Talking Books

Don Best’s Rivers Wild Series is a two-part novel set in the Brazilian Amazon. To really appreciate the story and enjoy the characters to the full, you need to read both books.

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The first book, ‘The Gravedigger’s Dream,’ sets the scene for the second book, ‘The Third Promise,’ wherein the outcomes are cleverly revealed but not necessarily how you’d think or perhaps wish. Like in any well thought out novel, the plot is complex and intriguing.

But first I want to give you a brief insight into the author himself, for then you’ll start to see why he placed the storyline where he did and why the chain of events unfold as they do.

Don and his wife, Elizabeth, have dedicated a lot of time to Christian missionary work, especially in Latin America, and Brazil in particular. They are a creative team in everything they do, including the writing of the Rivers Wild Series. While Don was the predominant writer, Elizabeth has played a significant part in its creation. They met in Rio de Janeiro working as a journalist-photographer team and ended up travelling the world together. They have two sons, Paul and Jonathan, who now have their own families. Don and Betty currently live near Charleston, South Carolina in the USA.

From New England to the rainforests of Brazil, Don Best has worked as an award-winning journalist. Don has published hundreds of newspaper and magazine stories. He’s the author of several nonfiction books, including a companion book to the popular PBS television show ‘This Old House.’ In 2009 he published ‘Moonlight on the Amazon,’ a collection of true stories, essays, humour and beautiful full-colour photography drawing on the many years he lived in the Brazilian Amazon.

Don’s love affair with Latin America goes back to 1973, when he joined the Peace Corps, spending two years in Paraguay. Living the life of an expatriate writer, he worked as a journalist for two years in Rio and later 10 years in the Brazilian Amazon.

Having spent more than 15 years in Latin America, he has a lot of quirky, cross-cultural stories to tell. He recalls that twice he got lost in the Amazon rainforest; on the first occasion, he was leading a small team of people to a waterfall when he became disorientated, no doubt very easy to do in a dense rainforest, and something I experienced myself in Peru. The second time he got careless and violated a golden rule: NEVER GO WALKING ALONE.  Bear in mind that the Amazon rainforest is an enormous wilderness with no mobile phone access outside of a few large towns and cities. Walking alone, he realized that he was lost. With nightfall looming and a jungle full of lethal creatures, including jaguars and anacondas, his predicament was far from good.

Don’s love for travel and outdoor pursuits stem from his father’s life and ideology, that young people should get out into the world and explore the wild.

Don’s long career as a professional writer has been fuelled by his insatiable curiosity, which has led him into some extraordinary situations, brought a menagerie of interesting characters onto his path, and given him some great, true-to-life stories to write. Hence, ‘The River Wild Series.’

Check out our video chat here!

Have a listen to a trailer the author and his wife have put together. It’s good.

Click the link to listen: https://donbestauthor.com/elementor-1867/

Book One 

The Gravedigger’s Dream.

This first novel is set in a remote, poverty-stricken village (Jacaré) in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil circa early 1970s. The village is on the Isle of Fair Winds, has no electricity, no running water apart from the river, no roads, no school and very little else. Picture a collection of wattle and daub houses with thatch roofs clustered around a small church, a rustic marketplace, a general store owned by the local despot, and a soccer field (because no matter how poor the place, Brazilians must have a soccer field.) Oh, and don’t forget the village bar, where the men folk like to huddle and drink away their time.

This extraordinary setting is populated by an eclectic bunch of characters, including the village gravedigger, who’s a former military police sergeant with a serious alcohol issue, the village priest, a prostitute, an Irish missionary, and an evil witch who has a retarded servant and a dog straight out of hell.

The main characters are Zé Licata, the gravedigger, the youngest of seven dysfunctional brothers whose names all begin with the letter Z, Michael O Hannon (Mick), an Irish missionary, and Alzira, a powerful, odd-eyed sorcerer.

The story reveals the everyday struggles of poor Amazonian people who live under the thumb of a military dictator, the thievery of local authorities, and the burden of poverty.

But Zé Licata, who might be described as Brazil’s most unlikely hero, has an extraordinary dream, a dream to overthrow the dictator, build a school for his village, and provide a future for his gifted adopted son, Rafael. When the revolution fails and a corrupt official steals the money for their school, Zé throws in with Alzira, the witch, to exact his revenge.

To me, Mick, the Irish missionary, was an intriguing character. He remains pretty much in the background in book one but comes to the fore in the second book where he plays a key role.

Book Two

The Third Promise

I have to say I found this book more enticing, bewitching even, but you definitely have to read the first book first; otherwise you’re not going to understand what’s happening in this book, and why. The characters really come to life in ‘The Third Promise,’

Alzira’s emotional and financial hold over Ze intensifies, taking Rafael under her authority as part of her sinister manipulations.

As Zé struggles to fulfil his dream, Alzira twists the knife.

