Connect with our authors. We are absolutely passionate about books and the authors who write them. We believe that talented authors deserve to be published and read.
Our authors come from various walks of life and from around the world, and publish in a wide variety of genres.
Among our authors you’ll find doctors and medical professionals, accountants, police, artists, journalists, nutritionist, theologians, business leaders, educators, athletes, scientists, students and retirees.
Our authors publish in categories as diverse as: children’s and young adult, fiction/novels, historical, poetry, short story collections, academic/educational, biography, history, hobbies/general interests, inspirational & self development, theological, Travel, True Stories and much more.
Our authors publish for a variety of reasons – whether to enhance their professional influence and visibility or see their cherished work in print. Whatever the publishing goal, we endeavour to help each of our authors achieve their unique vision of publishing success.
I was born in Swanscombe, a place best known for stopping William the Conqueror and asking some polite questions.
‘How do you get time to write?’ was what my friends posed when finding out my naughty secret. At first I assured them my principle aim is to write for myself, so I make time, but even I have to question how it happens when expanding on my life. Besides my adoring wife and family I have been a school governor twice, borough councillor and all while still running an engineering business. Living in a listed building also requires untold hours of restoration work, but I still make time for tennis and church duties.
My writing comes from the development of Probability Fiction, which calculates improbabilities of the past, concepts of the present and the certainty of any future. In essence it is about exploring, with mathematics and psychology, where the truth may be hidden or yet to come. How this combines with the process of writing entertaining fiction is difficult to explain in a short paragraph, but the industry in general pays little attention to the science that underlies belief in characters and events, leaving it purely to a writer’s natural skill.
I published my first book Paradox Lost, which was the Lovewriting.co.uk book of the month on its release and included my early prediction work on the collapse of the USSR. Dudgeon’s Bridge takes a look at some of our convenient 17th-century history and rewrites it.
Businessman Andrew D Malloy was born in Cardiff, but has spent most of his life in Central Scotland where he lives with his wife and family. An already published author, having penned two critically acclaimed crime thrillers (Frantic and Bible John Closure) and an autobiographical account of his father’s time in football (Memoirs of a Hard Man – The Danny Malloy Story), he was forced to take a long sabbatical due to heavy work commitments. These days he spends his leisure time on the golf course or walking his dog Ollie in nearby woods. He’s also rediscovered enough of his mojo to write the first in a series of books featuring Secret Service man Ryan Taylor. Sins of the People, a fast-paced international thriller published by Pneuma Springs, took just over nine months to complete. And Malloy’s not exactly planning to hang around, with sequels Designer Baby and Under Burning Skies already partially written.
Angela was born in Hull and now lives in Beverley, East Yorkshire with her husband. They have 3 grown up children. She qualified as a psychiatric nurse in 1991 and as a social worker in 2007.
In 2011 Angela gave up 2 days of paid employment to provide wellbeing support to the community as a volunteer for Beverley Community Church, and helped set up and run their Restoration Centre. Her passion is to see people living their lives to the full and believes Scripture and prayer are the key to this. She is concerned that many people struggle on with difficulties which they could overcome with the right support. She looks forward to a day when people come to the church for the help they need.
Angela wrote Mindful, Peaceful, Joyful after running Christian mindfulness and meditation sessions and being asked for further information.
I was born in a tiny village in County Cavan in the south of Ulster. My parents were primary school teachers. Because there was no secondary school available I was sent as a boarder to two convent schools, St. Mary’s College Mountmellick, County Laois, and later to The Cross and Passion College in Kilcullen, County Kildare. In each of these schools I was lonely, and missed my parents. After secondary school I trained as a nurse in St Lawrence’s Hospital in Dublin and in 1957 emigrated to Canada.
I have been making up stories all my life, a practise not encouraged either by my parents or my teachers.
I felt I missed something in life by not attending university so in Canada I attended Laurentian University for an undergraduate degree and The University of Toronto for graduate work. I have worked in health care and in the civil service. In the Nineties I began to take courses in writing and in 1995 had a short story ‘Jody” accepted for an anthology, ‘She’s Gonna Be’. Thus encouraged I began a novel, The Music of What Happens’ which was published in 2001. Then I began to write ‘To Know the Road.’ – which is now being published. I have in draft my third novel, ‘Between Two Dusks’ which I hope will soon be ready to send to a publisher.
Although fiction by its nature is lies, I think it often contains an underlying truth, and ever since mankind left messages on cave walls, writing and also music is what we leave to our children.
A Scottish born author whose first novel was about a family in 1960s Glasgow has penned a sequel in which they all move to Addlestone.
They say ‘stick to what you know’ and that is exactly what Scottish born author Avril Dalziel Saunders did when penning her latest book.
The 60 year old wrote her first novel, based on a family in 1960s Glasgow, five years ago and after pressure from fans who wanted to find out what happened to the characters she decided to write a sequel which saw the family in the book move to Addlestone.
‘Chasin that Carrot’ has now been published, and was released on October 31.
Avril, who moved to New Haw in 1971, said: “When I wrote the first book, I always said that I would never write another one, because I’d already achieved what I wanted to achieve.
“But I had letters from all over the world, including from Canada, America, Australia and South Africa, asking me what happened next, and asking me to write another book.
“But the problem I had was that the first book was based in Glasgow, and I left Scotland in 1971, so I was worried that references to Scotland might not be accurate anymore.
“So I decided to move the characters down to where I do know, which is Addlestone and New Haw.”
Parts of Church Road in Addlestone are mentioned in the book, including the old Nat West bank which stood on the corner of Brighton Road, and the old library.
Also visited by the characters are the railway station and shops in West Byfleet, and St Peter’s Hospital in Chertsey, where a new baby is born into the family.
Avril added: “People always say you should write about what you know, which is what I tried to do.
“I’ve lived in the Broadway in New Haw, and in Church Road, Addlestone, so the book really is based on my neighbourhood really, although the characters are fictional.
“Certainly getting published this time around was much easier, because publishers already knew who I was.”
When Avril first moved from Scotland, she lived in The Broadway in New Haw, and then she moved to Addlestone and Kingston.
The mum-of-three now lives in the Surrey countryside with her husband Jim, their three children are married and they now have four grandchildren.
Avril has 3 fiction books and one ‘true life story’ book plus a TV drama to her credit.
“People have contacted me to say that I should branch off and write something else linked to the family, but I don’t know.
“I think my grandchildren are keeping me busy enough at the moment, but I’ll see how it goes.”
Raised in Las Vegas, BreAnn has always loved writing. In everything she writes, there is an element from her own life and experiences. Therefore, writing became a larger part of her life when she had to move back home with her parents in 2011 because her health started to become dangerous. A blessing came in the form of a special, four legged creature: Her service dog. Thanks to the help of her parents as her caretakers and the love of her service dog, Minion, she’s been able to achieve that which she had thought was impossible. Each day is a victory and each day she thanks God for what she has. Now she lives in Oklahoma, ready to keep sharing her love of writing with each person who opens her books.
Bryony was born in Enfield but spent most of her youth growing up in the North East of the UK near to Hartlepool before moving southwards again. She now lives in the remote wilds of Suffolk with her husband, four children and two dogs and cats where she is also a teacher.
She has always enjoyed writing, ever since she was a child and can’t remember a time where she hasn’t wanted a book in her hand. Following sixth form she took a degree in English and Drama at Roehampton University and gained a 2:1 honours and was then successfully offered a job for the East Anglian Daily Times in Ipswich as a junior reporter. Reluctantly she had to turn the offer down due to personal circumstances. Instead, she ended up doing a PGCE at the Cambridge University Homerton College and then embarked out in a new direction and a career in teaching. Bryony jokes, “If the situation had been different, I’d have been in print much quicker!”.
The seeds of her debut novel, “Mystery, Deceit and a School Inspector” actually began back in 2001, however it got put on a back burner for a few years as domestic life and work took over. She says, “I got my inspiration for it from work, and my school at the time had also just undergone an Ofsted inspection. I just started thinking, What would happen if…and it went on from there. Obviously none of the characters are real people! I just took some of the more obvious character traits of people I know or knew, whether at work, socially or just by reputation, then blew them up to bigger proportions. When I come up with an idea, I try to visualise it as if it is happening on a screen. Then I write down what I see and feel, as well as what I want other people to see and feel. Usually, I try to picture characters in a certain setting and think about how they would react.”
She says, “Getting published on a no cost basis with Pneuma Springs Publishing was a real boost and gave me the springboard to do much more of what I really love doing, writing! (with plenty of reading thrown in for good measure of course)”. She now writes to appeal to the teenage mind.
“It’s a constant juggle balancing writing and book promotion with work and home life but it’s something that’s a real passion for me now so I always try to find the time to write from somewhere. I also have a very supportive family so that helps a bit too. My second work, which has recently been completed and polished with some great feedback from a writers and readers site is a novel for the Young Adult genre titled OTOLI. I have plenty more ideas for the teenage reader. Watch this space, as the saying goes!”.
I’m very proud of my humble background, born into a loving family in the small Cheshire village of Bosley, in the United Kingdom.
Sadly my Father died when I was nine years of age, leaving my mother Lucy to look after my sister Cynthia and I, until we were able to fend for ourselves.
I left school at the age of fifteen with no qualifications, but managed to secure an engineering apprenticeship at a nearby mill. It was hard work with long hours, and I had to study at a college of further education until I was 22 years of age. Having completed my apprenticeship, I was promoted to the drawing office, but then developed itchy feet and thought of ways to broaden my horizons and travel the world.
I joined the Merchant Navy and this was the break I needed to get me away from my roots, in the discovery of pastures new. As it transpired, the life at sea proved to be unsuitable for me and after my initial training and one trip to the Far East; I decided to move on once again.
I secured a position as a design draughtsman with an engineering manufacturing company, which was to expand my engineering skills, but again, it wasn’t what I really wanted to do. I am a very sociable individual and love meeting people and discovering new things and visiting interesting places.
My fortunes substantially changed when I was appointed by James Walker & Co Ltd as a trainee technical sales representative. This was to be the beginning of a long career lasting almost forty years and following several promotions along the way; I finished up as an Industrial Marketing Director, responsible for the global Metallurgical Industry.
I have a strong sense of humour, which forms part of my make-up and personality. My reputation includes being there when things go wrong and this has been the case on many occasions during my working life.
I have been extraordinarily fortunate to meet many exceptional people and witness some amazing events, which have provided me with much detail for my literary works.
My personal life has been enriched with a loving wife Pat plus our two children Tracey and Robert. They have shared in my humour and supported me at critical times throughout my long career.
My first two books are autobiographical works with a humorous flavour, and my third book is very different, telling the true-life story about our son Robert, who at the age of 18, suffered a near fatal head injury. The book describes what happened, and the long battle for Rob to regain his life.
I have now written an industrial and social history book, which is due to be published shortly and my ultimate literary amibition is to write a riveting novel.
Christiana Oware Knudsen was born and brought up in Ghana. As a young, newly trained schoolteacher, she met the Danish, medical doctor, Peder Christian Kjaerulff Knudsen, at Koforidua, Ghana in 1955. They married and had three children. Later on they moved to Denmark to settle. However, her family connection with Denmark goes back long before she met her husband. As her book, THE THEOLOGIAN SLAVE TRADER shows, her mother’s family legend is interwoven in the affairs with the Danish slave-trading fortress, Christiansborg, over three hundred years ago. Also, over one hundred and fifty years ago, Christiana Oware Knudsen’s grandfather, Nana Kwaku (O)Ware, a regional chief, the ‘Gyasehene’, of the kingdom of Akyem Abuakwa, traded with the Danes for Danish guns, gunpowder and schnapps in his young days. This family trade continued with the British, after Christiansborg Fortress was sold to the British in 1850.
