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The First Jukebox in Barry

The First Jukebox in Barry

I started drinking quite late for a boy in my home town of Barry, South Wales. It was in the Seventies, when, I assume, my hormones kicked in. Bars, or pubs in Britain, in those days, were very different places than they are now. For a start there wasn't a single jukebox in town.

Anyway, up until then, I had been more interested in my coin and stamp collection than pubs. However, eventually, friends - the dreaded peer pressure - persuaded me to go to bars and look for 'women', although what we normally did was renew friendships with girls that we had been separated from at eleven, due to the segregation of boys and girls in our educational system.

Pub Life

In general, pubs were quieter then, far smokier, and not somewhere to go for something to eat. Most working-class pubs sold crisps, perhaps a pickled onion and a scotch egg, if you were lucky. There were designated smoking rooms, but nobody went in there to smoke. They were usually very quiet, and so, suited to illegal gambling (cards), or club darts matches. The main bars often had blue clouds of smoke floating five or six feet from the ground.

There was no music. In England, I did witness people playing the piano, but in Wales, people sang mostly hymns, rugby songs and arias. My favourite singing bar was the Park Hotel, or the Ship Hotel before they renovated it and tossed the singers out.

Many's the happy Thursday (traditional payday), or Friday and Saturday evenings that I went there looking for a sing-song, even if there wasn't a rugby match on TV. Otherwise, people talked while drinking and played dominoes or cards (especially: Crib and Don) for small stakes.

My First Jukebox

I clearly remember the evening that the first jukebox arrived in the Park Hotel. There were plenty of customers in there, although it was still daylight outside, but it was strangely quiet... as if a local had died.

I was standing at the bar alone, supping my first pint of S.A. when an older man stood near me, ordered a pint, took a long swig, and started to sing. I put my pint down and joined in... so did several others. It was a classic situation...

And then we all clearly heard a few bars of a top-ten record. The man stopped and I looked around. Who would have the effrontery to play a radio when someone was singing, I thought. Then I spotted it. I had assumed that it was a new bandit, and looked at the barman.

He looked very embarrassed and shrugged. "It does that..." he said. "It's the first jukebox in Barry. The landlord is hoping it'll make his fortune".

"But nobody is playing it!" said the man nearby.

"No... if no-one uses it for twenty minutes, it plays a few seconds of a tune at random".

"But, if no-one is using it, then it's because nobody wants to hear it..." my new friend mused.

"Sorry", said the barman with a glum expression, "that's how it's been set up".

I later realised that that first jukebox in Barry really was a bandit. Singing in the Park died out within a week, and we were robbed of part of our culture. Unfortunately, it has never come back, and people wouldn't know the words to the great old hymns and arias any longer, even if there was a power cut.

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All the best,

Owen

Podcast: The First Jukebox in Barry

The Eyes of Death

The Eyes of Death

by

Donald L. Vasicek

Review by Barry Boy

I was given a copy of The Eyes of Death by Donald L. Vasicek in return for an honest review.

The Eyes of Death is a difficult story to classify because it concerns psychic powers, which, probably, most people in the world believe to be real, although most people in the West think of as imaginary. Therefore, it could be classed as either Non-Fiction>Body Mind and spirit or Fiction>Fantasy. However, The Eyes of Death is a novella written in the third-person singular, the main character of which is Hannah Powers, who lives in the 'preppy-type' city of Evanstown north of Chicago.

The general atmosphere of the novel is tense, as if something is always just about to happen. And it does too, the an early example of which is an armed robbery on a small shop and the tragic consequences of it. Hannah also becomes aware of her psychic powers, but is to some extent confused and disappointed by them, because she cannot help the people who are the subject of her Second Sight.

In fact, she begins to think that she must be mentally ill, or at least, mentally damaged, but there is no medical evidence for this. Hannah seems to find her new life with psychic powers both frightening, lonely and very sad, because she can do nothing to help the people, whose future she has foreseen.

