Lisbon Portugal - Travel Photography, Art and Book Talk

Lisbon Portugal is enjoying a moment as the talk of the town and it’s long overdue. While we’re not so thrilled about one of favorite coastal idylls becoming a hotpot for remote workers and tourists, we are ready to share some of its secrets.

People often think of Lisbon as a port city in Portugal and an ocean beach destination, though the city itself is not actually on the ocean at all or even a direct beach destination. For starters, the coastal areas of Lisbon are on the banks of a river, the Tagus River. The Torre de Belem, the famous tower near the city limits that you see in photographs is ten kilometers from where the mouth of the Tagus River meets the Atlantic Ocean.

An enormous natural bay formed by the river around its delta contains a mix of salt and fresh water, and is home to expansive wetlands where thousands of bird species migrate through every year, making it one of the richest and most biodiverse places on the planet. This alone should make Lisbon a nature tourism destination, but the city is better known for nightlife, gastronomy (food) and beaches. The nightlife is good and often even great, as are the wealth of restaurants that range from inexpensive dives to fine dining. 

Portuguese cuisine like the language itself is unique. Heavily influenced by its proximity to the ocean, Portuguese food features a lot of fish and seafood, but also beef and pork. The most famous dish is bacalhau; a salted, seasoned cod, that is best in a stew or casserole. A close second may be the sweet, Portuguese egg tart. Some other great dishes...

As we said earlier, Lisbon itself isn’t really a beach or swimming destination at all. Those famous beaches people talk about in the same breath as Lisbon? They’re known as the Beaches of Almada and there are twenty eight of them. Yes, 28, from Praia Trafaria to Praia da Adiça. All fairly easy to access.

To get to the Almada beaches, you’ll have to get out of the city and across the stunningly beautiful 2KM suspension bridge known as Ponte 25 de Abril, where you’ll then find the closest beach is about a half hour’s drive away and some of the others are up to an hour’s drive away. The best of them include Praia da Cova, Praia de São João, Praia do Tarquínio-Paraíso, Praia Nova, Praia da Saúde, Praia da Cornélia, Praia da Mata, Praia da Riviera, Praia do Castelo, and Praia da Morena.

Pick one or several to visit. Your favorites will depend on whether you like to be with others or more isolated by yourself.

Another reason we love Lisbon because it is literally the beating heart of Portugal. Within an hour of the city, you have nature reserves, preserves, and national parks. All spectacular and stunning in their own way. Costa de Caparica is a nature preserve of protected coastal plains. Estuário do Tejo is a wetland estuary. Pena, Monserrate and Sintra are national parks within a forested mountain range, featuring mountain-side palaces and cliff-top castles.

One of these cliff-top castles is Castle of the Moors, shown below in a fine art photograph by William. Our photoshoot of the Castle of the Moors was incredibly challenging due to the mountainous terrain.

Most photos of Castle of the Moors are on the approach or close up, but William wanted to photograph the castle in a way that was different. As a result, we didn’t get the shots we wanted on our first visit to the castle. Instead, it was an exploration of approaches, light and terrain.

Getting around the mountainous terrain proved to be the biggest impediment. The narrow roads wind through the nearby village and up the steep mountain side. If you lose your way or miss a turn, you have to go around and around to get back to where you lost your way. On the mountain side, car parking ranges from difficult to near impossible. Hop on the shuttle or wander too far and you can easily lose where you parked, then hike the steep terrain for hours looking for your car.

After seven days of trekking up and down and all around, we came away with six photos of Castle of the Moors that William knew were keepers. Six of hundreds that were discarded. Still, those days weren’t all about a castle, they were also about a palace that looked like it was pulled straight from a fairytale. The Palace of Pena at Sintra.

If Castle of the Moors was William’s white whale that week, the Palace of Pena at Sintra was a dream through fog. The Palace is notoriously crowded from the time the park it lies within opens to the time the park closes. The Palace also has been photographed and photographed.

William took shots from many different angles and approaches. In different light. Early morning, full sun, late in the day. Day after day, he wasn’t happy with any of them. None of them were what he was looking for. Then on the fifth day as it rained on and off, William snapped two photographs of the palace emerging into the light from behind the shadows of clouds and knew they were the ones he’d been waiting for. Michelangelo of sunsets indeed. William works with light and shadow like few others.

One other photograph from the series of photoshoots made the cut. It was a photograph that also showcased shadow and light, taken from within the palace itself, on one of the many self-guided walking tours of the interior we took. Some photographs speak to you. Some loudly. Others in unassuming tenors, with simple splendor.

For fellow writers out there, it is true that one can write from anywhere, but it took a lot of special considerations to ship the crates of servers that William needed for technical how-to writing for Microsoft from one place to the next. But he never missed a deadline, and never told where he was writing from :)

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Hui Cha Stanek and William Stanek

About Hui Cha Stanek & William Stanek

Erstwhile Photographer and Long-time Publisher Hui Cha Stanek has always been the woman behind the scenes. She has managed the day-to-day operations of Stanek Media for the past three decades. Her work has been featured in a number of gallery shows and recently in a career retrospective with her husband. She prefers candid street photography and photography of people (though not traditional portrait work). Some of her most famous works, including Tip Toe I See You and Salt Water Taffy, shown in Hui Cha William's career retrospective in Vienna can be found at https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios?cat=10605&iframe=1.

Hui Cha's most recent project is writing the text for William R. Stanek: The Black & White Collection #1 Rare Masters. @ Amazon - BN - Walmart - HPB

Seattle-based Photographer and Artist, William Robert Stanek, is a combat veteran who supports other veterans, is also a vocal champion of books and libraries. Not only an artist, he wrote nonfiction for over three decades as William Stanek and fiction as Robert Stanek. Find his fine art photography and prints from his original oil paintings in his online studios:

360 Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios

1North Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/1north

Studio 24 - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/24

Robert Stanek Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/robert.stanek

Connecting to his roots in his work is important to William Robert. The beautiful fine art print that follows is a view from within Mont St. Michel in Normandy France, part of his popular A Day at Mont St. Michel photo series. Special to William Robert as this is the region where his French ancestors are from--an ancestry William Robert has traced back from Quebec Canada to its origins in France.




