Archive | July 1, 2018

Amazon Kindle Paperback Option & Ordering Proof Copies.

by Anura Guruge


Click to ENLARGE and study here. The order details from Amazon.


Click to ENLARGE. Click here to access: https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G202059560


The Amazon Kindle PAPERBACK program is NOT an oxymoron or an April Fool’s joke. It is now over a year old and I already published my last book, “Quick & Easy Meditation“, last September, in paperback and ebook form via Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). I had to jump through some hoops but I did manage to get it done.

Last September the KDP program did NOT offer the option of ordering PROOF copies. That was a bummer. But, I, a veteran self-publisher, CHEATED and got the proof copies I needed. I am NOT going to tell you hear how I did that! {Smile}

As of earlier this year KDP did start offering Proof copies — albeit in BETA test form, the whole paperback program a beta as well.

The KDP Paperback program is temperamental and has BUGS. You have been warned. More than likely it will object to your cover size even if you FOLLOWED their requirements!

Ordering Proofs is not straightforward either. You cannot do it right away. They send you a link via e-mail — and they tell you that it can take up to 4-hours to get the link. Then you have 24-hours to order the Proofs!

I got my e-mail in about 2 hours.

Your order through Amazon BUT it does NOT recognize PRIME! So, you have to pay for shipping.

Even though I ordered yesterday (i.e., June 30, 2018), I might not get the Proofs until July 10. That is crazy and unacceptable.

Anywho …. this is a heads up.

So, now the mystery is solved and the cat is out of the bag. My latest book is now at the galley proof stage.

Kind of funny, just in the last 2 weeks my wife and a friend both asked me whether I had stopped writing books! That was rather strange coming from folks who know me. If I am up and about, I am writing a book! That is how it goes. Yes, this book has taken me 9-months to write, but it is 475 pages in length and required extensive research. Just because I typically publish two books a year does NOT mean I have to always do so. {Smile}

So ….

More to come.


Related Posts:
Check Category ‘books’.


by Anura Guruge


The 4 ‘Irregular’ Cardinal Bishops Created By Pope Francis On June 28, 2018.

by Anura Guruge


Click to ENLARGE.


Click to ENLARGE. The Vatican announcement on June 26, 2018. From the Vatican, of course.


I was vacationing in Acadia last week and only heard about this ‘irregularity’ when a follower of this blog asked for my opinion on the matter via a comment. I looked it up. My first reaction was shock and disappointment. This iconoclastic pope had arbitrarily put asunder a much cherished and venerated tradition going back to 769 AD (i.e., 1,249 years ago). One of my ex papal collaborators talking about this in an e-mail characterized it as: “how the never-met-an-applecart-he-wouldn’t-upset Pope“.

Click to ENLARGE. From my ‘The Next Pope 2011’ book. Click on image at the bottom to get a copy.


But, then I got thinking and Acadia, where I hike incessantly, is a great place to ponder such things.

What is upsetting ‘us’ is the change because whatever folks say most people don’t at heart believe in “plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose“. So, I decided to look beyond just the disconcertment caused by this change.

Yes, of course, the seven suburbicarian sees, i.e., the seven Catholic dioceses surrounding Rome, are real, but that in the end is also somewhat artificial in the scheme of things post 1163 when Pope Alexander III (#171) introduced the notion of TITULAR cardinals, i.e., cardinals that were assigned a ‘Roman’ dioceses though they were NOT the bishop of that diocese. Today, (and I have not checked of late) nearly every cardinal, irrespective of whether a Cardinal Bishop, Cardinal Priest or Cardinal Deacon, is TITULAR, i.e, they do not actually perform any day-to-day diocesan duties in the see that has been given to them. This becoming the case for ALL the suburbicarian sees and their Cardinal Bishops as of 1910. So, as of 1163 the entire notion of cardinals has been compromised, diluted and abstracted. So, to I, that was the beginning of a very slippery road (with many arcane twists and turns). This move by Pope Francis just another of those twists.

Furthermore, the stratification of the cardinals is purely for ceremonial purposes, i.e., who goes ahead of another in processing and when they vote at a conclave. Other than that, when it comes to power and influence, all cardinals are meant to be equal. So, there is that.

Then there is the whole ‘Rome has spoken, case is closed‘ aspect. The pope is the world’s ultimate autocrat. When it comes to Catholicism and the Catholic Church he can really do whatever he wants. There are no checks and balances. The College of Cardinals CANNOT veto a papal decision. Moreover, of all matters Catholic, there is nothing more arbitrary and capricious as the College of Cardinals. Popes CREATE cardinals — and that it is called ‘creates’ is very significant. The College is also very much a creation of the popes. The popes can do whatever when it comes to cardinals and the College.

Pope Paul VI (#263) in 1970 decreed that cardinals over the age of 80 could no longer participate in conclaves. That was an artificial restriction. Three years later he mandated that only 120 cardinals can participate in a conclave. Since then every succeeding pope (bar the 33-day John Paul I (#264) has exceeded the 120 cardinal elector limit though we have yet to have a conclave when that number has been greater than 120. So, popes have had their merry way with the College.

This is but the latest example. So, after much reflection, I came to the conclusion that while it is ‘irregular’ there is nothing wrong with what the pope did!

I, however, will have more posts on this topic since there are other implications.


Click for more details

Related posts:
Check Category ‘religion’.
Search ‘cardinals‘, ‘consistory‘ & ‘pope‘.


by Anura Guruge

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