A month ago I shared with you the first three beta read reviews for my new memoir - Summer of '77. Three more advance readers have now finished the book and posted their reviews on Goodreads. If you are a Goodreads member you can read the originals here:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48126395-summer-of-77​

Otherwise, you can read copies of the reviews below. 

​I was interested to read this book as I too was addicted to Ibiza and specifically to Es Cana, where this book takes place. Easy to read, honest, and strangely addictive, it is hard to put down once you start reading. As a teenager or young adult of the 70s it will bring back memories, some good, some OMG moments - did I really do that? The lust for travel, for experiences, for leaving the humdrum life of the UK as a young adult are all brought to life. Highly recommended for a few hours reliving the feelings of youth, freedom and recklessness.

​Rich, racy and risqué!

In warm, sunny places like Ibiza, the sexual revolution was purring along in overdrive. If you are an unfortunate like me and missed it, Robert Fear’s intimate memories and confessions will tantalise and tempt you with what might have been, even permit you to enjoy that period vicariously. If you lived those warm summers of sun and seduction, it will bring back warm memories.

Post the twin freedoms that followed the ‘pill’ and Britain’s entry into the Common Market, Mediterranean beaches drew the brave and the beautiful, the lovely and the lusty, the ardent and the adventurous.

Robert Fear takes you there and shows you exactly how it was. Sunshine, work, friends, beers, bars and beaches – and all those nubile and oh-so-beautiful young people pursuing the same mission that has stimulated men and women since Eve offered Adam a nibble on her fragrant little apple.

I’ve read quite a few of Fred’s books now, and this is probably my favourite. Fresh, funny, and extremely well-edited/written, it tells of a summer of love and coming of age which shaped a young man’s future in a way that mirrors my own experience. While Fred was climbing ladders and doing up the Bee Gee’s villa on Es Cana in Ibiza, I was shinning up ladders on an Israeli kibbutz. Also, I managed to do a Club 18 to 30 holiday – of which there is much mention – on Ibiza myself, though the lethal Hierbus aniseed and herb liquor which lays Fred low on one occasion wiped the memory of my whole trip.
I really liked how the author collates his experiences as a bar man on Es Cana for six months alongside letters from home and personal reflections on life in the 70s. Wages were low, but so were prices, and we take so much for granted nowadays. Who remembers the bread strike of 1977? And who remembers Marc Bolan going to the top of the hit parade just after he died?
This is another fascinating time capsule from the pen of Mr Fear, and I would totally recommend it. Written in almost diary format – lots of little chapters with a rotating cast of characters – it benefits from great dialogue (g’wan Fred, turn it into a screenplay!) and fine descriptive passages on the island Fred tours by moped. Speaking of which, I laughed out loud at Jasper Carrot singing ‘Funky Moped’! Though all is not fun and laughter, there are hard knocks too, and Fred has some hard decisions to make…

getbook.at/Summerof77  

Thank you to everyone who took part in the 2019 Authors Showcase, which finished at the end of September.

There were 54 submissions from 24 contributors. You can catch up with them here if you missed any.

Over the next few weeks, I will select the best stories to include in a new book that will be available early in 2020. I will contact chosen contributors before publication.
 
My new memoir, Summer of '77: Beaches, bars and boogie nights in Ibiza, is now published.

The Kindle version is available to pre-order and is due for release on October 27th. Secure your copy here.

I released the Paperback version yesterday, and you can buy your copy here.

If you have time, could you please share this news on social media. The link to use is getbook.at/Summerof77. If you are on Twitter, RT my pinned tweet @fredsdiary1981.

Thanks for your support and enjoy reading the book.
​

It gives me great pleasure today to feature a guest blog from multi-talented author Harmony Kent.

I have personally been inspired by her books Jewel in the Mud (Zen Musings) and Slices of Soul.  In addition, her instructional book Polish Your Prose has been a great help to me while writing my new memoir.