Find William Robert's books at

Walmart https://walmart.com/c/brand/robert-stanek

BN https://barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Robert%20Stanek%22?Ntk=P_key_Contributor_List&Ns=P_Sales_Rank&Ntx=mode+matchall

Play https://play.google.com/store/search?q=robert%20stanek&c=books

iTunes https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-stanek/id55535880

Amazon https://amazon.com/gp/product/B0841YDHSH

Spotify https://open.spotify.com/search/"robert%20stanek"/audiobooks 

eStories https://www.estories.com/author/654/Robert-Stanek

Chirp https://www.chirpbooks.com/authors/robert-stanek-audiobooks

Thanks for reading!

Letter from RP Books & Media Publisher, Jeannie Kim Addressing the Malicious Targeting of Robert Stanek

Dear Readers, We are aware of the false information and fake negative reviews that have been circulating about Mr. Stanek and his books, especially on Amazon.com and Goodreads.com. We want to assure our customers and the general public that we've identified the sources of this misinformation and malicious targeting, and have taken appropriate steps to correct and prosecute as permitted by law, both within the U.S. and the U.K.

It's easy for large competitors to crush something small and use their platforms to cause incredible, lasting harm. Not only can larger competitors spread lies about a smaller competitor faster than the smaller competitor can keep up with, it's nearly impossible for a smaller competitor to get out from under the targeting without help and in this respect, we need you, dear readers. Your support and continued readership is essential.

As for Amazon.com and Goodreads.com involvement, the U.S. Department of Justice has identified Amazon staff accepting bribes, writing fake negative reviews and targeting products like Robert's for take downs in its indictments of September 2020.

Specifically, the US DOJ prosecuted four cases involving Amazon employees:

* Targeting people like Robert with fake negative reviews

* Using their inside access to Amazon's network to suspend accounts and product listings

* Using their inside access to Amazon's network to remove favorable reviews and commentary

* Posting spurious comments to intimidate victims and drive away customers

All four cases were successful and proved by the Department of Justice in 2022. The following contains complete details, links and the press release from the US Attorney’s Office Western District of Washington state, dated Sept 18, 2020:
https://robertstanek.blogspot.com/2020/09/doj-ids-corrupt-amazon-employees.html.

Mr. Stanek has been a professionally published, bestselling author since 1995 when his first book was published by Macmillan and his books have since been published and or distributed by nearly every major publisher in the United States. He does, of course, write as William Stanek and Robert Stanek. His books have been praised and featured in Publisher's Weekly, including a cover story on popular fantasy series, Library Journal, Children's Bookshelf, Foreword Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Parenting Magazine, The Journal of Electronic Defense, Voice of Youth Advocates Magazine for YA Librarians, Popular Children's Fiction Selections for Librarians, and more.

We have been in business since 1994, nearly 30 years, and have always strived to provide excellent products and services to our customers. We value their satisfaction and take any complaints or issues very seriously. We apologize for any confusion or concern that this may have caused and appreciate the support of our loyal customers.

We hope that you had a great experience with our products. If you are satisfied with your purchase, we would appreciate it if you could leave a positive review on your favorite book or library review site. Your feedback helps us to improve and grow our business, and it also helps other potential customers to learn about the excellent products that we provide. Thank you for your support.

 

Jeannie Kim
Sr. Publisher, RP Books & Media

 

Finding the Armchair Traveler in All of Us

Hope you had wonderful holidays! As much as I enjoy traveling, I also enjoy reading about traveling. I think there’s a secret armchair traveler in all of us. Some know me as Katie/Kate from William Robert’s combat memoir, Air War: The Incredible True Story of the Combat Flyers, which was recently released in a 20th Anniversary edition. William Robert and I started our path together over 30 years ago, as husband and wife and as business partners. He has always been the creative, the writer and artist, but for just as long, I’ve been his arts & press publisher and the woman behind the scenes of our gallery partnerships, such as those with World Galleries. While I handled his small press work and art/photography, large multinational publishers handled his other work, including IDG, Prentice Hall, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, Macmillan, McGraw-Hill, Hachette, HarperCollins, Pearson Education, Cengage Learning, Microsoft, Wiley, TimeWarner, O'Reilly, HMH, and over 100 other publishers globally.

Whenever I tell people my husband is the William Stanek/Robert Stanek, writer and photographer, I’m often asked what it’s like to live with someone so creative, so driven. Well, that’s kind of a difficult question to answer. But I will say, for all those curious, that William Robert’s been my best friend in life for as long as we’ve been partners, both in a romantic and a business sense. He’s the best husband, the best father to our children.

There’s a reason those who truly know William Robert, especially other writers and artists, think of him as a gentle giant, a warrior poet and a beautiful person. He’s not only one of the most kind and thoughtful, he’s also one of the most artistic, creative and inspiring people around. He’s overcome so much in his life to get where he is today—poverty, violence, neglect, death, homelessness, combat, health issues, more. It’s a wonder he got here at all, and yet he did.

William Robert and I have lived a wonderful and eventful life, a full life, due in large part to his creative eye and dedication to purpose, to craft, to the people around him. He expresses himself in his words and art, using the pain and the tremendous obstacles he faced in his childhood and early life as a source of inspiration, rather than despair, while striving for heights he would not have reached otherwise.

I may be biased, but I think his work is incredibly special. His photographs capture something very raw, real and beautiful about life, whether his subject is a medieval cathedral, a sky-filling sunset after a storm or a mountain half seen in the distance.

With this in mind, I want to invite you to visit the world with us and dream through our new premium large-format photography book: William R. Stanek. The Black and White Collection #1: Fine Art Photography Rare Masters.

@ Barnes & Noble

@ Amazon.com

@ Bookshop.org

@ HPB

Meant for discerning collectors and special collections, this premium, oversized book works wonderfully to display on a coffee or cocktail table to inspire conversation when you are entertaining and to simply pass the time. Inside, you’ll find more than 100 fine art photographs from the Rare Master series by William, photographs from throughout his 30+-year career.

Producing a premium fine art photography book is expensive. Individual photographs featured in this book sell for hundreds of dollars in William’s studios. It was a challenge to find the right balance, to ensure not to devalue the work to which William has dedicated his life while delivering value in book form to you as the reader. For this reason, we are delivering William’s Rare Masters as a series of volumes that can be collected individually at a lower price point, and as books that combine multiple volumes into a single volume at a higher price point. We hope you agree this balanced approach works well.