Psychic Abilities

The Eyes of Death is an interesting novel to me, because I believe in psychic ability and have some personal experience since most of my relatives are Spiritualists – mainly psychics and Healers. I grew up with these beliefs from being a small child, and I have never found anything, anyone or any argument to persuade me that humans are not psychic. I also understand the loneliness that is concomitant with those beliefs. It would be much worse for someone who had their psychic abilities 'switched on' suddenly one day.

I thoroughly enjoyed The Eyes of Death. and recommend it to anyone who likes 'psychic dramas'. The sometimes 'experimental' style of writing and the cover both compliment the subject matter.

I give The Eyes of Death by Donald L. Vasicek five out of five stars.

You can read our exclusive interview with Donald L. Vasicek on this blog Megan Publishing Services here:

Donald L. Vasicek author interview

O Cuco de Andropov

O Cuco de Andropov

Uma História de Amor, Intrigas e a KGB

por

Owen Jones

Traduzido por

Nelson Leonel De Benedetti

Um moribundo narra a história da pessoa mais incrível que ele já conheceu, uma brilhante linguista soviética que ele chama de Youriko. É um conto de amor, ousadia, espiões e perigos ambientados no Japão, Alemanha, Turquia, EUA, Canadá e Reino Unido, mas principalmente na União Soviética dos anos 70.

Duas garotas, nascidas a milhares de quilômetros de distância no Cazaquistão e no Japão logo após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, se encontram e são como ervilhas em uma vagem. Elas também se comportam como irmãs e mantêm contato pelo resto de suas vidas.

No entanto, uma quer ajudar seu país marcado pela batalha e a outra quer deixar o dela e ir para o Ocidente. Elas sonham com um plano ousado e perigoso para alcançar os dois objetivos, sobre os quais Andropov, o chefe da KGB soviética, é informado. Ele o chama de Operação Youriko e ela é posta em movimento, mas tem a mais remota chance de sucesso?

O Cuco de Andropov é baseado em uma "história verdadeira" relatada ao autor por uma das protagonistas.

Disponível em:

Amazon   Apple iTunes   Barnes & Noble   Kobo   Scribd

Donald L Vasicek

Donald L. Vasicek - Author and Screenwriter

Today, we are going to meet Donald L. Vasicek, the award-winning American author and screenwriter. Over to you, Don, please tell us something about yourself and your work.

1 Name Donald L. Vasicek

Website / Blog The Zen of Writing http://www.donvasicek.com

2 Country

United States of America

3 Do you prefer to read a particular genre?

I enjoy thrillers, suspense, mystery.

4 Do you write in the same genre? Yes.

5 Have you always written and what got you started professionally?

I was inspired to write after I lost my family 40+ years ago. It was like a part of the hidden me emerged. The pain of loss was so immense, my brain switched to pushing me to express my feelings through writing. I got started writing professionally by having a poem titled, "Dad", I wrote that was published by "Success Unlimited".

6 How many books have you published?

One. A second one, "The Real Ghost", which won 1st place in the Waldorf Publishing Book Competition, is now being published by Waldorf.

7 Which one would you like to tell us about?

"The Real Ghost".

8 Why did you write this book and what is it about?

I originally wrote "The Real Ghost" as a screenplay, after another screenplay I wrote, "Born to Win", a story about a boy who sets out to win a muscle car race to win the prize money to pay for his Gramps's life-saving surgery, was produced by Incline Productions, Inc. I converted "The Real Ghost" screenplay into a novel. "The Real Ghost" is a story about a boy who sets out to prove he saw Babe Ruth after no one in town will believe him. Known for telling "tall tales" to get attention, the boy wants to prove he is telling the truth this time. It is a light-hearted, suspenseful thriller that walks on the edge of the paranormal genre.

9 Book cover and ISBN/ASIN

Waldorf Publishing is in the process of publishing the book, so there is no book cover, or ISBN/ASIN at this writing.

10 What would you like your next book to be on?

My next book is titled "The Caller." It is a suspense/thriller about a successful woman who sets out to find her soul mate only to experience that each time she dates someone, they are murdered. I am also presently writing my autobiography for my grandkids.

