My review of The Last Templar by Michael Jecks

This is a book that I’ve just re-read after finding a dog-eared copy hiding in my loft. I’ve read a few of this series, and each one I have enjoyed just as much as this.

The Last Templar introduces us to Simon Puttock and Sir Baldwin de Furnshill, the two main protagonists throughout the series. Puttock is called in, as bailiff, to investigate the death of a local man and he meets the new Lord who has just returned from years abroad. A friendship, albeit tentatively, begins; but elements emerge that puts Puttock’s friendship with Baldwin into question.

I’m a big lover of historical novels, and this one didn’t disappoint. The medieval era is perfectly depicted through the narrative, the obvious research into the time apparent from the very beginning. There is an easy rhythm to the writing which compels you to turn the page, although the pace slows occasionally, it quickly picks up again.

Fans of Bernard Cornwell, Simon Scarrow, Bernard Knight, Karen Maitland, C J Sansom and the like will find that this series sits nicely on the shelf along with them, and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. 

See The Last Templar here 

Sponsor a writer sir/madam?

Is this a new way forward for eBooks?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/03/business/media/e-book-mingles-love-and-product-placement.html?_r=1

The thought of having to gear my writing to an advertiser would somewhat hinder the creative flow I would have thought, but the worrying thing is that when one publisher/company/writer starts using something like this and it becomes moderately successful, then the door is flung open for everyone else.

Imagine Frankenstein being sponsored by an electric company, or Sherlock Holmes having to insert adverts for ambulance-chasing lawyers, Patrick O’Brian in league with the holiday companies, Terry Pratchett and British Rail (his latest).

Seems to me that although this is obviously going to be a revenue stream for someone, I just hope that sense prevails and it doesn’t transfer to the mass market. Reading would never be the same again!    

Remembrance

To those people whose lives, loves, hopes and aspirations, were lost to enable us to live our lives and have our loves and have enabled us to hope and achieve our aspirations. 

I thank you.

Sun and fun

Having read the two other books in the Bev and Carol memoirs, I was eager to read this third offering.

Stranded in the Seychelles didn’t disappoint.

Our two fun-loving girls are a little bit older now, a little bit wiser and both in the teaching profession. Bored and with direction problems they decide to take up teaching positions on the other side of the world.

They encounter an eclectic group of people, ranging from the eager locals to a group of varying foreign nationals; as well as a government not exactly sure of where it’s going. There is an element of pathos to the recollections as it looks at the restrictions placed upon them and the local people, the undercurrent of control, and the poverty which surrounds them; all of which doesn’t sit very well with our two girls.

That said, the humour is there in bucket-loads, the sharp wit, the wry observations and the tendency to throw two-fingers up at authority. It didn’t seem as if I was reading this story, it was more like listening to two friends recounting their adventures whilst sitting down the pub with a few glasses of wine and a couple of beers in an atmosphere of joie de vivre. Lovely stuff! 

Amazon link

African me & Satellite TV by Jo Robinson

At first I thought this was going to be a light-hearted humorous read as the early chapters indicated, but then it began to turn to more serious issues. This was all done through the eyes of Suzette; her boring life, her boring (to her) husband and her inability to accept what was going on around her - i.e. Racism.

The realisation that she could step out of her cloistered existence and embrace the world she inhabits, and could actually do something to right its wrongs, is the spine that underpins this novel.

I bought this sometime ago and have only just got around to reading it, and like others who reviewed earlier there were some typo issues with my copy. (since posting this review, the author assures me that the book has been completely re-edited) However, it doesn’t alter the fact that this is still a very good book.

The characters are well rounded and the plot well written. I found myself detesting the villains in the saga due to how well they were portrayed. The main character I wanted to give a kick to, to make her see what was in front of her and to get her to do something about it. Fortunately, she does, but the repercussions are not only felt by her.

I would definitely recommend this novel and am looking forward to reading more from this author.


see it here

Middle for diddle

I do archery as a sport, and the other night I was up at our field and shooting away; compound, Bowtech, 53#, carter release aid, ACE’s 28 1/2” for those who want to know. Anyway, there I was playing with my set up, trying the find the right balance, the right technique, the right posture, changing things, fiddling, twiddling, tweaking anything to get me that inch closer to the middle when something occurred to me.

A lot of people try archery, they come up to the field, pick up a bow and think that it’s going to be oh so easy. They put an arrow on the string, pull it back, let it go and watch it fly into the middle of the target.

Yeah, right. In their dreams!

It takes practice, and a certain amount of coaching, and then you move the target back a few metres and it all starts over again. It ain’t easy.

Yes, you do get the naturals who can start off running, but they are few and far between, the vast majority have to be taught.

Some people come up, fire away for ten minutes and think they now know how to shoot. They then go out and buy the best most expensive equipment, without any advice, and think that they are now it; they know it all, they don’t need any more advice and help and they now have the kit to take on all-comers. They are sorely disappointed when they find out that that ain’t the case. They haven’t done the basics, so how the hell they think they can become world champions just because they have the latest and most expensive kit, I just don’t know.

You have to learn and then practise and then learn some more, and then after a good while you find that when you shoot, the arrow goes where you want it to go; and then the really hard work begins, because you are always striving to get that arrow even closer to the middle.

Do you see where I’m going with this?

Marketing is something that needs to be practised, you need to learn and then practise some more. You need to hone your technique, you need to study the best and learn from those who are successful. Certainly in the self-publishing world there are a few who know what they are doing. I try and study them, I try to pick up little snippets of information and then I try to apply what I’ve learnt.

They don’t know it, but they’re coaching me.

 Yes, I’m taking my time because I’m not a natural and I realise this, but I will improve, bit by bit until eventually I can say I know what I’m doing.

I suggest that you all do the same; don’t think that you know it all, because unless you are a natural you ain’t going nowhere.

Listen, read, watch and learn from those who know, use the wealth of information out there because the internet is full of it. You will discard some bits, take note of others, but above all take the time to learn. That’s what I’m trying to do.

The pen is mightier....

I have decided to relent.

After the last few years of bashing away at the computer I’ve decided that picking up pen and paper and scribbling away in my hard to read handwriting is more productive than sitting at the keyboard and hammering away at the digits.

I’ve gone back to writing my writing down by actually writing!

When I first started writing I did so at work. Being in the ambulance service, the wee small hours were then a bit slow for calls, and I hated being woken up and having to rapidly get my brain into gear before careering off down the road to deal with whatever some person decided to do with themselves at that ungodly hour, that I always stayed awake whilst my crew-mate counted the z’s in the next room. I had to write on bits of paper, loose-leaf and stuffed into a battered and ripped A4 beige folder. I used to hide away in the ciggie room in my comfy battered chair and scribble away, making regular forays out to the kitchen for endless cups of tea to sustain me during those strange dark hours.

Technology has its good points, but you can’t beat the good old-fashioned technology.

I reckon people can lose sight of how it feels to actually write down, properly, the prose whizzing around in the mind. I find the flow is easier and more tangible and you don’t highlight and cut with pen and paper, you just write down what you’re thinking, warts and all. There’s a connection that you don’t get with a computer and it’s a bloody sight easier to just pick up a pen and add a line when it suddenly occurs to you.

It’s less of a distraction too. With a computer you’re just a click away from everything, and I mean everything. It’s all too easy to wander off and then find that for the last hour you’ve been scrolling through e-bay or looking at the house you’re going to buy when your latest book hits the best-seller list; the book that you’re not writing because you’re looking at the internet!

Give me a nice fountain pen and a few bits of paper and I’m happy as the pig in the proverbial.

I reckon that’s not a bad thing either!