Throughout this book, I discuss the story behind the work when possible to give you insider insights and to inspire conversation and, perhaps, to inspire your own adventures too.

Full page photographs, with extras. Photoshoot locations:

1. Newport Beach, California, USA

2. Lucerne, Switzerland

3. Ghent, Belgium

4. Vienna, Austria

5. Paris, France

6. Lucerne, Switzerland

7. Paris, France

8. Costa del Sol, Andalusia, Spain

9. The Bernese Highlands, Switzerland

10. Bavaria, Germany

11. Vienna, Austria

12. Oa’hu, Hawaii, USA 

13. Orléans, France

14. Kauai, Hawaii, USA

15. Florida, USA

16. Kauai, Hawaii, USA

17. Zermatt, Switzerland

18. Ghent, Belgium

19. Kauai, Hawaii, USA

20. Ghent, Belgium

21. O’ahu, Hawaii

22. O’ahu, Hawaii

23. Hallstatt, Austria

24. Kinderdijk, Netherlands

25. Orléans, France

26. Washington state, USA

27. Colorado, USA

28. Lake Hallstatt, Austria

29. Oregon, USA

30. Berchtesgaden, Bavaria, Germany

31. Kinderdijk, Netherlands

32. Bavaria, Germany

33. Colorado, USA

34. Kauai, Hawaii, USA

35. Oregon, USA

36. Adelboden, Switzerland

37. Oregon, USA

38. Bournemouth, Dorset, UK

39. Vienna, Austria

40. South Carolina, USA

41. Vienna, Austria

42. Maui, Hawaii, USA

43. Cannon Beach, Oregon, USA

44. Hawaii, USA

45. Hawaii, USA

46. Florence, Italy

47. London, Great Britain, UK

48. Bavaria, Germany

49. Hawaii, USA

50. Hawaii, USA

51. Hawaii, USA

52. Lake Tahoe, California, USA

53. Berchtesgaden, Germany

54. Paris, France

55. Vienna, Austria

56. Rome, Italy

57. Rome, Italy

58. Salisbury, United Kingdom

59. Lucerne, Switzerland

60. Sintra, Portugal

61. … 81 The Netherlands, for the Art in Flowers special collection

82. Vienna, Austria

83. Maui, Hawaii, USA

84. Vienna, Austria

85. Vienna, Austria

86. Blois, France

87. Fontainebleau, France

88. Lucerne, Switzerland

89. Obertraun, Austria

90. O’ahu, Hawaii, USA

91. Rome, Italy

92. Salzburger Land, Austria

93. Delft, Netherlands

94. Rome, Italy

95. Kauai, Hawaii, USA

96. Gstaad, Switzerland

97. London, Great Britain, UK

98. Lake Walen, Switzerland

99. Hallstatt, Austria

100. Paris, France

101. Washington state, USA

102. The Bernese Highlands, Switzerland

103. Normandy, France

104. Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

105. Stirling, Scotland, UK

106. Loire Valley, France

107. Windsor, Great Britain, UK

108. Rome, Italy

109. Bavaria, Germany

110. Zermatt, Switzerland

111. Volendam, Netherlands

112. Vienna, Austria

113. Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy

114. San Francisco, California, USA

115. Auxerre, France

116. Bay of Naples, Italy

117. Florence, Italy

118. Washington state, USA

119. Vienna, Austria

120. Lazio Italy

About Hui Cha Stanek

Erstwhile Photographer and Long-time Publisher Hui Cha Stanek has always been the woman behind the scenes. She has managed the day-to-day operations of Stanek Media for the past three decades. Her work has been featured in a number of gallery shows and recently in a career retrospective with her husband. She prefers candid street photography and photography of people (though not traditional portrait work). One of her most famous works, Tip Toe I See You, is shown below.

Others, not to be missed:

Salt Water Taffy

Let Me See Too

My Hair Day Too Mom

Where Did it Go

You'll find these fine art photography works and more at:

https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios?cat=10605&iframe=1

About William Robert Stanek

Seattle-based Photographer and Artist, William Robert Stanek, is a combat veteran who supports other veterans, is also a vocal champion of books and libraries. Not only an artist, he wrote nonfiction for over three decades as William Stanek and fiction as Robert Stanek. Find his fine art photography and prints from his original oil paintings in his online studios:

360 Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios

1North Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/1north

Studio 24 - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/24

Robert Stanek Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/robert.stanek

Connecting to his roots in his work is important to Robert. The beautiful fine art print that follows is a view of Mont St. Michel in Normandy France, part of Robert's popular, limited A Day at Mont St. Michel photo series. Special to Robert as this is the region where his French ancestors are from--an ancestry Robert has traced back from Quebec Canada to its origins in France.

Find William Robert's books at

Walmart https://walmart.com/c/brand/robert-stanek

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Robert%20Stanek%22

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/search?q=robert%20stanek&c=books

Apple iTunes https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-stanek/id55535880

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/stores/Robert-Stanek/author/B001K8IESG

Flying the (Un)Friendly Skies (Just In Time for the Holidays)

Thanks for joining us for Issue #3 of our Luxury Travel, FineArt & Books newsletter. Talk, tips and advice go hand in hand with a travel photo blog. Robert and I have not only travelled the world but lived all over the world. When you travel to a place often enough you learn a lot about it, but when you live in a place you learn a great deal more. Home for us these days is the Pacific Northwest in the United States, but we’ve also lived in Asia, Europe, many states in the continental US and the Hawaiian islands. This experience informs our travels and we hope, through this blog, yours.

For this issue, we wanted to give you some useful tips for making your holiday travel easier. If you're an experienced globetrotting international traveler, we hope you'll still skim through... Happy Holidays!

From William Robert Stanek's Art in Flowers Rare Masters Collection

Checklists…

These days when traveling internationally you may need a driver’s license, international driver’s license, passport, global entry card and more just for starters. Robert and I use a travel checklist. We literally print it out and check off the boxes for every trip. Sounds silly but it helps cut down on the oops I forgot this or that incidences.

International driver’s license? Yes, really, even in this modern age, especially in Asian countries, if not necessarily in Europe. AAA is the only company recognized and licensed appropriately for issuing one to US drivers for worldwide use, and you need to get it before you leave the US. 

