…memories that still make me smile… recall #1… Zorba’s Dance…

…many of you will know that I recently published my autobiography on Auntie Amazon Kindle, ‘STRANGELY, I’M STILL HERE‘… in the memoir were many incidents which accorded me such fun at the time, that I’ve decided to focus on some of these in a series of wee blog posts… this is #1… here’s a You Tube piece I shared recently which captures that wonderful dance exhilaration in the movie, Zorba with Anthony Quinn… in my book, I refer to two great guys in London 40 years ago, with whom I became great pals and drinking buddies (in the days  before I relinquished my indulgence for the ‘electric soup’)… one was a Scotsman, Duncan Campbell, later to become best man at my first wedding, and his mate, an enormous bundle of Irish mischief, only ever known to me as ‘Paddy’… they were partners in the London Metropolitan Police Force’s special Serious Crimes Squad, known as ‘The Flying Squad’, with the cockney rhyming tag. ‘The Sweeney’ (from ‘Sweeney Todd’)… this anti-hard-crime-gangsters pair were formidable, tough-as-nails, fighting men when needed… Duncan was six feet, two inches tall, and Paddy was four inches taller, making me the midget of our trio… Duncan had a girlfriend who worked in a Greek club in Soho, in London’s West End, and frequently we would arrive at the club well after midnight, already having spent time in various other entertainment establishments… the Greek club boasted two amazing bouzouki players… I lost count of the times when the three of us linked arms on the wooden flooring, and danced that most masculine of Greek dances to the terrific music backdrop… often, other patrons would join in, and the fun and intensity was part of each great evening… the dance was always followed by the traditional smashing of piles of plates… these were made from rough clay, swept up after each ‘smashing’ session and re-kilned for use on subsequent  evenings… I can still remember the series of dance steps involved as Zorba’s Dance was played… Duncan and Paddy later became role models for two of my principal characters in my Jack Calder series – Donnie Mullen  and Malky McGuire… see yeez later… LUV YEEZ!

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…bad guys in Bahrain beware… Batman Faisal’s in town!…

…great friends of mine in Bahrain, the Al-Tattans, have embraced me warmly into their family over the past few years during my stay in their country… the eldest son of Salah and Hala is Nasser Al-Tattan, whose own son was born three years ago on Bahrain’s National Day, December 16th… the wee boy is called Faisal, and is an absolutely charming lad… but he has super powers!… apart from his infectious chuckle and dimpled, photo-model smile, the boy has an (almost) secret identity… he is the Bahraini Batman!… I have the photographic evidence right here at the top of this blog post… during an exhibition presentation of the Justice League in the City Centre Mall in Al Seef, a multitude of local children dressed up in the style of their own special heroes, but none better than Faisal... as you can see, he is caped and ready for the fight against all evil and baddies who may lurk  at their peril in the Mall… I accompanied the family in their Batmobile vehicle en route to the Mall one delightful  evening a few weeks ago… lo and behold, near the City Centre are two large skyscrapers, the builders of which have their corporate logo encapsulated in huge illuminated signs, visible from all over the capital in Manama… like the Batman signal in the sky… the signs read,  ‘BF’… of course, all of us in the Batmobile knew that the real meaning or the ‘BF’ logo means ‘Batman Faisal’, which he acknowledged with the usual shrieks of confirmation… any lawless individual at or near the Mall must have begun to quake in fear… Batman Faisal was close by… as you will see, he took particular care to ensure that I was kept safe and secure as he strode through the Mall, ruthlessly clearing out any criminal elements… the residents of Bahrain can sleep easy at nights… see yeez later! LUV YEEZ!

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…Christmas joint blog tour and giveaways… O come all ye faithful readers…

Come one, come all, Free giveaways from a select group of your favourite authors

Join us Across the Globe in this Christmas Around the World Giveaway.

