Fred's Blog
  • Fred's Blog
  • 2023 Showcase Guidelines
  • Memoir Showcase
  • Fiction Showcase
  • Highlights
  • Author Page
  • Info
  • 2022 Memoir Showcase
    • Shane Joseph 2022-1 (M)
    • Roger Knight 2022-1 (M)
    • Leslie Groves Ogden 2022-1 (M)
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2022-1 (M)
    • Shirley Read-Jahn 2022-1 (M)
    • Patsy Hirst 2022-1 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-1 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-1 (M)
    • Sharon Hayhurst 2022-1 (M)
    • Syd Blackwell 2022-1 (M)
    • Syd Blackwell 2022-2 (M)
    • Patsy Hirst 2022-2 (M)
    • Roger Knight 2022-2 (M)
    • John C. Rogers 2022-1 (M)
    • Thomas Laver 2022-1 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-2 (M)
    • Sue Bavey 2022-1 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-2 (M)
    • Lally Brown 2022-1 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-3 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-3 (M)
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2022-1 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-4 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-4 (M)
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2022-2 (M)
    • Jackie Lambert 2022-1 (M)
    • Valerie Poore 2022-1 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-5 (M)
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2022-3 (M)
    • Mike Cavanagh 2022-1 (M)
    • Mike Cavanagh 2022-2 (M)
    • Malcolm Welshman 2022-1 (M)
    • Nick Albert 2022-1 (M)
    • Denis Dextraze 2022-1 (M)
    • David McCabe 2022-1 (M)
    • Lizbeth Meredith 2022-1 (M)
    • Jill Dobbe 2022-1 (M)
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2022-1 (M)
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2022-2 (M)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-5 (M)
    • Jennifer Rae 2022-1 (M)
    • Jennifer Rae 2022-2 (M)
    • Mitos Suson 2022-1 (M)
    • Patsy Hirst 2022-3 (M)
    • Jennifer Rae 2022-3 (M)
    • Therese Marie Duncan 2022-1 (M)
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2022-1 (M)
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2022-2 (M)
    • Kelly Reising 2022-1 (M)
    • Ronald Mackay 2022-6 (M)
    • Syd Blackwell 2022-3 (M)
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2022-4 (M)
    • Denis Dextraze 2022-2 (M)
    • Patsy Hirst 2022-4 (M)
  • 2022 Fiction Showcase
    • Shane Joseph 2022-1 (F)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-1 (F)
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2022-1 (F)
    • Keith Moreland 2022-1 (F)
    • Lindy Viandier 2022-1 (F)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-2 (F)
    • Robert Fear 2022-1 (F)
    • Lindy Viandier 2022-2 (F)
    • Janet Stobie 2022-1 (F)
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2022-3 (F)
    • Philippa Hawley 2022-1 (F)
    • Daisy Wood 2022-1 (F)
    • Valerie Poore 2022-1 (F)
    • Lynn C. Bilton 2022-1 (F)
    • Sue Bavey 2022-1 (F)
  • 2022 Showcase Guidelines
  • 2022 Guest Blogs
  • 2021 Authors Showcase
    • John L. Fear 2021 - 1
    • Sue Bavey 2021 - 2
    • Valerie Poore 2021 - 3
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2021 - 2
    • Mitos Suson 2021 - 1
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2021 - 1
    • Donna O'Donnell Figurski 2021 - 1
    • Dolores Banerd 2021 - 1
    • Lynn C. Bilton 2021 - 1
    • Sverrir Sigurdsson 2021 - 1
    • Sharon Hayhurst 2021 - 1
    • Liliana Amador-Marty 2021 - 1
    • Sue Bavey 2021 - 1
    • Karen Telling 2021 - 1
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2021 - 1
    • Liesbet Collaert 2021 - 1
    • Susan Mellsopp 2021 - 3
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 6
    • Shirley Read-Jahn 2021 - 1
    • Jackie Lambert 2021 - 1
    • Valerie Poore 2021 - 2