$20 @ https://www.aaa.com/vacation/idpf.html. You need two passport photos as well.

Airport…

For us, a drive to the airport is always an event. We live a good distance from the nearest airport, traffic is almost always a nightmare. Accidents, slow downs for no apparent reason, construction. It’s always something, so we always plan to get to the airport early. 

Bing Maps and Google Maps both do a good job of estimating drive time but only if you get directions for your drive according to the approximate time of day and day of the week you plan to travel. On a computer use the Options to change Leave Now to Depart At or Arrive By to set a date and time of travel. On a phone, after you specify where you want to go and get directions, click the Options button to the right of Your Location and then select Set Depart Or Arrive Time to set a date and time of travel. 

For a weekday drive in the morning or afternoon rush hour, we still add an hour to Google’s estimated drive time. Airlines say to arrive at least 2 hours ahead of time, 3 hours for international travel. We prefer to arrive even earlier.

Airport Shuttles…

We don’t always drive to the airport. Often, we take Airport Shuttles. Airport Shuttles are convenient but sometimes also very frustrating. Airport Shuttles ask for your flight number, flight time and desired arrival time separately for a reason. When push comes to shove, and it often does, most Airport Shuttles will try to get you to the airport to meet your flight, while completely ignoring your desired arrival time. Worse, if you forgot to check the little box that said you were on an international flight or the shuttle service completely misses that you are catching an international flight? This can lead to big headaches.

Booking a private shuttle? Don’t count on it. Your private, direct to the airport shuttle also may get cancelled and replaced with a shared shuttle with no or little notice. When this happens, and it does, the pickup time for the shuttle will likely change as well—by up to two hours to accommodate extra stops and traffic. Watch your text messages and voicemail.

Ticket Counters…

Your airline may not have a ticket counter open when you arrive. If the airport is not a main hub for the airline, you may find that no one is at the ticket counter until 3 - 4 hours before the flight, even for an international flight. Robert and I got stuck in Madrid airport for several hours one time because our US airline didn’t have anyone behind the counter until 3 hours before the flight. Even though a major airline in the US, our flight back to the US was that airline’s only flight of the day.

Bags…

Each airline has its own baggage policy for carry-ons and checked baggage. To find your airline’s policy, type the name of the airline followed baggage policy in a Bing or Google search.

Generally, you are allowed one small carry on and one even smaller personal item, and should check in the rest. Please don’t be the people who try to get all their bags onto the airplane as carry-ons. You know the ones who show up lugging 3 bags each and then take all the overhead bin space from everyone else.

Don’t bother buying expensive luggage. It likely will get beaten up and look very used by the end of your very first trip. Airlines throw bags around and they arrive in baggage claim scratched, dented, with wheels missing and worse. Long gone are the days when you can get reimbursed reliably by an airline (and you may have better luck if you have travel/purchase protection on your credit card). 

For checked baggage, make sure every bag has a tag with your name, address and phone number. Ideally, this personal information should be hidden from view.

When checking bags, make sure baggage stickers are put on correctly and confirm the final destination. Watch your bags every step of the way. Make sure they have baggage stickers on them from the airlines and are headed somewhere on the right conveyor belt before you walk away.

For carry-ons, be sure to check the size rules for the airline before you pack, especially if you are traveling on a non-US airline. Rules in Europe are much stricter than in the US and the allowed carry on sizes are much smaller. The airline staff really will measure and weigh your carry-ons. 

We found it almost impossible at times to buy a carry-on in the US that met the strict European requirements while being big enough to be useful. Sure you can find a tiny little bag anywhere, but finding a bag in the US that is exactly or near European airline requirements so it’s actually useful? Good luck.

Also important to point out that if your trip has stops in Europe and you change planes, a carry-on that was okay in the US may not be okay in Europe.

Security…

Within the US, you will have to go through TSA security checkpoints. Outside the US, you will have to go through security checkpoints that are equally, and possibly significantly more, strict.

With TSA, there are many rules. None more important that the rules about liquids. You really do need to ensure you have no more than the 3.4-ounces (100 ml) of liquid in a single container and you really do need fit all your containers in 1 quart-sized resealable bag.

Anything that can be smeared or spread is considered a liquid. This includes your holiday pudding, cranberries, turkey gravy and any other wet food. Any questions can be answered here:

https://www.tsa.gov/travel/security-screening/whatcanibring/all

To speed your way through security, Robert and I definitely recommend you use either TSA Precheck or Global Entry. You don’t need both. TSA Precheck is a US-based program. Global Entry includes all the benefits of TSA Precheck within the US as well as expedited service through US Customs on the way back to the US from other countries. Many good travel credit cards will include a free membership to TSA Precheck or Global Entry every few years.

Get TSA Precheck…

https://govplus.com/start/precheck

Apply for Global Entry…

 https://www.cbp.gov/travel/trusted-traveler-programs/global-entry/how-apply

Lounges…

Airport lounges can be oases inside the airport. Although most are not high class or high standard these days, they usually are quiet and clean. You’ll also find free food and beverages, perhaps also snacks to take with you on the plane.

Many good travel credit cards will include a free membership to Priority Pass, a membership service for airport lounges. Robert and I have used our lounge pass all over the world. We’ve found the experience internationally can be much better than the experience within the US.

Not a member: https://www.prioritypass.com/en/airport-lounges

Already a member: Install the Priority Pass app on your phone.

Boarding…

Boarding is almost always a mess. Your ticket class can get you priority boarding, as can your airline loyalty program membership. In the US, those needing special assistance, those with small children and others needing extra time also can board early. Part of this is courtesy, part of this is due to laws for those with disabilities. Flight attendants may or may not make a related announcement. Often, if they don’t see anyone in a wheelchair or anyone with small children, they won’t make the announcement. You still have the right to board early whether they make an announcement or not. The same is not necessarily true outside the US, where laws for those with disabilities may or may not offer the same protections.

When I travel with my daughter who has Down Syndrome, we don’t have a problem boarding early. Everyone seems to understand whether she is using a wheelchair at that moment or not. However, when Robert and I travel, even if he is in a wheelchair, we often have trouble. People don’t use wheelchairs because they want to get on airplanes early. They use them because they need to at that moment in time, even if they later don’t need to use a wheelchair. 

