Wednesday 2 October 2013

Announcing my new book : Bumpy Roads-a collection of short stories

Fasten your seat belts and prepare to travel down the bumpy roads of life. 35 entertaining short  stories based in 8 countries; some with humour and others thought provoking. Hold on tight as you approach the surprise twists and remember that most accidents are caused by the nut behind the wheel!

Following the earthquakes in my city of Christchurch, New Zealand , I started writing stories -some built around the earthquake and others based on overseas experiences. When the 6.3 quake hit on 22 February 2011, I was working in a building across the road from a 6 storey building which collapsed. Most of the people inside the collapsed building died. My first book 'Moments in Time-a collection of short stories', tells not only about the earthquake but has other stories many with humour and surprise twists. The overall theme of this book is that life is unpredictable, but there is light at the end of the tunnel; make the most of life. In Christchurch, we experienced over 10,000 earthquakes/aftershocks of over 6.3 Richter Scale and over a two year period, yet we learned to be resilient and move on. No matter how hard life can get, there is always hope. 

'Bumpy Roads', similarly to 'Moments in Time', is both literal  and figurative. Post earthquake, Christchurch, is characterised by bumpy roads resulting from liquefaction. Many people  in Christchurch are journeying through bumpy times in their life as they battle with insurance companies, government etc. and try to get their lives back into order. 'Bumpy Roads', comprises 35 stories and is not just about Christchurch. There are stories based around my experiences in eight different countries. In April I returned from Japan and China, and have included three stories using these experiences. China was the first communist country I had visited, but it was not what I expected. Find out more in my book. This has only just come out and will soon be available worldwide. It has just been listed on Amazon.