♠ Unfinished sweet ♠

“Have I got the mother of all hangovers.” Connor went to hold his head, only to find his hands firmly restrained behind his back. His eyes came into focus only to realise there was nothing to focus on. He twisted around as much as he could on the wooden chair. A concrete room, one door, no windows and a bare light bulb.

“Hello. Anyone there? Room service? I’ll have coffee and a dozen Panado.”

The door opened and in walked a woman and two men.

“Great service,” congratulated Connor.

“What do you know?” The woman’s voice was low and menacing.

Connor looked at her and ignored the men, who walked to either side. He tried to ignore their odour. Wherever they were, showering was not high on their to-do list.

“I was in a ditch and then you smacked me in the head and now I seem to have woken up in a cliché nineties cop movie.”

“We should kill this smart arse,” growled the stink from the left, standing just behind Connor’s peripheral vision.

Connor stared the woman in the eyes. “Now, if you’re not here to give me a lap dance, will you at least get me some coffee?”

He knew it wouldn’t win him any friends, but it was certain to influence people. The resulting smack in the face almost cleared his head. He spat a mouthful of blood, happy to see that it didn’t include any teeth. He would hate to experience the end of the world without his charming pearly whites.

⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud at www.bit.ly/FreeBurning. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.
www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.
www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

⛥

For a different experience, listen to these weekly episodes as Spotify podcasts, Apple podcasts, or Google podcasts.

⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all the above details and links at www.amazon.com/author/burning.

In case you missed the link while listening to the podcast, that’s www.amazon.com/author/burning.

⛥

Cheers.

($) Get the balance right ($)

Much of this book may seem to be nothing more than plain common sense.

That’s because it is.

Stay focused. Work hard. Save your money.

We all know these things. They are drummed into our heads, over and over again, from the time we start school.

But we forget these rules. We think we know better. We lose focus. And we wake up 40 years later wondering what happened to all the money we sold our dreams to make.

What else have we achieved along the way? Great memories? Old friends? Spiritual contentment?

None of these would be at all diminished if you had a little more money in the bank.

But those great memories and old friends didn’t happen overnight. They took time. And hard work. Solid relationships are seldom easy.

Building wealth is the same. Anyone who wants to build wealth needs to focus on it as a conscious goal. Not an afterthought. Or they will muddle along through life and end up with whatever’s left after spending most of it.

So focus. Define monthly and annual targets. Push those numbers. You will find a way to scrape together as much as you need to achieve your goals.

($)

Join me on Saturday the 28th of January in 27 Boxes, 4th Avenue, Melville, for a Pop Up market. From 11am till 8pm.

Original South African self-published books will be on sale, with most of the stories set in and around Johannesburg.

You can also buy a copy of Hard Money for only R50.

($)

Stop living from salary to salary. Achieve Financial Independence. Retire Early. Join the FIRE movement igniting the world.

Follow these weekly posts for solid advice on how to escape the rat race, covering material contained in Hard Money.

This is no get-rich-quick scheme. It won’t be easy. That’s why it’s called Hard Money.

Work while they sleep. Learn while they party. Save while they spend. Then live like they dream.

($)

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books, or Shorty’s Poems) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.

www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.

www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

♠ Sheba ♠

Had the gun fight stopped? Or was it his impaired hearing? He couldn’t hear shooting any more. The sides of the ditch were too high for him to see over.

Recover some strength, find a lower part of the ditch. He started staggering, bouncing from one side of the ditch to the other. A technique he had used many times after heavy nights of drinking.

Ahead, a curved silhouette dropped down into the ditch.

“Francina?” His eyes tried to focus, but couldn’t see anything in the dark. He raised his weapon. It took all his strength.

The figure came towards him.

“Francina?”

“Yes.” A soft female voice.

Connor lowered his weapon.

“I got one!” she yelled.

“Wait, that’s not …”

The butt of her gun smashed firmly into Connor’s face before he could finish the sentence.

⛥

Join me on Saturday the 28th of January in 27 Boxes, 4th Avenue, Melville, for a Pop Up market. From 11am till 8pm.

Original South African self-published books will be on sale, with most of the stories set in and around Johannesburg.

In fact, some of the action in Big Day Out is set in Melville’s 4th Avenue. How’s that for synchronicity?

No tigers were harmed while writing this book.

⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud at www.bit.ly/FreeBurning. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.
www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.
www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

⛥

For a different experience, listen to these weekly episodes as Spotify podcasts, Apple podcasts, or Google podcasts.

⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all the above details and links at www.amazon.com/author/burning.

In case you missed the link while listening to the podcast, that’s www.amazon.com/author/burning.

⛥

Cheers.

($) Powerslave ($)

You could generate cash from playing the stock market. Speculating on forex movement between currencies. Investing in small business ventures. Lending money to people.

