Just added a new photo page showing our recent Kenyan Safari and trip. Most of the photos are of the safari continuing my wildlife theme on a dedicated page here. Our trip was with Secret Escapes and is still available here
After much deliberation I have decided to unpublish Semblance of Storms. Initial feedback has led me to believe that the book needs some major reorganisation and probably slimming down.
Activity to remove it from various platforms will be ongoing
The book will return when I have completed this task. Any questions please contact me via feedback or comment.
Sailing Clear countdown is on so get it whilst you can
Sailing Clear is on a Kindle Countdown deal from today until 12th November
Sailing Clear is a thriller about missing girls, missing money, a missing man, luxury motor yachts and the people chasing them.
An old MI6 undercover mission to prevent terrorists entering the UK via sex trafficking routes goes wrong. The undercover agent is assigned to a new role.
A man lost in the shadows manages the hidden finances of the security services but dreams of a better life sailing the Mediterranean. When he runs off he is hunted, but he may have been killed by an organised crime leader. The police are assigned to find him.
Two sisters run away to Greece escaping from the sexual abuse of their father.
The characters intersect as the hunt commences. Then, the various security services need to find options to deal with the fallout.
The undercover agent now in her new planning role, is assigned to trace the missing financier, but a corrupt cop may give them all away.
Semblance of Storms will be published in Kindle and Paperback format on 1st November via Amazon
Formally called Written I made a last minute change of title and associated cover – so here it is…
All that is required, by his publishers is to write a fourth book, not like the flop that was his third. His successful first two books bought him fame, some fortune and disputes with his terminally ill father. He wants his son to help with his half-sister. If only her mom, wouldn’t give confusing messages on what she wants; possibly him. A family friend and lawyer will help, as he always has done but there are secrets in his past too.
His new book will be a tale of boy meets girl in his usual elaborate and descriptive style. His agent, wants him to produce it soon but he has his own pressures from his new investors. There might be a movie deal to be negotiated. The new investor is represented by an attractive woman who is infamous for other reasons.
His editor, wants him to finish the book so she can stop his publisher asking for the advance back. She hopes he has written something as good as his first published book. He does too. He needs to concentrate on writing this book not drafting anything else. Old lost, and possible new loves and lusts, keep distracting him. The idle beach lifestyle diverts him as do post pandemic visitors.
Just when he begins to make progress on the last chapters a hurricane approaches his home in North Carolina. If he goes to visit his father, another storm may await in Houston. His neighbor and that family add further complications and secrets that need to be hidden or avoided, especially from the FBI.
WIPs are works in progress otherwise known as the trials and tribulations of writing.This is the never ending search for the next book to read. Reading requires authors to write stories, meaning me, in this case. I look with envy at other writers with seemingly endless series that all seem to sell well, judging from the number of reviews they receive. My only criticism is the formulaic nature of the stories; however, it’s a formula that sells.
I’ve been wading through several linked series by Mark Dawson covering the John Milton character and two spin off stories with their own series – over thirty books I think. I’ve also been enjoying Mick Herron’s Slough House series. It is a recent Apple TV+ drama, renamed as Slow Horses from the title of the first book in the series. Having read that, I must congratulate the TV makers in their adherence to the story.
My own progress has been slow in completing my Coming Soon list. This remains a longer list on the dedicated page on this site. It also includes additions to one series. Except my sci-fi Space Opera The Observers, none of my books set out to be series.
As long as we don’t define soon, as anytime this decade, the tales may appear! It is high time I updated the list on the main page. Perhaps, it might lead to more focus on the actual writing. If I list what I have actually been working on rather than hoping to work on, progress may be inspired.
Showing some possible cover choices too. The other coming soon books have not gone away in terms of I have not thrown the files away. The list below is in closest to publication order but this of course can change.
Other books remain as WIP, including the third part of The Observers story. That has stalled. The never-ending search for the sequel to To The Survivors continues. It gets occasional single line updates.
Editors Note – Now renamed and published 1st November 2022 as Semblance of Storms
A novel of writing, lust, storms, secrets and relationships – A major effort and close to completion. It’s huge (for me). I have also tried to release it (so far unsuccessfully) via a formal route with literary agents etc. The draft blurb is below and will be on the dedicated page for Written when it is published
All that is required, by his publishers is to write a fourth book, not like the flop that was his third. His successful first two books bought him fame, some fortune and disputes with his terminally ill father. He wants his son to help with his half-sister. If only her mom, wouldn’t give confusing messages on what she wants; possibly him. A family friend and lawyer will help, as he always has done but there are secrets in his past too.
His new book will be a tale of boy meets girl in his usual elaborate and descriptive style. His agent, wants him to produce it soon but he has his own pressures from his new investors. There might be a movie deal to be negotiated. The new investor is represented by an attractive woman who is infamous for other reasons.