Christiana Oware Knudsen holds a Cand Phil. degree in Social Anthropology from Aarhus University, Denmark. She has carried out research and published books in the field of Female Circumcision (THE FALLING DAWADAWA TREE: Female Circumcision In Developing Ghana, 1994), and Tribal Markings in Ghana, (THE PATTERNED SKIN: Ethnic Scarification In Developing Ghana, 2000). She has also researched in the UK, on topics such as Distant Spiritual-Healing as complementary to medical health care.
Her Ph.D. degree was awarded by Derby University, England, and her theses is to be found in the British Library, London. Recently, she has published a satire (CHRISIIANSBORG FORT: Danish West Africa Revisited, 2008) about some Danish tourists’ failure to reach their destination: the old Christiansborg Fortress in modern Ghana, due to their serious problems with excessive materialism.
Now a pensioner, she lives in Spain where she continues to research and write.
Cliff is the son of an English Mother and a Canadian Father. His Grandparents, Christian and Helena Steffenson, emigrated from Copenhagen Denmark to Canada in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and his Mother’s family are from the north east coast of England. He is a family man, married to Sylvia for forty-eight years, and they have five children, two sons and three daughters, and several much loved Grandchildren.
Cliff served a full apprenticeship as a contracting electrician in the fifties and early sixties. Although trained as an electrician, he has done many other jobs as they came along, including cleaning the toilets in Winnipeg‘s city hall, farming, refrigeration engineer, and working as a guard. As he says, when you are up against it you have to do anything to make a buck. He has lived and worked in England and Canada, mostly on the Canadian prairies where most of his family still live. Cliff has travelled extensively in the Canadian bush, especially in the wild Canadian Northland where life, as Robert Service once said, could still hang by a thread when things go wrong. It was while camping and fishing in the Northland that Cliff got to love the sparsely populated North and learn some of the ways of the native people, and he has in fact blood relations in the Sioux nation.
The vast untamed wilderness of Canada has inspired Cliff to write, and the wilderness still fills him with awe. It is a place of great beauty but also a dangerous place where one can never take anything for granted.
Cliff is now retired and lives on England’s North Eastern seaboard in the Victorian village of Seaton Carew, and spends his days writing novels. His debut novel ‘Iron Dogs’ is being offered for sale in several countries. He also has another novel in print called ‘Up the snakes and down the ladders.’ Iron Dogs is in fact the first of a trilogy and he is presently working on the other two books, the second of which, he hopes to bring out this year, or early next year. Cliff was not sure what retirement would mean for him, he had some vague idea about long lazy days taking it easy in the sun, but since starting to write novels, writing has become more than an interest or a hobby. It would be fair to say that he now regards writing as a second career, and he would dearly love to become the author of a best seller some day.
Courtney and Jacquelyn held various executive positions in the film industry. Courtney was V.P. of Production for Gladden Entertainment (FABULOUS BAKER BOYS, WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S, MANNEQUIN II, MILLENNIUM, SHORT TIME). Jacquelyn was a freelance DVD producer (Fox, Sony, and Warner Brothers titles). Their dark comedy short, COMMITTED, won Best Directorial Debut in the New York International Independent Film Festival. Their screenplay, OPERA RATS won Best Screenplay at the First Glance Film Screenplay Competition. Their feature film script, DEPUTY DOG, is under option. Both attained MFA degrees from USC – Peter Stark Program. Their company is Mesquite Entertainment®.
Primarily screenwriters, FIERCE THUNDER is their first novel, but they have others in the wings. Available for interviews, they spend time between Los Angeles and Dalhart, Texas. Both are avid golfers and met on the golf course. They have six rescue cats and a rescue German Shepherd, who thinks she’s a cat.
D.C. Lassiter resides in the Pennsylvania area and is a student of God’s word. After being called from a life of modeling, she is heading to Lancaster Bible College to complete her Bachelor’s degree in Science & Biblical Studies with a minor in Communications.
D.C. Lassiter is single and she worships at Blue Route Vineyard Community Church. She writes on her blog as well as various online magazines and counsels women struggling with separation or divorce. You can also find her engaging weekly with listeners on her radio show titled Dovetales. Through various guests revealing what the Holy Spirit has done in and for their lives, D.C. has an opportunity to encourage many towards a personal relationship with the Godhead which is for everyone: all nationalities, all races, all ages and all backgrounds.
This is D.C. Lassiter’s first book. For her availability contact: The Authors Care Services Ltd. at www.theauthorscare.co.uk
Dr. David Cruise Malloy is currently the Vice President of Research and a Professor of Applied Philosophy in Kinesiology & Health Studies at the University of Regina in Canada. He is the Principal Investigator of the International Healthcare Ethics Research Team, and the Honorary Director of the Research Institute for Multiculturalism and Applied Philosophy at Hunan University in China. He is a Fellow of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association. Dr. Malloy is the author of five texts in applied philosophy and over 170 refereed journals and other scholarly publications and international conference presentations. His father was a decorated RCAF Spitfire fighter pilot in WWII and retired from the military to become a first rate golf professional. David plays golf infrequently and rather badly, though he holds out hope for his daughters.
The author has been in the steel telecommunication tower building/rigging industry for twenty years and can normally be found either hibernating or working somewhere in SE Asia. He occasionally pops back to the UK to catch up with friends and relatives in the Cotswolds, but never in the winter. He is still single and if you read his book it is not difficult to see why.
Dawny Webb was part of the creative world from the get-go.
Her mother and father met on the stage and Dawny was born in the proverbial trunk. Within months her father was telling her wonderful stories as he memorized his lines.
Her mother practiced her newest scripts before a mirror in the theatres’ green room where Dawny sat patiently in a big leather chair and listened to all of it.
Although instilled with a great feel for writing, it wasn’t going to be Dawny’s path for a while. She moved to New York and became a costume designer where she started her own boutique outside of NYC. She sold her designs to Sak’s Fifth Ave, designed coats for the Broadway production ‘Make Mine Mink’ and was costumer designer for an MGM production in Hollywood. Reese Witherspoon’s first movie, ‘The Man in the Moon.’
She stayed in California and is concentrating on her first love, writing. She has published several articles and written many short stories. She is presently working on two new novels. Thrillers. “They’re fun to write”, she tells us.
I was born in 1930, an only child and the son of a driver on the Great Western Railway. My mother was a ‘housewife’ whose mission in life was to look after her husband and son to the exclusion of any other career (as was the fashion in those days).
My early years were happy although I subsequently realised that my parents were not well off. My education was spent during the war at Cotham Secondary School, Bristol following which I served a five year apprenticeship with the Bristol Aeroplane Company and spent the rest of my working life with that company, finally retiring in 1988 as a computer systems analyst.
I was in my seventies when I wrote ‘A Reluctant Recruit’ and was so surprised at its reception and the comments made by reviewers, that I decided to tell the rest of my life story in two further books.
Derek Smith was born in 1931 at the Selly Oak Hospital Birmingham to parents who had relocated from Merseyside.
He attended Yardley Wood School and in 1942, shortly after returning from the Staffordshire village of Yoxall where he had been an evacuee, he won a scholarship to Moseley Grammar School.
After leaving school he worked for the International Nickel Company at their Research and Development Laboratories in Birmingham and continued his studies on a day release basis.
In 1952 he was called up for National Service in the Royal Air Force and joined Number 256 Squadron based in Western Germany. He was demobilised in 1954 and in 1956 went to work for the Steel Company Wales near Swansea. In South Wales he, his wife Marjorie and their two boys, Roger and Duncan, lived in the village of Pennard on the wonderful Gower Peninsular, the first ever designated ‘area of outstanding natural beauty’.
In 1978, after 21 years with British Steel, as it had then become, he moved to a new plant being built by the Aluminium Company of America (ALCOA). Unfortunately, the British arm of the company fell into financial difficulties and his new job became redundant.
In 1983 he graduated from the University of Wales with a degree in integrated sciences that gave him a teaching qualification and he became a Physics teacher at the Blake School in Somerset. His children, now grown up, stayed in Swansea when he and his wife moved to live on the Somerset levels in the village of Othery. He continued teaching until he retired in 1996 and now spends his time between his home in the Carmarthenshire Millennium Coastal Park near Llanelli and the town of Ontinyent in the province of Valencia, Spain.
On the principle of ‘use it or lose it’ most of his pastimes lead to some form of exhaustion and include mountain climbing, hill walking, cycling and swimming. In quieter moments he paints in both oils and water colours and, of course, attempts to write.
Dr. Donald Lyle Lang, Lieutenant-Commander (Ret’d) PhD, was with Canada’s military for thirty-one years as an applied psychologist. Following that he was course instructor University of Victoria, Canada (leadership, management, organizational psychology, and research methods). His principal research areas: organizational commitment, values, ethics and a critical analysis of good and evil, as put forth in, ‘Leadership: The Final Cause of Good and Evil’ (co-authored with Professor David Cruise Malloy) (Wisdom House Publications, Leeds, 2006). His father did Atlantic convoy duties WWII and introduced him to golf, the single greatest educational program for anyone, anytime.
My sister and I enjoyed a happy childhood in a small country village in Gloucestershire in post-war 1950s England. A long spell in hospital meant a slow start for my reading and writing but eventually my skills caught up with my peers and I regularly had stories and poems read out in class and pinned on the notice board in school. My work life has been varied. I started working as a secretary, went on to study for a degree in Business and Finance and later trained to be a chiropodist. I worked for 26 years in education both as a tutor and senior manager whilst running a domiciliary chiropody practice and, at end of my working life I was bursar in a local school. I married John in 1969 and we have a son and a granddaughter. I decided to retire at the age of 62. I have always been an avid reader and enjoy a wide range of books. It is said that everyone has a book in them, so I set about writing my first book and pursued the love of writing which I enjoyed at school. I had previously had an article published in a chiropody magazine but that was specialist and factual.
We live in Wiltshire and also have a cottage in a peaceful part of Devon which is an ideal environment for me to write. The area also has a wealth of characters to weave into stories and bring them to life.
I take my inspiration from not only events in my life but those of the people I know. I am currently working on my next book and have ideas bubbling away for another, so I feel I have been bitten by the writing bug.
About the authors/editors
Ernest was born into a fishing tradition in Kingston upon Hull in 1910 at 3 Park View cottages, Diversion Rd.
His father, as his grandfather and great grandfather before him, were fishermen originating from Margate in Kent in the mid 19th century.
Whilst his father was at sea Ernest’s mother died when he was just eight years of age thus leaving him, his three brothers and his sister alone. He then had to find help and St Vincent’s, one of many orphanages in the city, answered his call. Ernest, along with his three brothers, was looked after by the Sisters of Charity.
At the age of fourteen he left St Vincent’s and, as many others did, signed up as deckie learner on his first deep sea trawler heading for Iceland, spending the next 15 years in the fishing industry and achieving a boatswain’s ticket in 1930.