And if they’re not in a wheelchair, it doesn’t mean they are perfectly abled either. Disabled don’t need to wear stickers that label them or explain their disabilities. What they need is courtesy, understanding and for people to mind their own business. This doesn’t always happen.

Bins…

In overhead bins on the same side as the plane’s windows, carry-ons go wheels in, on their side. This helps to fit the maximum amount of carry-ons in those bins.

In interior overhead bins (those facing away from the windows), your carry-on is likely to waste a lot of space as you have to put it in lengthwise. It may not even fit in the first place.

Don't worry 2/3 of those boarding planes don’t understand this either. It works though...

Reclining…

The era of friendly skies is long gone. Now you have the dilemma of whether you dare use the armrest at all, if someone you don’t know is sitting next to you, and the dilemma of whether you dare recline at all, if someone is behind you.

True story, on an 8-hour flight into Seattle recently, the people in front of Robert and I put their seats all the way back as soon as they were permitted to adjust their seats. One of these people, then moved seats for almost the entire flight and never put the seat upright, though they came back to the seat multiple times for a few minutes.

Robert is 6’ 2” so the seat in front of him literally touched his nose if he moved at all, so he put his seat back slightly to avoid this, about ¼ of the way and I did the same. The woman behind Robert immediately called the flight attendant to complain. The flight attendant stated there was nothing they could do, the seat wasn’t even back a few inches. This happened three more times during the flight.

About an hour before we landed in Seattle, the woman started punching the seatback over and over. When the pilot later announced that everyone should put up their seatbacks and tray tables, Robert and I did immediately. The woman behind Robert didn’t see this and called a flight attendant over again, stating loudly that Robert hadn’t put up his seat. The flight attendant replied the seat was fully upright, to which the woman screamed “no it’s not, look how close this is,” as she slapped the seatback. The flight attendant responded by telling the woman, “it’s time for you to put your seat up” and walked away.

And yes, the woman who was complaining and complaining and complaining about reclining was reclining… Unfriendly skies abound. Stay safe.

Passport control…

When you are leaving the US or entering the US from another country, you must pass through customs and passport control after landing. This can take a long time. You likely will be asked questions about your stay, be prepared to answer.

If you have Global Entry and are returning to the US, look for the Global Entry kiosks before you get to passport control. Use the kiosks even if no one else is.

Baggage Claim…

Most airports don’t have anyone checking to make sure people who pick up bags own the bags. Get to baggage claim as soon as possible and watch for your bag.

What's Next...

Next up we have a feature on Portugal that we think you're really going to love. As most know, Robert is not writing technical books anymore. Robert's does have a new release for the holidays though... We hope you'll check it out...

https://www.amazon.com/After-Machines-Episodes-This-Mortal-ebook/dp/B0BJCBDSFV/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=after+the+machines+robert+stanek

About Hui Cha Stanek

Erstwhile Photographer and Long-time Publisher Hui Cha Stanek has always been the woman behind the scenes. She has managed the day-to-day operations of Stanek Media for the past three decades. Her work has been featured in a number of gallery shows and recently in a career retrospective with her husband. She prefers candid street photography and photography of people (though not traditional portrait work). One of her most famous works, Tip Toe I See You, is shown below.

Others, not to be missed:

Salt Water Taffy

Let Me See Too

My Hair Day Too Mom

Where Did it Go

You'll find these fine art photography works and more at:

https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios?cat=10605&iframe=1

About William Robert Stanek

Seattle-based Photographer and Artist, William Robert Stanek, is a combat veteran who supports other veterans, is also a vocal champion of books and libraries. Not only an artist, he wrote nonfiction for over three decades as William Stanek and fiction as Robert Stanek. Find his fine art photography and prints from his original oil paintings in his online studios:

360 Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios

1North Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/1north

Studio 24 - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/24

Robert Stanek Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/robert.stanek

Connecting to his roots in his work is important to Robert. The beautiful fine art print that follows is a view of Mont St. Michel in Normandy France, part of Robert's popular, limited A Day at Mont St. Michel photo series. Special to Robert as this is the region where his French ancestors are from--an ancestry Robert has traced back from Quebec Canada to its origins in France.

Find William Robert's books at

Walmart https://walmart.com/c/brand/robert-stanek

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Robert%20Stanek%22

Google Play https://play.google.com/store/search?q=robert%20stanek&c=books

Apple iTunes https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-stanek/id55535880

Amazon https://amazon.com/gp/product/B0841YDHSH

Seville Spain: Food and Walking Tours - Travel Photography, Art & Book Talk too!

Last time, we took you to Seville Spain, one of our favorite places in the world. Now, we want to take you back to Seville to talk more about about food and Sevilla Cuisine specifically, and about getting around town. As we stated before, we are trying something new and combining our passion for luxury travel, fine art and books, with a focus on the work of my wife and I. This collaboration between my wife, daughter and I is the culmination of so many things, but none more so than our passion for beautiful art, books and destinations. We hope you follow us as this new idea grows and evolves. What you'll find is the story behind the work, travel tips, art and book talk, and more.

Okay, so you’re probably not going to Seville to eat pizza, and probably wondering what other foods Seville is known for. Tapas should of course be at the top of any Seville food list. Tapas are small portions of food, served cold or hot, and found in bars and restaurants throughout Seville (and indeed all of Spain).

A traditional Sevilla twist on tapas is espinacas con garbanzos (chickpeas with spinach) usually served with picatoste (small pieces of crisp bread). While you’re in Seville, another tradition is a tapas crawl, where you and your friends make a night of trying tapas at several different bars. We say several because you'll never make it through all the tapas bars--there are way too many.

Pork dishes are particularly popular in Seville, especially arroz con cerdo (rice with pork). Presa ibérica (Iberian pork) in particular is a pork shoulder cut, and Carrillada de cerdo is a stewed favorite from pork cheek with wine, carrots, garlic and cloves. Serranito is a sandwich served on a baguette with pork lion, salty serrano ham, tomato and grilled green pepper. Some pork cuts served with French fries are covered in a whisky sauce glazing that combines whiskey, olive oil and garlic.

If you’re feeling adventurous, you can head over to Mercado de Feria, a covered market that has been open for 300 years. At the market, you’ll find lots of fresh fruit, meat, fish and seafood for purchase as well as vendors who cook up these ingredients and serve up prepared foods.

