30 Dec 2025 — Alan's Roundup, with links to recent Substack posts:
• Christmas music
• Two weird workplace stories
• 17 memorable microcomputers
• Acorn Archimedes & ARM
https://open.substack.com/pub/alanjedmonds/p/30-dec-2025-alans-roundup
#christmas #nonfiction #truestories #funny #technology #music #acorn #computers #1980s
@steter #TrueStories yo ❤️✌️🎄
What does a gambling addiction really look like? Going for Broke reveals the personal struggles, impact, and raw truth behind addiction, inspiring awareness and understanding.
https://www.mattsheabooks.net/going-for-broke-what-having-a-gambling-addiction-looks-like/
#GamblingAwareness #AddictionRecovery #MentalHealth #BreakTheStigma #TrueStories #HopeAndHealing
23 Dec 2025 — Alan's Roundup
Links to my six most recent Substack posts, including:
• A cover song I didn't know was a cover
• Christmas memories
• Two weird workplace stories
• Memories of using the Commodore Amiga in the '80s and '90s
https://alanjedmonds.substack.com/p/23-dec-2025-alans-roundup
#christmas #nostalgia #nonfiction #truestories #technology #amiga
Meet John O’Neill, the FBI agent who spent his life tracking al-Qaeda. The Looming Tower tells his story.
#TheLoomingTower #FBI #Counterterrorism #TrueStories
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/looming-tower/
There was another war within the war—fought in shadows, whispers, and coded messages.
#SpyHistory #WWII #BookLovers #TrueStories
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/world-war-ii-espionage/
The wall was ugly. Brutal. Effective. It did its job for 28 years. People still escaped. Some died trying. Freedom pulls harder than fear pushes. That's the truth the wall teaches.
#ColdWar #TrueStories #bookclub
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/berlin-wall/
There was another war within the war—fought in shadows, whispers, and coded messages.
#SpyHistory #WWII #BookLovers #TrueStories
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/world-war-ii-espionage/
I’ve imported and updated 18 more of my Medium stories into Substack recently. This post contains links to them.
Topics
Weird Workplace
The unusual experiences I had in my first job.
Childhood Misadventures
The unusual things I did as a child.
Vintage Tech
Memories and opinions of early computers, mostly from the 1980s.
Alan’s Annoyances
Mostly tongue-in-cheek rants!
https://alanjedmonds.substack.com/p/8-dec-2025-alans-roundup
He ran. Across Moscow. Past guards. Into the night. British agents waited near the border. It was now or never.
#SpyThriller #TrueStories #BooksOfTwitter
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/the-spy-and-the-traitor/
True Stories: Gay Memories – Coming Out Of The Closet #LGBTQI #LGBT
One of the biggest regrets of my life is that I never sat down with my mother and told her that I am gay. I chose, instead, the easy option of writing to her and telling her that I was a homosexual.
Facing Mum for the first time after writing that letter, I felt very nervous as I travelled to her home. I hesitated several times before walking up to the front door, ringing the doorbell, and announcing my arrival.
What a shock I got when she came towards me with open arms and, as she gave me one of her wonderful hugs, heard her whisper, “I always knew, I don’t know why it took you so long to tell me.”
Me and mum. Taken sometime in the 1980s, just after I had told her I was gay.Not all my family was like mum, though. Some told me they were having difficulty accepting what I was because it wasn’t the sort of thing that happened to men in the area we came from. Hurtful words, but I already knew that the best thing I could do was to keep away from those who were upset by the life I was given, and let them live their lives as they wanted.
Over the years, I regained contact with some of those family members and, thankfully, have the changing face of society to thank for bringing us back together.
The fact that, in the past, there had been a few other men in the family who had never married never seemed to raise any suspicions that the family included gay people. It may have been discussed, but never while I was in the room.
I don’t know if any of those men ever ‘came out.’ Probably not, but it must have been tough for those who were gay when they lived. This made me more determined to live my life as I wanted and not as others expected me to.
Moving to live and work in London in 1986 was one of the most important decisions I’ve ever made. Although the city acted like a wall that seemed to shield gay people, I was still struggling to ‘come out.’
It was a strange situation because the first two jobs I took in London were in industries where other openly gay people worked.
When I took my next job, which would last 23 years, it took me six years to come out, and that was only when I heard the words “Do you mind if I ask you a personal question?” Of course, nobody cared that I was gay, yet for all those years I had been terrified of what some of my work colleagues would think about me had I ‘come out’ of the closet.
Fast forward to today, and being gay is widely accepted by much of society. Or is it?
When we moved to our current home in South Wales, both my partner and I felt a little hesitant about whether people would accept us. There are fewer residents here than in the area where we had lived for over 30 years. We were returning to that place where I’d been told that ‘being gay didn’t happen.’ We could not have been more wrong!
People have been so welcoming, and we’re as much a part of the community as anyone else. Strange, though, is that every now and again, when I meet somebody for the first time and am asked who the other guy who walks our dogs is, I find myself hesitating before saying, “He’s my partner.”
Maybe some of the scars from our past never heal?
Swansea Bay. A 5-minute walk from our new home.All photos in this post belong to me, Hugh W. Roberts
© 2017 Copyright-All rights reserved-hughsviewsandnews.com.
#ComingOut #Family #Gay #LGBT #LGBTQI #life #Pride #PrideMonth #queer #TrueStories #TrueStory
She risked everything to bring down a dictator.
Years later, in a quiet Dutch village, a letter arrives…
What does it say? Only one way to find out.
Visit now: https://www.mayabutalid.com/books/
There was another war within the war—fought in shadows, whispers, and coded messages.
#SpyHistory #WWII #BookLovers #TrueStories
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/world-war-ii-espionage/
A man with a troubled past found purpose in jihad. Then found new purpose fighting jihad. Storm changed sides like others change clothes. Identity became his weapon.
#TrueStories #IntelligenceOps #MustRead
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/agent-storm/
The book shows the gritty truth of intelligence work. No martinis or fancy cars. Just calculated risks in dark rooms. Just men and women gambling with their lives.
#RealSpies #TrueStories
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/man-called-intrepid/
Uncover the rise of al-Qaeda and the failures that led to 9/11 in The Looming Tower by Lawrence Wright. A gripping read for history buffs and true story lovers.
#TheLoomingTower #BookReview #9/11History #AlQaeda #TrueStories #HistoryBooks
Not your typical spy story. Open Secret reveals how duty, secrecy, and humanity mix inside Britain’s security service.
#MI5 #SpyLife #OpenSecret #TrueStories #BookLovers
https://thisgrandpablogs.com/open-secret/
1 Dec 2025 — Alan's Roundup
With links to 11 recently-added Substack stories.
Topics include:
- Weird Workplace Stories
- Childhood Misadventures
- Vintage Tech
https://alanjedmonds.substack.com/p/1-dec-2025-alans-roundup
#writing #writingcommunity #nonfiction #substack #truestories
Home Intruder Attacks the WRONG Family: Kids Take Him DOWN • 3 Stories of Hero Kids
Man Arrested For The Murder Of 7 Of His Own Children But Then The Babysitter Made A Statement
