Kobo Gets My Cyprus Book

My new book "Living In The Real Cyprus" is now available on Kobo. "Vic's Big Walk" is already there, of course.

Apple Gets My Cyprus Book

"Living In The Real Cyprus" is now available on iTunes and iBookstore, as well as on Kindle. It will shortly be found on Nook, Kobo, et cetera. "Vic's Big Walk" is already available from all these, as well as from the other major e-book publishers.

Boston Superhero

The Telegrarf today publishes 50 pictures of the unbelievable destruction wrought on the East Coast  by Hurricane Sandy. Click the link to see them:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/picturegalleries/worldnews/9644975/50-dramatic-images-of-destruction-caused-by-superstorm-and-hurricane-Sandy.html

Much of that damage is in the huge city of New York which, as we all know, is also Metropolis, the home of Superman. Where was he when Metropolis needed him? Why wasn't the big guy sucking up that Frankenstorm into his mighty lungs, flying out near the sun and blowing it out? I suppose you think that sort of thing is fantasy but read on.

Another great question exercising my mind for the past couple of days is how Boston got away so lightly? We were threatened with much of the same disaster that you see pictured above (if you clicked on the link). But as the storm was supposed to be reaching its maximum impact here, it suddenly ceased. I can now reveal, and produce evidence to prove it, that Boston has its own superhero who did in fact save the city.

The pictures below were taken this morning at Panera Bread in Braintree, which is where we have been taking a regular cappuccino, perchance muffin, of a morning while staying here.

First you see Paneraman appearing shyly behind some of the store equipment.

I guess that, after expending all the energy required to save Boston, he has come in - perhaps he himself is a muffin man? - to replenish his powers before jetting off to New York, New Jersey and points south to become the mighty anvil of the rescue efforts there.

Maybe he will need first to fly north to his mountain fastness to receive advice and motivation from his Jor-El equivalent before taking on the task. After all, we are talking a lot of saving to do! I believe this is the place, under that cloud somewhere.

Muscles bulging with muffin and coffee,  realising that the world needs reassurance that he is on his way, he let me persuade him to pause for a moment while I took this photograph of him which I can now broadcast to a planet reeling from the brutality of nature.

And I promised not to reveal that this mighty figure is, when catastrophe does not threaten, the mild-mannered manager of this Panera store.

Click on any picture to enlarge.

Hurricane Sandy

I don't know how it happened but Massachusetts got away very lightly. It was all building up to a horror story, everybody was sent home from work, there was no traffic, the wind was a-howlin', rain was getting heavier and heavier, then before midnight it all went quiet and come morning all we had was a few intermittent showers, no wind at all. Presumably a slight change in course of Hurricane Sandy saved us from the threatened devastation.

Unlike the poor people of New York, New Jersey and other states on the Eastern seaboard. The subway tunnels in New York are flooded with sea water, 8 million homes in New York are without electricity, and there is a mounting death toll.

The picture is borrowed from the Telegrarf and shows taxis stranded in a flooded street in Queens.

Frankenstorm

We are in Boston, right in the path of Hurricane Sandy, which is being billed as the worst tropical storm ever to hit the US, stretching from Maine on the Canadian border to North Carolina in the heart of the South. It is due to peak here between 11 am this morning (it is 10 am as I write) and the same time tomorrow.

So what have Gay and I just done? We have been for a walk - nothing is as important as getting that blueberry muffin and cappuccino!

You know it's serious when they start tying the lamp posts down!

As I mentioned in my last hurried post, both my books are available in both e-book and paperback formats. Just to remind you that all proceeds of both books go direct to pancreatic cancer research. For full details of where to find the books, click the link at the top right of this page (below the header, of course).

My Cyprus Book on Kindle at Last!

Just dashing out the door to the airport - flying today to Boston, Massachusetts via Toulouse and Munich.

I had a quick look online before packing up my laptop and discovered that my book has just arrived on Kindle.  I need to do things now about publicising it - things I have been poised for weeks to do. But I will be travelling all day, and away from home for 3 weeks now!