Into this dark and dangerous battle steps Mick, the Irishman, with his brash, jolly and sometimes naïve persona. Sharing the Gospel with the villagers, he unwittingly splits them into angry factions and sparks an epic struggle between good and evil. In a very interesting twist, we learn that prior to his becoming a missionary, Mick was a street fighter with the IRA, murderously involved in Northern Ireland’s troubles.

So, what becomes of Zé’s dream as he crawls into his bottle and finds himself indentured to a cold-blooded witch? What happens when Mick clashes with the village priest and is nearly stoned to death by an unruly mob? Will Zé’s gifted adopted son, Rafael, ever realise his potential? And what are the three promises referenced in the book’s title? Well, the answers to those questions are in this extraordinary two-part novel, so if you want to know the outcome, you’ll simply have to read both books, for I’m not giving the game away here.

If you want to know more about Don Best and his books, you can head to his webpage at:

www.donbestauthor.com 

If you wish to buy the books you can head to his webpage or click the Amazon link below. Alternatively, you can go to his publisher’s webpage www.brimstonefiction.com bookstore/Search Don Best.

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The Author

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Cricket Rohman is an American Author who has a voracious appetite for both reading and writing. The reading part stems right back to her primary years in the Wilds of Colorado where she and her brother grew up among the coyotes, bears, cougars and bobcats, as well as the pretty blue columbine flowers native to the Rocky Mountains that dominate vast swathes of America’s west and north westly states. When I saw where cricket came from, I have to say I was extremely jealous, and I can see why she chose to put a lot of her book settings in this beautiful part of the world. Despite her unquenchable thirst for reading, like most authors Cricket didn’t cross over the bridge from reading to writing until the 1980’s, maybe that was a timing issue in her life, for when you look at her life, you’ll see that she’s been an actor, singer, teacher, school principal, educational professor and now an avid writer.

So far Cricket has written 15 books and no doubt many more will follow. Her books are about the great outdoors, dogs, horses, teachers, romance, and mystery thrillers. You have The Fantasy Makers series, The Linsey Lark series, Creative Hearts Sweet Romance section of four books, The Mc Allister series as well as a couple of stan-alone books, Like Christmas in The North Woods and Saving Madeline. 

I asked Cricket for a quirky moment in her life, and she replied by saying she had ‘hawk power.’ Hmm…I thought, but apparently that mythological ideology stems from when a large hawk, as Cricket puts it, ‘slammed,’ into her and grabbed the top of her head with its talons. Understandably it knocked her to the ground, but it was her sister-in-law who later that day commented on the state of her blooded hair that she soon realised she needed medical attention. Over the next three years Cricket had an on, off, relation with the local Hawk family. What type of Hawks Cricket was referring too, I’m not sure, but it was a close friend who deemed her to have, ‘hawk power.’

The Books that make up The Fantasy Maker series.

Winter’s Blush

Romance, Intrigue, dogs and horses. Who could ask for more? Winn Wahlberg. She needs to get home for Christmas, but fate intervenes…more than once.

The Fantasy maker strikes an agreement with Clay Washington. All he needs to do is escort a young woman around Denver for five days. After that, he will receive his own fantasy vacation. What’s the catch? He must pretend to be someone he’s not.

Winn a girl who’s never left Yuma, Arizona, is thrilled to visit a big city and experience snow for the first time in her life. But when her escort turns up late, then gets into a fistfight, second thoughts creep in. He harbours a phobia; she hides a secret. Despite their differences, they cannot deny the passion that ignites as their relationship deepens. And they are having the time of their life, dining with a pirate, eating cake backstage with actors, and a lucky dog. 

The Fantasy Maker mapped out an amazing week for Winn, but real life altered those plans. Their adventure is soon eclipsed with danger. Is their enemy mother nature or something more sinister.

Clay’s fantasy is equally as exciting.

Autumn’s Ghost

Autumn’s first lie was a whopper! – She’d been a very good daughter for twenty-two years until a spectacular gift from the fantasy maker came her way.

She lied to her wealthy, overprotective parents. She had to. Her boldness came easier than expected but not without some guilt and a nagging concern for bad karma.

During her flight from her home in Florida to New Hampshire, Autumn questioned her own wisdom. She knew nothing about her benefactor, and her parents new nothing about her secret adventure. Where had she found the nerve to take on such a quest?

Still, this October vacation awarded by the fantasy maker could be the perfect activity to prepare her for a graduate program in photography. However, nothing could have prepared her for Ranger, the handsome Forest Service Pilot.

Fate took over quickly, and sparks danced between them. Autumn snapped fantastic fall photos and helped Ranger with his odd, spooky inheritance project. 

Autumn loved Halloween with all the pumpkins, witches, cider and such. Life was good. What could possibly go wrong? She relished the feeling of independence too. An unforeseen nemesis changed all that goodness with rude, unthinkable pranks, making Ranger furious.

Summer’s Island

Summer’s Island is a wild beach adventure complete with love, danger and a dog named Noodles…and an unimaginable ending.

Wanted: A few good men desiring a fantasy vacation.

