Frankenstein:

Did you know that Mary Shelley was only eighteen when she began writing Frankenstein?

Amazing imagination!!! Wish I'd been there....

David C

Here's the link...  silly me!

Original John Sutton Painting of Appledore Quay

I have just added a lovely John Sutton original painting to my Ebay store and it is now up for sale.

Here's the pic:

and here's his signature on the picture:

and here's the link on ebay where you can find out so much more about this cracking original painting.

Enjoy!!!!!!!!!

David C.

Poppies, Paris and Poetry....

Here’s a pic of my well-worn poppy this year, and I know it’s a bit late, but better late than never, as the say. 

And especially fitting after the despicable events in Paris. I feel so sorry for all those young kids who went out on a Friday night (thought that was supposed to be a holy day, btw, but never mind!) to a music concert, and never came back. 

What kind of god could ever justify such a thing?

Makes no sense at all to me, and practically everyone else. 

Anyway, people of Paris, the whole civilised world is grieving with you, that’s for sure.

And here’s the topical poetry, and there’s a question for you to follow. You’ll know this piece, but do you know who wrote it? Answer in a tick.

Here are the important words first:

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Yes it’s In Flanders Fields of course, and particularly apt it is this week, methinks, and it was written by?

Bet you didn’t know. I certainly didn’t.

Here’s the answer, courtesy of Wikipedia, and thank you for that.

"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.

He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it.

"In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London-based magazine Punch

It is one of the most popular and most quoted poems from the war.

So there you have it, John McCrae. I’ll remember that now.

Peace to all,

David.

“Down into the Darkness” Giveaway Draw Now Live on Goodreads.com

If you fancy trying to win a free copy of my new book then can I draw your attention to the Giveaway draw on Goodreads.com that started yesterday and runs until June 11^th 2015.

There are ten copies to be won and all you have to do is lodge your interest and your name and address with Goodreads and they will conduct the draw independently as soon as the draw closes on June 11th.

This is for a hard copy of the paperback book, not a PDF. Mobi, or ebook copy, so why not add your name to the draw? As they say: someone has to win, so why not you?

Best of luck,

David Carter.

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Down into the Darkness

by David Carter

Giveaway ends June 11, 2015.

See the giveaway details at Goodreads.

Enter to Win

The Turn of the Tide by Margaret Henderson Smith. Book Review

“The Turn of the Tide” is Margaret Henderson Smith’s latest episode in the ongoing saga of the accident prone Harriet Glover.

   Harriet is a teacher and is still besotted with, or should I say deeply in love with, her boss, one Joris Sanderson, though it seems she often wishes she felt different about that.

   Joris, or Mr Sanderson, as Harriet still insists on calling him, has apparently everything a man could desire. He’s a doctor, headmaster, Knight of the realm with friends in high places, and I mean stratospheric, as in Prime Ministers and the like, and you don’t get much higher than that.

   And now Harriet is pregnant and Joris, sorry Mr Sanderson, is the father, though no one else knows that, and in the meantime he has a bevy of beauties hanging around, former girlfriends and lovers, and even mothers of his children, and others eyeing up Joris’s fabulous house and extravagant lifestyle and wishing and hoping and thinking and scheming that one day Joris could be theirs and theirs alone. Not that Harriet is without admirers too, though she’s inclined to stand back and keep her counsel and play her cards very close to her chest.

   There’s something of the Real Housewives of Cheshire going on here, every time I see that programme I think of a rampaging Harriet, who despite being pregnant still gets herself into all kinds of scrapes, from mugging cab drivers and stealing his cab, to crossing swords with crazy drug soaked rappers.

   There are a lot of characters here too, as you might expect, seeing as this is the fifth book in the series, so you may wish to go back and start at the beginning, though you don’t need to do that as “The Turn of the Tide” stands alone as a separate novel, and there’s a very useful guide to all the players at the beginning of the book to keep you onside at all times.

   I particularly liked the ending, though I will say no more on that here, and it had me wondering as to whether “The Turn of the Tide” is indeed the end of the road for Harriet Glover and her consonant dropping chums, but then again, somehow I doubt that, for Harriet has an exciting future before her, and I suspect there’s still much intrigue to be told and stories to unfold.

Today I’m delighted to write a few words about my new short book that is out this month.

It’s called “Down into the Darkness” and is much shorter than most of my books, clocking in at around 140 pages, but some people have liked the fact that it’s a short and snappy read. Let’s face it, we don’t all have the time or want to read 700 page marathons.

“Down into the Darkness” follows the fortunes of the thirty-something Tony Jenks. He lives alone in a small flat in an old Edwardian building that he shares with three other flats. All the other apartments are occupied by a weird bunch of people with a weird bunch of problems, but Tony’s happy enough to stay there for he has a decent job, and no mortgage, and believes he is as free as it is possible to be.

Then one night while in bed, alone as usual, he hears noises the likes of which he has never heard before, and Tony’s journey down into the darkness has begun.

The book has been described as “intelligent horror”, though I did not set out to write a horror story, and I am still not sure that it is, but as Graham Greene used to say, “I have to read what the critics have to say before I ever know what my books are all about”, or words to that effect, and I’ll go along with that.

“Down into the Darkness” is out now as an ebook and in paperback and you can buy the ebook for less than a cup of high street coffee.

Here’s the book trailer here:

And you can look at the SEARCH INSIDE feature and read a couple of chapters on Amazon here:

Amazon.com

Amazon.co.uk.

Thanks for reading my stuff, and I hope you like the book,

David. 

