Stanley Riiks Interview Part 2

What does rich mean to you?

I think being rich is being financially independent. Not many people are. Financial independence means not being dependent on anyone, not a company for your wages, not your boss for a job. Having your own income outside of work, having a passive income, having time and money, and not having to choose between one or the other. Be able to live the life you want, to me that’s rich.

 

Is this a get rich quick scheme?

It’s not a get rich quick scheme. Nor it is a network marketing scheme, and it’s not an advert for a game or a course. A lot of the financial books I’ve read are just sales tools. I’m not upselling anything, I’ve just sharing hard-won knowledge.

 

Why do you feel now is the right time to launch a book like Think Rich, Get Rich: 5 Steps to Financial Independence?

The likelihood is we are going into one of the worse recessions on record. Now is the best time for people to be gaining knowledge about finance. This isn’t a book for rich people, they already know the secrets to wealth, this is a book for anyone who wants to know some of those secrets and set themselves up to be wealthy.

 

You’ve been writing for a while now. What inspired you to start writing?

I loved reading when I was young. And then I just kind of lost interest for a few years, but as a teenager I rediscovered books when I bought one of the Conan novels on my way home from school. I took it home, read the first chapter, then went straight out and bought a couple more books. It was my first fantasy novel and I was hooked. After that I borrowed my dad’s Stephen King novels and read those, and then SF, and everything else. I joined multiple book clubs, I visited the school and local libraries, and loved being in worlds not my own.

I started writing in my mid-teens, and enjoyed the feeling of being god, being in total and utter control of my characters’ lives and the worlds they lived in.

 

Why the switch to non-fiction after many years of writing fiction?

I started writing fiction, but I also had a diary, so my connection with non-fiction is long. I’ve written book reviews for as long as I can remember, and I don’t restrict myself to any one genre. I just write. Sometimes that’s stories, sometimes those stories are real and sometimes they aren’t. I don’t pick categories to write in, it just depends what I’m interested in at the time.

Stanley Riiks Interview Part 1

Stanley Riiks Interview Part 1

Your latest book is Think Rich, Get Rich: 5 Steps to Financial Independence, is out now. Tell us about the book.

Think Rich, Get Richis a simple, step by step guide to money: saving it, investing it, and building your wealth so that you can live your best life. It’s concise and easy to follow. There are only 5 steps, which are broken down into easy bite-sized chunks. This is basically a financial bible.

 

You usually write horror, fantasy and SF. Why write a book about finance?

I’ve always been interested in finance, since about the age of 8 when I had to sell my Star Wars figures to buy Transformers (big mistake!). That’s when I realised I needed to save money, so I could buy the toys I wanted to. I started selling toys at school. I got my first job, a paper round, at 13. I bought my first shares when I was 15, too young to own them so they were in my mum’s name. I got a job as a cleaner at age 25, started my first business as 17. I feel like I’ve been preparing to write this book most of my life. During the last recession, after the housing market crashed in 2008, I wrote a series of blogs about finance. Now I know a lot more, so I decided to write a book.

 

What’s the one financial regret you have?

I’m only allowed one? Not buying enough shares during the 2008 recession. I did buy some Disney, but I wish I’ve bought Amazon, Nike, and Apple too. I also probably should have bought my first property sooner. Regrets aren’t helpful though, learn from your mistakes and move forward. I did get Apple shares a few years later, and I bought Nike shares during lockdown this year. If I had more money I’d buy Amazon too, but I’ve bought four property in the last year instead.

 

Biggest financial success?

My flat in Charlton, south east London. I bought it in 2013 and rented it for two years. It’s now worth nearly double what I paid for it. I think that’s pretty good!

 

Biggest financial mistakes?

Actually, it was one I narrowly escaped. We had been searching for properties for a few months and we found this perfect 3-bedroom house in Canterbury, ideal for a student let. We put in an offer and it was accepted, everything was going through fine, and then we get the survey back. The house had previously been bought at auctioned and had basically been bodged together to look good, but the ceiling was barely held up (the wrong nails had been used), the windows were dodgy and the roof was in serious danger of collapsing. There was nearly £30,000 of work that needed doing before it was even safe. We tried to negotiate the price down sufficiently to cover the costs, but the seller wouldn’t budge so we pulled out. That’s why I’ll never buy a house without a survey.

