Symi, Film and Books updates
Symi update first, with some older photos as Neil still has my camera, and I’ve not been out to get new images yet. Maybe tomorrow. In Symi news… Well, I’ve just seen one of the taxi boats heading out around the headland towards the further beaches, one of Lucas’ boats I think. The old familiar boat drone and hum are back, bringing the summer with it, as the taxi heads out. Another boat is already going to Nimborio; I’m not sure if George and his brother have started their St Nicholas and Ag Maria service yet.
I made Yiannis laugh at the bar on Tuesday. Neil and I had met up to go to dinner (at 11.00 in the morning – long story, don’t ask) and, when I was given another glass of wine (only my third) at seven pm, I just mumbled ‘Panagia mou!’ under my breath. For some reason, this reduced Yiannis to fits of laughter. Must have been the way I said it. I was hungry and ready to eat and had been since the effects of a wonderful Olive Tree bacon roll lunch wore off at about five. Still, it was a lovely afternoon chatting to everyone who came by and watching Neil working. Ha-ha. A Georgio’s pork chop is just what’s needed after a hard day socialising, and very nice it was too.
Meanwhile, at the desk: I had a bit of an admin day yesterday, we both did. Neil came back on Tuesday and spent Wednesday morning working on the photos he took at his Niece’s wedding. I, on the other hand, got stuck into admin about films and books.
Over in the film office (in England), the admin department there are busy entering the film, ‘The 13th’ into more film festivals, including the New York Greek Film Festival, so they are now busy doing promotions, and also working on the distribution deal with the distribution company. It looks like things could finally be moving along. Mind you, it may not be accepted to every festival, if any, but we can hope.
As for my admin, I was thrilled to see that ‘the Saddling’ has already gained six reviews, all five-star, at Amazon.co.uk. As I keep saying, these reviews, no matter how short, really help put the book up the rankings and the more a title gets, the more attention it receives from elsewhere. You can put them on whichever version of Amazon you use (.com or .co.uk, etc.) but they don’t get shared between the various Amazon sites. Most of my reviews are on .co.uk, which is understandable, and I went through the list yesterday morning. I found that over 11 books I have 65 reviews and most of them are five-star. I accept the few lower rated ones (left for the older books) as these titles were brought out in the early days of indie publishing and I did the editing and formatting myself, so yes, typos and things can be found. But, since ‘The Judas Inheritance’ I have used a professional editor (though we still find the odd typo, but then I’ve found typos in books published by Bloomsbury, and others), and so things are a lot better. I also ignore the one three-star review that was not about the book at all. Someone hijacked the review process to take a pop at Amazon and its tax status, which had nothing to do with my book. I reported this but nothing came of it, and it’s still there; the same crazed woman has posted similar things on other people’s books for her own gratification – very unhelpful for everyone else.
Anyway, today’s ramble is clearly about me and books as that’s what’s on my mind right now. If you would like to put a review up for me, that would be great. You can find all my titles listed on my author page here. Judas is in the lead with 11 reviews, and Jason is chasing his rear with 10, as are Stag and Gary in ‘Remotely’, also with 10, but Tom, Dan and Barry and the Romney Marshes are fast catching up with six already, and ‘The Saddling’ has only been out a couple of weeks. Please do take a look and, if you can bear it, share the pages around social media and also add reviews – we are saving up for a wedding after all, wink, wink.
Here’s one of the latest reviews for Saddling, which might help you make up your mind if you want to buy a copy.
“Wow! What a read.
Wow! Thank you, James Collins, for a brilliant thriller come horror, right up there with The Wicker Man! Delivered on Saturday, finished by Wednesday – unable to put the book down. Excellent final twist. This would make a brilliant movie.”
If you have read it, please don’t give away that final twist!