In My Blood by Greg Waggett - Book Review

Greg Waggett was a career soldier and when he eventually left the service he found himself at a loose end and so he did what many people do, he started a property letting agency. But that didn’t satisfy him for long and the money wasn’t great, and who wants to be chasing around difficult tenants all day? – (I know – been there – done that!) – so he started an advertising agency and that did okay, until things started to change, and maybe he needed something more – maybe there was a midlife crisis in there somewhere too, but he went back into the service, in a way, when he joined a PSC, a Private Security Company, utilising the skills he’d picked up in the Army… working in the Middle East and Libya and anywhere else where such people are always needed.

  It isn’t everyone’s idea of fun, escorting Corporation personnel around difficult terrain, guarding installations, being shot at, but the pay was good, £300 a day, and that was ten years ago, probably double that today, but the risks were and are enormous, as many people have found out to their terrible cost.

   This is his story and a cracking read it is too. I learned a lot, some trivial information, and others not. Here are two weird facts that stick in the mind. Did you know where Winston Churchill first found himself in a war situation? Everyone says: South Africa, and everyone’s wrong. Greg says Cuba, and Greg is right. And here’s another useless fact. Did you know that they don’t have eggcups in Kuwait? Nothing to dip your soldiers in? Catastrophe eh? Answer? A used toilet roll. Can’t you just see it set up on the table, boiled egg sitting proud, top off, salt and pepper on, soldiers in!!! Great.

   Greg Waggett is a prescient man. He said that if the American led coalition ever left Iraq for a second time the country and surrounding area would descend into chaos, and they would have to go back in and sort it out all over again, and that is precisely what is happening today. He can also write – this book is very well written, full of the kind of humour that is right up my street. He comes across as a man you’d want to share a G & T with, and if he ever wants to slow down a tad and find a new career, maybe he should consider writing a work of fiction based on the conflicts in the area, for I’m petty sure it would be better than a lot of the special forces stuff that has been written and put out up ’till now.

   Later on there are equally interesting chapters based in East Africa, in Juba and Nairobi and Mombassa and Dar, just as South Sudan was going through a difficult birth. There are a number of small colour photos – I’d have preferred larger ones -  and even a nod to long distance internet dating – (quite amusing too) after all, what else is there to do at night stuck out in the back of beyond?

   Greg Waggett is an opinionated man, and that’s cool, he says it as it is, without the shackles of political correctness, and that sure makes a change in this mollycoddled day and age, and I found, as I suspect many people of my, and his generation, that I agreed with almost every word.

   In case you hadn’t gathered I thoroughly enjoyed this book, in fact it is the best book I have read in the last twelve months, and might I also suggest that it should be essential reading for anyone considering joining a PSC or similar, anywhere throughout the world’s trouble spots, especially working within the turbulent Arabic world. The money maybe good, but the risks can be enormous, and it isn’t suitable for everyone, and some really do pay the ultimate price. Read the book before ye go! It might change your mind, it might open your eyes, it might even speed your journey. Highly recommended.

Child 44 by Tom Rob Smith

There is no civilian crime in the perfect paradise of Soviet Russia under Stalin, only sabotage and mayhem carried out by foreign spies and mercenaries, no doubt instigated, backed, and sent by the West.

Leo Demidov is a highly decorated war hero and now an outstanding officer in the MGB (KGB?) – the Soviet State Security Force.

He possesses a decent apartment, an attractive trophy wife, and a status that befits a man of his position, but when he comes across something supposedly unusual, or even unheard of, like a serial killer, he keenly wants to investigate the case, but finds himself demoted and sidelined and denounced. But why?

Child 44 is a cracking book about how anyone can work and survive within such a suffocating and murderous system, and was the first book from TRS.

Unlike most people I read Tom Rob Smith’s second book first, and again, unlike most people I thought that The Secret Speech was the better read, (they feature the same characters) but maybe that was simply because the first title read in a series has all the advantages of freshness.

Child 44 is a gripping and well-researched read, but then it jolly well should be. Why? Well, at the end of the book there are the usual thank you pages for people who helped with the book, and here, giving thanks to no less than twenty, no doubt highly paid and highly qualified people, who helped to knock the book into shape ready for final publication.

Makes one wonder what the original draft was like, or am I just being picky? But seriously folks, it does remind us that the people who write and publish Indie novels, some of which these days are very good indeed, have to do all of that re-writing and correcting and polishing all on their own, or at least the vast majority of it, and good luck to them too, for they deserve all and any rewards and accolades that come their way.

But back to Child 44. I enjoyed TRS’s novel and will look out for and read more of his stuff as they come cruising by. Child 44 is certainly recommended by me, and now I see that the movie of the same name has been released and I am looking forward to that too. Just hope it’s not a great disappointment like so many other thrillers turned movies have been in recent times, Reacher comes to mind so far as that is concerned. 

I Got Bitten by a Dog in Highcliffe-on-Sea the Other Day.

And here’s a photo of my war wound to prove it!!

More pics below.

I was walking along the cliff minding my own business and turned up by the café.

I heard these two guys really yelling at their dog COME HERE!!! JUST COME HERE!!! And immediately thought it a little weird.

The dog was NOT on a lead and was clearly playing up. It then turned and looked over its shoulder – saw me – and came straight over.

Without any warning it leapt up and tried to bite my face!! I kid you not, and as I brushed it away it ran round behind me and bit me high up on the back of the thigh.

Still not content, it tried to bite my ankles, as the owners stood off, did nothing and uttered the famous words: HE WON’T BITE YOU!!! You wanna bet?

Too late for that – it already had – and was coming back for more.

I am not proud in saying that I lost my temper and swore at the dog and at the owner’s in turn only to be told: HE’S NEVER DONE THAT BFORE – Yeah right – I’ll bet.

So if you are walking around Highcliffe on Sea in Dorset keep an eye out for a dog off a lead with two guys, a-yelling – you just can’t be too careful!!!!