 

5 Steps doesn’t sound like much. Is wealth really achievable in just 5 steps?

The 5 steps in the book are not particularly difficult, but it does take discipline, it does take sacrifice. And it’s not going to happen overnight. If it was that easy, everyone would do it. Having said that, this is not rocket science, you don’t need to be super intelligent, you don’t need anything other than determination. And is it achievable? Yes, it most definitely is. I’ll be retiring next year at the age of 45, so it is perfectly achievable.

Think Rich, Get Rich: 5 Steps to Financial Independence

Do you want to be rich? Then you need to start thinking about money in a different way…

5 steps to changing your life… 5 steps to financial independence… 5 steps to becoming rich…

This is a simple and easy to follow guide to becoming financially independent. What does that mean? That means not working for your money, but your money working for you. That means not being a wage-slave. Independence means freedom. In 5 steps you too can be financially independent.

5 steps. That’s all.

You need to be disciplined, you need to set yourself some targets and you need to ensure you meet your goals. You need to think rich. Everything in this book is achievable.

How do I know it works? How do I know you can do it? Because I’ve done it, and I’m doing it right now. In the last three years I’ve bought six investment properties, double the size of my share portfolio and have more in the bank than ever before.
This is not a get rich quick scheme. This is a financial self-help book.

Financial freedom is 5 steps away. Are you prepared to invest the time and money to get what you want, or are you happy being a wage-slave until you die? 5 steps is all it takes for you to get financial freedom. Are you ready to take the first step?

Available on Amazon uk

And Amazon.com

Soon coming to other good book sellers.

I’ve been away for a while

It’s been almost a year since my last blog post. (I feel like I’m writing a confession!).

Life has unfortunately gotten in the way of writing. I didn’t write anything at all during the whole of 2019. I posted some reviews, but that’s it.

I also stopped working on the small press that I helped found, Morpheus Tales, to concentrate on my writing, would you believe!

Morpheus Tales is unfortunately on pause at the moment.

But now, during lockdown, I’ve started to write again (it only takes a pandemic!). Not the horror, fantasy or SF I usually write to escape the horrors of the real world, but a book about life. And how to win at it.

It’s called (third title change):

Think Rich, Get Rich: 5 Steps To Financial Independence

Or How The Rich Get Richer And The Poor Get Poorer

And is now available on Amazon UK and Amazon.com

Free April MT Supplement – Coming Soon!

The April issue of the MT Supplement is well under way! Although less underway than we normally are with only a few days till the 1st of launch month! Due to circumstances beyond our control (or me being a lazy slacker) the issue is not ready yet, there’s still plenty of work to do, but it will definitely be ready by Easter weekend!

Here’s a preview of the contents. This is going to be the biggest ever issue of the MT Supplement as it will include a massive preview of 13: Tales of Dark Fiction preview and review section, plus the usual host of reviews, articles, interviews and columns. I can guarantee this is not the final order of contents, I need to do a lot more work before this weekend.

It will be out in early April, although possibly not the first.

Go check out the website for past issues if you can’t wait: www.morpheustales.com

VIVISEPLTURE Edited By Andy Remic and Wayne Simmons
DEAD HARVEST By Chris F. Holm
THE FACELESS By Simon Bestwick
LEST YOU SHOULD SUFFER NIGHTMARES: A BIOGRAPHY OF HERBERT VAN THAL By Johnny Mains
GREATSHADOW: BOOK ONE OF THE DRAGON APOCALYPSE By James Maxey
The Involuntary Spasm of Writing By Alan Spencer
BABYLON STEEL By Gaie Sebold
ROUGH MUSIC By Simon Kurt Unsworth
GIANT THIEF By David Tallerman
THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF BODY HORROR Edited By Paul Kane and Marie O’Regan
FEARFUL FESTIVITIES By Gary Fry
Ramblings of a Tattooed Head By Simon Marshall-Jones
THE NOCTUARY By Greg Chapman
NEW DAWN FADES
DESOLATE (Kindle edition) By Robert Brumm Jr.
THE MUTILATION MACHINATION By Shaun Jeffrey
MILE 81 (Kindle edition) By Stephen King
VAMPIRE’S BLOOD (AUTHOR’S REVISED EDITION) By Katherine Meyer Griffith
SCREAM OF THE BANSHEE
DEADFALL HOTEL By Steve Rasnic Tem
DARKENING SKIES By Juliet E. McKenna
THE SEA OF FLESH AND ASH By Jeffrey Thomas and Scott Thomas
13:  Tales of Dark Fiction
Introduction to 13: Tales of Dark Fiction
Civil Beasts By Eric S Brown
Dirty Story By Gary McMahon
If You Lay Here Quiet Next to Me By Alan Spencer
Desperate Measures By Stanley Riiks
The Tax Collector By Tommy B. Smith
Organ Grinder By William R.D. Wood
The Machine By Fred Venturini
To Hear a New World By Matt Leyshon
Whatever it takes By Joseph D’Lacey
Wounder By Andrew Hook
Mongrel Days By Andy Remic
103 By Shaun Jeffrey
The Watchers at Work By Gary Fry
13: TALES OF DARK FICTION Edited By Adam Bradley
13: TALES OF DARK FICTION Edited by Adam Bradley
13: TALES OF DARK FICTION Edited by Adam Bradley

