Banned on Kindle, Read my new Book on Tradebit

After successfully publishing over six
books on Amazon Kindle, I have
had a bit of a scuffle with both the robots and the humans who are running the platform.

I compiled, edited, updated, and annotated 10 stories from the early 1900s.  The tales were all published before 1923.  Virtually page written before that year is in the public domain - meaning a person can use it for any commercial purpose without crediting any person or publisher and without paying any fees.

I submitted the book, which also contains one of my short stories, and it was dragged through a week long inquiry by both human auditors and robot readers.

They ultimately challenged a fascinating 1922 story by Franz Kafka, called the Hunger Artist - about a sideshow performer whose skill was being able to exist in a cage for 30 days without food!  I had proof that the story was public domain, but Amazon refused it.  So I removed it and changed the title from the Ten Best Stories to the Nine Best Stories.  I resubmitted all my information on the authors whose work I had updated.  

Another week dragged by and once again Amazon's readers and robots challenged the public domain status of my work.  They did this despite the fact that they themselves had versions of the works for sale on the Amazon platform.  

Since a soon to be 72 year old man, existing mostly on a small social security repayment, cannot fight a billion dollar corporation, I withdrew my book from submission and instead published it on Tradebit where you can buy it for just $2.99 ( www.tradebit.com ) (The Nine Best short Stories of the 1900s)

Among the stories I collected and freshened up, are two noteworthy yarns by F. Scott Fitzgerald.  One is the first draft of The Great Gatsby.  The other is the original story that inspired the move, The Curious Tale of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt.  It's a funny, bittersweet accounting of a man born old who lives for 72 years, going backwards in age from tottery to an actual tot and finally to a mute infant.  

There are also two Sherlock Holmes yarns, one of which is rare and almost never included in Baker Street collections.  It was written for the Queen on England in a book about the size of a postage stamp.  In fact it was written for the library of the Queen's dollhouse!

The Dollhouse by Katherine Mansfield is another fascinating story in the collection, as is her story titled, "The Fly".  

My contribution to the collection is a narrative that takes the reader back to a time when gambling was both illegal and a sin!  That was before the government realized there was a huge profit to be made, so wageing became legal and not sinful.  It also became less romantic and perhaps more crooked than when it was run by people like the hero of my story - the Colonel.  A short, heavyset man, the Colonel  was one of the last of a dying breed - the neighborhood bookmaker.  He was liked and respected by everyone....with the exception of one renegade police officer who vowed to put the hard working honest bookie in jail.  

A quick reminder that the rest of my work is available on Kindle.  Type in "The Creature from the Bridgewater Triangle" and you will be able to get to my author's page where you can sample everything I've done.  

If you read any of my work and like it - five star reviews are deeply appreciated.  

thanks,  Bill