At the outbreak of war in 1939, Ernest then moved into the Merchant Navy Fishing section and eventually the Royal Navy (Harry Tate’s Navy), mostly doing escort duty in the Indian Ocean.
While stationed in Ipswich Ernest met Dorothy Pulham and in 1942 they married. At the end of the war they set up home in Hull and Ernest went back to fishing until1950 when he continued his link with the sea by taking a position as Fishery Officer with the North Eastern Sea Fisheries Committee which involved a move to Hartlepool with his wife, son and daughter. In Hartlepool the couple completed their family with another son.
Ernest retired in 1975 and began to devote his spare time to his family and to his hobbies of painting and writing his memoirs.
When Ernest died in 1985 his books had not been published. In 2007 his daughter Margaret, his son Barrie and his grandson Jonathan decided to undertake the task of editing his memoirs for publication and incorporating supporting information from their own researches.
Trawlers & Trawler Folk is Ernest’s second book and follows on from the story told in his first book – St Vincent’s Home Boys which is mainly a memorial record of things witnessed and experienced during the years 1918 – 1924, when he was in a Roman Catholic orphanage for boys. Trawlers & Trawler Folk traces his adventures in the Humber fishing fleet between the wars and gives an insight into the harsh realities of sea fishing at that time. Ernest’s career in the fishing industry began by working from the city of Kingston upon Hull in several vessels such as the Thomas Hardy and Cape Barfleur. He developed a deep love of the sea and the natural beauties around him, while observing with wry humour the human stories and characters of his crew-mates.
Margaret and Barrie feel very proud and privileged to have been able to contribute to getting Ernest’s books published.
I was born on the 28th of March 1935 in London. My father was a busy General Practitioner in Hampstead. After my younger sister arrived we moved into Fenton House which is now a National Trust Property. I am told they have redecorated since I marked a wall with my boots during a temper tantrum.
I was educated at Charterhouse, Caius College Cambridge and St Bartholomews Hospital. After qualification I worked as a junior doctor in St Bartholomews itself, Great Ormond Street Hospital for sick children, the Royal Northern Hospital, Leicester and Portsmouth.
The hardest job was Senior House Officer at Great Ormond Street. I had one night off every five weeks. Somehow my wife, for we had married as soon as I qualified, having been engaged for two and half years, found time to have two boys and hold the family together. When I was appointed a consultant urological surgeon in Portsmouth I was at home so much that my elder son assumed I had lost my job and offered his pocket money back to help.
All this was fifty odd years ago and now I am retired. Since retirement I have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. This has meant a complete change of lifestyle, no golf, virtually no fishing and even Contract Bridge has its problems.
In the fifty-one years we have been married we have had seven grandchildren and one delightful grand stepson.
Apart from professional writings; chapters in text books, papers and case reports, I have written three articles in ‘Trout and Salmon’ and a potted biography of a local character. I have recently taken on the editorship of the quarterly newsletter of the ‘Friends of Nottingham’
P.G.Wodehouse is one of my heroes for I have always believed that English is a wonderful language for its beauty, accuracy and versatility. It is a privilege to write in it.
Fred was born in Stoke-on-Trent in 1941 during the bleak times of the war years. His father was a coal miner and his mother worked in the pottery industry. Stoke was a bleak place in those days. Money and jobs were hard to come by, but Fred received a good standard grammar school education. Favourite subjects. English, Art and Science. On leaving school at the age of 15, Fred gained employment as an apprentice motor engineer, gaining his City and Guilds. He later became a Regional Manager for a national motor components distributor.
Even as a young child, Fred was writing stories and relating them to anyone who would listen. He married in 1962 at the age of 21. When his son and daughter were born, his writing took a back seat. It was revived temporarily when he divorced in 1975, when a few more short stories were written, but viewed only as a pastime, he never attempted to get them published, and sadly most of them were lost in time.
In 2003 at the age of 62 Fred suffered a mild heart attack prompting him to take early retirement, emigrating to Cyprus, where he decided to take up his writing seriously. To date, Fred has had 3 novels published and 15 short stories, which he has not yet submitted for publishing.
One of his inspirations for writing was a T.V. series called ‘The Outer Limits.’ A series of stories based on the unknown. He enjoyed the story lines but found some of them, for him had a disappointing ending. This inspired him to write his stories in that genre, convinced he could give them a better ending. Fred also gets his ideas for his stories based on the observations of every day characters and happenings, adding a touch of the unknown and a twist in the tail.
Surprisingly Fred has two favourite authors from totally different backgrounds.
Charles Dickens and Stephen King. Charles Dickens because of his genius for description, placing a character in the room with you and making you part of that story.
And Stephen King for his ability to create a most incredible story that you find believable but unbelievable at the same time.
Gavin Milnthorpe is a commercial lawyer by day, and a writer of fictional nonsense by night. Second Hand Scott is his second novel. He has had some (small) success in writing for the stage. He can also be found trying his hand at stand-up comedy in and around East Anglia which, as his audiences will attest, is no laughing matter. He is married (punching above his weight) and is the father to two small (wonderful) children.
I’m Grahame Howard and I have been writing for around 20 years.
I was born in Nottingham but after finishing my time in the Army, I settled with my family in Dorset. I am married with 3 children and 5 grandchildren.
After becoming a Christian in 1980, I trained to be a pastor with The Elim Pentecostal movement and pastored a church in Dorset for a time. In 1993, I went to university and trained as a social worker. Following jobs working in Mental Health and Childcare I transferred to bereavement work in a hospice where I now remain.
In 1990 I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis after suffering with many symptoms for quite a few years. It completely took over my life and I became housebound. In 2000, after 10 years of suffering with this dreadful disease, I had stoma surgery for an ileostomy. There was really no other way forward.
As I had been writing for many years and because I could find no other book that would suit my needs, I decided to write my own book about ulcerative colitis which featured my 10 year ordeal. I felt led to put my thoughts down on paper so that they would hopefully help fellow bowel sufferers in the future.
All Bagged Up was accepted and published by Pneuma Springs in 2008/9. The book has opened up the way for me to give chats at local stoma groups and a local newspaper – The Western Gazette, interviewed me late last year, placing a nice editorial in their publication.
Since then, I have had 3 other titles published through Pneuma Springs. These are children’s fantasy books that form a series:
The Wishing Book
The Wishing Book 2 – Return to Mars
The Wishing Book 3 – Extermination
I am about a third of the way through The Wishing Book 4 but that is for the future.
I suppose my inspiration comes from within. I class myself as a creative person with interests in art, photography and writing. There is something within me that just needs to get out. Writing helps me fulfil this need and because I write mainly children’s books, I can re-live my childhood which is always good fun. My wife always says that I’m like a big kid anyway.
I suppose my dreams initially were to be a successful author. However, that ambition soon wanes after receiving many rejection letters from publishers. It is such a competitive area to break into. My dream had to come down a little and it changed to being a published author. Pneuma Springs gave me that opportunity in early 2009 and the feeling was amazing.
If you’re an author who is struggling to get published, don’t give up when the rejections come your way. Keep going. It is sheer determination that helps you get through. Keep going.
My books can be viewed on my website
booksbygrahamehoward.weebly.com
Country: United Kingdom River Tweed /Berwick upon Tweed / Scottish Borders
Hometown: Nottingham (my favourite get-away-from-it-all place)
Occupation: Retired, after lifetime spent working in the commercial printing trade from apprentice to manager/director/representative, consecutively of several international and regional companies.
Marital status: peacefully married for over 40 years with grown up son and daughter.
Education: Nottingham College of Art (after Sec. Mod) and sales training in UK and abroad
Religion: Church of England
Military Service: Four years in South Notts Hussars and now lifetime member of Royal Artillery Association
Interests and hobbies: I always enjoyed reading and started writing short stories verse, and novels, plus articles on current affairs, on retirement, in order to do something different and challenging. Other interests are gardening, touring Southern Counties, Northumberland and Scottish Borders, and snapshot photography. (Mainly landscapes and National Trust Gardens) Currently a member of Eastwood Writers Group and New Writers UK
Favourite Classical Authors: Thomas Hardy, John Buchan, Walter Scott, Conan Doyle,
Charles Dickens. Robert Louis Stevenson
Favourite Modern Authors: Peter Robinson, Ian Rankin, Simon Beckett, Michael Connelly, Nigel Tranter
Favourite books: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy, The Seven Pillars of Wisdom by T. E. Lawrence, Montgomery of Alamein (autobiography)
Favourite Poets: John Masefield and Rudyard Kipling
Published Writings: Murder mystery novel ‘Sins of the Father’ and ‘Captain Damnation’ and other strange tales (anthology of 28 short stories), Villains and a Pig called Monty (Nottingham Evening Post.) The Curse of Marry Tapp, (Northern life Magazine.) Remember Me, (First Edition Magazine.) Let loose the Dogs of War, (Open Magazine.) Little Nelson, (Northern Life Magazine.)
Many short stories: poems and blogs on Triond, Authspot. Trifter, Bookstove, plus YouTube videos
Email: harry@harryspen.co.uk
Website: http://www.harryspen.co.uk
Blog: www.harrysjots.blogspot.com
Updated Bio
Henry Disney was born in Dorset in 1938. From the age of 3-7 the War resulted in himself and two sisters being separated from their parents, who were stuck in the Sudan. On leaving school in 1957 he did his National Service in the Royal Artillery, becoming a bombardier on active service in Cyprus before becoming a subaltern on Salisbury Plain. He then read Natural Sciences at Cambridge University (with a part I in zoology, botany and geology and a part II in zoology). He was then Assistant Warden of the Flatford Mill Field Centre in Suffolk, mainly teaching field zoology. On marrying the Centre’s secretary, Audrey, they were obliged to leave for a lack of married accommodation. He was then the Medical Entomologist at the Dermal Leishmaniasis Research Unit in British Honduras (Belize), employed by the Ministry of Overseas Development. His research was mainly on the ecology of sandflies (Phlebotominae) and mammals in relation to a parasitic infection contracted by people working in the rainforest. He returned to Bristol University to study for a Certificate in Education. He then joined the Overseas Staff of the Medical Research Council as the Medical Entomologist at the Helminthisasis Research Unit in Cameroon. His work was mainly on the ecology of blackflies (Simuliidae) in relation to river blindness (Onchocerciasis). Having produced three children, each born on a different continent, he and Audrey returned to Britain; where from 1971-1984 he was Director of the Field Centre and National Nature Reserve at Malham Tarn in North Yorkshire. He also carried out research on the natural history and taxonomy of flies (Diptera); mainly on meniscus midges (Dixidae) and scuttle flies (Phoridae). From 1984-1998 he was the Field Studies Council Research Fellow in the Department of Zoology of Cambridge University, primarily researching the natural history and taxonomy of the scuttle flies of the world. Following his 60th birthday he was forced into early retirement by a lack of Research Council support for insect taxonomy, despite having by then been the author or co-author of more than 300 scientific papers on Diptera and despite Cambridge University having awarded him both a Doctor of Philosophy degree and a Doctor of Science degree for his published contributions to our knowledge of Diptera. He continues his research on the natural history, taxonomy and evolution of world scuttle flies at Cambridge University’s Department of Zoology.