What kind of guy responds to an advertisement like that? A stressed-out gourmet Chef like J D Middleton might. With pressure from his friends, dares and double dares, he applies. And he is chosen. Soon he’ll spend a week on a tropical paradise.

A small seaplane drops him off near the shore of a deserted island. It seems he’ll have his solitude, but the island, thought tropical, is no paradise. Nothing but ocean, sand and jungle. No place to get a beer or a bed. Some thing moved quickly towards him. An animal? A person? Darn. It was a woman. His vacation request did not include women. Was this a joke, a mistake, or something more sinister.

JD’s mistrust of this so-called vacation grows, and Summer hides secrets. Did the fantasy maker give one a vacation and the other a job? Can opposites really attract? Is love in the stars? With few supplies and many life-threatening situations, these two strangers must work together to survive.

If you would like to know more about the three books that make up the Fantasy Maker series or about the author herself as well as knowing where to get the books from then click on the links below. Plus, you can click on the Amazon link provided below.

Author’s webpage, www.cricketrohman.org 

Winter’s Blush Book Page, https://www.cricketrohman.org/books/winters-blush/ 

Autumn’s Ghost, http://www.cricketrohman.org/books/autumns-ghost/

Summer’s Island, https://www.cricketrohman.org/books/summers-island

Facebook. Author’s page: https://www.facebook.com/cricketrohmanauthor

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The Author

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Charles McGrail is an American author from Syracuse New York State in the U.S. he sees himself as a shy unassuming guy, who spends his free time fumbling with bagpipes, shortening pencils, spying on wildlife that ventures onto his land. Charles and his wife Melody Jane have as he puts it a sprinkling of grandchildren enough, he reckons for a basketball team. He also has a menagerie of animals to complete the list. As for a profession that pays the bills Charles is a middle management desk jockey for an industrial manufacturer that operates within the laundry trade.

I asked Charles for a quirky skit about himself, and he told me the story about when he was much younger, he often confused recklessness for courage. As such he logged over 10000 miles of hitchhiking around America, before losing track. He did that on and off for neigh on five years. On one such trip he recalls meeting a hobo who claimed he could read train destinations by watching how the train was been assembled for transport, the hobo stated he was a retired yardman. Based on that hypotheses Charles hopped on a freighter in Barstow California and rode it to Amarillo in Texas, he intended to take it all the way to Daytona in Ohio before his stowaway status was discovered and he was duly evicted with a good boot from a fair-sized foot. 

Some fable, maybe he should write a book about his free-spirited halcyon days hitchhiking across America.

Check out our video chat here!

The Book

Posing for Robin

At the heart of Charles’ book is a collection of what I would describe as free verse poetic short stories, some having a rhyming spirit to them while others are more a short story with a hint of rhyming tones to them. No matter what your views are around what a standard verse composition should look like I think many of you who like really short stories with a deep meaning to them or poems should take a look at Charles’ unique approach and draw your own conclusions. 

There are twenty-three free verse stories to this collection, the titles are as follows:

Something Worth Shopping For
That Would Hurt
Grumblings
Someday
Let’s
Things My Father Meant
Somewhere South of Should Be
Coyotes
Thing’s I’ve Done
The Festering Seeds of Worry
Lessons in Liquidity
Somewhere Along the Way
The Sound of One Hand Napping
Beneath the Lighthouse
The Blood of Art
Finding Value at the Mall
Smoke Signals
The River
Conversations with a 9-Year-Old
Fishing off the Island of Doubt
Another Poet’s Dead
They’re not Opposites
Remember to Wipe your Feet

If you want to know more about Charles and his works of fiction, then head to his webpage www.fintanandturtle.com 

Charles’ book is presently available in Kindle version on his webpage and on Amazon, he’s currently in the process of creating a paperback version.

Thank you, Charles, for giving me the great opportunity of talking to you about yourself and your book. It was fun and I hope we see a lot more of your writing soon. Maybe a book about your hitchhiking ventures across America, ‘McGrail’s Guide to Crossing America Freestyle.’

The post Posing for Rodin by Charles S McGrail appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

The Author

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Denelda Bendsen lives in a small community town close to Victoria, the capital of Vancouver Island in Canada. The views from her house looking out across the Salish Sea to the Olympic National Park in Washington State in the USA are simply stunning. The wildlife around her home is amazing. Whales can be seen in the waters and the rugged unspoilt wilderness is home to grizzly bears, wolves and other wildlife creatures. 

Denelda holds a master’s degree in Administration. Teaching and coaching both in and out of the classroom and on the sports fields have been at the very heart of Denelda’s life. When you look at the outstanding accomplishments in basketball and other sports, she leads by example. Denelda competed at the national Olympic team level for Canada. She was Victoria Female Athlete of the Year in 1967 and the first woman basketball player included into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. Her Athletic career spans six decades and she’s featured in the Netflix Documentary, ‘Age of Champions.’ 