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2021 - 3
    • Jennifer Rae 2021 - 1
    • Chris Calder 2021 - 1
    • Valerie Poore 2021 - 1
    • Mike Cavanagh 2021 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 5
    • Roger Knight 2021 - 3
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2021 - 2
    • Joanne Guidoccio 2021 - 1
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2021 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 4
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2021 - 1
    • Shane Joseph 2021 - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp 2021 - 2
    • Denis Dextraze 2021 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2021 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 3
    • Roger Knight 2021 - 2
    • Margaret South 2021 - 1
    • Denis Dextraze 2021 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp 2021 - 1
    • Roger Knight 2021 - 1
    • Shane Joseph 2021 - 1
    • Syd Blackwell 2021 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2021 - 1
    • Adrian Sturrock 2021 - 1
    • Cherie Magnus 2021 - 1
  • 2021 Showcase Guidelines
  • 2021 Guest Blogs
  • 40 years ago today
  • 2020 Authors Showcase
    • Vernon Lacey 2020 - 1
    • Carolyn Muir Helfenstein 2020 - 1
    • Liliana Amador-Marty 2020 - 1
    • Alison Alderton 2020 - 1
    • Lizzie Jewels 2020 - 1
    • Robyn Boswell 2020 - 4
    • Lally Brown 2020 - 1
    • James Robertson 2020 - 2
    • Ronni Robinson 2020 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 6
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 5
    • Syd Blackwell 2020 - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp 2020 - 2
    • Robyn Boswell 2020 - 3
    • Val Poore 2020 - 1
    • Mike Cavanagh 2020 - 3
    • Helen Bing 2020 - 3
    • Neal Atherton 2020 - 1
    • Susan Joyce 2020 - 1
    • Leslie Groves Ogden 2020 - 1
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2020 - 4
    • Elizabeth Moore 2020 - 2
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 4
    • Patty Sisco 2020 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 5
    • Syd Blackwell 2020 - 1
    • Frank Kusy 2020 - 1
    • Malcolm Welshman 2020 - 1
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2020 - 1
    • Susan Mellsopp 2020 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 4
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2020 - 3
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 3
    • Robyn Boswell 2020 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 3
    • Helen Bing 2020 - 2
    • Roger Knight 2020 - 3
    • Amy Bovaird 2020 - 1
    • Patricia Steele 2020- 1
    • Elizabeth Moore 2020 - 1
    • Helen Bing 2020 - 1
    • Mike Cavanagh 2020 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 2
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 2
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2020 - 2
    • Roger Knight 2020 - 2
    • Mike Cavanagh 2020 - 1
    • Robyn Boswell 2020 - 1
    • Irene Pylypec 2020 - 1
    • Denis Dextraze 2020 - 1
    • James Robertson 2020 - 1
    • Andrew Klein 2020 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2020 - 1
    • Roger Knight 2020 - 1
    • Tina Wagner Mattern 2020 - 1
  • 2020 Guest Blogs
  • 2020 Showcase Guidelines
  • 2019 Authors Showcase
    • James Robertson 2019 - 6
    • Val Vassay 2019 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 6
    • Dawne Archer 2019 - 1
    • Susan Mellsopp 2019 - 3
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 6
    • James Robertson 2019 - 5
    • Sarah Owens 2019 - 1
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 5
    • Dolores Banerd 2019 - 1
    • Val Vassay 2019 - 1
    • Helen Bing 2019 - 4
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 5
    • Tina Mattern 2019 - 4
    • James Robertson 2019 - 4
    • Robyn Boswell 2019 - 3
    • Helen Bing 2019 - 3