Apple Picking Time

There used to be a popular song which went  "I'll be with you in apple blossom time, I'll be with you to change your name to mine ... "

Well, we are well past apple blossom time here, but apple picking time is very important in the area between us and Mirepoix. So much so that they have an annual Apple Fete in the town. Lots of music, jollity and apples. And the mediaeval town square exhibits sculptures made from the fruit. This year, the theme is Africa. See pics below.

And yes, I am still waiting for my Cyprus book to arrive on Kindle, although it has been out in paperback for a month now.

In the meantime I am getting some very good feedback about my stories in the compilation "A Splendid Salmagundi, which is only on Kindle. Just go to any Amazon site and search on "Vic Heaney". It will show my own books and the Salmagundi

Great First Reviews

The Salmagundi was published on Kindle only a couple of days ago, but already there are excellent reviews. Here is one:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Simply Splendid Salmagundi. 18 Oct 2012

By harasrrek

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I downloaded this anthology early today and have barely put it down , such was the quality of the writing.
I found myself amazed at the diversity of the content. Where else could one read of pigeons alongside buffalo, Santa following on from demons and sexy reminiscences, reviews of wrinkle plasters and the shortcomings of hygiene facilities in public toilets in the same contents table as haunted car rides , eerie mountains and inspired poetry.
There are trolls and fantasy friends.Feuds and spaceships share space with resurrected detectives, barn sized computers and pyramids, not to mention, traumatised fathers, dying girlfriends, a poignant funeral and country villages named Slaughter!
I will dream tonight of darkened corridors and creatures at my door seeking permission to enter while my life support machine is switched off and God speaks to tell me the end is nigh.
I am however comforted to know those pesky vampires won't be having a suck tonight and I will still be enjoying eggs fresh from the nest tomorrow while proudly wearing my oak tree lapel pin in the hope that a handsome spy comes knocking and if I am truly blessed he will bring David and his chocolate fountain with him.
No! I am not rambling ( well maybe I am a bit) all this and more is included in this glorious book. There is indeed something for everyone regardless of your preferred genre. Like me you may even be surprised and find yourself drawn to themes you may not have previously considered and in so doing discover some new authors to help you through the dark winter nights ahead.

Comment | 

Not Just Another New Book - A Salmagundi!

I forgot to mention that I have another book out - or at least part of one. A Splendid Salmagundi is full of contributions from a number of authors associated with the Goodreads Amazon Kindle Forum. Two of the contributions, one fiction, one partly fiction, are by yours truly. This is the official blurb for the book, which is available only on Kindle:

"A Splendid Salmagundi" is a delicious salad of short stories seasoned with a light dusting of poems, covering a variety of genres. You will find one or two true stories, some humour, some horror, fantasy, adventure and science fiction. Many are Amazon published authors whose work you may already have read. Others will soon be favourites.

Contributors are alphabetically, D M Andrews, Tim Arnot, R J Askew, Baarbaara, Andrew Barrett, Kath Brinck, Michael Brookes, Alexandra Butcher, DD Chant, Mel Comley, Lexie Conyngham, Raymond Daley, Ian Ellis, Robert Franks, Cornelius Harker, Mark R Faulkner, Vic Heaney, Jonathan Hill, Darren Humphries, Andrew Lawston, Stephen Livingston, Will Macmillan Jones, M T McGuire, Kath Middleton, Marc Nash, Harry Nicholson, Jenny Shaw, Rosen Trevithick, Simon Turpin, David Wailing, Jim Webster, Philip Whiteland."