I asked Denelda to give me a quirky skit of herself. This is what she said. “Shy as a child, I grew up in a subsistence farm, married young, taught high school maths, and won athletic awards. My multiple personalities collaboratively produce time-travel romance novels. One’s personality works tirelessly, one is funny and sarcastic, one is sensitive and creative. For romance scenes, I call on my sexy, fun-loving self. I excel at puzzles. I’m okay at dancing, suck at learning other languages, and spent three years failing at piano. I love family, writing and Crème brûlée, but not so much herring, negative people or bocci ball.”

Like her software engineer, Danish husband Poul, Denelda has long held a passion for writing—she writes time-travel romance novels. Her first trilogy, Timeless Trilogy, was published in 2020: Book one—Young-In the Age of Champions, Book two—Younger- In the Age of Covid, and Book three—Youngest-In the Age of Dreams. However, for this podcast interview, we’re going to concentrate on her latest Trilogy, ‘Kindred Chronicles.’ We’ll focus on Book one—Kindred Spirits and Book two—Kindred Sisters. Denelda is currently working on the third book of the series Kindred Web, which is scheduled for release in January 2023. So, let’s have a look at her Kindred Chronicles series.

I wonder what her three children and grandchildren think of her books.

Check out our video chat here!

The Books.  

Kindred Spirits – Book one in Kindred Chronicles series.

Angela Penner, a mixed-race misfit, suspects her parents lie to her. Obsessed with finding the truth, she discovers inherited abilities to travel through time and space. She must overcome her shyness and physical weaknesses and risk altering the timeline to rescue ancestors from certain death. Love spanning generations threatens her dynasty.

Kindred Spirits connects Angela’s life in Des Moines, Iowa, USA, in the late 1970’s back to her great-great-grandmother Kristen who was born in Denmark in 1845. Some women in their family line have a gift, a gift to travel back and forth in time, both as spirits and physical beings. If they travel in spiritual form, only the gifted women can see them. Others can only see moving objects. But, if they arrive at their time destinations in a physical format, then all can see them not just sense their presence.

The prologue that mentions Marta Jensdatter from Oster Gronning, Denmark, circa 1722, is based on historical records of an actual witch-burning which took place in that year and place. It’s an example of foremothers who are rescued from perilous deaths.

The first chapter starts with Kirsten’s epic journey from Denmark to Salt Lake City in Utah with Mormon pioneers. Adhering to the polygamist life the Mormons follow is not for her. She’s miserable and, through her wedding ring which Angela has inherited, she stumbles upon her great-great-granddaughter, Angela, an editor at the Des Moines Register paper living in the late 1970’s Iowa in the US. 

Falling in love in the present complicates Kirsten’s return to the past. They realise Kirsten must return to her former life to give birth to her daughter, Sarah, or their family line will cease to exist. Kirsten is sent back to give birth to her daughter to ensure the bloodline remains intact, but who is the father—her husband in her former life, or Paul, her present lover?

Angela’s own life is not without drama: finding her actual parents, why she was given away to one of her aunts, dealing with rape, and giving her twin daughters up for adoption. Angela’s research into her bloodline, which relies on the meticulous Latter-Day-Saints genealogy records, has many surprises both good and bad, culminating with her gathering her family under one roof. Which members have the gift to time-travel, manipulate history, and survive the dangers that come with time travelling?

All the sub stories that support the main plot are clever and breathtakingly written.

Kindred Sisters– Book Two in Kindred Chronicles series.

This second book centres around Angela’s love relationship with Aaron. All the connections from the first book are challenged and new characters introduced to embellish the storyline. We learn more about Marta. Her lesbian relationship with Beth is threatened as Pox, a former lover from her past, comes on the scene. Another gifted relative, Pox, like Marta, was condemned to death by fire when her village thought she was a witch.

Angela’s twins come back into the storyline, and we see more of her biological parents Lena and James, a mixed-race marriage which in 1940’s America was a complete no-no in the south.

But what relation is Pox to Marta? And what happens to Angela is mind-blowing. 

Kindred Web– Book Three in Kindred Chronicles series.

This book well! We’ll have to wait and see what this time-travelling family gets up to. The book is scheduled for release in January 2023.

If you want to know more about the author Denelda Bendsen and where you can get the books, then have a look at her social media platforms below.

www.denelda.com

www.goodreads.com/DeneldaBendsen

www.facebook.com/DeneldaBendsen

www.instagram.com/denelda_bendsen

www.amazon.com/DENELDA-Bendsen/e/Bo8JX42CZP

Plus, you can click the Amazon link below.

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Pamala Lavan is a British Author who presently lives in Brighton on the south coast of the UK

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Here is a transcript, taken from an audio file sent by the author, to give you a flavour of her book.