Her new book Creative Solutions for the Modern Writer is the subject of her blog today. I have already pre-ordered my copy and am sure it will help generate ideas for my next book.

​You can read Harmony's guest blog here.

With the 2019 Authors Showcase rapidly coming to a close, I am pleased to be able to feature this sixth and final entry from James Robertson.

I am sure James will not mind me sharing the following comment he made regarding this year's showcase. "Just wanted to say that I've had a wonderful time writing these pieces, and it has been a great exercise for me as a writer to undertake. I look forward to the future."

Enjoy James' latest memorable life experience The Cassowary and the Sea Turtle here.

A warm welcome back to Val Vassay with her second contribution in the 2019 Authors Showcase (which closes to submissions at midnight tomorrow UK time).

Enjoy reading Val's memorable life experience WEDDING IN THE CATHEDRAL here.

Val Vassay

I was born and brought up in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland, but have been fortunate enough since the age of 19 to spend most of my life in hotter climes. After spending 27 years in Bahrain where I produced two sons and was a secretary for many years before eventually turning my hand to English Language Teaching for Adults, my husband and I retired in December 2005 to beautiful Marbella, Andalucia, Spain. Since then I’ve spent most of my time relaxing by the pool, walking in the unspoilt countryside, reading, and writing with much help from the Writers’ Workshop section of Marbella U3A. So far I’ve had a couple of articles published (and paid for!) – one in the British women’s magazine “My Weekly” and the other in “Scottish Life”, a magazine published in the USA and Canada. I’ve also had several interviews and letters published in various magazines. I’m still writing and I’m hoping to have some of my short stories published soon through Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP), so watch this space! I also enjoy proofreading and may take this up more seriously at some stage – if it doesn’t seem like too much hard work, so watch this space also!
 

With the 2019 Authors Showcase drawing to a close, it is a pleasure to feature this sixth and final contribution from Syd Blackwell.

I am sure you will enjoy reading Syd's latest memorable life experience, which took place in Uruguay more than a year ago. You can read BUYING A VEHICLE – AN URUGUAYAN EXPERIENCE here.

Although my new memoir - Summer of '77 - will not be published until October 27th on Kindle, a select group of beta readers have had access to the pre-publication version. 

Three of them have already finished the book and posted their reviews on Goodreads. If you are a Goodreads member you can read the originals here: 
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/48126395-summer-of-77​

Otherwise, you can read copies of the reviews below. 

​I enjoyed it so much!

This was a very enjoyable memoir. Well-presented and polished, this is written from letters etc. the author has kept from his time working a summer season in Ibiza when he was 21. I love memoirs written from diaries and letters. Good to see actual extracts from the letters included here, also pictures of memorabilia of his trip, eg. a ferry ticket.

He says, the summer that changed his life. Intriguing. And what followed was certainly honest and revealing.

After leaving school Robert Fear worked in a bank. He'd holidayed in Ibiza before and looked forward to going back there. He wanted to go abroad for six months. This trip was in 1977, a few years before his 1981 trip covered in his earlier book, ‘Fred's Diary 1981: Travels in Asia’. I do like diary format and enjoyed his other travel book. But I know some don't enjoy that format as much. I like the way this is written and it will perhaps have wider appeal. I can see how his writing has matured since his other book. I think it is his best book yet.

I started this straight away, even though I was 70% of the way through a true crime book. I found it interesting, and quick, easy reading.

I liked the links to YouTube-eg. the Boogie Nights track (and others). Atmosphere. Sort of like a book soundtrack. Being a musician, it really added to it for me. Some World News at the time is included, via a letter from his father.

Another trip of a lifetime, an important time in his life, not just a short holiday, but a whole season in these parts. Certainly varied adventures! Lots of things happen in these few months. Not repetitive at all.

