Comic Cuts - 31 October 2014

Farewell then my washing machine. Farewell then my cleaner.
Farewell my rinser, my soaker, the spinner of my laundry.
For no miracles happen, as in this world
Dreams do not come true.*
(* With apologies to Pavel Antokolsky.)

Following on from last week's news that Hotpoint WMD960, our beloved washing machine, had developed an F10 fault, I'm sorry to bring you the very sad news that Hotpoint has gone to the great white goods store in the sky. It was found that the intermittent fault was not a problem with a sensor but a wider problem with the motherboard. The cost of parts and labour was likely to be almost as expensive as buying a replacement, and with the knowledge that Hotpoint had been part of this family for over ten years and was likely to develop further faults in the future, the tough decision was made to look for a new washing machine. Hotpoint was switched off on Monday, 27 October 2014, leaving not only a hole in our hearts, but also a hole in our utility room.

On Thursday I was in the worrying position of processing the first Bear Alley Books' order for 10  days. Things are really quiet just at a time when I need them to be lively. I'm hoping to have another book out next month and for that to happen I have to pay for the license up front, so the first few dozen sales don't make me any money whatsoever. I still need to sell quite a few more copies of Arena before I see a penny and although I'm confident that the book will eventually make a little bit of profit, I can't afford to have too much of my money tied up in fees.

I started Bear Alley Books in November 2010 and published the first two books in March 2011. Twenty-two titles books later, we're still crawling along where I had hoped we would be walking, if not running. All I can do is hope that some of you are going to be asking your partners—wives, girlfriends, husbands, boyfriends, parents or pets—for a Bear Alley Book for Christmas. Remember, it's not just a book... to me it means having clean socks and pants.

 Bear Alley Books... They're not just for Christmas

... you can read them in November, too! All profits go towards 

the "Steve & Mel need a new washing machine" Fund!

Random scans for today are a little group of books that I used for researching the introduction to Eagles Over the Western Front back in 2011. Those early days of wartime flying I find endlessly fascinating.

We have something about Mildred Violet Woodgate tomorrow and a Dan Simmons cover gallery for Sunday. Next week: monkeys. That's the plan, at least. Ook!