Pamala grew up with a with an older chauvinist brother Jonny who was four years older than me,who never helped with the housework and left it all to mum and me. I would often complain, how come Jonny never helps with the washing up or the housework, she laughed, he’s like his dad and thinks it’s girl’s work. As I called you should make him mum, but she laughed that off. Hence this went on all throughout my teenage years and even when he got married and had a daughter, with him leaving all the housework and even looking after the baby to his wife. He did as little to help with changing nappies and changing his little girl as possible, saying it was woman’s work again- a real neanderthal male chauvinist. However, one day when I was in my thirties, I meet a lady Jenny who told me that her younger brother who although a year younger than her who by the age of ten was bigger would bully and tease her, again never lifting a finger to help her mum or her with the housework. This all changed one day when she entered the backdoor and saw her brother in her pretty apron and floral pvc pinney with her pink marigolds doing the washing up. As she screeched with laughter, and he wailed with tears coming down his cheeks to let him go and remove his aprons. She said I then saw Lucy from next door with mum who laughed and said we’ve made a breakthrough with your brother who now sees the error of his ways and says he’ll now help with the housework from now onwards as he tried to say just the washing up. She laughed as it got more and more embarrassing for my little brother especially as he had to do the laundry and the shopping. He’s now acting as his wife’s house maid in some adorable aprons and does all her chores for her, even playing dollies and dress up with his young daughter who loves them playing with mummies dress-up box. When I told Jenny about my male chauvinist brother and wishing how I knew how to trap him as a young girl she said it’s never too late and so that we arranged that her and I would invite my brother over to mum’s house for a few drinks with him drinking far too much and having to be put to bed. Guess who ended up in a pretty nightdress and hair ribbons and when he woke up with the photos and videos done, he was completely under our thumbs. Having to wear pretty aprons and pinnies to do the laundry with a pretty handbag and purse for his pegs with hair ribbons to help his disguise. He then cried Oh No as his wife was standing there laughing at his new girly look and saying their five-year-old daughter will love her daddies new look with us ordering him to look and sound really girlie and him promising to do all the housework and laundry from now on. Of Course, he like her brother he got into more and more embarrassing situations to make his wife and neighbours and of course mummy and I laugh our heads off and suggest even more embarrassing things for him to do, with him having to do anything we say. His wife couldn’t believe when she joined him upstairs to bed and screeched when she spied him in the baby doll nighty and frilly panties, we had ordered him to wear, and her daughter ran in and spied her sobbing daddy. This got me thinking about various technics for sisters trapping brothers, girlfriends to trap boyfriend, but even better girls getting naughty ex-boyfriends who had dumped them and other girls trapping local boys such as asking them to teach them football and using pretty aprons and ballet to bring them to heal. I then realised with so many stories I could write a book on the topic and hence our book ‘Not for the Boys,’ came about. For enquiries email [email protected]. 

Ps You may hear some of the other ladies give some of the answers in this talk. They just wanted to take part for a giggle as they enjoy being part of the NFTB association.

Thanks, Pamala, for coming on the show.

If you wish to purchase the book you can click the Amazon link below, or alternatively you can head to the publishers Authorhouse. www.authorhouse.co.uk /bookstore/search Pamala Lavan.

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The Author

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Neil Boss is a British author who best describes himself as an,’ excellent cook, decent writer, average fly fisher and bad guitarist. Born in Harrow a leafy suburb of London that sits at the heart of the commuter belt that feeds the fiercely competitive financial corporate district of London, simply known as, ‘The City or Square Mile.’ Neil Boss entered this rat race world as he turned forty. Despite been brought up in a middle-class area he would say he was a working-class kid. An only child, his father was a fireman and his mother a personnel officer.

Growing up in London as a teenager in the seventies where life was starting to become less inhibited with the bars, clubs and all that went with the nightlife backdrop in those somewhat liberated days especially the rock and punk music bands that where emerging on the scene, was to some degree Neil’s piece de resistance. 

Despite the allures of ‘London Life,’ Neil had a different angle to him, seeing himself in those early days as a budding Marine Biologist having been enamoured by the French oceanographer Jacques Cousteau and his underwater expeditions that were brough to life through the early colour TV sets that sat in the corner of all our so-called lounges. Neil enrolled at Bangor University in North Wales as an undergraduate to study Marine Biology. The location was of course stunning, being on the doorstep of one of the most breath-taking scenic areas within the UK. However, the social scene in North Wales compared to the city lights of London was in his words,’ lacking excitement and behind the times.’ He returned to London University to complete his B Sc degree in Marine Biology.

Neil’s interest in writing started at school. His English teacher wrote in his school report, ‘has the potential to be a very good creative writer.’ This continued into further education where he was the editor of his college magazine which won a Guardian Student Journalism Award, and he was a regular contributor to ‘London Student.’

A career in the world of natural science didn’t quite sparkle enough for Neil so having undertaken an MBA at Henley Management College, he immersed himself into the cut-throat brutal world of corporate finance. The world of mergers, takeovers and acquisitions took Neil all over the world advising clients on how best to strike those multimillion/billion deals. He worked for companies like Ernst & Young and Deloitte’s. Did Neil enjoy this fiercely competitive culture, I would say yes. Did he make a buck or two en-route, most likely.