A fun book. Many people I know have worked abroad for a summer season, or a year. At holiday resorts, or nannying. A scary experience for me, so not one I would have had the courage to do. Fair play to those who do, and when they write of their experiences, to let us have a nosy-it can be very entertaining!

I like the way this is written. It's been very easy reading. Entertaining and enjoyable.

I read many selling up and moving abroad memoirs. This is a little bit different for a change. A young man, widening his travel, working a season in Spain. You would imagine work, play, sleep, and that it would be repetitive. It's not. It’s an honest, revealing, and thoroughly entertaining account of a memorable time in the author's life.

​Fred decided to work for a year before going to college and got a job at a bank but the pay was so good he ended up working there for 3 yrs. Back in the good ole days before tourism became such big business Fred and some of his mates went to Es Cana, Ibiza for a summer holiday. Of course they all loved it there and made a pact to return the next year. In '77 when Fred went back before his friends he realized that he would have to get a job and was fortunate enough to work as a laborer on a construction site--with a tan and muscles with his blond hair he was a "chick" magnet. This book is written so you feel like you are there among friends. I am amazed that Fred is still alive and would think that his liver is pickled. One thing he realized is going on vacation for 2 weeks is nothing like going when you have to work to live there. I love the letters from home that he adds and the one from his dad with current events was very interesting. This is a great book that will make young ones wish they were around back in an easier time. I highly recommend this book.

What a terrific read this is. Written retrospectively about the time he spent in Es Cana, Ibiza in 1977. How many of us have gone on holiday and thought ‘I’d love to live here ‘or ‘I must come back here’? Well, as a young, adventurous man Fred did just that. He had to find accommodation and of course find work. He worked as a labourer on a building site and then as a waiter in a bar. Neither of these were easy jobs at all. It certainly wasn’t all fun in the sun although there was definitely a fair bit of fun to be had.
Fortunately the author had kept a diary of his time there as well as the many letters he received from family and friends at home. It was great to see these incorporated into the story as well as some excellent photos of Fred as a handsome young man. No wonder the girls liked him! As well as that there are links to music and other relevant information from that time. Excellent stuff.
It’s well written, in a diary form and it’s also very honest and entertaining. It was a life changing thing to do as it gave him the urge to travel the world and seek further adventures. Highly recommended.

PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY HERE:
getbook.at/Summerof77

With just over two weeks left in the 2019 Authors Showcase, I am really pleased to welcome a newcomer to the blog, Dawne Archer.

Enjoy reading Dawne's contribution Correfoc here. 

Dawne Archer

Dawne always expected to end up living amongst the vineyards in France. As it happens, she has ended up amongst the vineyards of Mallorca, at least some of the time.
 
Despite suffering life threatening blood clots in her 20s, her lifelong passion for travel has taken her across the world, (to places as far apart as Patagonia, Alaska and Morocco) both on holidays and for work.
 
Dawne discovered THROMBOSIS UK in 2012 and decided to raise funds for the charity by undertaking a trek across the Sahara Desert. A step too far? It was certainly outside of her comfort zone.
 
Her aim was to raise funds for their work in education, research and support and this is still a major priority as she continues to raise awareness about blood clots. Dawne has inherited a genetic mutation which makes her predisposed to thrombosis, affecting her life on a daily basis.
 
‘TREKKER GIRL MOROCCO BOUND’ is her first published book, describing some of the trauma she suffered after losing her father to a clot and her own dramatic experience aged only 26. The unexpected rekindling of a teenage friendship is an underlying theme to the story, both prior to and during the trek. This book will have you laughing and crying at her antics as you join Dawne on her journey.
 
All royalties are donated to THROMBOSIS UK.
 
Dawne still travels widely, along with finding the time to cram in as many other experiences as possible, including concerts, festivals and radio presenting.
 
Universal book link on Amazon https://mybook.to/TrekkerGirl
On facebook https://www.facebook.com/trekkergirl2012/
Find her on twitter as @DawneArcher19

Credit: phoenixmediamallorca.com