Stredwick

My books are on Good Reads and many other platforms. People aren't reading my books and rating them.I only have two novels out but several short stories. I also have two plays out and several poems. So I encourage readers to look up my books whether free or otherwise and give me a read. All my short stories and plays are very humorous. You won't be bored reading one of my stories. All my stories are on payhip.com. They are also on Amazon.com and create.space. I also have works on lulu.com and ebook.mall.People can just type my name,austin g. mitchell in their search engine to search for my books.

My ancestral family are the Phipps of Stredwick Hill, Glengoffe, St Catherine. They are a large family with branches in England, United States and Cuba. However, there is one mystery that still needs clearing up all these years. My grandmother told me that one of her brothers, Tiny, disappeared from home and has never returned to this day.One other brother, Percy, was found in St. Thomas and Pappa returned from England in the seventies. Most of the brother and sisters died between the seventies and eighties but no word has been heard of Tiny or any offspring of his. It is quite possible that he went to a part of Jamaica, probably settled down with a woman and had children and probably those children couldn't be bothered looking up their father's relatives.

People go about who is the best. For example they want to know who is the best footballer who has ever lived. Or they might want to know who is the greatest boxer who has ever lived. Because people might have competed in different eras I think it's difficult to compare them.Even right now footballers, cricketers, basketbalers are competing in different leagues and against different opponents.

I will soon have a new book out.It's called 'I'm back from the hills now'. I will be writing several collection of short stories, plays and poems. I'm getting frustrated by the lack of publishing opportunities in my home country. I have books on Amazon, Create Space, lulu.com, psyhip, ebookmall and many more publishers.

So the West Indies having lost the Test series have also lost the one day series. It seems that the team is not performing and some of the better players are not making themselves available. But I feel that the bowling is weak.They really need some good fast bowlers. But the team cannot continue performing at this low standards. Both sponsors and fans must be getting fed up with these performances or lack of it.

I have calculated that to make a living from writing I would have to turn out a piece of fiction every week. I don't know how feasible that would be since I work full time. I would really like to be a full time write but I'm not getting any support from readers. I used to get published in both newspapers but though I've sent my work to one outlet, it is being ignored.

Yes, I now have ten books on payhip.com. Readers can view my books on that site. I am trying to get some book covers done. To make an income from writing books, I will have to write hundreds of stories.

Readers will be pleased to know that my books are now on payhip.com. I also have book on ebookmall.com and lulu.com. Readers can suggest other outlets for my books.

At the risk of boring my readers, especially those who don't understand the game of cricket, I don't dabble in it that much. The West Indies aren't doing that well against New Zealand. I don't think their bowlers are doing all that well. When teams make 500 and more run in their first innings against you it's hard to come back. They lost by an innings and more.When the West Indies were world champions it was the bowlers, most times who always won a match for them. At the moment they need a good fast bowler, one who can consistently take five or more wickets in a match.

For the month of November 2017 I don't think I sold one book. The prospects for December do not look all that bright. I don't get any correspondence from my readers so I don't know what they think about my writing. One of my writing tutor believes I should use up our native language more. I'm afraid that readers won't understand. I'm not frustrated or anything, I will have to just continue writing and hoping for some success.

THE FREELOADERS-PROLOGUE-TWO MEN WHO CAME NEAR THE ABYSS Augustus Beville twisted and turned on the three quarter bed. This was to be his last night in Happy Valley. He was sleeping in a room assigned to him as an employee of Rapley Rowe, a man whom he had previously detested for being a miser. Rapley had been cursed all over the village for hoarding his money. But reflecting now, Beville realized that Rapley was wise for had he followed all those taunting him he might have ended up like him. He had lived here for the past three moths as they tried to rustle up enough money for his plane fare back to the United States. Beville could remember the first day he came to Happy Valley with fifteen   million dollars in his bank account. The villagers were friendly and the girls, young and beautiful. Very soon people realized that this was a man to be around as he spent money freely. Whenever Beville was around, the bars were always full of freeloaders. He was the

GLENGOFFE DAYS-A review of Poems 18-32 18.STOP THE VIOLENCE-We want the violence, against all of our people to stop. 19.DAYBREAK-Daybreak looks so beautiful in Jamaica. 20. SUNSHINE-Oh, beautiful Jamaican sunshine, where are you? I’ve seen you in so many places. 21.I DREAMED MY GRANDMOTHER-I dreamed my grandmother, but she didn’t say anything to me. 22. GOING INTO THE HILLS TO TEACH- A poem about my experience teaching in the hills. 23.I’M BACK FROM THE HILLS NOW-Another poem about teaching in the hills. 24.DO WE KNOW OUR HISTORY- Are we proud of our culture, our race? 25.MANGO SEASON- A poem about mango season. 26.KITE FLYING-Poem about kite flying. 27. BIRD SHOOTING- A poem about bird shooting. 28.THE BIG RIVER- A Poem about the mysteries of our native river. 29.GIVE US BACK OUR LANGUAGE-A poem about taking away our language and giving us ones that we don’t understand. 30.WE MUST PROTECT OUR CHILDREN-Poem about protecting our c

GLENGOFFE DAYS-A review of Poems 9-17 9. WASH DAY- While our mothers were washing the clothes we were cooking the food. And while they were bathing up stream we were swimming and catching fish downstream. 10.MARKET DAY-They came from far and near to buy and sell at the Glengoffe market. On market days, Fridays and Saturdays, you could find some very colorful people, from the butchers, the higglers to the market gardeners and the fishmongers among others. Unfortunately the market is no more as the spate of hurricanes rendered it inoperable. 11.WE ARE A GREAT NATION- What is keeping back Jamaica from achieving its true potential? Everybody agrees that it’s the crime. Crime is stemming Jamaica’s growth potential. 12.GOING TO THE BUSHES TO CUT FIREWOOD-I’m telling about going to the bushes to cut firewood. 13. MAKING GRASS MATS TO SELL-I’m talking about making grass mats to sell. 14.RIDING A MILK TRUCK TO SCHOOL-We took a milk truck to school in the mornings.

GLENGOFFE DAYS-A COLLECTION OF POEMS_- A review of the first eight poems 1. BEN’S   BACK -We were celebrating the return of our old headmaster or were we? Some students, those who didn’t want to learn were sorry to see Quaco go.Those who wanted to learn were all too happy to welcome back Ben. Thus the words from this poem: 'We were sad, we were glad.' 2. IN THE CANEFIELDS -I’m looking back at my days in the canefields and regretting that those days are no more nor are many of the older folks. 3. GIVE US BACK OUR NAMES -Why did the people who came to the West Indies and the Americas as slaves, lose their surnames? 4. STOP THE RAINS -We are always praying for rain especially during a drought. However because of the fragile nature of our environment we can’t have too much of it. 5. CRICKET IN THE ROAD -Oh, how we loved the game of cricket. As a youngster I use to play the game every day. I still believe that it is the greatest game of them all. 6. LAME