Although not on the Atlantic Coast, fish and seafood are an important part of Sevilla cuisine, transported from coastal fishing towns up the Guadalquivir River. From the Royal Palace or the Catedral de Sevilla, the market is a quick cab ride away, or about a 25-minute walk.

Like many cities in Europe, Seville has Hop-on Hop-Off bus tours for sightseeing. An okay and inexpensive choice, especially if you don’t have much time, have young children or aren’t able to walk long distances (though there can be a lot of walking and waiting associated with these types of bus tours). We have a few walking tours that we prefer instead. The first is a tour of gardens, plazas and palaces, and starts at either Puerta del León (near Hard Rock Café and the bridge Puente de San Telme) or the Punto do Información Turística (near the bridge Puente de los Remedios). If you start your walking tour at one, your tour ends at the other.

From Puerta del León:

1. Puerta del León (Lions Gate) This is the entry point for the Real Alcazar (the Royal Palace). You can purchase a ticket online or at the palace. (https://www.alcazarsevilla.org/)

2. Jardines de las Reales Alcazares. These are the gardens behind the palace. When you are done wandering the palace, you can enter the gardens via the Maidens Patio.

3. Fuente de la Glorieta de San Diego. Enter the park here.

4. Plaza de España. Walk to the plaza, taking in the historic buildings and sights.

5. Parque de María Luisa. Wander the gardens and enjoy. The marked path is just a suggestion for the major areas of interest.

6. Punto de Información Turística Costurero de la Reina. This is a suggested exit point from the park.

From Punto de Información Turística Costurero de la Reina:

1. Punto de Información Turística Costurero de la Reina. This is a suggested entry point for the park.

2. Parque de María Luisa. Wander the gardens and enjoy. The marked path is just a suggestion for the major areas of interest.

3. Plaza de España. Walk to the plaza, taking in the historic buildings and sights.

4. Fuente de la Glorieta de San Diego. Exit the park here.

5. Jardines de las Reales Alcazares. These are the gardens behind the royal palace. When you are done wandering and want to go to the palace, exit the gardens and go to the Lions Gate.

6. Puerta del León (Lions Gate) This is the entry point for the Real Alcazar (the Royal Palace). You can purchase a ticket online or at the palace. (https://www.alcazarsevilla.org/)

Total tour time is 3-4 hours, depending on how long you spend in the palace and the gardens. With wandering, the total distance is about 6 KM It’s a good tour for early morning or later in the day.

You also can start or end your day at the Catedral de Sevilla (Seville Cathedral). Take a peek inside, if you can. Otherwise, wander around outside the cathedral in a circle, taking in the sights. You’ll find lots of plazas and alleys to wander nearby and several coffee shops.

The Catedral de Sevilla is one of my favorite subjects, essential to representing the spirit of Seville itself. The best street photographs are candid. Not only do they capture a moment in time, they speak to the viewer. Lighting sets the mood and the way the frame is set refines the message.

The cathedral is less crowded early in the morning. However, if you end your day here, there are some good restaurants nearby as well as places to get sweets and treats.

For us, during our visits to Seville, Robert was often working on books for Microsoft, proving it is true that one can write from anywhere. Still, it took a lot of special considerations to ship the crates of servers that Robert needed for technical how-to writing for Microsoft from one place to the next. But he never missed a deadline, and never told where he was writing from... This little book, long out of print, was written on the road:

About Hui Cha Stanek

Erstwhile Photographer and Long-time Publisher Hui Cha Stanek has always been the woman behind the scenes. She has managed the day-to-day operations of Stanek Media for the past three decades. Her work has been featured in a number of gallery shows and recently in a career retrospective with her husband. She prefers candid street photography and photography of people (though not traditional portrait work). One of her most famous works, Tip Toe I See You, is shown below.


Others, not to be missed:

Salt Water Taffy

Let Me See Too

My Hair Day Too Mom

Where Did it Go

You'll find these fine art photography works and more at:

https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios?cat=10605&iframe=1

About William Robert Stanek

Seattle-based Photographer and Artist, William Robert Stanek, is a combat veteran who supports other veterans, is also a vocal champion of books and libraries. Not only an artist, he wrote nonfiction for over three decades as William Stanek and fiction as Robert Stanek. Find his fine art photography and prints from his original oil paintings in his online studios:

360 Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios

1North Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/1north

Studio 24 - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/24

Robert Stanek Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/robert.stanek

Connecting to his roots in his work is important to William Robert. The beautiful fine art print that follows is a view from within Mont St. Michel in Normandy France, part of his popular A Day at Mont St. Michel photo series. Special to William Robert as this is the region where his French ancestors are from--an ancestry William Robert has traced back from Quebec Canada to its origins in France.




Find William Robert's books at

Walmart https://walmart.com/c/brand/robert-stanek

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Robert%20Stanek%22

Play https://play.google.com/store/search?q=robert%20stanek&c=books

iTunes https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-stanek/id55535880

Amazon https://amazon.com/gp/product/B0841YDHSH




Thanks for reading!

Off to the Races... and Seville Spain - Travel Photography, Art and Book Talk!

Hoping to try something new and combine my passion for luxury travel, fine art and books, with a focus on the work of my wife and I. This collaboration between my wife, daughter and I is the culmination of so many things, but none more so than our passion for beautiful art, books and destinations. We hope you follow us as this new idea grows and evolves. What you'll find is the story behind the work, travel tips, art and book talk, and more.



Seville Spain is one of my favorite places in the world, and the photo above is by far my favorite fine art photo of Plaza de España, a plaza in the Parque de María Luisa. Built for the Ibero-American Exposition of 1929, the plaza is an architectural marvel combining elements of the Baroque Revival, Renaissance Revival and Moorish Revival styles.

Seville is a wonderful, walkable city, with a wealth of fantastic sites and great restaurants. The light was amazing that day, even through the clouds, after several days of not so clear weather. As I positioned myself, I had to rush, rays of the sun were already warming the brick walls of the institute in front of me. I needed the clouds to part though, so I was patient. Then as a pair of white doves took flight, I knew I had the perfect shot, made even better by the row boat and the doves in the far interior taking flight at that moment as well.