Or you could set up a balanced, diversified investment portfolio and generate passive income and capital growth without lifting a finger.

This might not bring in enough cash every single month, especially if you invest in stocks and bonds during turbulent times. You will have to work on averages over a period, keeping enough cash from the good months to cover the bad months.

But it can be done.

The basics of investing are as simple as the basics involved in managing your day-to-day finances. Don’t take too many risks. Stick with what you understand. If something seems too good to be true, it probably is.

John Malkovich, Steven Spielberg, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Kevin Bacon and many others lost millions in Bernie Madoff’s $50 billion pyramid scheme. Madoff died in prison while serving a 150-year prison sentence.

Pyramid schemes – also known as Ponzi schemes – are not real investments. They have made many people rich, but have made more people poor. Those who get into the schemes early on tend to benefit. By the time the scheme collapses, those coming in at the end lose any money they put in.

Don’t be like any of these silly rich people, who really should have known better.

($)

Stop living from salary to salary. Achieve Financial Independence. Retire Early. Join the FIRE movement igniting the world.

Follow these weekly posts for solid advice on how to escape the rat race, covering material contained in Hard Money.

This is no get-rich-quick scheme. It won’t be easy. That’s why it’s called Hard Money.

Work while they sleep. Learn while they party. Save while they spend. Then live like they dream.

($)

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books, or Shorty’s Poems) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.

www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.

www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

♠ Down down ♠

Francina was already behind the trees, bobbing and weaving in an attempt to draw fire away from the plane. Connor spent too much time watching her work, remembering the good old days when they had first met and forged the deadliest infiltration team in the country.

Then Justin stepped around the fuselage and Connor was rolling and firing and swearing all at the same time.

He landed in a ditch. Fortunately, dry. Unfortunately, deep. As he gasped for breath, waiting for air to fill his stunned lungs once again, he waved his assault rifle at the stars above, hoping they wouldn’t take it personally.

The sound of gunshots filled the air above him. Connor took deep breaths and assessed the ditch.

Steep dirt walls either side of him. The darkness absolute other than the little white pin pricks in the sky above him. Narrow and long.  It was definitely a ditch.

A small object fell beside him. He heard Justin’s voice. “Catch.”

“Shit.” Connor started running away from the grenade. The explosion blew him off his feet. He landed face first in the dirt. A shower of stones landed on top of him. He instinctively covered his head.

Ears ringing, he checked his body. Numb from the blast but almost intact. His hand was covered in blood when he checked his left calf. He tried to stand but found his legs failed him. He propped himself up on the rifle and used the wall of the ditch to support his weight.

He shook his head, trying to shake the dull hum from his ears. He looked back up at the stars, and instantly regretted it. They weren’t spinning before.

⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud at www.bit.ly/FreeBurning. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.
www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.
www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

⛥

For a different experience, listen to these weekly episodes as Spotify podcasts, Apple podcasts, or Google podcasts.

⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all the above details and links at www.amazon.com/author/burning.

In case you missed the link while listening to the podcast, that’s www.amazon.com/author/burning.

⛥

Cheers.

($) Good life ($)

A proper financial plan, taking into account your unique circumstances and personal goals, is beyond the scope of this humble book. This was about saving, not investing. But investing is your next step.

Now you need to buy another book. From your local charity shop. (Sorry, old habits die hard)

Or you can find yourself a registered financial advisor. They can add value. They also charge fees. And they don’t always get it right. Choose your advisor carefully, if you decide to go that route. Then listen carefully to what they have to say. If you’re paying for their advice, use it.

When is it enough?

For some people, never. It can become addictive.

But in black and white mathematics, when you have enough capital to generate sufficient cash to cover your monthly expenses, then you should be in a position to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labors.

($)

Stop living from salary to salary. Achieve Financial Independence. Retire Early. Join the FIRE movement igniting the world.

Follow these weekly posts for solid advice on how to escape the rat race, covering material contained in Hard Money.

This is no get-rich-quick scheme. It won’t be easy. That’s why it’s called Hard Money.

Work while they sleep. Learn while they party. Save while they spend. Then live like they dream.

($)

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books, or Shorty’s Poems) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.

www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.

www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

♠ The imperial march ♠

Noecker’s eyes lost their usual malice and he jerked his head, motioning Connor to come closer as he endured a fit of coughing.

“Connor. Let’s go. We don’t want Gertie’s bunch to hit the road again.”

“Just a minute.”

Noecker stopped coughing long enough to wipe his mouth. He struggled to fill his lungs. “Look…”

Connor peered out the cockpit window. A torch beam was making its way towards them, surreptitiously but visibly.

“Connor. Fuck.” Francina’s impatience was legendary.

Noecker reached a withered hand towards him, congealed blood hanging in droplets from his fingertips. “Look…”

Connor patted the old man on the shoulder. “I’ll catch you later. Company’s coming.”