 

13: Tales of Dark Fiction

13: Tales of Dark Fiction is without a doubt the most important book of the year. Not only does it feature my story “Desperate Measures”, a solid little post-apocalyptic tale, although I do say so myself, it also features my story alongside some of my heroes.

13: Tales of Dark Fiction is a marvellous book, and I’ll tell you why…

It starts off with a Bigfoot story set during the American Civil War by Zombie/Bigfoot master Eric S. Brown. Bigfoot plus war equals great fun, the story packs a punch and a half.

The second story, entitled “Dirty Story”, is by Gary McMahon. Do I need say more? McMahon is a genius. His stories are brutally honest, heart-wrenching, and hurt like no one else’s. His stories are darker, more disturbing, more menacing than anyone’s except may be Stephen King on his best day, and deeply wounding to the reader. McMahon is my hero, and always will be for the masterpiece of horror fiction that Pretty Little Dead Things.

Alan Spencer has been a regular contributor to Morpheus Tales since the beginning and he always produces good solid fiction. With his story in 13 he has outdone himself. “If You Lay Here Quiet Next to Me” is a masterly tale, subtle and spooky, with an underlying menace that lingers long after you finish reading.

Next comes my story. I can’t say much, just read it for yourselves.

“The Tax Collector” by Tommy B. Smith reminds me of Jonah Hex and Joe R. Lansdale’s stories, which is high praise indeed. This ghostly western is tense and atmospheric. Tommy edited both the Dark Sorcery Special and the Urban Horror Special (in which he published my story “Shoot Out”) and like Alan has been published in Morpheus Tales magazine several times.

William R.D. Wood’s “Organ Grinder” is a fun tale of death and brutality. There’s a level of intelligent nastiness here which is creepy. You’ve gotta love it! I will never see to the circus/fun fair in the same light again.

I was massively impressed with Fred Venturini’s novel The Samaritan. It is an incredible story which tugs at the heart-strings, and makes you read on to find out what disturbing and twisted thing is going to happen next. His story “The Machine” returns to a classic theme of dangerous science. Clever ideas and a good amount of tension make this story difficult to put-down.

Matt Leyshon is working on a collection for Morpheus Tales. His stories are thick with atmosphere, and his writing is heavily stylised, his world drips with filth and decay. “To Hear a New World” wraps you up in the music, twists and spins you into insanity.

“Whatever It Takes” By Joseph D’Lacey is a story every writer can understand. The author of MEAT and The Garbage Man offers a unique and insightful perspective on the horrors of writing, and what writers are prepared to do to get where they want to be. Another tales that lingers.

I first became aware of Andrew Hook from his exceptional small-press imprint Elastic Press, which published some great collections, including the amazingly memorable Gareth L. Powell’s The Last Reef. Sadly Andrew closed down Elastic Press, fortunately it was to concentrate on his writing. “Wounder” is a very smooth and subtle addition to the book, a twisted urban fantasy that creeps under your skin.

“Mongrel Days” by the powerhouse that is Andy Remic is a twisted SF story. As you would expect, there is full-on (FULL-ON!!!) action and adventure, with a dark underlying menace just beneath the surface. Remic is a demented genius, seemingly at home writing thrillers, horror, SF or fantasy. It is for his fantasy trilogy the Clockwork Vampire Chronicles, and particularly Kell The Legend, that I will always love him (in a manly non-sexual way!), for making me feel as excited as a four year old again.

