Fred's Blog

Adak by Patty Sisco

23/5/2019

It is a pleasure to welcome Patty Sisco, a newcomer to our 2019 Authors Showcase.

Patty's contribution is entitled Adak, and you can enjoy her fascinating story here.

Patty Sisco grew up in a military family and developed a passion for writing as an English major at the University of North Texas. However, she first submitted her writing for publication after her retirement from public education as a school counselor. She has published one memoir and is a community contributor to the Dallas Morning News. She resides in Texas with her husband, son, two grandsons, a dog, and two cats.

POLITICS OF CHANGE by Syd Blackwell

21/5/2019

A warm welcome back to Syd Blackwell with his second contribution in the 2019 Authors Showcase.

Enjoy his recollections from 70's India in this great story POLITICS OF CHANGE here.

Syd Blackwell

I am pleased to have reached a time in my life when the answer to the question of what I do, is that I am a writer and an artist. It wasn´t always so as I worked through various roles in education and business during my sixty-one years in western Canada. But, in Uruguay, I am jubliado - retired. I do not have to make a living doing anything. I have actually earned some monies from my writing and my artwork, but that is not very important or necessary. I create for the pleasure it gives me and for the pleasure that others find from my creative efforts.

I have lived in Atlántida, on the coast of Uruguay, for a dozen years. My wife and I share our home, Casa Inspiración, with our five dogs, our family.

My first clear vision of 2019 by Adrian Sturrock

18/5/2019

Our latest contribution to the 2019 Authors Showcase is a fabulous piece from Adrian Sturrock. It encapsulates his quirky sense of humour.

Enjoy his memorable life experience My first clear vision of 2019 here.

Adrian Sturrock is a writer, occasional musician, teacher, and ethnic minority (except when in Wales), specialising mostly in observation and unconsidered opinion. He currently lives in Buckinghamshire, UK, with wife Natalie: his travel companion, best friend and the person responsible for keeping him out of trouble on social media. They have three children between them. Oh, and he once had a horse fall on him.

Adrian has written articles for a variety of online publications, as well as having his poetry/lyrics displayed alongside those of Benjamin Zephaniah, in Luton Town Hall (though it is very unlikely that Benjamin is aware of this). He has also contributed to the 2019 edition of Travel Stories & Highlights, edited by Robert Fear (currently available on Amazon). His other claims to fame include being smiled at by Madonna, and having once spent an afternoon watching Ace Ventura, Pet Detective in Barry Gibb’s living room, where Bee Gee’s manager, David English, remarked on his shoes.

His first book, The Sat Nav Diaries has been well received on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining a string of 5 star reviews, and was nominated for the 2018 Kindle Book Awards. His second book, RANDOM, is also now available on Amazon.

The Summer Of ’58 by Tina Mattern

14/5/2019

It is wonderful to welcome a newcomer to our Authors Showcase, Tina Mattern.

I am sure you will enjoy Tina's memorable life experience as much as I have,

Read The Summer of ‘58 here.

Tina Wagner Mattern is a 68 year old Portland, Oregon writer. She has been published numerous times in anthologies such as Chicken Soup for the Soul, The Maine Review and A Cup of Comfort. She dabbles in short, humorous fiction but her main focus is on finishing her memoir-in-progress, “Butter Side Up.” This memory, “The Summer of ‘58” is a scene from that work.

Leonard Cohen’s Greek Hideaway by James Robertson

12/5/2019

A warm welcome back to James Robertson with his second contribution to this year's Authors Showcase.

Read and enjoy his latest story Leonard Cohen’s Greek Hideaway here.

James Robertson

James is a 20-year-old writer and traveller from Melbourne, Australia.

He is the founder of the Plain English Theatre Company where he writes and directs new plays. He is a writer of short stories, travel pieces and works as a music journalist for Beat Magazine.

Viveza Criolla by Ronald Mackay

10/5/2019

I hope you are enjoying all of the memorable life experiences that are being submitted to our 2019 Authors Showcase. I certainly am!

This latest contribution is the second from Ronald Mackay and is a revealing insight into life in Argentina. Read and enjoy his story Viveza Criolla here.