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 4
    • Adrian Sturrock 2019 - 2
    • Jill Stoking 2019 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 4
    • Tina Mattern 2019 - 3
    • Cherie Magnus 2019 - 1
    • Roger Knight 2019 - 3
    • Susan Mellsopp 2019 - 2
    • Robyn Boswell 2019 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 3
    • Catherine Berry 2019 - 1
    • James Robertson 2019 - 3
    • Nancy McBride 2019 - 2
    • Tina Mattern 2019 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 3
    • Susan Mellsopp 2019 - 1
    • Mike Cavanagh 2019 - 1
    • Helen Bing 2019 - 2
    • Nancy McBride 2019 - 1
    • Malcolm Welshman 2019 - 1
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2019 - 1
    • Patty Sisco 2019 - 1
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 2
    • Adrian Sturrock 2019 - 1
    • Tina Mattern 2019 - 1
    • James Robertson 2019 - 2
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 2
    • Roger Knight 2019 - 2
    • Liliana Amador-Marty 2019 - 1
    • Celia Dillow 2019 - 1
    • Helen Bing 2019 - 1
    • Syd Blackwell 2019 - 1
    • Ronald Mackay 2019 - 1
    • Robyn Boswell 2019 - 1
    • Kelly Reising 2019 - 1
    • James Robertson 2019 - 1
    • Roger Knight 2019 - 1
  • 2019 Showcase Guidelines
  • 2019 Guest Blogs
  • Competitions
  • 2018 Travel Highlights
  • 2018 Travel Stories
    • Robyn Boswell 2018 - 5
    • Apple Gidley 2018
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018 - 5
    • Helen Bing 2018 - 3
    • Julie Watson 2018
    • Anisha Johnson 2018
    • Philip East 2018
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2018 - 2
    • Mike Cavanagh 2018 - 3
    • Ronald Mackay 2018 - 5
    • Malcom Welshman 2018 - 2
    • Celia Dillow 2018
    • Syd Blackwell 2018 - 5
    • Lee P. Ruddin 2018
    • Cat Jenkins 2018
    • Anierobi Maureen Ogechukwu 2018
    • Dede Montgomery 2018
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2018 - 2
    • Parishka Gupta 2018 - 2
    • Angie Clifford 2018
    • Emma Yardley 2018 - 4
    • Roger Knight 2018 - 2
    • Mark Boyter 2018 - 2
    • Laurel Casida 2018
    • Mike Cavanagh 2018 - 2
    • Alison Galilian 2018
    • Colleen MacMahon 2018
    • Zahra Makda 2018
    • Ronald Mackay 2018 - 4
    • Susmitha Subramanya 2018
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018 - 4
    • Aleksandra Krysik 2018
    • Swarnabha Dutta 2018
    • Delores Topliff 2018 - 2
    • Sourabha Rao 2018
    • Valerie Fletcher Adolph 2018
    • Swatilekha Roy 2018
    • Syd Blackwell 2018 - 4
    • Robyn Boswell 2018 - 4
    • Mary Mae Lewis 2018
    • Parishka Gupta 2018
    • Helen Bing 2018 - 2
    • Madeline Sharples 2018
    • Joe Dodkins 2018
    • Andrew Klein 2018 - 2
    • Roger Knight 2018
    • Rob Johnson 2018
    • Anu Devi 2018
    • Lu Barnham 2018
    • Amy Bovaird 2018 - 2
    • Helen Bing 2018
    • Emma Yardley 2018 - 3
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018 - 3
    • Robyn Boswell 2018 - 3
    • Alan Passey 2018
    • Ben Stamp 2018 - 3
    • Susan Mellsopp 2018 - 2
    • Alyson Hilbourne 2018
    • Sunny Lockwood 2018 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2018 - 3
    • Ronald Mackay 2018 - 3
    • Brigid Gallagher 2018 - 2
    • Martha Graham-Waldon 2018
    • Mark Boyter 2018
    • Kristen Caven 2018
    • Neyda Bettencourt 2018
    • Robyn Boswell 2018 - 2
    • Logan Wood 2018
    • Ben Stamp 2018 - 2
    • Emma Yardley 2018 - 2
    • Wenlin Tan 2018
    • Tom Czaban 2018
    • Claudia Crook 2018 - 2
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018 - 2
    • Dolores Banerd 2018
    • Piyumi Kapugeekiyana 2018
    • Stephanie Dagg 2018
    • Gabrielle Chastenet 2018
    • Bonnie Jean Warren 2018
    • Rasa Puzinaite 2018
    • Patricia Steele 2018
    • Ronald Mackay 2018 - 2