His editor, wants him to finish the book so she can stop his publisher asking for the advance back. She hopes he has written something as good as his first published book. He does too. He needs to concentrate on writing this book not drafting anything else. Old lost, and possible new loves and lusts, keep distracting him. The idle beach lifestyle diverts him as do post pandemic visitors.
Just when he begins to make progress on the last chapters a hurricane approaches his home in North Carolina. If he goes to visit his father, another storm may await in Houston. His neighbor and that family add further complications and there are more secrets to hide or avoid, especially from the FBI.
The third part of the Sailing series with Sailing Clear and Sail Chains already out. The first chapters have been completed. The plot is outlined and progressing.
A follow up to Counter – first chapters completed Ben and Helen return a few years after the events in Counter.
A time travel sci-fi – first chapters written
A short story which is almost finished
Just added some photos from two USA trips, both to Charlotte, North Carolina. These were the 2nd and 3rd trips to the city to visit our daughter. The pre-pandemic first trip details can be found here
The first in December 2021 somewhat constrained by COVID tests and restrictions. It featured Christmas, New Year, and the highlight, the engagement of our daughter. The proposal at sunset on the beach in Ocean Isle. The trip included the first physical and very emotional meeting with her thanks to the global pandemic for a few years.
In June 2022, we returned for our first trip in Summer. Despite airline delays and lost baggage, thanks to AA and BA not assisted by Heathrow and JFK, we had a great time. We also headed up into the Blue Ridge mountains another contrast in Summer from the cold of winter and in other photos. Our previous trip to the mountains at Christmas 2018 featured snow and storms before the cold of Washington. This time we paddled in waterfalls.
Out of hundreds of photos taken with family and friends, I’ve selected a few to share to a wider audience. The contrast with winter was not just the average temperatures but the greenery of the scenes.
Charlotte is a rapidly expanding city with new housing and businesses seemingly everywhere. No wider trips on this visit except up to the mountains.
Today 31st March is a strange day. Following redundancy I have decided to retire from full-time employment. I wish I could say my working life has No Regrets like the song but there have been many. I didn’t do it all My Way either despite many positives.
I started full time work with a small company called Microwave Associates as an electronics technician before moving to British Aerospace testing missile components – which could be a lot of fun – I had a penchant for blowing things up.
I joined the Royal Air Force and was commissioned in time for the end of the Falklands War, luckily I didn’t go down there until later.
After 17.5 years I left to start a civilian career. I had lots of jobs with lots of different companies, some so-called permanent roles and then may engagements was a contractor. Some contractor roles lasted longer than the permanent ones. That was before returning to full time for the last ten years or so and now that has come to an end.
Of course, never say never, but… I have hectic plans for the next few months, and a very long list of things that I have been putting off. Now, I may I have more time. I’ll continue to write whenever I can or get the urge.
I’ll still take photos and post some. I hope to get my guitar and piano back to a decent standard (Not much hope there). Perhaps, I will finish digitising old photo albums.
My much better half has a few things planned, and we have travel plans too. Perhaps another long distance walk, now the memory of the pain of the last few days of South Downs has dimmed.
All these plans depend on maintaining our health and keeping finances in budget.
This is a time to reflect, and I have been over the last few weeks. The clock has slowly ticked down. No more email and Teams meetings. No more deadlines and fighting corporate bureaucracy. I will miss work colleagues, but I won’t miss late night go-lives or security incidents.
None of us know how long we’ll have left to enjoy life. I certainly intend to enjoy what time I do have without worrying about booking leave and making sure that task is complete. So, a new chapter begins. That reminds me I need to get writing….
Lots of updates on translations of my books with dedicated pages created for Spansih, Portuguese, French and Italian copies. This includes links to the various translators via BabelCube, You can find the pages here
More translations are in the works.. The current list is here.
Translated versions are available on multiple platforms including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books and Google Play as well as other platforms. These are all as e-books.
The spy thriller Counter is Free on Kindle from Saturday 22nd January to Monday 25th January, inclusive
Ben Walker, The Count, is off the grid hiding because of what he took. A life in the shadows with covert military operations was terminated. He sought revenge. He tracked down the chain of command. LC is the man who tried to have him killed but he made an offer to be a different type of hunter.
Now, Walker has taken information and money and gone into hiding. LC wants Walker and what he took. He will take extreme measures to get it. LC has also disappeared. He is wanted too.
The hunters are now hunted.
Helen Lawrence is part of a team cobbled together from the maze of Government agencies. They set out to try to find Walker so that he can help find LC who has also vanished. The team members are not all they seem and if they do find him then the real hunt needs to start. She has her own problems and desires without an entanglement with Walker.
The missing data is valuable.
The motives of the agencies are unknown.
The bullets are real.
