No excuse

I have no excuse for leaving it so long between blogs.  Except I do.  I was heavily involved in my other hobby of amateur dramatics.  I played the part of the drunken photographer, Henry Ormonroyd, in J B Priestley's "When We Are Married".  Take a look at some of the pictures on artypharty.com, Peter Mould's website.  Click on the relevant play and look for the red-faced man!  The play went down well, and we all got plenty of laughs - all for the right reasons.
And now I am embarking on directing an Alan Ayckbourn play called "Taking Steps".  We present it in May in Hastings, then take it in June to our sister drama group in Chicago Heights, USA.  These are Alan Ayckbourn’s words about the play.
“In the first act you take the audience by the hand and lead them across the floor.  In the second, you start to walk them up the wall.  And in the third act, you begin to walk them on the ceiling, so they end up hanging upside down saying ‘Hey, what am I doing?’”

I am working on some new books also - honest!  As well as the Georgian novel with Joe Malinferno and Doll Pocket, which will revolve around grave robbers and surgeons - I have an idea for continuing the Falconer series.  I know I had bade him farewell in book nine, but I feel another one coming on.  This one will be set in Trebizond, and William and Saphira are on their way to far-off Cathay.  It is a location I have used in the latest Medieval Murderers book "The Deadliest Sin", in a story told by their son David Falconer.  So, you see, there is more story to tell about them anyway.   I want to fill in the gaps, as it were.

I have also had some interest in my stories in Italy, so there is a chance that they may appear in Italian in the future.  There are some editions in German and French out there too, though they may only be available second-hand.

And there I must leave it, as I am soon to go to a rehearsal of "Taking Steps".  If you want to buy tickets for the show, go to stablestheatre.co.uk.

Backing up

The weather is hot now, and I'm sweating.  Though the cause of my excessive perspiration is not only to do with the current heatwave.  Last Saturday night  put my computer into hibernation mode, and on Sunday morning  pressed the power button to no effect.  My computer had gone into permanent hibernation - more like a coma really.  I began to sweat when I realised my lackadaisical attitude to backing up my work had come back to bite me.  How long was it since I did a back-up?  Maybe two weeks in all, I thought.  Fortunately (in one sense), I had not done a lot of work on my books in those two weeks as we are in the midst of updating our kitchen.  However, there was a significant amount of work that could be lost.  I do make hand-written notes of what I have done, so that I can look back to where I am with the storyline, but the actual text might be inaccessible.  Well, it was inaccessible inside my non-functioning computer.
I did have a diversion to take my mind off all that possibly lost work on Sunday.  In Hastings, the Guinness world record for the number of 'pirates' all in one place was comprehensively beaten with a total of 14, 231 pirates on Pelham Beach.  And I was one of those pirates.

Pirate Day in Hastings is a remarkable and fun day.  Come along yourself next year, and dress up as a pirate!
On Monday morning, I took my computer down to the repair shop, and had a day of nail-biting worry, until I was told everything was OK, and the laptop was up and running again.  I now have resolved to back-up my work every evening.

Some personal bits and pieces

Those of you who look at my website, will know my enthusiasm for theatre, particularly amateur theatre.  Since moving to Hastings, on England's south coast (yes, that Hastings - famous Battle of etc), I have got involved with the Stables Theatre.  In order to learn how it works, I have been sitting in on, and helping with, a production of Terence Rattigan's 'The Winslow Boy'.  This is a retelling of an actual case in the UK from just before the First World War concerning a young boy at Osborne naval college who was accused of stealing a five shilling postal order ( a fairly small amount of money, even in those days).  As a military cadet, he was not entitled to defend himself in a civil court and was deemed guilty.  His father would not give up the case, however, and virtually bankrupted himself petitioning the government to exonerate his boy.  As the play puts it, the criterion finally was 'Let right be done.'  So it raises the subtle difference between right and justice - that is, if the legal concept of justice cannot be achieved, then right can prevail at least.  Ironically, the real-life 'Winslow Boy', George Archer-Shee was killed in the First World War age 19.

I am still working on the next, and possibly final, Falconer.  I know, that's what Conan Doyle said when he sent Holmes over the Reichenbach Falls, but I want to send my man off in a blaze of glory.  So a return would be a whimper.  Mind you, if the money was right...(wishful thinking, I know, in today's publishing climate).  That's not to say he may not reappear in a Medieval Murderers story some time.  I have the next two of those lined up, including a tenth anniversary volume.  The eighth Medieval Murderers book - 'The First Murder' - is due out soon.

Just to update you on Facebook Timeline, I have got it working and I haven't had any of my life erased!  Well, that's a relief.

Moving

I seem to have written an awful lot recently about matters publishing, so I will provide some personal news.  I have been living in Cyprus for the last seven years, coming originally for the good weather and low cost of living, which stretched my money a little farther.  Since joining the EU, Cyprus costs have been escalating, and although the tax system places a smaller burden on my funds, the benefits are consequently equally small.  I have also come to dislike the summer weather, which is humid and enervating.  It also seems to last longer now than it used to.  I have decided to return to the UK therefore.
My wife and I have had a flat in Hastings for a couple of years, and we are now going to use it as our home base.  The town is lively and full of opportunities, and lies close to Gatwick airport, and London.  It will be a good jumping-off point for other places, when the English weather does not suit.  I will miss a lot of friends in Cyprus, particularly the ones I made through Stage One - the drama group that was my mainstay on the island.  But I have other drama groups to occupy my time in Hastings, and I will return to Cyprus and see the plays that Stage One put while we have our villa there.
As for writing, I am now beginning what I think will be the final Falconer story.  I want to give him a fitting send-off, as he has been my companion for nearly twenty years.  Who knows, though?  Sherlock Holmes came back from the brink (not that I am comparing my meagre talents with Conan Doyle's), so Falconer might also.  The thing is, I made the mistake in the early Falconers of adding a final section that told the readers what happened eventually to the principal characters.  And now I am stuck with it!  Oh well, here goes.