Christmas

Recently we had Christmas.

I'm sure most of you noticed.

On this occasion and for the foreseeable future I did and will be spending it in Brasil.

It was my first away from Sheffield and only the second since my parents had both passed away, but I wasn't nervous. Mainly because despite the mega heat of the day and days leading up to my first summer-y Christmas, there were so many similarities to it and the normal snowy variety I am used to.

The tree was laden to overflowing with baubles, tinsel and other assorted decorations, lights shone from every place you cared to look, the smell of Turkey wafted through the house and above all, I was with a family that did nothing but smile and make everything easy and fun.

I can't thank them enough for making me feel welcome and part of this new family.

Here are a few photos. Clarissa made the dessert- delicious.

Venus Development

Making use of Cold War conflict, Industrialism, Scientific advancement and World-wide food crises, Venus Development is one of those titles- much like my own book, which does exactly what the title says. However- much like my own book again, it does so with story so as to detract from the obvious intent.

Plot: The World is on its last legs. Food and water are at a premium, Political unrest is as rife as ever, in fact, even more so and the President of the United States has just resigned, leaving the Vice-President to take over and judge just how plausible and justifiable a manned mission to Venus really is. To help him with this, he “borrows” ….. from his research telescope- given that the former head of the project was kidnapped recently and instructs him and a specially selected team to assess the merits of the project, the billions of dollars that have been spent and while dodging assassins, rouge governmental agents and inner conflicts simply figure out, does this cockamamie idea have legs?

Using scientific jargon, spy gubbins and a whole load of political intrigue, Venus Development is a fascinating and adventurous read, as any space exploration/human advancement tale should be.

To say I was disappointed when the ending arrived is an understatement. Not because it was somehow less than I had hoped from the story, but simply that it had in fact ended.

The Dragon and The George

The Dragon and The George is the novel the film- Flight of Dragons was based upon and as such, holds a dear place in my heart. The film that is. Now, the book too. 

A fantastical story on every sense that drives to make the mythical and magical something within the realms of possibility or at least, within scientific explanation.

Plot: Jim and his girlfriend Angela are University Graduate students, looking to find their first home together. While waiting for his girlfriend to be released from her academic obligations, Jim gets miffed and storms into her laboratory, just in time to see her sitting in a chair, head in a helmet and subsequently, vanish. In rage, Jim turns to the professor and demands to be sent after her to get her back.

The next thing Jim knows, he's in a magical realm and a rather large Dragon seems to be bellowing at him. Turns out, Jim's mind has been transported into that of a Dragon named Gorbash, the distant relative of the elderly and grouchy Dragon yelling at him. It now falls to Jim to find his lady love and rescue her from the clutches of evil.

Questing, Knights, Dire Wolves, Archers, Bandits, Ogres and Sandmirks (don't know what they are? Read the book!), awseome!

I was so happy to find this book, happier still to have read it, sad to have finished it and now, happy again, I found the sequel.

My First Book

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Night-Llama-Saved-Christmas-ebook/dp/B00ALTTXHQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1355161649&sr=8-4

The Night the Llama Saved Christmas is my first book and I would like to thank everyone that helped, read, listened and generally took notice and cared.

I am so unbelievably happy that it is finally available for the children to read and enjoy...and if a few adults wanna enjoy it too, well, go right on ahead.

See a few early designs below...

Our Man in Havana

It beggars belief that it took me so long to read this novel.

I mean, come on, could someone not have sat me down and slapped me across the chops with a copy a few years ago?!

This story is both factual in basis and hysterical in actuality.

Plot: Wormold, our vacuum cleaner salesman in Havana is quite settled in his life, drinking in the local bar with his German doctor friend and struggling to keep a handle on his teenage daughter and her Catholic tendencies, when, a British Secret Service agent recruits him with the promise of a hefty salary addition. Given that Wormold has no experience and but a smattering of training, he does what every impoverished, loving father would do...he fiddles the British Government for a little extra cash.

Brilliant!

In every single way, this story is Brilliant.

Read it, folks.