For Neil, now a divorced person with two grown up children, has moved away from the financial sector and decided to follow another passion of his, books, not just reading them but actually writing them. His retirement at the end of 2019 coincided with the start of the pandemic in 2020 and he set about writing this first novel. He soon realised like many authors with their debut books having a story and bringing it to the public domain is a whole new ball game which requires a lot of intervention and feedback from others in the industry. For me the decision he took to change career in 2019 was about time certainly not,’ Maybe it’s about time.’

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The Book

This Debut book, ‘Maybe it’s About Time,’ for me has been cleverly written, in fact I’ d go as far as describing it as a masterpiece in creative writing. When you look at the storyline and the main character Marcus Barlow, you’ll see many parallel similarities to Neil’s own life and background, particularly around cooking and the type of music Neil talks about. Marcus, is a high-powered partner in a large professional services firm in the Square Mile of London. He and his team and other associate partners are in the midst of putting a corporate package together for a client, Espina, who are in stage two of Project Spearmint. However, ‘The Firm,’ as Marcus refers to his employers, faces stiff competition from three other rival competitors. At the heart of this corporate tussle is the potential to earn over ten million in fees, fees very much needed to keep Kelvin Mcbride the boss of his back and everybody’s jobs reasonably secure in the short term. As the pressure mounts to secure the deal, Neil builds the tension, and you feel that tension bouncing off the pages. Marcus smells a rat with the deal which others in ‘The Firm,’ are blinded by how much money they can make from the deal, especially another partner Mason and the unscrupulous boss Kelvin. Do they secure the deal? do they attain the fees they so desperately want? does the acquisition actually go ahead?  The answer to those questions lies within the book itself. Not for me to say here.

The story isn’t just about a ruthlessly pursued business procurement, it has many underlying sub-plots coursing through the pages, for Marcus Barlow is a complex man with many sides to him. He’s married to his wife Alice who although a qualified lawyer in her own right doesn’t need to work and spends her days playing tennis, lunching with friends and cooking posh vegan food in their three-million-pound house in Weybridge. Marcus and his wife have contrasting views on lots of things especially their son’s approach to Student life. Marcus in some respects is quite a snob with all his designers’ clothes and brand names. Supermarket snobbery lives on through Marcus’ addiction to shopping at Waitrose, which he calls, ‘The Temple.’ His one-bedroom apartment he lives in during the week at Kensington Gardens square an exclusive part of London, is another example pinpointing to Marcus’ elite lifestyle, a lifestyle few can afford. But yet his sensitivity to those around him who are not as affluent comes across very well in the book. He’s also quite an anxious person, a worrier, something his wife Alice often picks up on and tells him to chill. 

When you look at the book you have the storyline around Marcus and his social worker neighbour Gavin. Is Gavin gay or just celibate, does he fancy Marcus, does Marcus pick up on this, is Marcus intrigued about Gavin? For me Neil never quite spills the beans here, just leaves you to formulate your own thoughts. But the storyline of Claire Halford a single mum with two children living on universal credit whose lifestyle is in stark contrast to that of Marcus’ is endearing and sensitively written by Neil. Her day-to-day struggles with help from the neighbours and Lester Primus the local store manager and Beverley Cheng are skilfully told. Marcus’ developing relationship with Claire is affectionate without any sexuality attached.

The whole story which is set in the first four months of 2020 is set against the backdrop of the glooming Covid-19 pandemic and what that brings to society. 

But for me the down and out character Colin although he’s technically a minor character in Neil’s book was the character that struck home for me. He wasn’t always a down and out hobo, in fact he was far from, and when you look at the bench on the cover there you seen both Marcus and Colin. And I’ll say no more here. 

For me Neil Boss is a master writer in the making whose book and future books should make a significant dent into the literary world. Thank you, Neil.

If you want to know more about Neil Boss and his debut novel, you can head to the following social media sites below.

Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter- all with the name iamneilboss.

If you wish to purchase the book you can click the Amazon link below, head to Neil’s webpage www.neilbossauthor.co.uk  

Or go to his publisher’s webpage www.troubador.co.uk Search bookstore/ Neil Boss.

The post Maybe it’s About Time by Neil Boss appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

John Omar Vieira was born in 1970 in Guyana, formerly British Guyana, a country on South America’s north Atlantic coast. The country’s heritage is steeped in British history and is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, but it’s cultural ties are mainly connected to the Caribbean. This densely rain forested country was home for John until he was six when he left for the UK. John currently lives in London. 

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John’s father John Clement Vieira and mother Isha Khan where both born in Guyana, but his mother coming from a large family as opposed to being a sole child like his father had Mongolian ancestry. His grandfather on his father’s side came from the Portuguese speaking Island of Madeira, so John’s cultural inheritance is quite varied.

Most of us have an enjoyable childhood leading on to adolescence and young adulthood, but John’s early years were not so idyllic, far from. John was often in trouble with the Westminster police, for stealing, and shop lifting to fund his opium and alcohol addictions. In the book when he’s talking about his early raucous days, he likens himself to a,’ little villain.’ he goes on to refer to himself as a liar, a cheat as well as other ill-named characteristics. At times his spirally out of control life led to prolonged spates of homelessness.