Apart from the above sketch of his formal curriculum vitae, he has been involved in other activities. These include being co-founder and co-editor, with Dr Sally Corbet, of the acclaimed Naturalists’ Handbooks series, serving as a Ministerial Appointee on the Yorkshire Dales National Park Committee, serving on the World Health Organisation’s Scientific Working Group on Filiariasis and on their Advisory Panel for the Onchocerciasis Control Programme, being an adviser to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education on their field centre programme, being a Governor of Kirkby Malham Primary School, being a churchwarden of the parish of Kirkby Malham, and at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Cambridge, being a Pastoral Selector for the Anglican Church’s Advisory Board of Ministry; being a participant in the Royal Entomological Society’s Project Wallace expedition to Sulawesi in 1985; and being a Director of Dervish Mine Clearance Limited (concerned with clearing antipersonnel landmines). Otherwise, and (according to him) far more important than all the above, he is a husband, father and grandfather.
I was born on the Mediterranean island of Malta wanting to become a medical doctor. My parents strived hard to give me the best education on the island. Life is all about priorities and my mother would buy a book for me rather than a new shirt for herself. And so my parents fed my imagination and nurtured my ambition. I slaved away at medical school and I graduated in Medicine and Surgery in 1993. My dream came true. But the profession is not without its stress. There is heartbreak when faced with incurable diseases, things that only God could cure. This was when I started to write. I went home after work and wrote volumes. All the stress seeps out as ideas flood my mind and materialise on paper. I feel complete when I’m in my own little world, creating.
Seventeen years ago I moved to the UK. And for anyone out there thinking of moving around…beware. Nowhere is home. When I’m here I constantly dream of that scorching Mediterranean sun, deep blue seas and soft sand caressing my toes. I long for the loud boisterous conversations and the warm gigantic hugs….Oh nothing beats a scorching Mediterranean summer. Try it and you’ll see. But when I’m there I start to miss the luscious green countryside, the tranquillity of the rolling hills of Britain, the polite good mornings, the orderly queues, and most of all I miss the fairness, opportunities and rewards for hard work. I grew to love my adopted country, but I love my roots too. It makes me wonder….where is home for me?
Courtney and Jacquelyn held various executive positions in the film industry. Courtney was V.P. of Production for Gladden Entertainment (FABULOUS BAKER BOYS, WEEKEND AT BERNIE’S, MANNEQUIN II, MILLENNIUM, SHORT TIME). Jacquelyn was a freelance DVD producer (Fox, Sony, and Warner Brothers titles). Their dark comedy short, COMMITTED, won Best Directorial Debut in the New York International Independent Film Festival. Their screenplay, OPERA RATS won Best Screenplay at the First Glance Film Screenplay Competition. Their feature film script, DEPUTY DOG, is under option. Both attained MFA degrees from USC – Peter Stark Program. Their company is Mesquite Entertainment®.
Primarily screenwriters, FIERCE THUNDER is their first novel, but they have others in the wings. Available for interviews, they spend time between Los Angeles and Dalhart, Texas. Both are avid golfers and met on the golf course. They have six rescue cats and a rescue German Shepherd, who thinks she’s a cat.
James McCarthy lives with his wife Carmel and son Richard in Dublin Ireland. He has written features for the press and ‘Me and the Foreign Girl’ is his first novel. He was inspired to write it after reading, ‘The Perfect Storm.’ He has read some of his short stories on the East Coast Radio.
He is a member of the Wednesday Café Writers and they meet each week in Carysfort College Dublin. They critique each other’s work and drink loads of coffee to increases their creative edge. The fact they enjoy it is of secondary importance.
He has a number of interests and hobbies. He cycles a lot and is also a member of the Countrywide Hillwalking Association (CHA). At weekends he is usually found walking somewhere in the Dublin or Wicklow hills with the CHA. He is a member of, ProBus, Rotary, the Tuesday Club and the Crab-apples. He says, ‘it’s is a privileged to have them all as friends’.
He has worked in several areas, Teaching, Career Guidance, Psychology and Statistics. He has a Ph.D from Trinity College Dublin.
Jeremy Lousada was born in Somerset in 1941. He grew up in Italy, Austria and Tanzania where his father was in the Colonial service. On leaving school he served for a year with the Royal Hampshire Regiment but a yearning for Africa drew him back there and in 1960 he joined the Rhodesian Police in which he served for ten years. On leaving he worked for a while in industrial security, the civil service and Local Government, ending up as Town Clerk of Kariba, then the largest hydro-electric project and man made lake in the world. In 1981 after Independence he moved into the management of hotels and sports clubs, in Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia, finally becoming the Bursar of a group of private schools in Zimbabwe.
He met his wife Jean in 1969 and they were married in 1970 and have two daughters and four grandsons, one family in Britain and one in Australia.
His passion is boats, and in 1995 after living through a minor revolution in Malawi, and the children having left home, they decided to take time out and do something different.
Everything which could not fit into two suitcases was sold and a 26 foot yacht, Rainbow, bought in England. They sailed her via the Rhine, Main and Danube to the Black Sea then through the Bosporus and Corinth to the West of Greece before returning to Zimbabwe.
The decision to leave Zimbabwe was made in 2003 and they now lease a small convenience store in Cheltenham. Rainbow was sold and as much time as is possible is now spent in France on a small barge, Pebble.
Two Dachshunds at Troy was written initially as a present for his wife. His second book “A to Z of Englishness” is available as an e-book from Amazon, written as a foreigner’s guide to modern England, it is a humorous and sometimes satirical look at modern England.
I started out as a teacher with the minimum qualification of a teacher’s certificate, which enabled me to teach in any local authority school, but after several years of successful teaching, I decided that I wanted to do a more specialist job and went on to do a degree in art and craft. This led to the qualification of ‘Art Teacher’s Diploma (ATD) and to a post as an adviser to teachers in one local authority.
My writing developed through helping my colleagues with their teaching. As my career developed, I gained a variety of experience, moving on from being a classroom teacher, to becoming a head teacher in a small school to a post as adviser to primary school teachers. I enjoyed this work very much and spent some time running courses for teachers as well as looking at what was happening in their schools and doing all I could to help teachers develop their work. The job involved running courses for teachers as well as working with them in the classroom. It was at this stage that I started writing books for teachers. My first book – ‘Art and Craft in the primary school’ was published by A. and C Black in 1961. It sold well and went on to be published in new editions at a later stage.
My final post was that of Chief Inspector of schools for the County of Surrey. Here I had a large team of some fifty inspectors who all worked with the teachers in the Surrey schools. We worked together to help our head teachers and teachers do well and help their students achieve good results. I went on to write and publish many books to help the teachers in our schools over the years. Altogether I have written and had published some thirty-nine books on different aspects of education, many of which have gone into second and even third editions.
As well as running courses for teachers, I also received many invitations to lecture teachers in other parts of the country and abroad. I lectured in South Africa, Japan, Geneva and Sweden as well as in many part of the United Kingdom. This gave me a broad perspective on education which was a valuable background to my writing and to my daily work.
I studied for a Masters degree in education and eventually, just after I retired, to a PhD. I was also awarded an OBE, for services to education, during my time in Surrey.
I have also had three fiction books published since my retirement (with thanks to Pneuma Springs). I very much enjoy the writing process and shall probably write several more fiction books.
Apart from a few disastrous years after I left university (UCL) trying to make banking my career, I found myself a square peg in a round hole. I ‘escaped’ into the teaching profession and after forty years teaching all ages from infant to 6th form, I became a headmaster.
During these years I was secretary of the local teachers’ union and reported their meetings in the local paper. I was involved with the numerous educational/political issues that arose. In addition I wrote a short story for a Chicago magazine. I also wrote a short story for the Daily Mail about the death and resurrection of ‘Oscar’, my children’s ancient goldfish. Years later I read the same article in an American magazine. I have a collection of short stories which I hope to publish.
After retirement I became a lecturer jointly with the W.E.A. and Sheffield University.
I liked foreign travel and on the sesquicentennial of the Oregan Trail (the greatest land migration in history) followed the trek from St. Louis to Oregan.
I visited the U.S.S.R. and after Moscow and Lenningrad journeyed eastward via Tashkent and the ‘Golden Road to Samarkand’. On the borders of North Afganistan I visited one of the villages and was lost in time. Paradoxically, there I found in the midst of native dwellings, all wired up together with electric cables, barely above the head, a modern hypermarket, selling everything from TVs to soap powders – astonishing! When I was invited to share their ‘sheep’s eye’ soup, it felt like having tea with the Taliban!
The highlight of my tours was prompted by H.V.Morton’s ‘In Search of Ireland’. Following his tour of eighty years ago I saw Ireland as it was and then as it went through its many stages of poverty and affluence with the E.E.C. and also through violence and peace. It is truly ‘In Search of Ireland Again’.
I was born in the village of Cwmafan near Port Talbot in South Wales in 1948. My mother was a housewife who had six children, of which I am the youngest. My father’s profession was coal hewer and he worked underground in the local Bryn and Glyncorrwg mines. I married my wife, Adrianne, in 1971 and our son Ian was born in 1979. Ian and his wife, Tina, are expecting their first child soon.
I attended Glanafan Grammar School in Port Talbot from 1960 to 1966. My first full time job was as an industrial chemist with the Steel Company of Wales (now Corus). After five years I joined BP Chemicals, Baglan Bay in a similar capacity.
Sport has played a major part in my life. At various times I have cycled, played squash, tennis, soccer and cricket, but my main sport was rugby where I played mainly centre and wing. In my early thirties I suffered a torn knee cartilage and was forced to retire from rugby. Wanting to keep fit, I started running and joined Port Talbot Harriers. I have been Welsh Masters javelin champion in my age group since 1998. I am currently treasurer of Port Talbot Harriers and president of Welsh Masters Athletics.
I retired in 2002 after just over thirty years service with BP. In line with the general decline of industry in South Wales, BP shut down soon after.
I enjoyed writing essays in school, but was influenced by the industrial nature of the area to follow a scientific path. I enjoy all types of music and also play guitar. I have been in several bands and my current project is a surfing instrumental band called ‘Marconi Beach Sound’. It seemed only natural then to write a few songs. I also wrote a few poems and when I retired I started a writing course which led me into other forms of writing. To date I have had several short stories and poems published in magazines and have also written three books.
The first was a Welsh language biography of singer/songwriter Geraint Griffiths called ‘Hewl’. The second, ‘Chester to Chepstow’, is the account of my 600 mile cycle journey around the coastline of Wales. The third, ‘Lyricks and Limericks’, is a light-hearted look at the relationship between song lyrics and poetry.
‘Hewl’ was launched on the Welsh language TV station S4C and all of my books have been featured in the local press. I have won the Acorn magazine first prize for flash fiction and recently won our local poetry societies monthly challenge.
I am currently working on a book of poetry aimed at 9-12 year olds, with the emphasis on humour, which will hopefully be published soon. I want to continue writing songs, poems and short stories and hope that people get as much enjoyment out of reading them as I get from writing them.
I was born in Gedling, Nottingham, in 1943. My working life was as follows: factory worker, warp knitter, soldier (twelve years), British Coal employee (twenty years) and for the final ten years I worked at Nottingham University.
A couple of years before I retired I began writing by penning the odd poem. Short stories followed as my enthusiasm for writing increased. My first novel, Brook Breasting, is the direct result of one of those short stories. Several chapters of a sequel are already on the ‘drawing board’. At some stage I would like to put together an anthology of my short stories and poems.