When we visit Seville, we usually stay at Hotel Alfonso. A beautiful hotel, in the midst of all the gardens and close to just about everything you'd want to see in the city. The Universidad de Sevilla is next door and it's very close to Plaza de España, Real Alcazar, the canal and Palacio de San Telmo. Marriott usually comp'd our suites, so it was very nice to get the royal treatment.

We stay away from Hard Rock and tourist traps (expensive for no reason) and visit the local, independent restaurants instead. My favorite gastro memory from Seville: We got lost and ended up at a little dive of a pizza restaurant. Pizza in Seville? Yes, and more.

The owners, surprised to see Americans, were rather excited to see us order in broken Spanish as well. They didn't speak any English and somehow thought all Americans are dog lovers, so one of their children later brought in this rather large dog and kept feeding it bags of pizza toppings while we waited. Odd, quirky and a bit funny, especially considering how allergic I am. The pizza turned out to be enormous too and very good (though not really Italian at all). Sort of an odd mix of an American-inspired pizza with Spanish ingredients.

Getting to Seville can be a bit of an adventure. An easy way is to fly into Madrid and take Spain Rail. Trains to Seville run almost every hour or so from the central station in Madrid, and it's about a 2 hour and 40 minute train ride to Seville. 

When we visit Lisbon or Porto in Portugal we make it a point to drive out to Seville as well since it's so close. The whole Andalusia region is fantastic so it's a wonderful time. We love to visit in spring when the Olive trees are in bloom.

Nothing like driving with the windows open and drinking in the smell of Olive trees in bloom! It's a gorgeous, scenic drive whether you go from Lisbon to Seville or Porto to Seville. And if you drive either route, be sure to stop at the handicraft shops along the way. There's a reason Andalusia is famous for its leather, ceramics and embroidery. The pottery was always our favorite. The colorful plates, bowls and flower pots are beautiful, and each area has its own distinctive style.

It is true that one can write from anywhere, but it took a lot of special considerations to ship the crates of servers that I needed for technical how-to writing for Microsoft from one place to the next. But I never missed a deadline, and never told where I was writing from :)

About Hui Cha Stanek

Erstwhile Photographer and Long-time Publisher Hui Cha Stanek has always been the woman behind the scenes. She has managed the day-to-day operations of Stanek Media for the past three decades. Her work has been featured in a number of gallery shows and recently in a career retrospective with her husband. She prefers candid street photography and photography of people (though not traditional portrait work). One of her most famous works, Tip Toe I See You, is shown below.


Others, not to be missed:

Salt Water Taffy

Let Me See Too

My Hair Day Too Mom

Where Did it Go

You'll find these fine art photography works and more at:

https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios?cat=10605&iframe=1

About William Robert Stanek

Seattle-based Photographer and Artist, William Robert Stanek, is a combat veteran who supports other veterans, is also a vocal champion of books and libraries. Not only an artist, he wrote nonfiction for over three decades as William Stanek and fiction as Robert Stanek. Find his fine art photography and prints from his original oil paintings in his online studios:

360 Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/360.Studios

1North Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/1north

Studio 24 - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/24

Robert Stanek Studios - https://www.pictorem.com/gallery/robert.stanek

Connecting to his roots in his work is important to William Robert. The beautiful fine art print that follows is a view from within Mont St. Michel in Normandy France, part of his popular A Day at Mont St. Michel photo series. Special to William Robert as this is the region where his French ancestors are from--an ancestry William Robert has traced back from Quebec Canada to its origins in France.




Find William Robert's books at

Walmart https://walmart.com/c/brand/robert-stanek

Barnes & Noble https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/%22Robert%20Stanek%22

Play https://play.google.com/store/search?q=robert%20stanek&c=books

iTunes https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-stanek/id55535880

Amazon https://amazon.com/gp/product/B0841YDHSH




Thanks for reading!

Amazon Rings of Power: Reviews Blanked Out due to Fanboy Spamming, Then Back with "Incentivized" Reviews

Extensive review spamming is something I've experienced myself. Most reviews of my books on Amazon.com were removed because fanboys (and paid actors) of certain authors were flooding my books with fake reviews. I had always suspected Amazon staff were paid participants in these recurring activities, which dated back to 2001, and this was proven true when the US DOJ indicted Amazon staff for exactly that : targeting products with fake negative reviews. But the scheme, and as I experienced it over many years, was much larger than that. In exchange for bribes, corrupted Amazon staff facilitated attacks against competitors of those paying the bribes, using their inside access to Amazon's network to suspend competitors' accounts and product listings, remove favorable reviews and commentary, write fictitious negative product reviews designed to hurt sales, post spurious comments to intimidate victims and drive away customers, and much more. 

The DOJ announced the initial indictments in September 2020. Earlier this year, there have been trials and guilty pleas. At trial in February 2022, one of the participants was sentenced to prison. At trial in May 2022, two more pleaded guilty. In October 2022, there will be another trial for two others.

Amazon knows the power of reviews. Back in the mid-90s they paid a bounty up to $50 to encourage people to write reviews as the website had a paltry few and it impacted sales. So when Amazon spends $1B on a TV show (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power) that is a pet project of Jeff Bezos and the show gets flooded with negative reviews from fanboys, their first reaction is to hide the reviews completely. Their next is to create a "supportive reviews" program that is trying to flood out the fanboy spamming and then bring back the previously hidden reviews (or at least most of them, as many thousands disappeared).

A surprise to anyone? It shouldn't be, given Amazon's long history of abusive, misguided and anti-competitive activities. Amazon.com has cheated and bullied its way to a $1T market valuation while abusing and underpaying its workers, stealing ideas, products and business plans from anyone and everyone and lobbying congress to keep it all swept under the rug. Case in point, the fake Amazon ambassador program where Amazon workers were paid to lie and praise their working conditions in an attempt to convince us all that their workers weren't underpaid, overworked, forced to pee in bottles because they don't have time for bathroom breaks, etc.