Approaching the 20th anniversary of the attacks, I like many others, have been reflecting on 9/11 and New York.
My family and I were on holiday in New York in the summer of 2001. It was our first trip back to the USA since we had left from living there in February 1998. Little did we know, as we visited the sites, what would unfurl a few weeks later. There are some photos below, including a couple from 2008 when we returned via a cruse ship sailing at dawn into New York
One summer morning, we queued by the elevators to reach the Top of The World observation deck on the 107th floor. It was not a bright blue morning sky that greeted us. Not like the blue we saw in the pictures weeks later. It was cloudy and hazy. A day or so before, we had been at the top of the Empire State looking across the city at the towers. Now, we looked the other way and watched the ants in the squares below. Virtually every view of the city contained the iconic landmarks.
We were back home in UK, when like the rest of the world we watched in fascinated horror as the buildings were hit and then fell. I was at work when others called me to look at the news coverage. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Like many others I thought it was a plane accident to start with. We’d watched the planes heading along the Hudson river. Stared out the windows at the cityscape as we flew into JFK a few days before. Then, the second plane hit and there was no doubt.
There were phone calls home and concern about relatives and friends who may or may not be in New York and Washington. I had former US military colleagues in the Pentagon (all safe it turned out, but some close shaves). Many contacts who visited New York. Then, there was the fear of an attack in the UK.
I was quizzed about what might be happening. My new civilian work colleagues of just a couple of years, knew I had been in the RAF and some knew that was in Air Defence. Our office was adjacent to an airfield. I could imagine the scrambles of jets and alerts rushing round the system. I could imagine my RAF colleagues manning consoles and radars, as they tried to check every single plane flying in and near UK airspace. Just in case the conspiracy was across the world.
I stated loudly in the open plan office, that the USA ‘would go to war over this.’ My comment was met by some disbelief. I had no pre-knowledge, other than my time serving directly with the US military. Such an attack could not go unpunished. I had seen intelligence from a few years before. It was used it in classified lectures I gave that mentioned the rise of Islamic extremism, across the World. Nothing specific to an attack on the USA. There had been attacks earlier that year and in previous years. The signs were there. We didn’t know until much later, how much the CIA knew and failed to tell the FBI.
When we stood atop the towers looking at the stunning views, it was just a spectacular visage at the start of a holiday. New York was very crowded and not suited to our young children. They were more used to quiet country towns. As parents, our heads were full of keeping an eye on the children, where we should eat, and the travel plans for the next few days. Central park was a notable exception of tranquillity.
We headed West from Newark to LA, in the following days to visit friends near San Diego. A few days later, we went to Tucson with more friends before a trip to the Canyon and Vegas. We flew back from LA to London. The children went back to school. My wife and I with our respective jobs. I’ve posted some photos, with the addition of a couple from our next visit in 2008 including driving past the then construction site.
The mess that Afghanistan became, has been highlighted with the chaotic withdrawals this summer, The anniversary of the attack that sparked the NATO invasion is not just a twenty year mark. It is something that happens every day and every year for those who lost loved ones in the attacks.
It’s not just 10, 15, twenty or eventually 50 year occasions. It’s every birthday or wedding anniversary missed. Children’s graduations and other events missing a parent’s attendance. Then, we have the anniversaries of those that lost loved ones or had them returned injured in the wars that followed; highlighted in recent weeks with the events and more deaths in Afghanistan.
Now, is not the time to comment again on the fallacies or justifications of those wars. Instead, I can recall a happy holiday. The gasps at the views and famous landmarks lost. The other pictures I haven’t posted, of my young children, both now grown adults with my daughter living and working as a teacher in the USA.
Skylines have changed, children have grown, yet twenty years have gone in what seems a blink of an eye.
One day, we’ll probably head back to New York. We were in DC driving past the Pentagon in December 2018. Maybe we will visit the new One World Trade Centre and take a ride to another observation deck. I know I will think back then to other towers and similar, but different views.
The new landmark may be very tall but is perhaps less distinctive than the former twins. If we go, we will certainly visit the memorial. Save for a couple of weeks, we could have been on top of the towers watching the hijacked planes head for us. Our names could be on that list. It was not a close escape but one of several weeks. Luck of time and distance, as many things in life are.
A colleague of mine was sailing towards New York that day. He was due to visit the Towers on the 12th. He spent a few extra days on the cruise ship before they were flown home when flights resumed. I have colleagues who visited the towers regularly. More worked in the Pentagon or they were frequent fliers on internal US flights criss-crossing the country for work or pleasure. I know others who were on-board planes at the time and the fear that swept though them. I was in an office, not where I had been a few weeks before.
A time for reflection, a time to mourn, but also a time to be thankful that I had the experience of standing in the breeze looking at the Statue of Liberty.
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