On my retirement I joined the Eastwood Writers Group. I enjoy the once a week meetings with like minded people. Listening to what others have to offer and their different approaches to writing, is an education.
Apart from trying to make sure my work is grammatically correct and the punctuation sound, I don’t follow any other rules of writing. As for ideas and inspiration, well, mine come from studying people and going for walks in the fresh air. It also helps to have a notebook and pen handy at all times.
Julius Falconer completed six enjoyable years of university studies abroad (particularly slow, our Julius) before working as a translator back in the UK. Thinking that he could earn more as a teacher, to fund his lavish life-style, he took a PGCE at Leeds University and duly turned to teaching. He slaved away at the chalk-face for twenty-six long years in both Cornwall and Scotland before retiring to grow cabbages in Yorkshire, where he still lives. His wife of thirty-three years unfortunately died suddenly in 2000. He has one daughter, married. In 2009, looking to fill his new-found leisure profitably(?), he started to write detective novels and is still happily scribbling away seventeen books later. His interests include music, reading, walking, gardening and genealogy.
Julius Falconer is a member of the Crime Writers’ Association.
As well as some booklets and several dozen papers in professional journals, he is the author of eighteen murder mysteries featuring the diffident and cultured Inspector Wickfield. Because some of the stories are set in Worcestershire, he has featured in the Worcester News, on BBC Radio Hereford and Worcester and in the online Newsletter for the Worcestershire tourist board.
I was born in 1964 near the town of Mulheim West Germany whilst my father was serving in the British Army as a Sergeant Major. I was the second of two sons, the first of which went on to serve as air crew in the Royal Air Force.
Around 1967 my father was posted back to England where we settled once again near Durham. My life was good and secure with plenty of encouragement from my immediate family. By 1971 our army life was over and we were on the move again to live near family on the south coast where we still remain today.
My schooling was not dynamic in any way as I floated along in the mainstream achieving average results at best in most subjects. The most vivid memory that remains with me from my time at school was being paid a compliment in front of the whole class by our most hard line teacher at the time for a fictional story I had written about a mongoose and a cobra, quite something at the time for a child usually unnoticed in the class from day-to-day.
From school I went to work like most young people, to do any job I could get at the time but always hoped that one day I would be able to achieve a reasonable stature in life. Through relentless hard work and complete focus I eventually entered the motor industry and worked my way up to position of Dealer Principal in a company that I have spent the last twelve years in order to support my wife and son, and also my passion for WW2 History–a passion that I have had for as long as I can remember.
Seven years ago I joined a WW2 Living History Re-enactment Group based in the South East to live out my dreams of experiencing times gone by. I regularly attend public shows around the country as well as offers of film work. It has been at these events, where I have met elderly veterans from various countries, and from listening to their varied experiences combined with my own, that sowed the seed of my fledgling WW2 Eastern Front action novel “Alles Fur Deutschland”.
I was born in Malta in 1961 where my father was doing his National Service. I was brought up in Guisborough, Cleveland, where my father was a local solicitor and my mother was a primary school teacher.
I joined the Women’s Royal Army Corps as a Data Telegraphist in 1979 and then left in 1982 having served in Cyprus for over a year. I then worked in local government in Swindon, Wiltshire within the Finance Department. Having spent two years doing my “A” levels at night school, I decided in 1989 to give up work and return to the North East to go to university. I was offered a place at the University of Teesside and spent a fantastic three years studying politics, international relations, sociology and history. I was awarded a first class honours degree in Humanities in 1992, and then I went to York University for one year to do my Post Graduate Certificate in Education.
As a newly qualified teacher I was successful in gaining a job at Grangefield School in Stockton on Tees as a history teacher. I have been there ever since, although I am now the Head of History in the school. After I had been teaching for a while I decided that I wanted to further my studies and I embarked on a Master of Philosophy research degree programme at the University of Teesside, researching Thornaby Aerodrome and 608 Squadron. My research meant that I had to interview many of the veterans who had served either at the Aerodrome or as part of the squadron. Many were in their eighties and did not understand the idea of the degree, they thought that I was writing a book, so when I had completed the MPhil, I wrote the book as a thank you to all of the men and the families who gave up their time to talk to me and to share their photographs and their memories.
Over the research period I have written several newspaper articles and I was also the Project Historian with the Thornaby Gateway Spitfire Group, who had successfully placed a bid for funding to build a spitfire VB on Bader Roundabout in Thornaby as a lasting tribute to the men who had served at the Aerodrome. Around the area where the aircraft is sited, there are 3 interpretation boards which I wrote, which contain a potted history of Thornaby Aerodrome prior to World War II, during World War II and after World War II.
I am now working on my second book which is about the Auxiliary Air Force as a whole. The area fascinates me because the Auxiliary Air Force was made up of men who volunteered to give up their time to train to fight for their country whilst still holding down regular jobs. I love history, and in particular local history. It has given me the opportunity to talk to so many interesting people and I intend to carry on my research in the future.
How I got here
I was brought up in Northumberland, England, and lived in Oxford, Southwell, and London, before moving to France in 2003.
My husband, Michael, is an inventor of educational and social games. He also writes educational material with me and others. We have one daughter, Cath, who has illustrated one of my books.
My career took me through teaching, social work and practice teaching. As an educator I found it sad that students only read enough to complete their academic assignments, so became passionate about making social work theories come alive for them.
I began writing in the mid-nineties, when I was commissioned to write some training workbooks with Nigel Horner, an established author and inspired social work teacher. This whetted my appetite for writing training materials in a soundly theory based, friendly and accessible style.
So in 1997 4M Publications was born, and still lives on as Kindred Games and Books
www.kindredgamesandbooks.co.uk
My particular interests are in social care methods, groupwork, communication skills, and teamwork. During my practice years I met so many wonderful staff members who were undervalued both by themselves and others: ‘I’m only a care assistant’. I found that their lives could be enriched by a small amount of productive training, if this were delivered in a non-jargonistic way, emphasizing the skills they already possessed, instead of the theories they didn’t!
My latest revelation has been how useful the computer is as a tool, both for finding information and for teaching. I completed an on-line tutor’s course to improve my skills in communicating this way. It is wonderful how such distance learning can widen access for people with learning difficulties, the housebound, and the socially unconfident.
Finally, learning should be fun, and can make all kinds of everyday experiences more interesting and rewarding. The adage of Kindred Games and Books is ‘take the material seriously, but not yourself!’
Published works
I was born in Brazil and I have been living in England for the past 20 years.
I have got three children and I work as a part-time Teaching Assistant in my local school.
I have been writing children’s stories for the past 10 years. I started by writing stories for picture books, then short stories and it gradually built up to a long work of fiction.
I always wanted to write a fantasy story with little, different twists where the hero would not be so “nice” or “innocent” but on the contrary, a bit naughty, with problems and try to show that even a person like that could change and be useful for a good cause and become a “hero”. In my book, when it comes to the quest itself, I did not want it to be gloomy or ugly, but beautiful and tempting. I tried to show that appearances can really be deceptive and also dangerous. The quest is not to destroy the villain himself but his legacy.
Ultimately, I would like to write a children’s novel that could be fun and open-minded with a clever, enthralling plot that could also be unforgettable.
I hope my book will be well received and children will be able to enjoy it and, “maybe” learn something good from it and make them feel a bit better about themselves.
Maudlyn Chinda is an educationist by profession lecturing at the Newham College of Further Education in London. She holds a first degree in Education and a Master’s degree in International Relations and Strategic Studies. She holds the level 6 Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS).
She has a passion for children and growing new churches. She was ordained a deaconess in 1995 and is a minister in the children’s ministry. Maudlyn is also a qualified assessor. As an assessor, Maudlyn has been involved in the realization of the eradication of illiteracy in the United Kingdom by the year 2012. She has been involved in training and assessing people on their jobs to achieve the National Vocational Qualification in Customer Service, Health and Social Care, Child Care, Business Administration, Laundry Services. She is also the director of B&M Consultants Ltd.
The author is married to Barrister Ben Chinda and has four children.
I was brought up in Nottinghamshire, England and lived there until I was 68. I now live in France with my wife, Maggie, who was a social worker and lecturer, and is now an author. We have a daughter, Cath, who lives in the UK.
I started training to be an architect when I left school, but eventually decided this was not my métier. When I was in my late teens, I started a hobby of inventing board and card games and turned it into a career when I became self-employed at the age of 39. Eventually I became an author as well. Most of the games and books were family orientated, the rest were specifically educational. I also loved cryptic crosswords which resulted in a couple of books. My other interests are similar to Maggie’s; groupwork, teamwork and communication.
Creativity has always intrigued me, and I have spent a lot of time trying to improve my ability to come up with ideas, and also to try to help others in the same way. I love maths and English, which is a help in grappling with such a complex area of human activity. Kate Adie once came to our daughter’s school’s speech day and gave riveting examples of how so many things she had learned at school had been valuable in coping with various situations, many dangerous, in her job. This struck a chord:
Designing a building – I never got to do it in real life, but I designed many boards which I think my tutors would have been proud of!
Office administration – I enjoyed developing new systems better than doing routine jobs – what a surprise! Making the office run more smoothly was an excellent springboard for both game play and groupwork.
Parenting – How does one amuse a 2-year old, a 10-year old, a 15-year old? To save my sanity I devised little family games which led to some of the developed versions described in my latest book Once Upon a Game.
So, I often think about how I have found so many things I learned at school, in architecture, in admin jobs, in marriage and parenting, in DIY and in sport, to be such an inspiration in my career.
I and/or my works have been featured on:
I would like to continue writing as and when the inspiration comes. I am available for authors’ interviews, to write feature articles, for web chats and/or guest blogs.
Michael W. Wedgeworth Jr., MBA, RT (R) has been in leadership roles since 1993. He initially started his career in the United States Army where he completed his education in Radiologic Technology and served in the United States and Europe. After leaving the service in 1997, Michael has worked for major health institutions in Houston, Texas and Galveston, Texas. He completed his Associates of Radiology from the University of Louisville, Bachelor’s from University of Maryland, MBA from the University of Phoenix and Performance Improvement Program at University of Texas.
I am from the North East of England from a town called Grimsby where I spent my whole childhood until my time at university. There was only a small Jewish community at this time and unfortunately this has dwindled to almost nothing in the last few years. But I look back very fondly at my home town and the beautiful small synagogue I used to attend.
I am currently a research scientist working in the Biotech sector. My work primarily involves engineering and artificially evolving proteins to improve their properties for study and drug discovery. I feel very fortunate to be working in science as I have the opportunity to investigate the workings of biology on a molecular level and play the most interesting game of all; tinkering with nature. I have always been religious on some level but I have grown to be more observant of Jewish traditions later in life while I undertook my degree in science. This learning in both science and religion initially created conflicts within my mind, how could they both be true and what of the perceived contradictions between religion and science. However I soon realised that once one scratches the surface of these two worlds of thought, these initial contradictions dissolve and I realised both science and religion are not only compatible but on the same page, both enlightening the other. A famous proverb in Judaism is that one can study the Torah (Old Testament) and understand the world, or one can study the world and understand the Torah. After some time I put my thoughts down onto paper and eventually worked these thoughts into a book. I have published a book on the parallels between science and Genesis called “The First Six Days”.