11 If you could go anywhere in the universe, where would you go and why?

I’ve been here before, but I would like to return to Stratford Upon Avon, the hometown of William Shakespeare. The community possesses positive energy for me. It is quiet there. The people are friendly, but not to the point of being pushy or anything like that. The fields surrounding the town are lush in green foliage. A small river runs through the town and there is a large oak tree right in the middle of a main thoroughfare in town. This particular road swerves around the tree to preserve the tree, which is about a block from Shakespeare’s grave. There is simply a certain kind of peace and safety there that is relaxing and nice.

12 Is there anything you can share about yourself or your work that not many people know?

I love to work out 6 days a week lifting weights, stretching, rowing & walking on a treadmill (knees from running for several years have limited me to walking on a treadmill). I am a Twitter freak. I love doing puzzles. I love to read. I love animals. I love my wife and traveling with her. We've been to numerous countries even marveling at the Berlin wall, crushed and being used for streets and walkways in Berlin, not to mention the Masai Mara Game Preserve in Kenya, where our wildest dreams of seeing wildlife closeup, became a reality.

13 What is your favourite foreign food?

Since I’ve been to numerous countries,

Fate Twister - Audiobook

The Fate Twister - Audiobook

Fate Twister

The Strange Story of Wayne Gamm

by

Owen Jones

Narrated by Pauli Murphy

Wayne Gamm was born on a remote sheep farm on a mountainside in north Wales. It was a wild and stormy night in June. The midwife, and all the family wanted him to be delivered in hospital because he was going to be large. Furthernore, he was Gwynedd’s first baby. However, for reason's that will become apparent, his mother and grandmother, Rhiannon, thought that might be very dangerous.

Gwynedd’s whole family had been born on the farm, Yr Ardd Y Ddraig, The Dragon's Garden, for as far back as they knew. In fact, a family bible put that at 324 years - and they were all either witches or warlocks.

The problem with the males though was that they were 'lose cannons', meaning they had difficulty focusing their powers. Wayne followed suit, although all witch babies have to learn self-control, even the females.

Gwynedd and Rhiannon, both witches, had high hopes that Wayne would be more capable than his male antecedents. However, it turned out that he had much great power, but so little control, that even his own family were wary of him.

He was also feared and shunned at school - by teachers and fellow-students alike. They knew from experience, that things could get a little weird when Wayne was around.

They Called him Fate Twister

The more astute noticed that when he was happy, good things happened. However, when he was upset, anything could befall anyone. Luckily, Wayne was a happy person by nature. Nevertheless, this made it worse for him, because he didn't want to hurt people. He was in denial. He refused to accept that he was causing the disruptions.

They called him Fate Twister behind his back.

Wayne grew up dejected, rejected, lonely and in denial.

This is the strange story of the early life of Wayne Gamm, Fate Twister.

You can listen to a sample of the Fate Twister - audiobook at the top of this page.

Get the Fate Twister - audiobook at Tektime

Fate Twister - Audiobook

The Disallowed

The Disallowed - Audiobook

The Disallowed

The Humorous Tale of a Contemporary Vampire Family

by

Owen Jones

Narrated by

Melanie Crawley

Heng Lee is a goat-herd in the remote mountains north-east of Chiang Rai in northern Thailand, very close to the border with Laos. It is a tight-knit community where everyone knows one another.

Heng gets sick all of a sudden, but not too sick to take the goats out, until one day he has to go to see the local shaman, because he has started fainting.

There are no medical doctors in the vicinity and the Shaman has been good enough for most people for centuries.

The Shaman takes some specimens and comes to the conclusion that Heng’s kidneys have stopped functioning and so has little time left to live.

The battle is on to save Heng’s life, but there are other forces at work too.

What will become of Heng, his family and the rest of the community, if he takes the Shaman’s advice?

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/disallowed-bounty?IQid=MPS

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/disallowed-bounty?IQid=MPS

 

Daisy's Chain - A Story of Love, Intrigue and the Underworld on the Costa del Sol

Daisy's Chain

A Story of Love, Intrigue and the Underworld on the Costa del Sol

by

Owen Jones

Narrated by

William James Hill

Daisy, the proud daughter of a wealthy ex-London gangster, John, and his Spanish wife, Teresa, grew up in Marbella on the Costa del Sol, aka, the Costa del Crime. She idolised her parents and sought to impress her ageing father by helping him run the family businesses after uni. However, a disastrous error of judgement ends in family tragedy, and her mother puts Daisy on a safer path of helping the local community as a penance. Daisy's Chain is a tragic tale with a pleasantly happy ending.