    • Syd Blackwell 2018 - 2
    • Louise Groom 2018
    • Malcom Welshman 2018
    • Delores Topliff 2018
    • Claudia Crook 2018
    • Robyn Boswell 2018
    • Amy Bovaird 2018
    • Emma Yardley 2018
    • Ben Stamp 2018
    • Jesus Deytiquez 2018
    • Ria Chakraborty 2018
    • Brigid Gallagher 2018
    • Jules Clark 2018
    • Nancy McBride 2018
    • Susan Mellsopp 2018
    • David Greer 2018
    • Lindsay de Feliz 2018
    • Aditi Nair 2018
    • Mike Cavanagh 2018
    • Frank Kusy 2018
    • Andrew Klein 2018
    • Ronald Mackay 2018
    • Syd Blackwell 2018
    • Sunny Lockwood 2018
    • Robert Fear 2018
  • 2018 Guest Blogs
  • 2017 Travel Highlights
  • 2017 Travel Stories
    • Matthew Dexter - 2
    • Sandra Walker
    • Rishita Dey
    • Lisa Baker
    • Patricia Steele - 2
    • Sue Clamp
    • Debbie Patterson
    • Jill Stoking - 2
    • Robyn Boswell - 2
    • Cherie Magnus
    • Mark Boyter - 2
    • Rita M. Gardner
    • Alex Curylo
    • Graham Higson
    • Jill Dobbe - 2
    • Amy Bovaird - 3
    • Elizabeth Moore - 3
    • KC Peek
    • Lucinda E Clarke
    • Nancy McBride - 2
    • Frank Kusy - 2
    • Yvonne Kilat - 3
    • Mike Cavanagh - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp - 5
    • Mather Schneider
    • Syd Blackwell - 5
    • Gundy Baty - 3
    • Elizabeth Moore - 2
    • Jill Dobbe
    • Heather Hackett
    • Bob Manning - 2
    • Mark Boyter
    • Jackie Parry
    • Matthew Dexter
    • Amy Bovaird - 2
    • Gundy Baty - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp - 4
    • Susan Joyce - 2
    • Syd Blackwell - 4
    • Yvonne Kilat - 2
    • Bob Manning
    • Elizabeth Moore
    • Yvonne Kilat
    • Olivia-Petra Coman
    • Susan Mellsopp - 3
    • Gundy Baty
    • Syd Blackwell - 3
    • Paul Spadoni
    • Phil Canning
    • Jill Stoking
    • Robert Fear
    • Anna Coates
    • Kelly Reising
    • Syd Blackwell - 2
    • Susan Mellsopp - 2
    • Sine Thieme - 2
    • Alison Ripley Cubitt
    • Angie Clifford
    • Philippa Hawley
    • Nancy McBride
    • Robyn Boswell
    • Mike Cavanagh
    • Amy Bovaird
    • Susan Mellsopp
    • Patricia Steele
    • Susan Joyce
    • Peggy Wolf
    • Sine Thieme
    • Syd Blackwell
    • Frank Kusy
  • 2016 Travel Highlights
  • 2016 Travel Stories
    • Robyn Boswell
    • Elizabeth Moore - 5
    • Susan Joyce - 3
    • Bob Manning
    • Jackie Parry - 2
    • Mike Cavanagh - 2
    • Lisa Fleetwood
    • Mark Boyter - 2
    • John Rayburn - 5
    • Mark Boyter
    • John Rayburn - 4
    • Elizabeth Moore - 4
    • Mike Cavanagh
    • Graham Higson
    • Philippa Hawley
    • Jill Stoking
    • Nancy McBride - 2
    • Susan Joyce - 2
    • Lucinda E Clarke
    • Elizabeth Moore - 3
    • John Rayburn - 3
    • Jill Dobbe
    • Richard Klein
    • John Rayburn - 2
    • Jackie Parry - 2
    • Elizabeth Moore - 2
    • John Rayburn
    • Jackie Parry
    • Elizabeth Moore
    • Kelly Reising
    • Susan Joyce
    • Nancy McBride
    • Stewart Brennan
    • Frank Kusy
  • Behind the Scenes
  • 2015 Travel Highlights
  • 2015 Travel Stories
    • Val Vassay
    • Doug E. Jones
    • Matthew Dexter (2)
    • Beth Haslam
    • John Rayburn (4)
    • Susan Joyce (2)
    • Jackie Parry (2)
    • Lucinda E. Clarke (2)
    • Jill Dobbe
    • Francene Stanley
    • Richard Klein (2)
    • John Rayburn (3)
    • Julie Haigh
    • Frank Kusy (2)
    • Nancy McBride (2)
    • Anne Durrant
    • Lucinda E. Clarke
    • John Rayburn (2)
    • Nancy McBride
    • Sarah Jane Butfield
    • Jackie Parry
    • Kelly Reising
    • Gareth Nixon
    • John Rayburn
    • Jeremy Parris
    • Matthew Dexter
    • Susan Joyce
    • Richard Klein
    • Frank Kusy
    • Robert Fear
  • Daily Diary
    • February Archive
    • March Archive
    • April Archive
    • May Archive
    • June Archive
    • July Archive
  • Reviews

