Two authors I haven't come across before for some reason. Wonderful story tellers and writers of distinction. Martin Booth: "The American" or "A Very Private Gentleman" and "Toys of Glass". Outstanding. Andrew Vachss: "The Weight" and "Haiku". Outsta...

I bought the first, borrowed the second from the library and am waiting for the third from the library. Great stuff in many respects, I felt -- very different. For me, as a journalist, former police rounds reporter, special writer and small publisher, the worlds described are very realistic and wart...

Hello friends I'm putting my writing into practice at the moment by blogging about my return to Papua New Guinea -- tropical islands north of Australia, where I lived and worked in the media in the 1960s and 70s. I decided to grow old disgracefully by fulfilling my 30 year yen to return. I'm in PNG'...

The writer's autobiography to the age of 33. He went through the first world war, and survived, in his late teens and early 20s. Not great writing -- he did much better later, I think, but fascinating stuff reflecting life at that time for a boy from a privileged family in England. Some of it is hil...

Ola Pablo Vic's an Anglo, so he gets confused about passion. He doesn't understand that there is more than one kind, so when you praise the new iMacs, he starts talking sex. Show him a beautiful woman and he starts talking computers. What a confused life they lead, these Anglophones. :roll: Ciao Geo...

Nisus Writer has gone with Bookends. Cheers, Geoff Geoffrey Heard Publisher, Editor, Business Writer The Worsley Press FREE Bonus book offer. Get "How to make great ads for (sm)all business" FREE when you buy "Type & Layout: Are you communicating or just making pretty shapes?"...

PAT CONROY's, The Prince of Tides, is a really interesting book -- looking at kids raised in redneck South Carolina, how people adapt in different ways to the same environment. It has a couple of weak points, I think, which possibly stand out because of the excellence of what's around them, but over...

Hello folks http://www.lyx.org A Mac/Windows/Linux with a friendly GUI for LaTeX -- the free text management and document layout program. For Mac, you have to download and install MacTeX -- 1.2 GB (five hours on my slow DSL connection, Firefox tells me), then download and install LyX, which is 25 MB...

I went back to "A Good Place to Die" having read that Guardian extract from another Buchan book. There is just nothing like that gaucheness apparent to my mind. Again, I was impressed. Vermonter -- yes, same book. Cheers, Geoff Geoffrey Heard The Ad Doctor Online Win business with the rece...

totaloly off-topic, Vermonter, is there any truth in this characterization? http://www.seattlepi.com/fun/rhymes.asp?date=20090711 :mrgreen: Cheers, Geoff Geoffrey Heard The Ad Doctor Online Win business with the recession-busting "How to make great ads for (sm)all business: 99 real world advert...

I'll just stick to pink gin ... made with vodka. Well, not quite. I'll also go for more than my faire share of Metaxa 5 star brandy (the 7 star is okay too but a touch smooth). A bit fruity, excellent with good coffee (but for heaven's sake, don't put it IN the coffee -- you'll lose some of the alco...

Likewise, Siren. Seeing the need for mobility in my future as I will be yo-yoing between Melbourne, Australia, and Dili, Timor-Leste, I final;ly bit the bullet, put the desktops on eBay (1 still to go) and began to put into action a long term plan to buy a new white MacBook. Bought a 200 GB 7200 rpm...

I just saw suavito's picture -- and I want to warn other users that St Kilda Beach, if it is the one in Melbourne, Australia, is a very suss neighbourhood, replete with drug addicts, prostitutes and violent criminals. Also deadly spiders and head lice among the children. You have been warned. Cheers...

Hmmm !!!

Cheers, Geoff

Hello all In search of a little mental chewing gum and stimulation, I picked up James Buchan's "A Good Place to Die" from the "Thrillers" category at the local library. I was flabbergasted. This is a very significant literary work. In general, it is written in English which is a ...