'Fake' Amazon ambassadors baited on Twitter

Twitter bans "fake" Amazon workers praising company

Twitter nixes accounts pretending to be happy Amazon workers

The bizarre story behind those 'Amazon ambassadors' on Twitter

Amazon Caught in Pay-for-Praise Scheme Involving Hundreds of Employees

Case in point, how Amazon resorted to similar tactics to break support for unions:

Pro-Amazon bots fill Twitter with anti-union rhetoric

How Amazon Crushes Unions

Amazon's Anti-Union Bullying

Pro-Amazon, Anti-Union Bots Are Once Again Swarming Twitter

Case in point, the many, many posts I've written about Amazon here and at http://readindies.blogspot.com/ over the past twenty years that point out other maleficence. For many years, I've also been asking Amazon to only show the overall rating, and then display the actual reviews on a separate page.

On video pages, reviews are not shown by default, but are easily accessible in the Details section, which you access by clicking the star rating of a video or the Details heading. Amazon does this for videos because the company spends billions on this category of media and wants to ensure the best return possible. Why not do the same for books and authors?

Waiting for an answer, an apology for years of abuse, and royalties for the separate review page idea since you implemented it exactly as I prescribed.

Thanks for reading, I’m William Robert Stanek, Microsoft’s #1 author for nearly 20 years, and author of over 250 topselling books.

As talked about elsewhere the authors and their friends involved in these despicable activities include:

Melissa Foster (romance author)

Carolyn Arnold (mystery author)

David Langford (author)

Stephen Leigh (author)

Jim C. Hines (author)

Victoria Strauss (author)

David Louis Edelman (author)

Patrick Rothfuss (author)

Tim Spalding (Library Thing)

Maureen Johnson (author)

Adam Whitehead (Wertzone, Best Fantasy Books)

Patrick Dennis (Pat’s Fantasy Hot List, Best Fantasy Books)

Authors like Melissa Foster had hundreds of questionable reviews when they started running around trashing my books over and over, and now they have TENS of thousands of questionable reviews. How many reviews were they talking about back then anyway? A few hundred, spread across more than SEVENTY books I had published at the time. They targeted me to have someone to point fingers at while they conned and schemed. 

--

Addendum

Reader: A few of these bad actors appear to have used their friends in India that were Amazon employees (before they were discovered and fired), so I’m not sure I’d chalk that up to a corporate bad act, per se.

Indictments and guilty pleas earlier in the year said “Those 3P sellers sold a wide range of goods, including household goods, consumer electronics, and dietary supplements.” but I didn’t see anything indicating they were targeting authors or books.

I have no doubt that competing authors use fake accounts to trash the competition to sell more of their own books in the same genre, but those are individuals, not Amazon. And of course there’s not much they can do about trolls and fanboys.

I’m sure you’re much closer to it all than me, as long as you’ve been in the game. But I wonder how many people really make purchase choices (especially of books) based on trolls and their yard-poop negative reviews. If it’s not something backed by a verifiable ID or a credit card, I pretty much ignore it, personally.

I could see where they’d want to sweep aside the yard-poop of fanboys, for their own products, especially high visibility series. Doing it for everyone with products may not be as feasible.

Response: In the particular case, they were targeting everything and anything they were paid to target. Period. These types of activities have been ongoing since Amazon has been around because culturally much of the core of Amazon itself is unethical and the DOJ caught red-handed one group of MANY MANY such groups that were at the time, or had in the past, operated out of the company.

The DOJ included evidence on the specific instances they were able to track in a specific timeframe, not every instance of every despicable act by this ONE group over its entire existence. A case of prove what you have the evidence to prove. A goal of course was to stand up and tell these types operating out of Amazon that they were NOT untouchable and a goal of which was to tell Amazon it had better clean up its act.

For me personally, the very fact that the US DOJ proved in court that Amazon insiders were a part of these despicable activities was vindicating. Not only did the DOJ prove to be true and correct what I had been saying for years and years, the DOJ also proved in court that targeting products with fake negative reviews was only one part of a larger scheme to harm targeted companies and products. Again, the DOJ proved in court that in exchange for bribes, corrupted Amazon staff facilitated attacks against competitors of those paying the bribes, using their inside access to Amazon's network to suspend competitors' accounts and product listings, remove favorable reviews and commentary, write fictitious negative product reviews designed to hurt sales, post spurious comments to intimidate victims and drive away customers, and much more. All much as I experienced it on the receiving end of what was meant to, and did, destroy sales of my books for years and years.

As far as verified reviews or verified purchase reviews, etc, these types of reviews are as much B.S as the rest of them. Faked as soon as, and even before, Amazon introduced. These criminal types anticipated these actions and in many cases knew ahead of time these changes to the review system were coming. Either through Amazon's own announcements or through inside information.

As far as yard-poop fanboy reviews go, having been on the receiving end of people creating fake reviews, you have no idea what these types of capable of and how they operate. It's not just one and two star drive-thru drops of drivel. There is often specific intent to cause harm to the book and the author.

They use 3, 4 and 5 star reviews crafted in such a way as to deter purchases as much as 1 and 2 star reviews. And it's not just reviews... it's a pattern of attacks to get a book de-listed, removed from sale, whatever it takes.

They abuse the Amazon comments and discussion. They report books for supposed issues that don't exist. More.

You have no idea until you've been on the receiving end how much work these types will put in when they're being paid to do it.

Reader Follow-up: That being said, I do believe book authors should be able to turn off reviews of their product in Amazon. It’s too easy for peers to game it. Same as bloggers and news publishers can turn off comments. Shit posters are a major problem.

Response: The entire Amazon review system is gamed. Products don't get 50000 reviews without incentives. Reviews equal money in Amazon's pocket. When bad reviews cost Amazon money, they make it harder to find the reviews, such as with Amazon Video. When bad reviews cost someone else money, they put the reviews front and center.

Amazon itself benefits from the gamed review system and games the review system when it serves its purposes, such as by sending emails to purchasers of its private products to review products they liked or contact them otherwise to resolve any issue. These emails are carefully worded to get positive reviews. These reviews lead to more sales and more sales increase total revenues and total revenues are king. Incidentally, individual sellers are banned from doing the same or similar, though many often do and its how they end of with 50000 gushing reviews of some random toiletry product.

Reader: William Robert Stanek agreed. Some things are just out our control, though. 

Response: Thank you I will keep after the evil empire since I have no other choice as they control the majority of the marketplace for books and authors. I don't shop at Amazon or use any of their products, no one in my immediate family does. I do stand, and always have, with Amazon workers who want fair wages for fair work in an ethical workplace, and will continue to be a thorn in Amazon's side on this issue as well.