Shaun Jeffrey’s novel The Kult is a cracking crime/thriller/horror novel. For his contribution to 13 he provides a nasty story of greed and revenge.

The final story that makes up 13 is Gary Fry’s “The Watchers at Work”. I first read Fry’s Spectral Press chapbook Abolisher of Roses, a subtle and engaging story. “The Watchers at Work” is the longest story in the book, but Fry knows how to make every word count. He builds the tension and atmosphere like a conductor with an orchestra. Expertly written, it makes you feel exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. A great story to end an impressive collection.

13 has been a labour of love for its editor, and the passion shines through. 13: Tales of Dark Fiction is a remarkable anthology, and I am ever so grateful to be a part of it alongside some great names and amazing stories.

 13: Tales of Dark Fiction

Available from lulu.com and all good booksellers

 www.lulu.com/product/paperback/13-tales-of-dark-fiction/18720432

 Available as an ebooks in many formats:

 http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/110688

Story Acceptance – Morpheus Tales Urban Horror Special Issue

Another story accepted! Morpheus Tales Magazine does a number of special issues throughout the year, this year they’ve already published the Scream Queens Special Issue and the Dark Sorcery Special issue (which I shoulda been in!).

The editor of the Dark Sorcery Special, Tommy B. Smith,  is now busy at work on the Urban Horror Special Issue, and my story, “Shoot Out”, has been accepted. I shouted with joy when I found out.

The story’s original title was “Explosive” and it’s action packed, but that’s as much detail as I can give you. No doubt there will be a preview of the issue available before publication, and I’ll post the link.

Morpheus Tales will be accepting submissions until 1st of March for the issue, so check out the writers guidelines on their website:

www.morpheustales.com

More news on the issue’s progress as I get it.

A Pint of Bloody Fiction – Featuring MY story!

A couple of months ago I hadn’t written anything for ages. A couple of months, I thought, but when I checked it turned out to be almost a year. When I saw a call for submissions of 200 words by House of Horror for their new anthology A Pint of Bloody Fiction, the urge was irresistible. I whipped up a 200 word story in half an hour, and then spending twice that long editing it!

I sent it in, and the acceptance wasn’t long coming. Why isn’t it always that simple? The grin on my face stayed for over a week; anyone who know what a miserably bugger I normally am can testify this is an extremely rare event.

So my story “The Blade Bites Deep” appears in the collection, alongside some other stuff by some other writers. (Who are actually pretty good too!)

This burst of confidence also unleashed a six week write-fest, where I wrote something every couple of days. About twelve stories were produced in that time, and now the inspiration seems to have taken a backseat I better get to editing and submitting the buggers before my own version of writers block (life in general, grrr!) starts getting in the way again. So wish me luck!

And go get yourself a copy of  A Pint of Bloody Fiction and tell them I sent you!

Within the pages of this book of nightmares you will find horror stories in small doses, just enough to quench your bloody thirst. From an insomniac vampire to a library filled with human skin bound books, this collection will take you on a wild ride of chills and thrills without you even having to leave your seat. With each story being no more than 200 words, this collection is only a fraction of what these writers can do. Forty-Two chilling tales from many talented authors, trust me you will not want to put this book down.

Available now from House of Horror, Lulu.com and coming soon to Amazon.

Welcome to the Stanley Riiks Blog!

Welcome to the Stanley Riiks blog… This is his excuse to write about his favourite subject: himself!

Stanley Riiks is a genius. It’s official, he’s a signed up member of MENSA and everything. Oh, and it’s pronounced Ricks if you were wondering. Stanley Riiks describes himself as the action man of fiction. He can prove it if you like.

Stanley Riiks is a writer and critic, currently more critic than writer, his work has appeared in numerous magazines, journals and books.

Stanley Riiks enjoys starting every sentence with his name and writing about himself in the third person. It makes him feel more important.

Apart from writing and critiquing Mr Riiks (yes, you may call him that) leads a scholarly life involving as much sex, money, travel, crime and punishment as possible. There is also some alcohol involved in there somewhere.

His latest project is as Reviews Editor and lead reviewer for Morpheus Tales magazine of horror, science fiction and fantasy. www.morpheustales.com