The Marriage by Helen Bing

31/10/2018

0 Comments

 
A warm welcome today to Helen Bing with her first entry in the 2018 Travel Highlights Competition.

Kia ora.
My name is Helen Bing. Once upon a time I went on my OE, leaving New Zealand on the Northern Star, one of the Shaw Saville ships. I intended going to the UK and Europe for 2 years, however fate intervened, and my plans changed. I finally came home 5 and a bit years later with a husband and 2 children.
​
Picture

The Marriage 
 
New Zealand one week after our due sailing date. Generator problems. 3.45p.m., wearing our smartest clothes, my friends and I held on to our paper streamers - the norm for 1975.
A voice behind us said, “You’ll be holding on to them for a long time.”
“No,” we replied. “We’re sailing at 4.”
“If you’re right, I owe you drink, if not, you owe me one.”
He was right - inside information.
 
A week to honour the bet.
Four weeks - getting serious!
Five months - a wedding on the other side of the world.
Forty-three years - still sailing.

0 Comments

BEACH DAZE, 1954 and FOUR, PLEASE by Nancy McBride

29/10/2018

2 Comments

 
It is a real pleasure today to feature two travel highlights in our 2018 competition from Nancy McBride.

Bio
Stuff happens to Nancy when she travels, and her attitude of “allowing” the road to unfurl may just have something to do with those adventures great and small.

Picture

BEACH DAZE, 1954 

Misquamicut Beach, RI: We’d ride a wonderful old carousal. Up and down, up and down, the painted horses lulled us around and around to the honky-tonk music of a calliope. Half of that time, we viewed the Atlantic gently lapping the shoreline.
 
Matunuck Beach, RI: We awoke being swallowed whole by a massive turbulent, hurricane-whipped tidal wave tearing us loose from our reality. Clinging to our cottage, now ark, we were viciously tossed, saturated, half-submerged, spinning around and around, no refuge in sight. Frantic and exhausted, we cheated death for interminable hours. No shoreline. Mayhem. And then…


FOUR, PLEASE

Moving in to my hotel in Saint Malo (FR), I’d barely crammed my suitcase, backpack and swaddled self into the antiquated, one-person elevator, and was selecting my floor when a shorter woman, swathed in a huge cape that swallowed her whole, stealthily insinuated herself in, too, her oozing cape filling any gaps. Compressed. Intimate. Awkward. Jerking, we haltingly ascended. Gears loudly cranking its load upwards, she looked up apologetically, “C’est petit.”
I brightly replied, “Oui, mais automatic!”
Then we both smiled at our clever rhyme as we jolted to a stop, ultimately untangled and went our separate ways.
​
2 Comments

Jet-lag Doesn’t Exist by Ronald Mackay

27/10/2018

0 Comments

 
It is an honour today to feature Ronald Mackay's fourth entry in the 2018 Travel Highlights Competition.

Jet-lag Doesn’t Exist 

Our organization forbad it.

We worked, then on to Schiphol. We returned, from where barely mentioned.

“Your task! Audit the EU initiative to reintroduce nutritious grains.”

“Eastern Europe?”

“Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru. Quinoa, amaranth.”

“That’s it?”

“Millet in India and Nepal.”

“How long?”

“Twenty days. Then a report To FAO in Rome.”

“Right!”

No direct flights link India with Latin America. I chose Toronto as my hub.

Done!

Twenty-one separate flights; 4,200 Ks of trucking to villages. Looking, listening, asking, reading. Analysing, calculating, writing, confirming and rewriting.

Sleeping? Barely! But alert. The evaluator is always alert.
Jet-lag does not exist.
​

Ronald Mackay
For much of his professional life, Ronald Mackay planned, managed and evaluated projects throughout the developing world. Slowly, he learned a great deal about how to live comfortably in very different cultures. Now he and his wife live a quiet life on the shores of Rice Lake in Ontario, Canada.
Picture
0 Comments

A South American Conversation by Mark Boyter

24/10/2018

4 Comments

 
It is a pleasure to feature the first highlight this year from Mark Boyter. Mark was the 2018 Travel Stories Competition winner with his entry A Koh Samui Shirt. 

A South American Conversation 
 
The dreadlocked young American in the Quito guesthouse leaned into her chair, cradling a mate de coca. “How many times you been robbed?”

I looked at her.

“Everyone I ask says they have,” she said, “so I stopped asking ‘If’.” She took a sip.
“So, how many times?”

