Just for my author page viewers on Facebook, I’ve put up the new look ‘Remotely’ cover on my Facebook page. It will be going live soon on Amazon, replacing the excellent cover that is already there. (This is happening because I am planning a series of short ‘Miss P’ novellas, and need to keep the design consistent through the series, which we can do with the new cover. ‘Honestly’, the first, will be out in a few weeks.) If you use Facebook, head over there and take a look and remember to follow and like the page. I think you can do that without having to be an FB-friend of mine – not sure. If you want to have a copy with the current cover, you best get one soon. Here’s the link.
Meanwhile, here are a few photos taken the other evening when we were invited to a barbeque. We don’t get to see the sunset from our house, it goes behind a house before it goes behind the hill, so it was a good opportunity to get some sun shots. I think they will show you how warm it has been around here of late. I’ll leave you with these and go and cool off over the cooker where I am making vegetable soup. I know, crazy, but after two barbeques in the last few days…
I was interviewed by a local radio station in Kent on Tuesday evening, and I think, for someone who hates using the phone, I did rather well. Neil was listening from out in the porch and told me I was okay, apart from too many ums and ers. The interviewer, Craig Avery, is an old school friend from the marsh, so I didn’t feel too nervous, and his questioning was so well put that I didn’t feel panicked. (I had no idea what he was going to ask, except it would be about my books.) You can listen to it on the station’s website, but I haven’t done that because I don’t like the sound of my voice. The interview was at 17:30 GMT on Tuesday. Here’s the link to the site and the ‘listen again’ page where it will be for one week. http://www.channelradio.co.uk/shows-craig-avery-show/ I start about a quarter of the way through – just after Connie Francis and ‘Who’s Sorry Now?’ Interesting.
Symi at dawn
Actually, what is interesting (and I should have picked up on it) is that the song before that was by Morcheeba. We’re friends with Morcheeba’s mum who visits Symi every year. The boys went to a school near mine in Folkestone, and our schools used to have rumbles on the 259 bus as it journeyed along the seafront road. They are younger than me, so I never actually got into trouble with them, but it’s another connection – and we met Ross when he was on Symi once; a group of us ended up at Rhodes airport with him playing the guitar as we sat on the floor. But now I am name dropping. The point is, later in the show Craig talked about ‘a small world’, and that’s where I could have mentioned something, but my brain doesn’t work like that without notes.
Symi harbour
Another connection is that another old friend from my childhood on the marsh is visiting Rhodes next week and hopes to get here for a day. If so, it will be the first time in about 37 years that we have seen each other.
Harbour detail
On the show, Craig was very good at getting me to plug the books, and I mentioned ‘The Saddling’ and ‘Remotely’ as they are set in the area local to the radio station, the Romney marshes. I had hoped to mention ‘The 13th‘ too, but forgot about that and wanted to thanks the people of the marsh who helped the Symi football boys recently, but there was no place I could slip that in. I did, though, manage to talk about Symi and say how wonderful it was, so at least the island got some publicity from it. I have no idea what else I said, except to praise my best friend from school, now a composer and musician working in India and London (and Albania and Istanbul, I think). Andrew had mentioned me on Craig’s show a year or two back, and Craig very kindly brought that up so that I had an ‘in’ to repay the compliments. All of which were meant.
Shopping colours
Anyway, that was my Tuesday evening, and maybe there will be a few more book sales and good reviews coming from it. I know the images today don’t go with the story, but there isn’t much to take photos of when you’re staring at your piano and wondering if you are making any sense at all. So, off with me now. Do listen if you want to, link above, and… well, have a good day.
Here’s some new on the new Symi International Film Festival, and some of my own thoughts: “The festival has received 15 submissions (all but one is under 20 mins). The website address is www.symifilmgroup.com The Festival website has a link for anyone who wishes to submit a film. The cost of entering a film is small, ranging from nothing for a film on or about Symi entered by the end of July, to a maximum of $20.00 US for a feature film entered in Late August.”
Symi International Film Festival
Just imagine what this festival could lead to. There are literally thousands of filmmakers out there with brand new films who are desperate to find prestigious looking screenings and who want to collect laurels for their artwork. The festival is also a great way of getting interesting brand new films totally free of charge that can be Greek subtitled. We could be seeing loads of interesting new films that will never otherwise be able to be seen by people on Symi (they won’t be on Greek TV ever).
Me at the Cyprus IFF
Over time, this could build into a really prestigious event for the island and could well start attracting lots of filmmakers and ‘creatives.’ I can see that some filmmakers might want to rent villas in due course, for the festival, especially if they knew there were going to be other filmmakers visiting. It could be gradually built up with extra events like public interviews and talks and so on.
Think of it… It could be possible to generate loads of income in submission fees each year – enough to pay a person or a small team of people to be administrators and really get things organised regarding events, accommodation, promotion, tourism. It might also be possible to get grants from the government to support all this. If worked into the fabric of the already existing festival, the Symi Festival and International Film Festival could become a great cultural event.
My overnight script for a short film at the Cyprus IFF
It could even include some of the young, energetic people on the island who could help with things like selecting films and getting ideas moving. It’s something people could really feel part of. From my point of view, there could also be a special award for scriptwriters and the event could attract writers to the island for talks and interviews, etc. Maybe I should sponsor an award for best screenplay?
