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