“Three,” I said. “Bolivia twice, Ecuador once. My camera at the bus station in La Paz. My wallet in the market in Potosi. My watch on the bus to Guayaquil. Sitting in my seat, arm in the open window. Thief had to jump three feet.”

She smiled and took another sip. “Everyone.”
​

Mark Boyter

Mark is a traveller and writer and a marathon runner. He loves wine with a good mouth-feel, films that make him laugh, and a good rack of BBQ ribs (which begs the question; is there such a thing as a bad rack of BBQ ribs?). His first book, the travel memoir Crescent Moon Over Laos, was published in 2014. His other writing includes smaller travel pieces and of the commonalities and influences that shape and inform our individual and collective lives. A college instructor by training, Mark has lived and taught in both Nagoya and Kyoto, Japan, the Emirate of Sharjah in the UAE, and both Toronto and Vancouver in Canada. At 59, he finally took the plunge and married his long-term partner. He lives, with increasing contentedness, in Richmond, British Columbia, with his new wife and their two cats, and when he isn't running or writing or drinking wine, tends the grape vines in their garden and marvels at what sun and water and time can create.

Picture
4 Comments

Exclusive Pedigree Audiobook – Special Offer

23/10/2018

0 Comments

 
My father’s memoir Exclusive Pedigree: My life in and out of the Brethren has recently been released as an audiobook. It is superbly narrated by Tony Cookson, an experienced Radio Presenter and Interviewer.

There are a limited number of free copies of this audiobook available to blog readers. To get your copy, simply e-mail me at fd81@assl.co.uk and let me know if you would like a US or UK copy.

I look forward to hearing from you.
​

Picture
Exclusive Pedigree: My life in and out of the Brethren by John L. Fear
Narrated by Tony Cookson
Edited and published by Robert Fear


John Fear was born into a religious sect known as the Exclusive Brethren. This sheltered him from the outside world as he grew up, but could not hide him from its influences. A struggle began in his mind that led him to leave the Brethren, along with his young family. 
​

0 Comments

Just off Sutter & Snake Charmer by Alan Passey

22/10/2018

1 Comment

 
It is a real pleasure to feature two travel highlights from Alan Passey. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have!

Bio:
If there's one place Alan Passey and his wife have fallen in love with it is India. But there's so much world to explore. Alan has become known for his cycling adventures, specifically cycling across Spain, and has received good reviews for his first travel book "Crossing Spain - wandering in the land of the bull".
​
Picture

Just off Sutter 

Indigo sky morphed into dawn breaking cover onto Sutter. The chill smacked my cheeks. A steam vent hissed from the ‘Frisco underworld. Lonely figures hunched to the early shift. 

Somewhere I heard a radio. Classical music. Songs I couldn’t tell. Heading away from the bay I found myself walking towards the radio, slowly getting louder. 
​

Then there he was. Alone on an empty street, his voice chiming from the city walls sending deep rounded tones rolling out towards the morning. A tenor, singing for himself. For the joy of singing, and the solitary wanderer who just might happen by.
​

Snake Charmer

Hey guys - We got this. She shouted at the window as they came dragging a dustbin and carrying a long stick.

We stuffed towels into the daylight streaming under the door just as the snake snuck by towards the adjoining outhouse. 

It almost made it. Our saviour flipped the stick, hooking the snake into the bin and slamming the lid down tight as it climbed the wall. 

We’ll show this to Hank. She grinned. Local snake man. 

At dinner, Hank appeared at the door. The snake curling around his hand. 

He’s real friendly, he said.
​

We couldn’t have moved faster.
​
1 Comment

Lithuanian Sauna by Philip East

20/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Our latest entry is this year's Travel Highlights Competition is from Philip East.

​Biography
 
I am Phil. I  sometimes write, though not as much as I would like to; I have a blog called bewilderedbee.com, though it never seems to match my expectations; I travel a lot, but procrastinate more, and I am so awkward that I simply cannot write about myself in the third person.  
Picture

Lithuanian Sauna 
 
The heat is enveloping. With each thrash of doused birch on scorched rock
a new wave of fire wrought steam catches in the throat, as pores are wrenched open and as filth and sweat glisten and pool.
 
I cannot stand it anymore.
 
Bursting out onto the manicured lawn I leap into the murky pond. One final suspension in the dying light of a sparkling Baltic Spring, the privet hedges and thick forest, the vegetable patch and chain link fence, the distant barking dog.   
 