Noecker gasped, coughed, grabbed Connor’s wrist. “Look… I am your -”

But the rest of his words were obscured by an explosion outside the plane and twin bursts of automatic fire. Connor went head-first through the door, landing in a traditional shoulder-roll and spraying his immediate surroundings with leaden death as soon as he rolled to his feet.

⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud at www.bit.ly/FreeBurning. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.
www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.
www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

⛥

For a different experience, listen to these weekly episodes as Spotify podcasts, Apple podcasts, or Google podcasts.

⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all the above details and links at www.amazon.com/author/burning.

In case you missed the link while listening to the podcast, that’s www.amazon.com/author/burning.

⛥

Cheers.

($) What to do with it once you have it ($)

This book was written to help people manage their personal finances and their attitude to, and relationship with, money.

If you have followed the advice in the preceding chapters, and reached the point where you have a problem deciding how to diversify your growing investment portfolio, then my work here is done.

You will have broken your back to get here. You might look back and wonder whether it was all worth it. You certainly don’t want to lose everything you’ve worked for through bad investment decisions.

Sir Isaac Newton, one of the greatest scientific minds of all time, made huge profits from his investment in the 18th-century South Sea Company. After withdrawing his money, he watched from the sidelines as the company’s stock continued to rise in value. What to do in such a situation?

Sir Isaac jumped back in and bought more stock at more than three times what he had originally paid for it. When the bubble burst, he lost most of his life savings.

He allegedly stated, “I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.”

Don’t be like Sir Isaac Newton.

($)

Stop living from salary to salary. Achieve Financial Independence. Retire Early. Join the FIRE movement igniting the world.

Follow these weekly posts for solid advice on how to escape the rat race, covering material contained in Hard Money.

This is no get-rich-quick scheme. It won’t be easy. That’s why it’s called Hard Money.

Work while they sleep. Learn while they party. Save while they spend. Then live like they dream.

($)

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books, or Shorty’s Poems) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.

www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.

www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

♠ Arrested for driving while blind ♠

“Have you two lost your tiny minds?” She reached forward and pulled back on the controls. The plane bounced in the air, almost stalling as Connor slapped Francina’s hands away and took back control.

“If you ever – ever –”

“You went berserk.” Francina was screaming now, over the roar of the engines and the blasts exploding outside. And because she’d had enough. “Was your plan to shoot them? Kill them all?” Connor ignored the question, as he had so many times during their relationship. “Land this thing so we can reach them on the ground.”

Fair enough. That had been his original plan, before the testosterone/adrenaline rush of combat had twisted it into a murderous shooting spree. Connor blamed Noecker. For everything.

He found what he hoped was an empty field, not far from the tree where the van had parked. Thankfully, the Google autopilot took care of most of the mundane manoeuvring involved in landing at night.

Francina was the first to hit the ground, the assault rifle strapped across her flimsy vest scanning the trees around them. “Clear.”

Which was just as well. Noecker wasn’t up to another firefight. He did insist on being given a loaded rifle before the others left. And a box of grenades.

“Don’t do anything stupid, now.” Connor checked that his bandages and tourniquets were still tight.

“Boy, I’ve been doing stupid things since before you were born.”

⛥

Read Big Day Out in weekly installments on FaceBook or WordPress. Receive notifications via Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr, GoodReads, or Amazon, where you’ll find the whole mad mercenary romp through the dystopian nightmare that Covid-19 might have become. Might still become, if we don’t keep our self-appointed leaders on a very short leash.

Download FREE sampler previews of all my books – and some complete short stories – from PCloud at www.bit.ly/FreeBurning. Or read them on Kindle Unlimited.

No charge. No obligation. No sign-in. Read for free. Share with your friends.

⛥

Anyone in Johannesburg who would like a signed copy (of any of my books) can have one delivered to their door by Big Bad Wolf Motorcycle Maniac Deliveries. No charge for delivery.

Or have them delivered anywhere in South Africa via Bakgat Books. https://bakgatbooks.co.za/all-stores/burning-books/

Also available in Edenvale from Inner Journeys bookstore.
www.facebook.com/InnerJourneysdnr

Or from Profound Books in Bramley.
www.facebook.com/Profoundbooks

And they’ll always be available on Amazon.

www.amazon.com/author/burning

www.amazon.co.uk/John-West/e/B072833D7Q

⛥

For a different experience, listen to these weekly episodes as Spotify podcasts, Apple podcasts, or Google podcasts.

⛥

If you have a book you’d like to publish, contact me to claim your 15 minutes of bestselling fame at No.1 on Amazon. Find all the above details and links at www.amazon.com/author/burning.

In case you missed the link while listening to the podcast, that’s www.amazon.com/author/burning.

⛥

Cheers.