I hope that my work can help religious individuals from the Abrahamic faiths to understand and embrace science. Science is such a vibrant, interesting field of study and is one of humanities’ greatest tools to better our lives and understand our world. Science and religion may be speaking a different language, but they are both a journey into reality on different levels.
Neal James has been writing since 2008 when his first novel. ‘A Ticket to Tewkesbury’, was released. Since that time eight more books have followed, and ‘Short Stories Volume Two’ is his tenth work to be published in as many years.
He has appeared in both the national and local press, and has also been a regular at branches of Waterstones and local reading groups and libraries in his home counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire.
An accountant for over 40 years, that training has given him an insight into much of the background required in the production of his writing so far. He lives in Derbyshire with his wife and family.
Find out more about Neal James and all his writing on his website: www.nealjames.webs.com
In the Nineties Neil won the Sussex Playwrights Award and The Richard Burton Poetry Competition, going on later to take an MA in Creative Writing specialising in Poetry and Novel writing. Two plays Pristine in Blue and A View Of Glass Mountains were professionally performed recently and in 2016 his novel Lemon Seas was published with Pneuma Springs. Neil’s poems have appeared in The Cannon’s Mouth, Erbacce, Dreamcatcher, The French Literary Review and many other mag-azines. Having had poetry published in Orbis, he has also had a short story, Key Notes, published in the magazine. 2019 saw Neil collaborate with fellow poet Bob Devereux on an illustrated performance of their poems about Painters and Painting at St Ives Literary Festival. See more at his website: Neilbeardmore.com
I was born in Pancras London 1939. I went to sea at the age of 16 in 1955. I lived in Mitcham Surrey until 1964. When I married an Australian lass I moved to Melbourne.
I have worked as a Merchant Marine Steward, Forestry and bridge worker, cook, publican and salesman.
Life at sea and travel to many lands inspired me to take up where my English teacher left off.
My first effort at a novella was ‘Drifting Beneath the Red Duster’ and I’m now working on a new book.
I would like to bring my grandfather’s history as a professional soldier from the age of 14 in 1892 Indian Army, Boer War, WW1, village postman and musician to life in my next book.
I enjoy golf and long walks on the Mornington Peninsula where the sea and countryside are very special.
Nicola is an experienced Public Health Nutritionist working professionally in the field of nutrition since 1998. She qualified with a Master’s degree in Nutrition at King’s College London, following a Bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Science at Kingston University and is registered with the professional body for the registration and regulation of nutritionists in the UK – The Association for Nutrition.
Since graduating, she has worked with a number of leading food companies including Yakult, Kellogg’s, Muller and GSK Consumer Healthcare, providing guidance and playing an active role in the Government’s public health agenda by contributing to Government consultations, advising on product reformulations and supporting evidence-based communications to consumers and healthcare professionals.
Her passion for nutrition and health was brought to the forefront within the faith-based arena later on, where she continues to serve as a credible voice, educating on basic nutrition principles through workshops, seminars, one-to-one consultations and the media – having appeared in the national press and being nutrition spokesperson for Premier Christian Radio.
Nicola first put pen to paper after the passing of her father from prostate cancer and with her debut publication “The Creator’s Diet – Biblical Insights for Healthy Eating” widely available for purchase, she is now an author in her own right. Her subsequent publication ‘The Creator’s Diet Explained’ delves further into exactly what the Creator’s Diet is, why it is important for health and how we can easily implement it as part of our lifestyle. Her passion is to see the tide of ill health reversed through educating and empowering individuals to make positive food choices that will impact their overall health, that of their families and generations to come.
Nicola resides in the UK with her daughter, loves travelling, al fresco dining and singing.
‘She is available for nutrition consultations, media comment and workshops. Get Online Support.
Born to parents who were both accomplished writers, it seemed inevitable that I would inherit the writing gene! I moved to England from Nigeria nearly two decades ago in search of adventure and to pursue my career. Although I studied medicine and am now practising as a General Practitioner, writing (and reading) has always been the one thing I enjoyed doing and could get lost in. I have been writing for as long as I can remember.
I love to write about issues that touch me deeply, and my inspiration usually comes from the lives of ordinary people around me. My relationship with God is paramount and affects the things I write about and the way I see things in general.
In addition to Pearls of Wisdom, I have written and self published two other books, Lord I Want a Baby and Beauty for Ashes as well as co-authored an anthology of poetry and prose based on women in the Bible, Perfume – the story of a Saviour. In addition I have also had several short stories and articles published in both Christian and secular magazines. A few years ago, I had the privilege of appearing on a women’s chat show on cable television with the co-authors of Perfume – the story of a Saviour.
I am currently involved in leading and shaping the Women’s Ministry at my local church and have been a speaker several times at our conferences as well as during our Sunday Services. I hope to spend more time writing in the future as I believe that it is a powerful way of getting the gospel out and reaching more people than are in my immediate sphere of influence.
I was born in Bexley in 1944 and although I have written poetry most of my life, only started writing a novel five years ago and found the creation of “The Two Lands” an exciting experience whereby the book almost wrote itself.
Having come from an artistic background – my father was an artist – I have been a full-time professional artist since 1987 though am now retired and only pursue my watercolour painting when a commission is required. I created the cover illustration for my book too. I have been engaged on and off with writing the sequel to “The Two Lands” and this is about two-thirds complete.
Apart from receiving a prize in Japan for my watercolour painting, I obtained First Prize in the Bexley Adult Literary Competition in 1977 for my poem “Open Spaces.”
I continue to aspire to the writing of more fantasy material.”
Peter Hodgson was born in Preston, Lancashire. From an early age he felt the desire to write detective stories. After reading Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles, he produced a novel and a series of short stories based on a Victorian detective whose methods were similar to those of the great Sherlock. The stories were written for fun – but at least it was a start.
During his years at secondary school Peter taught himself to play rock and roll/country piano, and he eventually formed a band called ‘Great Balls of Fire.’ He played and sang on the clubland circuit for thirty years, and during this time he recorded several albums and a CD called Rockin’ Daddy, which was featured on Radio 2.
The 1970s saw a stint at Poulton Teacher Training College where he earned a Certificate in Education. His chosen subjects were ecology and humanities. Peter’s dreams of becoming a teacher were never fulfilled. For the last thirty years he has worked as an energy analyst at a major industrial site in the north-west of England.
Now retired from music – but still working as an analyst – Peter has returned to his love of writing, though he admits it is difficult to find the time to do it. However, he has had two books published by Pneuma Springs, and has ideas for a third book which he hopes to develop and complete in the fullness of time.
Peter’s interests include true crime, criminal profiling, the paranormal, science, philosophy and wild flowers. He enjoys watching crime documentaries and films – particularly psychological thrillers. He is married and has three adult children.
Everyday he takes his chocolate Labrador, Sonny, for a walk. ‘It’s important to be able to escape the daily grind, ‘ he says. ‘Whether it be walking, reading or writing a novel, life becomes much more meaningful.’
Peter Wilks is a graduate of London School of Theology and formerly the Chief Officer of MV Logos, the mission ship run by Operation Mobilisation, which sails around the globe taking the gospel to the nations. Since then Peter taught with Rev. Rod Anderson at Liberty Bible Training Centre and assisted Rod and Julie Anderson in the formation and ongoing growth of the international prayer ministry; Prayer for the Nations. More recently he is on the Bible teaching staff with Christ for the Nations UK and involved in pastoral ministry. Peter accepted the position as global communications co-ordinator for Go To The Nations. Peter travels regularly abroad with GTTN teams to support churches in Europe and further a-field, seeking to encourage and raise up the next generation of the church. Peter has a strong desire to ‘see people grow’ which regularly engages him and his wife Felicity in teaching and discipleship. They have three grown-up children and live in Bognor Regis.
Philip L Moore born (Philip Maw) on the 5th of the 5th 1961 in Basingstoke Hampshire.
My father was a bit of a conman , so much of my childhood was spent being moved from place to place, and living in children’s homes, by the time I left school in 1977, I had attended 22 schools “which I can remember” possibly more!
Like many in this situation one tends to day dream and escape into another world, and I would dream up stories. I have always been into aviation, so most of what I write has an aviation theme. So to become a writer was a real challenge for me.
I am a published author of four books “Utterly Ridiculous” an aviation comedy, “Therapy” a book of poems, “Eternal Wish” an aviation themed romance novel, and Kez an aviation related teenage adventure story. I also brought out an E-book which I cancelled called Destination Love, but cancelled this as I have found e-books don’t work well in the UK.
My work has been covered in several newspapers all over the south of England (see website 🙂 www.philiplmoore.com
I am currently focusing my manuscripts on script writing although I have five manuscripts ready waiting for publishing deals.
I am always happy to hear from anyone who has purchased one of my books and feedback is greatly appreciated.
Polly Morten has been involved with horses all her life, and has competed successfully in dressage, show jumping and eventing. She lives in the country with her husband and three dogs.
Rachel K Brown was born to afro-Caribbean parents in October 1971 and grew up in Ipswich, the East of England.
Having completed her secondary education she went on to pursue her long desired career in Social Work where she worked with the elderly, children and families and vulnerable adults. During the years of studying and working as a Social Worker, Rachel regularly found time to develop her creativity in the form of writing poetry or prose for pleasure.
Although writing has always been a passion for Rachel, it was only in her early thirties where a small article was published as a star letter of the month for a Christian magazine that she began to think that maybe others may be interested in what she had to write.
Using her writings, Rachel desires to raise the profile of what being a Christian is all about, moving away from the religious form, rules regulations and politics and dealing more with the essence of creation and how to deal with life in a positive way and become effective at home and in the society, this is what her first book “What is hanging on your branch?” has focussed on. Rachel’s inspiration comes from the lifestyle and principles of Christ Jesus; in this she finds comfort, instruction and encouragement. Rachel feels that if these principles are applied to everyday life experiences and circumstances then people become better not bitter.
Rachel currently writes articles for ‘Keep the Faith’ monthly magazine which is read nationwide by over 3,000 churches. This has been a great opportunity since having her book published to be able to continue writing regularly and promoting her book. Rachel has received positive feedbacks from those that have read her book and have been asked on numerous occasions when she will write her second book and if she can write something on relationships, this is something that she may pursue in future.
Ray was born towards the latter end of the war in 1941 in Masborough, Rotherham, close to the heart of the industrial steelmaking area of South Yorkshire. The eldest son of a family of four brothers, it was always envisaged that sport would play a large part of his life. Retiring at the age of 66, and now having the time to devote to his love of running, he has managed to take on bigger and more adventurous challenges each year. Called upon to fill a gap Ray delivered a motivational talk to a large group of fitness instructors, ending the night with a standing ovation, and has now launched himself into the speaking business. The decision to write this book has been the hardest task Ray has taken on to date.
As both a theologian and a pastor, Richard Bradbury brings both scholarship and compassion to his writing. Drawing upon his academic achievements (BA (Honours) in Theology and an MSc in Management), Richard has set up the Basileia Bible School to train those in ministry and those aspiring to ministry in theology and Biblical studies.
Other books by him include, It’s the End of the World as we know it World (a handbook to the End Times), Losing My Religion (The Radical Message of the Kingdom), Everybody Hurts (A foray into the Minor Prophets) and The Great Beyond (Restoring Women to their God-given Role in Ministry).
Married with 4 grown up children and based in Beverley, he is the leader of Beverley Community Church (part of the Ground Level Network). He also has some national responsibilities with Churches together in England. Previously, he spent 25 years working in industry which enables him to bring both a theological and practical dimension to his work.