Pancreatic Cancer - Doing Your Bit

Join Us

on Nov 1st

Raise Your Voice on 1st November and invite your local MP to our next APPG meeting! Join us on our Day of Action to kick off Pancreatic Cancer Awareness Month Pancreatic Cancer needs putting on the Parliamentary agenda and we can’t do it without you! On Thursday 1st November we’re counting on you to speak up by calling your local MP and inviting them to the next meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Pancreatic Cancer being held at 4pm on 19th November. Getting involved is easy and will only take you a few minutes: 1)      If you’re not sure who your local representative is, find your MP. 2)      Call their constituency office and ask to speak to your MP. If they’re not there, leave them a message. 3)      Explain who you are, what your connection to pancreatic cancer is, if you have one, and invite your MP to attend the APPG meeting. 4)      Encourage all your friends and family to call too – the more voices, the better! If you want to call but aren’t sure what to say, head to our Day of Action page on the website and have a read of our Quick Tips Guide. And don’t forget to leave a message if your MP isn’t there; you can always call back to check  if they received it. We’re aiming to reach as many MPs around the country as possible on November 1st, to show them how important this issue is to all of our supporters. We need all hands on deck: it’s time to rally the troops and get calling! Once you've called, we’d love to hear all about how your calls go and what responses you get or messages you’ve left: you can tell us either by leaving us a message on ourFacebook wall or via Twitter or sending an email to pcam@pancreaticcancer.org.uk! Thank you, Ms. Alex Ford (Chief Executive, Pancreatic Cancer UK) and team

My New Book Is Now At Amazon

The paperback version of my new book has beaten the e-version to the punch at Amazon. I was led to believe that the paperback would take 6 to 8 weeks to make it from the publisher to Amazon listing, but only 3 weeks has expired. Possibly because I already have a book on there and have established a reputation for quality?

The e-version should have taken only a couple of weeks to make the same journey to availability on Kindle but I was informed yesterday, upon querying the delay, that a "technical error" had held my book up and, after being unblocked as a result of my message, things will now be expedited.

Out And About With Nikon

I have a new superduper Nikon camera so here are a few photographs from our recent walks to occupy my idle hands while waiting for "Living In The Real Cyprus" to arrive at Amazon Kindle (any day now).

You can see enlarged versions of these pictures by clicking once on any one of them, which will provide you with a gallery.

20% Off Either Of My Books - Until Friday 5th October

For the next 3 days, until Friday 5th October, you can get a 20% discount off either of my paperback books if you buy them direct from the publisher, Lulu.com and apply the special discount code. This is what you do.

Go to Lulu.com. On the home page you will see a discount code, which is probably PLUMA - the code is case-sensitive. Go to the very bottom of the page to make sure you are in the store for the correct country (USA,  UK, et cetera). Then check the discount code again - it may vary from country to country.

Then at the top of the page search on "Vic Heaney", this will take you to the page where you can put one or other, or both of my books into your shopping basket.

When you have finished shopping and go to Checkout, you will be asked to insert the discount code, which will give you your 20% off.

Happy shopping!

Another Big Walker! And At The Same Time!

July 23rd 2010 was my 70th birthday. On that day I terminated my own long-distance walk, 70 days, almost 2,000 kilometres, at the house of my birth in Northern England, having walked, most of the way alone, from my home in the South of France.

On that same day, unknown to me of course, Bill Walker arrived at Santiago de Compostela, having walked for 5 weeks along the famous Camino. He did not enter the city until the following day, the holy day for this city in a holy year.

As soon as I knew of Bill's book I just had to read it and compare his experiences with mine, as well, of course, as comparing my book with his.

There were huge differences in the two walks. I walked mainly alone, at the age of 70. Bill walked in company with an apparently endless stream of people, for about half of my distance. His hike obviously had religious overtones and consequent musings. Much of his writing is about other pilgrims while my own is about people I met on the walk or musings and memories from my life.

An amusing difference for me is that, although, because my project was called Vic's Big Walk, I am known to many people as Big Walker, despite being, at a push, 5 feet 7 inches tall. Bill really is a Big Walker, at over 6 feet 11 inches, obviously the cause of much attention on the Camino.

There are some glaring errors which I hope he will correct, such as Christopher Columbus setting off for the Americas from the Galapagos Islands, the Basques being in North East Spain and the Inquisition having been invented in the late 15th century to deal with Spanish Jewry (it was actually started in 12th century France, in the area where I now live, to wipe out, in conjunction with a long and bloody crusade, the Cathars, who were Christian.

I enjoyed Bill's book, its descriptions of the people, friends and otherwise, along the way - its depiction of the daily struggle to get a bed for the night - and his obvious falling in love with Spain and especially Galicia.

But I think I will continue to walk alone.