John realised that he had mental issues, he sought help from numerous organisations, and like many people who find themselves caught up in this horrendous vortex, some organisational support momentarily took a way the pain, while others clearly didn’t work, and he would often relapse. For John salvation was found in the guise of the Christian Science faith all stemming from a book he read by Mary Baker Eddy,’ Science and Health with a Key to the Scriptures.’ This was a turning point for John he understood and embraced the teachings of Christian Science faith based on biblical texts. John firmly believes Christian Science faith and that community, saved him from the path of despair, saved him from what he saw as Dementia, hence the title of the book,’ Saved from Dementia.’

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The book is exquisitely written, for me literature at it’s best, John talks about his life, his conversion to the Christian Science faith, his deep understanding of that faith all based on biblical teachings mainly from the King James’ Bible version. A lot of the first part of the book which he heads up, ‘My Life,’ is written in short essay format, the second part of the book which is less intense John has headed up as, ‘My Freedom,’ and when you read it which I hope you do, you’ll see why he heads it up, ‘My Freedom.’

This is a powerful thought-provoking spiritual book, exquisitely written by a man who has battled many troubled issues in his life, and is still living with mental issues, but with his faith at the very heart of his life, his life is on a more even keel these days.

John thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk to you and read your influential book.

If you want to purchase John’s book then you can click the Amazon link below, or alternatively you can go to his publishes website. www.Xlibrispublishing.co.uk bookstore/search John Vieira.

Email the address below.

[email protected] head up Author John Vieira- Book Saved From Dementia.

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Athanasios (Athan) Panayotou is a young author from Northern Ireland and as his surname suggests he has Greek ancestry which stems from his father’s side of the family. He was born 26 years ago in Whitehead a small coastal village on the east coast of County Antrim not far from Belfast. Throughout his short life he has seen and experienced Northern Ireland’s troubled past and despite the Good Friday Agreement the tensions between the communities still bubbles close to the surface. Despite his Greek lineage I was surprised to learn that Athan is the only one in his family who has a Greek name, his parents have English names so does his brother and sister.

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When you chat to Athan you soon realise that the origins of his book stem back to his childhood and teenage days, for as a youngster he was heavily drawn to comic books and Pop culture. For years he doodled, sketched on any bit of paper he could find, his drawing pads are full of illustrated characters that he has created from his own imaginary conceptions and when you look at the book, you’ll see a fair number of illustrations supporting the story line. Another compulsion of Athan’s was his near obsession with superhero films particularly films depicting conflict. At the age of Seventeen Athan drew upon all his interests and started to etch out the basics for this book.

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When you look at the book itself it’s about a group of youngsters who live on the edge of life and society. Athan uses characters who wouldn’t be missed. The abductions that take place for the experimental purposes of Elliot’s FOG project are graphically horrific but having said that they do enhance the storyline of this semi-utopian world Athan has created set in 2183 in Quantum City. I could tell you what the project is about but that would defeat the whole object of the interview. If you want to know what the project is about then simply read the book, I can’t say fairer than that. What I can say without revealing or giving too much of the plot away is that some of the scientific experiments carried out by Elliot Alexander’s scientists on the abducted victims initially start out as appearing to be successful but then go horrendously wrong even going against Elliot’s entire ethics. Kerys and Felix are siblings who succumb to Elliot’s controlling scientific tests, but the powers Kerys one of the main characters develops turns her into a manic out of control psycho-killer. The book has many dark sinister underlying sub-plots, something you would expect from an author delving into the Si-Fi genre for the first time with more books to follow.

Is Elliot a good or destructive character and what of the Character Natasha and others that add value to this exciting storyline with all it’s twists. I have my views, and no doubt once you’ve read the book, you’ll have yours.

If you want to know more about the author Athanasios (Athan) Panayotou then head to the social media platforms listed below.

If you wish to buy the book you can click the Amazon link below, alternatively you head to his publisher’s webpage www.authorhouse.co.uk /bookstore/search Athanasios Panayotou.

Thank you Athan for giving me this great opportunity to talk to you about yourself and your first book.

The post Fog: Vol.1 Chaos In Quantum City By Athanasios Panayotou appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.

Eleanor Riley is an American author presently living in Brooklyn, New York in the USA. She was born however in a remote and quiet district of Peter’s Vale in Westmoreland Jamaica. Eleanor has been married to Apostle Cecil. G. Riley a pastor in the same church, they have been blessed with two daughters Elizabeth and Esther who are now grown up, fled the nest to speak forging their own career paths. Church for both Eleanor and her pastor husband Cecil has been at the very core of their lives, for Eleanor this stemmed from the days of her youth in Jamaica attending Sunday School at the Church of the First Born in May Pen. God’s infinite presence Eleanor has always felt throughout her whole life none more so than the day the Holy Spirit lifted her from her seat in Church back home in Jamaica and took her to the altar, that day was a pivotal day in her young life, it was the day she took up the mantle to serve God by what ever means or ability. 