I am 46 years of age and live near Newton Abbot in South Devon, England. I started writing about four years ago due to a lack of fulfilment in my work and social life. So far I have had two books published by Pneuma Springs Publishing – ‘An Icy Step To Oblivion’ and ’90 Minutes Is Not Enough’.
When I am writing I feel alive and inspired. My latest project which is a sci-fi/horror called “Dreamers” is currently finished but yet to be published. Currently I am back working full time for Job Centre Plus but would love to be in the position to go back to writing again in the near future. I do have ideas for other manuscripts which I would certainly like to develop.
Paul Quinn was born in Paisley in 1965 to a musician father Robert (Bobby) and mother Agnes. He has one sister Shirley.
He was blessed with his fathers talent for music which has been a big outlet in his life; from being a head chorister to fronting bands and writing songs. Paul has fortunately managed to keep his voice through his cancer treatments.
This is Paul’s first book, written or published, he didn’t consider writing until his experiences with cancer made him see it as a cathartic way to help himself and others.
Since cancer, Paul has started a degree in counselling at Canterbury Christchurch university and is also involved with Macmillan Cancer Voices.
Paul lives on the outskirts of Dover, enjoying his university course and still hopeful of achieving his ‘Bucket List’ of driving an Aston Martin DB9 Volante and singing some songs with Jools Holland and his orchestra.
Born in Bridlington East Yorkshire in June 1933 the youngest of four children, my father was a self employed painter and decorator. I attended school there from age four until 1939 when my father, fearing a threat of an invasion by German forces moved the family to Manchester. This has always seemed to be an odd move to me as Manchester was a prime target for German bombing raids. However, at age six one doesn’t question an adult’s motives. After two years the family moved back to the relative safety of the coast, although the town was still being bombed.
Surviving the war years the newly elected Labour Government made provisions for further education for those young people of my age. Taking advantage of this, I moved to the art college in Hull as a day pupil with the aim to study pottery design, but this only lasted a year as my real wish was to go to sea for a career, much to my father’s anger, as he had designs for me to work for him as my brother had done, I enrolled at the Nautical College, in Hull. In 1950 I joined my first ship, also in Hull to commence a four year apprenticeship for deck officer, at the end of which I took the second mates certificate.
In the following thirty-two years and further exams, I rose through the ranks to become Captain of VLCCs (Very Large Crude Carriers) of over 300,000tons. Retiring in 1986 I moved to Pender Island, BC.
Strange though it may seem I never had any real writing aspirations until I built a forty foot, foam core sloop. As often happens, or so I’ve been told, due to the very satisfying nature of building a boat one has this almost insatiable desire to build yet another one, due to cost this avenue was not pursued, but the desire was allayed by writing about this in a book called, ‘Building a Foam Cored Boat.’ Not only did this experience satisfy the desire, it has prompted me to write on further subjects.
To date I have had four books published; ‘Travels with Himself’ an account of circumnavigation of Vancouver Island, and ‘A Hole in the Ocean,’ an attempt to sail single-handed around the world which sadly ended in a storm in the Bass Strait between Australia and Tasmania. ‘Sharks that Walk on Land’ an account of the last two weeks of Captain Cook’s life and what measures were taken to get back his remains for burial.
It is my intention to pursue this most fascinating, new found writing experience to the fullest.
Ron Palmer. Pender Island. BC. Canada.
Ronald Ooms is a 34 year-old Belgian author. He worked for almost a decade as a youth worker for numerous socio-cultural non-profit organizations. Since his childhood he has been interested in everything related to World War II thanks to the stories told by his grandparents. For more than a decade he travelled to historic places relating to the War whenever possible. Some years ago he became a qualified journalist and started to write for a local newspaper. His close friendship with Clancy Lyall over the years resulted into the writing of the book, Silver Eagle. He’s also got a passion for motor-sports and hopes to write something about F1 Racing one day. Ronald is available for interviews, even abroad. Should the distance be too far or he can’t make the trip, he would gladly do a telephone conference. He resides in the city of Geel in the north of Belgium.
I was born of English parents in Hendon, Middlesex, London, England. I spent the first 4 years of my life in Hendon and then I moved with my family to Isleworth, Middlesex when my Father was transferred to Isleworth, Middlesex, where he worked as an Engineer for the Mogden Sewerage Works. I was sent to live with my Gran when my Mother became ill and my Father could no longer look after me. I was 7 years old when my Mother died and in the same year when World War 2 broke out I returned to Isleworth with my Grandparents and then after the war escalated I was sent to stay with Foster parents as an evacuee where they lived in Tiverton, Devon.
After the war I spent 4 years in various factories, ‘marking time’, until I joined the RAF as a National Serviceman at 18. When I was demobbed from the Services I became ill and was diagnosed as having TB on my 21st Birthday. After 2 years spent in hospital and in convalescence I married at 22 years of age and then after a child was conceived I was prompted to spend 10 years at night school where I achieved an HNC in electronic engineering. After this I applied for a job with Rank Xerox where I worked for 10 years as a Technical Author writing technical service manuals for copiers. From there I had a short period of working as a Technical Author at Rediffusion Simulation where I wrote technical service manuals for aircraft simulators.
As a child I gravitated from reading comics to the adult books that were currently being read by my foster father and then after reaching an age where I could join the library in my own right; this establishment became almost my second home where I was a frequent visitor. I spent sometimes as much as 3 or 4 times a week going to the library where I borrowed a variety of books of a different genre depending upon my mood at the time. Gifted it seems with a natural bent for the English language and a delight in reading, both of these have been a major source of inspiration for me to write a series of short stories and novels.
I have had one novel published by Pneuma Springs Publishing and a couple of short stories that have been published by another Press and the local paper. I was a featured poet in the Poetry Now magazine and have had a selection of my poetry published in several anthologies. I was second in a poetry competition in America and had my poem published by The National Library of Poetry. Local papers in Bicester and in Aylesbury have printed articles about my successes as a writer of stories and poetry. Over the years of my youth and throughout my life I have written a great deal of short stories of which the majority remain unpublished, I have recently written an autobiography (unpublished) and am currently working on a second novel.
Reading, writing and the English language has always been a passion for Salema and so she trained to teach English as a foreign language and went to work in Beirut for a few years. She started off teaching adults at a language centre and then ended up at a school on the grounds of an orphanage.
She now lives in England where she spends her time looking after her children and cats (not necessarily in that order!) She wrote an article on the plight of the orphans that was published centre-spread in a Christian newspaper.
Previous to her travelling experience she worked for a human rights organisation and was privileged to be able to go to Iraq and Cuba as part of her job.
Having had a long history of reading vintage crime stories that almost bordered on the obsessive, Salema was motivated to put pen to paper and write her own book by her sister Jess. Jess, who also loves vintage whodunits, told her it was about time she wrote her own one. The challenge was made and so Salema made her way to West Dean College in Singleton, West Sussex, to do a course in crime writing that was taught by established crime authors Lesley Thomson and Elly Griffiths.
As well as writing, Salema also upcycles old furniture and makes it beautiful again. She loves junk shops and cannot pass one without diving in, much to her children’s despair.
Her dream is to own a book shop with café, and spend her days dreamily writing at the shop’s counter.
Inspiring authors include the queen of crime herself Agatha Christie and J Jefferson Farjeon because they write good old fashioned crime stories that are gripping from start to finish. She also loves the writings of Naguib Mahfouz, an Egyptian writer, who won the 1988 Nobel Prize for Literature.
I started my travels in Kent in the years after 1974 exploring the garden and area immediately outside our house because we weren’t allowed to cross the road – and we lived in a cul-de-sac. Holidays were wonderful, close family affairs to the Isle of Wight, Devon and Wales, usually in static caravans and then to France, Spain and the big one to Disney World, as we got older.
I started travelling properly though, when I was just seventeen with the British School’s Exploring Society (BSES) on an adventure to Greenland that would mould the rest of my life. I had never even been on a plane before then, yet I found myself traversing uncharted territory across the snowfields of a remote landscape, with people I had met only weeks before. Since developing the travelling bug, I have driven across Canada in a motor home, dived the oceans of Indonesia and the Middle East, been camel riding in Australia, swam with dolphins in New Zealand, learned about the devastation of the drug trade whilst living with locals across Colombia and been humbled by the happiness of people with so little across South East Asia.
I love to share my stories with anyone who will listen and I am so passionate about travelling and all the life experiences it brings. I’ve made some lifelong friends through my travels and done some unbelievable things.
I went to University in Newcastle (much to the horror of my dad, who still hates the place I never returned home from after completing my degree!) and studied Geography – which I naturally loved – and Land Surveying, which I naturally didn’t. I decided that a career staring through a Theodolite at a levelling staff wasn’t for me and promptly joined Northumbria Police. I have never looked back and absolutely love my job. However, after working for over five years in the most deprived area of Newcastle, with the best group of people and meeting my best friend, I followed in her footsteps and transferred to Devon, where I now work as a Detective Sergeant in Child Protection, in Exeter.
My travelling is my passion, my commitment and my money pit. So my book is my way of passing on my experiences to other people, my legacy I suppose, my way of giving something back.
I’d love to think that someone might read my tales and realise that the world is a more accessible place than they thought and be inspired. I’d also like to think that people who have had similar trips to mine, might enjoy re-living their experiences by reading about them and comparing memories.
Since finishing my first book, I have revisited South America, trekked the Inca trail and travelled around southern Peru. I’m now in the midst of planning my next trip – to climb Kilimanjaro.
Are you Holy Enough for Heaven?’ Is Dr. Samuel Olagunju’s debut book. He is the Senior Pastor of Bible Faith Holiness Church which he founded in 1988. Bible Faith Holiness has branches in London, Nigeria, Ghana, New York and India. Dr Olagunju, a retired Medical Doctor is originally from Nigeria, and came to Britain in 1964. He is married to Deborah, and they have four daughters: Toyin, Bola, Yinka and Esther.
Dr Samuel Olagunju can be heard on the radio and television broadcasts: “The Holy Way”, on Faith TV, channel 590 every Saturday at 5pm.
My original inspiration for ”Trauma” was my son’s year long treatment for Rhabdomyosarcoma: a rare cancer found almost exclusively in children. That year was so emotional that I always felt compelled to share the story and offer some insight to parents going through similar crises. As the years passed other traumas occurred in my life and the idea for the book evolved into how mature adults deal with typical lifetime traumas. An extended period of unemployment was the final straw that motivated me to get off my butt and start the book, and I must admit some of the motivation was economics and the idea of becoming a successful author. To this day my son reminds me that I shouldn’t count on my book as being the solution to my financial dilemma.
I grew up in rural America in one of the largest Amish settlements in the world. From there I graduated college and immediately went to work. I have always been very competitive and squandered many good friendships in lieu of succeeding at my jobs. I started my career as a tax accountant, progressed to being CFO in a publically held conglomerate and then Senior Vice President and COO for a prominent entertainment company. I traveled the world on a corporate expense account. After my son’s illness and at age 47, I dropped out of corporate life and went to Farrier school for 10 weeks and shoed horses for the next seven years. I was seeking a simpler and happier life, a new romantic relationship, and the pursuit of a childhood dream. But traumas kept interfering with my plans.