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/daisyschain-bounty?IQid=mps

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/daisyschain-bounty?IQid=mps

 

Asian Shorts - Audiobook

Asian Shorts

Compiled by

Owen Jones

Narrated by

Bob Sterry

Asian Shorts came about because of a sequence of events on one weekend. A friend was telling me that he had several short stories with Asia as a backdrop, I was saying that I had a few as well. Then another friend sent me an email that he wanted to write a short on Pattaya, and one of my Thai cousins sent me her latest photo, the one on the cover of this book.

It was like somebody was trying to tell me something, or several were anyway.

The nineteen stories by nine authors in this anthology were sent to me in one month, but are as varied as their writers. The stipulation was that Asia or an Asian had to feature strongly in the story. We have stories featuring Cambodia, China, Laos, Malaysia, Pakistan, Thailand, the USA and Vietnam, by Asian and non-Asian authors who live in or come from Britain, Malaysia, Thailand, the USA and Vietnam.

Some of these writers are well-known as writers, some are better known in other spheres; some have written a lot before and been published in the traditional sense, others are travelling the Indie Publishing path, and for yet others this is the very first time they or you will have seen their stories in print of any kind.

You can read more about each author by visiting the web sites that they have given after their stories. I thoroughly recommend that you do this, as what you will find out about the authors will surprise you.

I guarantee that.

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/asian-shorts-bounty?IQid=MPS

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/asian-shorts-bounty?IQid=MPS

Andropov's Cuckoo

Andropov's Cuckoo - Audiobook

Andropov's Cuckoo

A Tale of Love, Intrigue and the KGB

by

Owen Jones

Narrated by

William James Hill

A dying man recounts the story of the most amazing person he has ever met: a brilliant Soviet linguist, whom he knew as Youriko. It is a tale of love, daring-do, spies, and danger set in Japan, Germany, Turkey, the USA, Canada, and the UK, but mostly in the Soviet Union of the 70s.

Two girls, born thousands of miles apart in Kazakhstan and Japan just after World War II, meet and are like peas in a pod. They also get on like sisters and keep n touch for the rest of their lives.

However, one wants to help her battle-scarred country and the other wants to leave hers for the West. They dream up a daring, dangerous plan to achieve both goals, which Andropov, the chief of the Soviet KGB, is told about. He dubs it "Operation Youriko", and it is set in motion, but does it have even the remotest chance of success?

Andropov’s Cuckoo is based on a true story related to the author by one of the protagonists.

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/Andropov-bounty?IQid=MPS

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Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/Andropov-bounty?IQid=MPS

 

A Night In Annwn - free audiobook

A Night In Annwn - Audiobook

A Night In Annwn

The Story of Willy Jones' NDE

by

Owen Jones

Narrated by

Andrew McGuirk

William Jones, a sheep farmer from the Brecon Beacons, had led a happy life, until his wife, Sarah, died young. It left him devastated and seemingly bent on self-destruction. His daughter, Becky tried to help, but even she was losing patience with her father.

One evening, he is certain that he has died and been put out of his misery, but it was not to be. He recovered. However his life was never to be the same again.

He had discovered Annwn where his wife lived, and his newly found vitality changed his life and that of all those with whom he came into contact.

A Night in Annwn is a love story that spans the greatest divide - that between life and death; a look at a near-death experience and a new take on the mythological Welsh Heaven, which is Annwn.

Be prepared to see another side of Welsh Celtic mythology, but you will never think of death in the same way again.

Listen to a fifteen-minute clip of the Night In Annwn audiobook read by the wonderful narrator Andrew McGuirk (he lends so much pathos to the story) free here:

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/Annen1-bounty

Free Audiobook Link:

http://smarturl.it/Annen1-bounty