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Eleanor is the second of nine children all born in Jamaica, not only is she an author but she is also an international recording Gospel artiste with a total of twelve CDs in her collection. She has a bachelor’s degree in Theology & Musicology, has done bookkeeping and is also a qualified Cosmetologist (Beautician to you and me).

‘Out of Evil,’ is another one of Eleanor’s books published again By Trafford Publishing, that book was published in December 2020 just before ‘Rungs on my Ladder.’ January 2021. Maybe Eleanor decided like many authors in Covid lockdown to get her spiritual books written and published.

Let’s look at Eleanor’s book ‘Rungs on my Ladder.’ For me this book is a historical transition of Eleanor’s personal life entwined with her spiritual life from her childhood to where she is today. A rise from that little girl sitting in the church pew back home in Jamaica to becoming First Lady in her church and spiritual community. The expectations and responsibilities that encompasses that role is something she takes seriously, a message that comes across very strongly in the book.

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This evolutionary journey of Eleanor’s is beautifully written and told within the twelve chapters. Each chapter for me is a cross section of her life under the various headings but within those chapters are subdivisional sections she cleverly refers to as rungs, like the rungs of a ladder- hence the title. There are fifty-six rungs in the book each rung is a step in Eleanor’s life both personally and more importantly spiritually. For me this book is Eleanor’s ladder of life as she reaches out to her God. Most of us have heard of the game Snakes and Ladders and we all know what the snakes and ladders do. For most of us life has many snakes and ladders, joys and pitfalls and if you want to know more about the ups and downs of Eleanor Riley’s spiritual life! Well, you’ll have to buy the book. To do that you can click on the Amazon link below or head to her publisher’s webpage www.trafford.com bookstore/search Eleanor Riley.

If you want to know more about Eleanor Riley and her books, well you can head to her webpage www.eleanorriley.com 

Thank you, Eleanor (Michelle) First Lady, for giving me the opportunity to talk to you about your life and inspirational book, ’Rungs on my Ladder.’

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Stephen D Jones is an American author from Kanas City in Missouri. As a writer he’s responsible for writing nine books. Stephen’s writings are predominately from a theologian background, hardly surprising as Stephen is a pastor from the Baptist ministry. He still plays an active role in the First Baptist Church of Kansas City where for nine years prior he has been a co-pastor ministering to the local community there. Both Stephen and his wife Jan have been preaching in the traditional ways of the Baptist faith for nigh on fifty years and consider themselves blessed to have two children Brian and Janelle and a further two grandchildren. Stephen’s ministry took him to several northern states of America, he cherished his work and the life of a pastor as it gave him many opportunities to talk about the Lord’s life and preaching’s something that remains at the core of his life today.

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While serving the congregation of the First Baptist Church of Kansas City Missouri, he discovered the church was founded in 1855 and is now one of the oldest free standing Protestant churches founded in Kansas City. It is affiliated with the American Baptist Churches. Today the First Baptist Church of Kansas City associates itself as inter-generational as well as inter-racial with over ten different nationalities represented in the congregation. 

While serving as pastor of Second Baptist Church in St Louis, MO, another historical church founded in 1833, Stephen discovered as he looked through the church archives, a book written by an earlier pastor, Rev Galusha Anderson, published in 1909. Researching the life of Galusha, Stephen quickly realised that this was a significant man and his life and his work within the Baptist faith was not only in his eyes heroic but so significant he decided to write this book as a biographical view on Galusha Anderson’s time as a pastor at the church during the American Civil War. For those of us not familiar with the American Civil War it was an internal war between the northern unionist states and the southern confederate states as the American nation moved to becoming the United States of America.

When you look at the book it’s all about one man’s trials and tribulations as a pastor in St Louis in extremely challenging times. The City of St Louis in Missouri was deemed in many respects to be a place of neutrality as the citizens whether they considered themselves unionists or confederates co-existed side by side, both in their daily routines and spiritual worship, nevertheless the tensions existed and preaching the word of God needed careful thought. The Book goes on to talk about the joys, the setbacks and personal losses of Rev Galusha Anderson. It’s stunningly written and very often Stephen cleverly reverts to local vocabulary that would have been spoken by the locals of that time. 

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For me this is a well-executed book, nicely written exposing part of the lifetime of one of America’s significant, though largely unknown theologians within the Baptist faith. When I look at the parallel lives of Galusha Anderson and Stephen D Jones, you do see similarities, they both were and are pastors in the Baptist faith, they went to the same seminaries to train, they both wrote and write books and despite the 160 years time difference both their ministries have and are still being carried out in times of political tension but not completely about the same issues, but issues of tension nevertheless within the communities they served and serve. 

It’s no wonder Stephen sees Galusha Anderson as a hero and chose to write about him. 

Thank you, Stephen D Jones, for giving me the opportunity to talk to you about yourself and your book.

If you wish to purchase the book you can click the Amazon link below or alternatively you can head to www.trafford.com bookstore search Stephen D Jones.

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