There is a movie in which one of the main characters – a gentleman in mid-life – laments that you never really reach the end zone and spike the football: Life just continues its roller coaster of emotions and traumas. What has become transparent to me is that you have to find happiness throughout life’s challenges and the turbulent emotions of life. That’s life, and I’ve reached the point where I’m intrigued with my life, the challenges I face and the prospect of how it will all turn out.
Steve Morris is a teacher and examiner of mathematics and science. He travels around his region of England teaching students who are too ill to get to school.
Despite a background surrounded by facts and figures, one of Steve’s lifelong passions has been his love for English literature and of collecting antiquarian books.
Learning to talk at a “spookily” early age and never afraid to speak his mind, Steve was taught to read fluently by his parents at the age of four.
Story writing quickly began in his own schooldays where he enjoyed putting his vivid imagination to good use.
With a growing supply of quite bizarre short stories, Steve’s words found early success in magazines and anthologies in both the UK and overseas.
2009 saw Steve realise a lifelong ambition with the release of his debut book In All Probability: A Collection of Short Stories, which with a nod of approval from the press developed a modest cult following. This was followed in 2010 with a second collection Jumble Tales.
Steve graduated in mathematics from Manchester Metropolitan University in 1993, where he also enjoyed representing them in soccer for four years.
A lifelong bachelor who prefers a single life, Steve places great value on trusted friendships and on some brave students he works with.
He currently lives in a rural location on the Cheshire / Shropshire border accompanied by a guardian of a dog.
2011 saw Steve winning a short story award for the first of what will be a series of upbeat short stories.
2012 will see the release of Steve’s first full-length novel Playing Havoc, again published by Pneuma Springs.
He would love to write a short story for a radio play.
Life seems to have this wonderful way of throwing the most incredible ironies at us when we least expect it, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. I am of course delighted to say that my greatest achievement to date have come directly from my darkest days, never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined the way 2011 would pan out for me, particularly given the way it had begun.
Yet here I am a published author and internet campaigner but still feeling the effects of 2 years of payday loan hell in both my heart and my bank account! Who would have thought it!
I think perhaps my father summed it up the best when he told me, “you were destined for this, don’t you remember when you were young?” he was of course referring to my childhood ambition to become a writer at which time I had actually written two unpublished manuscripts based upon alien invasions … needless to say the imagination and creativity were certainly there, but sadly the ability to write was somewhat missing. My father also took pleasure reminding me at the time my favorite song was ‘Paperback Writer’ by the Beatles, for all the obvious reason!
I still find it hard to believe I actually made it as a published author and I am in awe of some of the other authors around me, who have contributed much more to the industry. However with that being said I am what I am. Council estate born and bread in the heart of Lancashire; proud of my routes, my family and what I have achieved to date.
I have already featured in numerous national radio and newspaper stories as a case study with the hope the website will bring even more attention. I am absolutely fearless about the challenges which lie ahead as a whole new world has opened up to me. I may one day return to re-write those alien stories of mine and for that I can only apologise!
Born and brought up in West Yorkshire.
I worked in the printing industry all of my working life prior to moving to Mijas Costa in southern Spain. I began my working life in the UK as a compositor and finished it as a sales director at a large multi-national printed packaging company.
I have always been fascinated with people and whilst owning The Tea Tree (tea shop) in Fuengirola, I observed many strange holiday makers. I had never worked with the public before and what a great shock that was. To me, there is no better comedy than observational, because it is always natural and completely unintentional (I think?) That was my inspiration to start writing and I have loved it ever since.
My first book is called ‘Life’s a laugh on the Costa – honest!’ and was published in 2006. It covers my experience of moving to Spain and my observations. It covers buying and renting Spanish property, buying and running a bar, the lifestyle and some of the scams that go on over here. You wouldn’t believe it. There is someone on every street corner waiting to take your money away from you and many of them are Brits. I wish the information in this book had been available to me prior to moving to Spain. I would, without doubt, have saved a fortune!
My second book ‘They’re all foreigners abroad’ is about YOU on holiday. What is it that make us Brits stand out from other tourists? We are a strange nation but I don’t think that we’re much different from everyone else, apart from maybe the alcohol consumption. Let’s face it; we Brits are not difficult to take the mickey out of whilst on our hard earned holiday.
Both books have been featured in various publications on the Costa del Sol and also in the Halifax Courier and Huddersfield Examiner in the UK.
I also write every month in a local magazine on the Costa del Sol called ‘Costa Connection’.
What am I doing now? I am in the process of re-writing my first book which will be called ‘Tea and Tortillas’. I am also just finishing off my third book which is aimed at teens and young adults called ‘More interesting than your teacher’.
An avid reader who adored her poet and storyteller father, Sue Hampton shared with her brother Dave a vivid world of the imagination, becoming Robin Hood in the garden and creating new worlds where her toys could play. Having earned a First Class degree from London University (B.Ed hons) with English as her main subject, she taught at two primary schools in Newham and then at Dulwich College before becoming a mum – during this career break she ran a business from home, cooking and freezing veggie and vegan meals. She still loves baking.
Returning to teaching in Herts after a twelve year gap, Sue made sure her primary school classrooms were colourful and creative places where Story Time was sacrosanct. In the work of Michael Morpurgo in particular she found an emotional power which inspired her to become an author and when her first novel, SPIRIT AND FIRE, was published by Pegasus in 2007, he reviewed it as “enthralling… a powerfully written debut that lingers long.” He has also praised her story of a girl who, like Sue herself, has alopecia, called THE WATERHOUSE GIRL: “beautifully written.” Sue’s other titles for young readers include both historical and futuristic stories, fantasy, adventures, mystery and humour. She attended her first awards ceremony in March when her deep crossover novel TRACES was runner-up in The People’s Book Prize 2011 – 2102. In her only adult novel, ARIA, available only as an e-book and audio book, Sue pays homage to Sense and Sensibility in a contemporary story of two mature sisters on holiday in Florence.
Now a full-time author, Sue has been booked by more than 250 schools and libraries, Cub and Brownie group. With her husband Leslie Tate, adult novelist and poet, she addresses reading groups, writers’ groups and U3As across the U.K. She has also lectured to trainee teachers on the importance of choosing and using good writing, and is about to appear at the Marvellous Women Conference in Brighton (Oct 2012).
I was born in London in 1955 and moved to Eastbourne in 1968. After leaving school I trained as an accountant and spent much of the next twenty five years working in Africa, the Middle East, North America and Europe. In 2006 I went to Ethiopia as a volunteer financial advisor to the government.
The first of my two published books, Injera and Chips, recounts the two years I spent in Ethiopia as a volunteer worker, the difficulties I experienced and the amusements that made my time worthwhile.
The second, Today the Garden Blooms, is a romantic tragedy based mainly in Zambia and Ireland. It tells the story of a ruthless woman who always gets her way…
During my years living and travelling abroad I became a keen photographer. I am currently working on a book based on those photographs, which can be seen on my website: trevorpoate.co.uk.
I have recently completed a series of four crime novels based on insurance frauds, which I am hoping to publish soon. At present I am working on a novel dealing with the possible consequences of global warming, religious divides, genetically modified crops and eugenics during the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries.
I was born in Oxfordshire in 1943 and by the age of eleven had lived in nine different houses and attended five different schools as my father, a surveyor, took work in different parts of the country. All this moving around may have given me a desire to travel and when I was fourteen, fascinated by his Zoo Quest series, I wrote to David Attenborough to ask which GCE and A Level subjects would, in his opinion, best equip me to be an explorer.
I was educated at an excellent grammar school in Leicester but my father sadly died when I was sixteen and I had to leave school and start earning a living. I joined the Civil Service and worked in central London for several years before transferring to a small, friendly office in Brighton. In 1972, I met David on a week’s holiday in Wales and we were married five months later. I moved back to Leicester where he had a flat and worked in insurance for a time before taking up employment with British Gas in 1976. Here I worked in Customer Accounting, transferring to the Personnel Department in 1989 when I began studying for a professional qualification. I obtained my Diploma in Human Resources Management in 1994 but the following year, the East Midlands office was closed and I was made redundant. I then found work with an apprentice training group as an NVQ Assessor until I reached retirement age.
David and I both love travelling and experiencing different cultures but our finances restricted us to Europe until the early 1990s when we paid off the mortgage. I have always been a keen photographer and kept a diary of each of our holidays, writing up the story of each trip around the photographs in a scrap book.
When our holidays took us further afield, these trips became much more exciting and eventful. While we were telling friends and family about all the things that had happened to us on one particularly incident-packed holiday in South America, they kept telling me I should write a book. Eventually, I decided to attempt this and then attended a creative writing class, as a result of which the book was completely rewritten. I sent it to Pneuma Springs and thanks to them, this first book was published in 2009 under the title ‘From Coconuts to Condors’. I have now submitted a second book about a holiday in Central America entitled ‘Temples and Tacos’.
I have always been fascinated by rock crystals and plate tectonics and since retirement, I have been studying intermittently for an Earth Sciences degree with the Open University. I am a lifetime member of the National Trust and enjoy gardening and, of course, photography and travel.
During my childhood I was always obsessed with stories and books. Living on a council estate in Liverpool, I found them to be a great means of escape for me. I would spend hours and hours reading and if I was not reading I would be sat at my mum’s computer typing away, lost in a world of the characters I was creating.
I soon realised that I was most happy when writing. I seemed unable to stop and the ideas flowed very easily from my mind. I knew from a very young age it was my passion and what I wanted to spend my life doing; creating stories for others to read.
As I got older I discovered Jane Austin and Charlotte Bronte. I was consumed by their stories and the era in which they wrote. It was such a rich time in history with many wonderful settings for stories to grow and develop. So, at the age of sixteen, I began work on Forbidden.
I attended Liverpool John Moore’s University after leaving college and took my degree in “Imaginative Writing”. It helped my writing skills grow and develop significantly. Yet I felt that in order for me to become a better writer I needed to experience life, people and places, too. So, I travelled and worked in different countries. I met all kinds of people and saw many wonderful places. This, more than anything, inspired me to want to write even more. Witnessing so much of what the world has to offer, I realised that there were so many stories and so many characters waiting to be developed.
For ten years I worked on Forbidden. I wrote many different versions yet never felt it was good enough. That is until I came back to Liverpool and felt the time was right to bring my story and ideas to life and complete the work.
I believe there is a wealth of inspiration out there and many more stories for me to write; and with each one I hope and believe my writing will grow and develop.
Yomi Akinpelu was born in Leeds in the 1960s. She holds a Masters degree in Medical Immunology from the College of Medicine, University of London and has worked for a postgraduate college of medicine in London for over a decade.
Yomi is a wordsmith, passionate about the way words are used, books, healing and health. Following her passion and a career change she now works as a publishing editor for a Kent based publishing house
She is the author of three books; A Matter of Life & Death – The Power of your words, The Wholesome Truth About Healing, Read and Soar, all available as paperbacks and ebooks.
She has appeared several times on television talking about the subject of healing and health and reading. Yomi lives with her husband and three children in Kent and is available for interviews and to write feature articles as well as guest blogs.
© 2024 Pneuma Springs Ltd. All rights reserved
| Cookie | Duration | Description |
|---|---|---|
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional | 11 months | The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-others | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. |
| cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance | 11 months | This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". |
| viewed_cookie_policy | 11 months | The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data. |
