the lives of children with rich parents who spend time making more money instead of loving, raising, guiding and enjoying their children.

I learned something about the perils of the jungle and the way primitive tribes still live even now. I thought about the value of missionaries who apart from bible bashing offer invaluable medical care and knowledge making a not always welcome good and real difference to the existence of people from remote areas.

Greed was the motivation of many of the characters in the book, including some of the lawyers. You learn that those who uphold the law are not always honest when millions are at stake and hope that the storyline isn’t too true to life. Once the scenes with the lawyers came in I expected to find the book boring. I didn’t, I found myself curious to know how the Phelan heirs would react and just how low they and their lawyers would stoop. The switches to the jungle adventure were perfectly timed to stop me from ever feeling bored.

Although classed as a thriller it wasn’t thrilling, just a well told story with adventure, a hint of romance, a delve into the lives of spoilt filthy rich, an insight into the mind of a reforming alcoholic and the amount of money that lawyers can make out of other peoples deaths. Not the best book that I’ve ever read but still eminently readable and recommended for long winter evenings curled up in front of the fire. I shall certainly read more of John Grishams work in the future.

The author Patricia Jones loves writing and building websites.
You can see more of her articles and reviews at The Creative Writer - Make Money From Writing and the UK Travel Guide

--> Eighty-year-old Troy Phelan jumps out of his wheelchair, practically runs across the room out onto the terrace and dives from the top floor of his 14 story building to his death. The sick, sad, lonely self made multi billionaire knew that he wanted to die, knew tha

Luckily for Glasgow most of the main attractions are located around the subway circuit. There is always something to see within easy reach of the city centre. Because the city has many hidden secrets around every corner, not all of them are as obvious on the top of a tour bus and are best seen on foot.

The best place to start is in the heart of the city, Georges Square. This place is always a hive of activity and has different event going on through the year. During the summer it is a great place to lounge around and admire the architecture of city chambers. At Christmas time the square is completely lit up with Christmas lights and is home to it’s own miniature fairground with a small Ferris wheel and merry go round.

Throughout the year Glasgow hosts many festivals that celebrate all things arty after it was titled city of culture in the 1990’s. Every month there is something going on and is best know for it’s Glasgow comedy festival, Celtic Connections, the Merchant City festival and of course, Hogmanay. There are many other smaller festivals going on, such as an event celebrating Glasgow Subway. The city never stops!

All around the subway circuit there is something to see at almost every stop. Some of my favourites are Glasgow Cathedral and Necropolis, Tenement house at Cowcaddens station, Scotland Street School Museum at Shields Road, Kelvingrove galleries at Kelvinhall subway, the Gallery of Modern Art in Merchant Square and the People’s Palace near St. Enoch are at the top of the list of places to see if you don’t go anywhere else.

Outside of the city centre circuit there are many more attractions that can be reached by bus. I find the best places tend to be in the Southside of the city but there are many more on the outskirts of the city. Some include The Burrell Collection in Shawlands, Pollok House and Country park in Pollok, The Glasgow Science Museum and Tramway gallery and gardens in Pollokshields.

There are also many parks around Glasgow most of which have Victorian glasshouses, housing aquariums and collections of exotic plants. The best parks to go are Glasgow Green, Kelvingrove Park in the west end and Queens Park in the south side.

Nights out

The city centre is mostly filled with clubs and swanky bars. Merchant city is the place if you’re looking for an expensive cocktail, where the more reasonable bars are along Bath Street and Sauchiehall Street. If you’re into your dancing the city centre has plenty of nightclubs to choose from. Most of them are along Sauchiehall Street some being Campus, Garage, The Classrooms, and the Savoy aka ‘Suave Sav’.

Personally I feel the best place to experience Glasgow is in its West End. I feel this is where the real Glasgow is, it is another world compared to anywhere else in the city. My favourite place to go is Ashton Lane. Close by to Hillhead subway lies a little cul-de-sac filled with award winning restaurants and bars. Favourites include Brel (where Billy Connolly often frequents), The Chip, The Loft, Vodka Wodka and a few others. During the summer this is home to Ashton Lane and the West End festivals and is the busiest, but best time to go.

If you’re looking for an evening of entertainment, Glasgow has many venues that offer a range of shows, gigs and concerts. There is the SECC, Braehead Arena, Carling Academy, The Arches and the Barrowlands where all types of artist perform, including many big names. If you’re looking for a show there is the Royal Concert Hall, the King’s Theatre and the Tron theatre with something different showing all the time. Glasgow also has two comedy clubs, one in the city centre called Joungleurs near Buchanan bus station and the other one in the West End called The Stand.

The author writes for  Glasgow tours where you can learn about UK destinations and search freely for the absolute best hotel deals worldwide.

--> Luckily for Glasgow most of the main attractions are located around the subway circuit. There is always something to see within easy reach of the city centre. Because the city has many hidden secrets around every corner, not all of them are as obvious on the top of