…giving is a global tradition, regardless of where you may be at Christmas time… I have spent the last almost 50 years away from my home country of Scotland, but the memories remain constant, and are the same traditions that my main character Jack Calder would have known as a child in Docklands, Govan in Glasgow… New Year in Scotland is traditionally the time when the adults celebrate, and Lordie, they know how to do that in Govan, but Christmas is always for the children… hanging stockings up by the fireplace and writing notes to Santa were mandatory, plus leaving a sandwich and maybe a bottle of beer for him, were also great traditions… wherever you may be on the planet for Christmas Day and every day, have a peaceful and healthy one!… LUV YEEZ!

Enter to Win 1 Grand Prize of These Five Star Dramatic Books from Around the World

Plus 6 additional winners of each book from Suzanne Kelman, Seumas Gallacher, Gloria Casale, KJ Waters, David P. Perlmutter, and Thomas J. Nichols.

Click on the link to enter: https://gleam.io/G3ZQ0/christmas-around-the-world-giveaway

The giveaway and accompanying blog tour start on December 2, 2019 and will continue until December 16.

Join us for an incredible journey around the world through the eyes of our authors and their protagonists starting in WWII Holland and continuing from to the Middle East over to Hong Kong, through the hills of Pennsylvania and deserts of Mexico, ending back in time in eighteenth century London. We are excited to share with you our own holiday traditions and what life was like for the characters featured in our books.

On Monday December 2, we will begin our journey in 1941, Nazi-occupied Amsterdam with Suzanne Kelmanin her international best-seller A View Across the Rooftops. Suzanne is a British author who lives in Seattle and delights in her English Christmas traditions every year. Please visit Suzanne’s video and blog post here: https://suzannekelmanauthor.blogspot.com.

Then we pop over to Seumas Gallacher’s blog on Tuesday, December 3 featuring his international crime novel The Violin Man’s Legacy. Seumas was born in Scotland and lives in Bahrain. His main character, Jack Calder, investigates a murderous diamond heist in Holland that leads him to Hong Kong and South America.

David P. Perlmutter takes over on Wednesday, December 4 sharing his Jewish upbringing in London, and will detail the true life and nearly deadly adventure in the hills of Pennsylvania where he spends Christmas with his boss in his book Five Weeks. David spends a decent amount of time in the #1 spot on Amazon with his soon to be movie, Wrong Place Wrong Time. You can visit his blog and video here: http://thewrongplaceatthewrongtime.blogspot.com/.

Thursday, Gloria Casale shares her holiday memories from her youth in New Jersey in a strong catholic family where they celebrated the tradition of St. Nicklaus on December 5^thevery year. Her book, Bioterror: The Essential Threat,while fiction, covers an all too real situation of bioterrorism and brings us on a harrowing journey beginning in Washington, DC and carries us around the world from Russia and Eastern Europe, to Indonesia, England, Syria, and the White House, as we chase the outbreak of a mysterious small pox-like illness. You can find Gloria’s blog here: https://www.gloriacasalewrites.com/blog-1.

Chief Thomas J. Nichols is featured on Friday, December 6, where he will talk about his poor upbringing in Missouri, some of which was spent in an orphanage. As a former police chief, he writes crime fiction with teeth and will detail what Christmas is like for his characters in the dry dusty backdrop of Mexico. His book, Color of the Prism,follows an undercover agent who spearheads an investigation into a violent Mexican drug cartel. You can find Tom’s blog and video here: https://thomasjnichols.blogspot.com/.

Finally, on Monday, December 9, we end the blog tour back in time with KJ Watersand her time travel novel to 1752 London, Stealing Time. What was lifelike in England in the year they skipped 9 days to jive with Europe’s Gregorian calendar? KJ grew up in Maryland and will talk about her Christmas family traditions in the south based on her Grandmother’s love of the holiday and overabundance of gifts and family fun in a split family. You can see KJ’s blog post here: https://kjwatersauthor.blogspot.com/

JOIN THE FUN

See yeez later… LUV YEEZ!

ALL MY BLOG POSTS ARE FREE TO SHARE OR RE-BLOG SHOULD YOU SO WISH – BE MY GUEST