Balloons, for fun
Anyway, I’m not telling the festival organises what they should be doing here, I’ve only ever been to one of these things. I’m just letting my imagination run a bit wild. But this could be a great opportunity for the island to attract more visitors, giving a much-needed boost to the tour operators, property owners, businesses and… well, everyone. Keep up the great work folks!
To find out more about the Symi International Film Festival, go to their new website here.
As parts of northern Greece are suffering severe weather, I checked ahead to see if this rumour about rain and hail coming our way was justified. According to the weather stations I looked up, it isn’t, and the bad weather further north should be over with by Tuesday. We did, however, have some severe cloud over Nimos yesterday morning:
Quick, Daphne! Grab your brolly
We were invited to a barbeque on Sunday night and had a lovely evening. It made me think. Outdoor dining and cooking is something that just about every visitor to Symi can do (depending on your property and what they allow). Barbeques are useful because, in these temperatures, you don’t want to be slaving over a stove inside; that’s why you see outside ovens in some parts of town and the village. You can pick up disposable barbies (not the doll variety) from some of the supermarkets and use them. Or you can, if you are staying longer, buy cheap metal ones from certain shops. The hardware shop in Horio (near the surgery) for example, does them at various sizes and prices. Some properties may have them already installed in their courtyards.
Barbeque at Seskli, during a round-the-island boat trip
If you don’t want to barbie your own dinner, you can find some accommodations provide you with meals to have on your balcony. Ask the owners, if you’re in a complex where they live on site or your tour operator. There are also many tavernas who deliver. You can get a pizza sent up from Yialos, you can call into Georgio’s in the village and pick something up for later, other tavernas also have a delivery service, and there are the giros places too. If your accommodation comes with a couple of rings and a fridge, then that should be enough to set you up for some home cooking. We did over a year at our first house with two rings and a fridge and even gave dinner parties. That was before we realised that the cooker in the saloni also worked, kind of. Some properties come with a fully fitted kitchen, while others have parts of a fitted kitchen, but there’s usually enough to get you started, unless you’re in a hotel, perhaps.
Perfect
It was just a thought because sitting out at night under the stars with a couple of candles burning and the barbie on the go… Well, there’s no better way to spend an evening.
Barbeque at Seskli, during a round-the-island boat trip
Actually, I can think of hundreds of better ways to spend an evening: winning the lottery, being awarded the Nobel prize, etc., It’s one of those expressions that I find vacuous but often use myself. ‘Nothing worse than toothache!’ Well, having your eyes poked out by a hot stick, or getting your hand caught in a mincing machine, being run down by a combine harvester… You get the point. But, for a night away from the hustle and bustle of island life, a quiet barbie with good friends and good food is hard to beat. Thank you to you who invited us. Everything was fabulous. The various lamb chops, the chicken dishes, the salads, the wine, the company, the cheese thing I can never remember the name of, the fruit salad, the pizzas – it was one professional barbie.
And here we are back at the start of another week, always a good place to be. Yes, I know, you have to go to work, and it’s Monday morning, but just think what the week ahead might hold. Here in Greece, it’s apparently going to include rain and hail from Saturday; maybe not here, but we shall wait and see. The ground and the plants, not to mention the reservoirs, could certainly do with some rain.
Yialos
This week, for me, will also bring the end of the first draft of ‘The Witchling.’ This is one of those rare events for me. I started with an idea for a ‘The Saddling’ follow up, jotted down some notes and knew what was to happen, and then just started writing. It’s taken me four weeks to write 80,000 words and as of today (Sunday) I have two chapters left to write. I hope to get one done today and the other on Monday, and then the first draft will be done. It’s rubbish. Actually, it’s not all rubbish, but it is very quick and rough. I had to tell myself the story that was in my head before it left me and that’s what I have done. I shall then, after a break, set about a draft two where it will be much improved, I hope. Because I already have the setting, characters, dialect and backstory, it was a case of adding in the words and inventing a few new things while keeping to the ‘rules’ and facts written in ‘The Saddling’. Don’t expect it on sale anytime soon though, it needs a lot of work.
A couple of makes seem popular
What will be on sale soon is ‘Remotely’ with a new cover and, at the same time, the first ‘Miss P’ novella. If you’ve read ‘Remotely’ you will have met Miss P. The idea now is, when in the mood, I write novellas featuring this character and put them on sale for, say, 99p on Kindle. When we have finalised the ‘Remotely’ cover, we’ll use the same style for ‘Honestly’, and I’ll launch that together with the new look ‘Remotely.’ That will hopefully be in a few weeks. After that, it’s on to ‘Symi, Stuff & Nonsense’ which I want to have out in November, ready for Christmas.
Someone will be back for them later.
What’s available now, however, has nothing to do with me (though I am mentioned in it) and it’s free. There’s a new magazine out, Symi, by ΝΗΣΟΣ Free Press, http://nissosgr.com/ (The site is under construction, and I haven’t found the online version yet, but I have seen a link to it somewhere. If I find it again I will let you know.)
Symi Magazine
It’s a great looking magazine, and you can pick up copies from various places on Symi. There’s Symi info, a map, advertising, news from the Town Hall, articles and other information, some of which is in English. Apparently, it’s available online from the Apple App Store and in the Android Market, though I don’t use them, so I’ve not looked. Might give you something to do, find and look at when you get to work and have a coffee break?
For me, it’s back to those last two chapters. I’ve left someone tied to a stake about to be burned by a witch who he is tricking into being burned again to save the village from… It’s all go down on the Romney Marshes.