Then the fall. 
​
0 Comments

ON A STREET IN BOGOTÁ by Syd Blackwell

18/10/2018

3 Comments

 
Syd Blackwell's second entry in our Travel Highlights competition is a succinct piece of poetry that I am sure you will appreciate as much as I have.​

ON A STREET IN BOGOTÁ 
 
Potato chips someone has dropped
now broken on a grimy walk
the ragged man bends low to ground
and sweeps the bits into a mound
his blackened fingers lift the crumbs
to bearded mouth with hunger numb
but passersby do not see this
his desperation they all miss
 
Bogotá, Colombia
03/07/12
​



Syd Blackwell

I was born in a little ski town that used to be a gold mining town in the mountains of southeastern British Columbia.  I also lived on the coast, on Vancouver Island, in the north, and even in northern Alberta for a decade.   I visited every province and territory in Canada, and more than 40 other countries.  I was an educator, an innkeeper, and an assisted living facilitator.  My life was rich with experiences before I left Canada less than two months before my 61st birthday.
​
Uruguay, has been our home for more than a decade.  My wife and I share our home with our five dogs. And quite a few visitors.   We have found time in our retirement to do things we never seemed to find time to do before.   I have found time to be a writer and an artist.  Both give me great pleasure.  We have continued to travel, particularly in South America.
​
Picture
3 Comments

Hitchhiking Alaska by Delores Topliff

17/10/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
It is my pleasure today to feature the second entry from Delores Topliff in this year's Travel Highlights Competition.

Delores is a college teacher, speaker, and freelance writer with over 360 publications besides providing editing and publishing services. Travel is her favorite means of learning.
​

Hitchhiking Alaska 

My teen-age sons and I worked one summer near the Arctic Circle. When the fuel pump died on a borrowed Suburban, I hitchhiked.

Friends committed to driving me to Haines for college meetings canceled. With no public transportation available, I hitchhiked to Fairbanks on a semi.

Greyhound only traveled to Tok Junction, then Haines the next day. Maybe I’d sleep in a church?


An unlooked-for acquaintance 1700 from home boarded my bus. “Accompany me to Whitehorse,” she insisted.


That meant backtracking, but she pulled rank.


The next morning, unexpected friends driving to Haines appeared. I travelled comfortably and on time.
​

0 Comments

Border Smiles by Ronald Mackay

15/10/2018

0 Comments

 
A warm welcome back to Ronald Mackay with his third entry in this year's Travel Highlights Competition. ​

Border Smiles ​

“Our Passports.”

Viviana tucks them into the truck papers. I concentrate, overtake long-distance transports returning to Bolivia and Brazil from Chile through Argentina.


“Check them?” We’re into corkscrew bends; a tunnel; customs; immigration.


“The date’s wrong! The permission’s dated last year.”


“Damn! Back! All that way!”


“They won’t notice!”


“Officers are paid to notice.”


“Not in Argentina!”


……….


“Truck papers?” Uniformed scowls.


Viviana smiles. I squirm. Officers scrutinize, move lips.


“Such a beautiful place!” Viviana interrupts. Smiles. Gestures to snow, peaks.


Officers raise puzzled eyes. Nod. Stamp. Gesture. “Bienvenidos a Argentina!”


I ease out breath and clutch.


Viviana smiles. “See?”



Picture

Bio

Ronald and his Peruvian wife Viviana worked in both Argentina and Chile for 10 years and crossed the high passes in the Andes over a hundred times in a truck with Chilean plates that belonged to Viviana’s cousin. The border crossing at El Paso Internacional de los Libertadores never ceased to impress with its beauty nor to provide many, many surprises.
​
Picture
0 Comments
<<Previous
    2023 CREATIVE WRITING SHOWCASE OPEN TO ENTRIES FROM SATURDAY APRIL 1ST

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Showcase Guidelines

    2023 NEW RELEASES

    Picture
    mybook.to/50IPI

    Picture
    mybook.to/15FFT

    5* RECOMMENDED READ

    Summer of '77
    Beaches, bars and
    ​boogie nights in Ibiza

    by Robert Fear​

    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Available in Paperback
    and on Kindle
    ​(including Kindle Unlimited)

    getbook.at/Summerof77

    Archives

    March 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture

​Copyright © 2023
Proudly powered by Weebly