Ronald Mackay

For a decade this century, Ronald Mackay and Viviana his wife, owned, developed and operated a 35-acre vineyard near San Rafael, the city in which Viviana’s mother had been born in 1928, in the province of Mendoza, Argentina. They grew high quality cabernet sauvignon and malbec grapes and marketed their wines under the brand name Caledonia. Ronald has worked all over Latin America as a specialist in the evaluation of agricultural R&D projects. When he was a very young man, he worked in the banana plantations on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Later, he lived and worked in Bucharest, Romania under Ceaușescu’s brutal communist regime. He has written books about both of these escapades. Viviana and he now live on the north shore of Rice Lake, Ontario, Canada.

Viviana with ripe cabernet sauvingnon grapes in our vineyard Caledonia, April 2004, San Rafael, Argentina

True tales of a former medical recruiter by Roger Knight

8/5/2019

It is my pleasure today to feature the second contribution from Roger Knight in our 2019 Authors Showcase.

Enjoy his latest story True tales of a former medical recruiter here.

Roger Knight

I have lived and worked in around 15 countries and having recently retired, I have finally got around to writing about some of my experiences spent in several exotic and far flung destinations. I have spent a third of my life in Australasia, so consequently have quite a bit of varied experience to draw from, as regards that region of the world.

Blood Memory by Liliana Amador-Marty

3/5/2019

A warm welcome to Liliana Amador-Marty, a newcomer to our blog and it's travel writing features.

Liliana has submitted a fascinating contribution to the 2019 Authors Showcase entitled Blood Memory. You can read it here.

Liliana Amador-Marty started journaling at the age of ten when she began training as a dancer. Born in Barranquilla, Colombia, her parents immigrated to North America when she was two years old. As a teen, she trained & performed with The Inner City Ensemble, a youth arts organisation in Paterson, New Jersey where she was raised. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre from Bates College where she learned to craft her writing and a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis where she had a successful acting career in the Theatre and voice-over industry. Upon returning to New York City, she appeared in independent films, and performed in various theatres appearing in the Public Theatre's production of, Henry VIII at the Delacourt in Central Park. Liliana was a certified NYC Dance & Drama teacher as well as a Union Leader for the United Federation of Teachers and worked as a dramaturge/director with The 52nd Street Project in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of Manhattan where she lived. She has worked as an Adjunct Professor, was a member of a Choreographer's League, and co-founded Amador/Oakes Dance Collaborative together with creative partner Alison Oakes-Charbonnier, making dances for the past twenty years. Their work has appeared in America throughout NYC, NJ & Connecticut. Liliana is a founding member of the Inner City Ensemble, Inc. in her hometown reinstated by alumni. She is currently living in London, England with her husband and her two boys, continuing to collaborate with her artistic partner and living a creative life; traveling, documenting her life-experiences, new ventures, her ancestry and reflections. Liliana continues to write daily and is currently writing a Memoir.

Liliana Amador-Marty in her solo, “Quickening” (2009). Photo by Frank Javier Marty.

Being enchanted again by Celia Dillow

1/5/2019

To celebrate May Day and the second month of our 2019 Authors Showcase, it is a real pleasure to feature this memorable life experience from Celia Dillow.

Read and enjoy Being enchanted again here.

Celia Dillow

Celia is the Bradt Travel Guides New Travel Writer of the Year, 2019. Pleasingly, her piece about the desert (Dubai) has won her a trip to the Arctic (Finland). She is hoping for close encounters with huskies and reindeer.

She spent 3 years in Uruguay as a newly-married diplomat's wife, an experience which changed everything. South America got under their skin. 16 years later, with teenage sons and a shaggy dog in tow, the family returned to South America and spent 2 years in Argentina.

Settled, for now, in South West Britain, she reads and writes travel stories and is the author of an award-winning local wildlife blog.

She is a SENCO and specialist dyslexia teacher at a Dorset school during term time and a traveller, writer, birdwatcher and hiker during the holidays.

Country Section by Helen Bing

28/4/2019

A warm welcome back to Helen Bing, a regular entrant in last year's travel writing competitions. Read Helen's introduction to her Authors Showcase contribution below, before reading her fascinating story here.

My name is Helen Bing. In the early hours of this morning, I was listening to the radio. A reader was sharing his story about a visit to Maromaku, a small settlement down in the valley from Towai, Northland, NZ, where I did my Country Section back in 1970. In those days I was at North Shore Teachers’ College, in Auckland, New Zealand, part way through my second years training. It was assumed that we would all end up working in a country school, as this was the only way to advance through to the higher pay scales. When I look back at my 18-year-old self, I can’t believe how young and naive I was.