How it is to live in Greece – some books
I read an interesting article by my blog writing colleague, John P Manuel, on Sunday morning. In it he lays some fears to rest; fears by the ill-informed as to what is happening in Greece with the refugee crisis. He mentions some of the islands who have been at the frontline of this situation and explains a few things to those who would may have only have heard the wrong kind of news from television and print media. It’s well worth a read and this is the link: Ramblings From Rhodes.
And talking of fiction, as the title of the article does, John has also written a few books. Like me he has accounts of moving to and living in Greece, in this case Rhodes with his books Feta Compli, and his latest A Plethora of Posts – there are two others in this series as well, about life on a (larger) Greek island. Larger than Symi I mean. And then there are four novels including The View from Kleoboulos and A Brief Moment of Sunshine. You can find link to the full set of books via the blog site (see link above) or those individual ones by just clicking the titles. If you are interested in Greek living, living in Greece and what it’s really like to live on a Greek island (warts and all) then the books John writes will suit you down to your fustanella. And that is not a rude word, it’s a ‘skirt like garment’ (or kilt-like) to quote an online source, worn by several nations of the Balkans, and by Evzones, the Greek presidential guard.
Meanwhile, if you were wondering about the weekend on Symi and what happened, well, the weather certainly happened. Saturday morning:
Sunday morning:
What a difference a day makes. The weather is good when it’s bad, at least it is if you want free water. We were able to fill up our sterna on Saturday morning, and it’s a pretty large one, which means we won’t have to buy any from the mains supply for a while. The plants also got a good watering and hopefully the reservoirs were topped up. Sunday however dawned clear and cold and bright, and so I grabbed a quick photo for you before writing this, posting it in advance and then getting on with my coursework. Today I have an assignment and that is to write a 300 word story, and then tell the story again three ways using three different story structures. And while I am doing that, Neil is in his room working on his IGCSE in Global Citizenship which, I have to say, is much more academic and much harder work than my writing course. He will also have to arrange to take the exam next year, perhaps having to travel back to the UK to do it, whereas I am purely correspondence. But we can look into all that at a later date. We may even be able to find some way that he can take the exam here in Greece.
What I have looked into is the cover for ‘Remotely’ my next novel which is now with the editor, having been through the proofing stage. Mr Ed (as I just decided to call him) will work through it and lay it out while editing it down; helpfully I won’t get too much back for revisions. I am not expecting a fast turnaround on this one as Mr Ed is also dealing with a couple of films that he has produced and various other projects, but hopefully in the next couple of months, you should see it for sale.
And on that note: if anyone fancies promising me a review of the book on Amazon, I would he happy to send you a copy in advance. Then, when it’s published, you could put your review up on Amazon for me and hopefully attract more customers. I could send an electronic version in advance, or the Kindle version when that’s done. I wouldn’t be able to send hard copies until after publication date though. Drop me an email if you might be interested and we can talk further.
