Festival dates ahead
After a weekend that saw concerts in both Yialos and Horio, and the festival of Megalis Sotiris in the mountains, there are more evets planned for this week.

There’s a concert with Yiannis Mathes on Monday 8^th.. A concert with our local youth band, Ano-Kato, on Tuesday. On Wednesday there is a dance performance by the ballet school organised by the Women’s Association of Symi. An opening of a new art show with work by Nikos Psarros is on (at the Cultural Centre) in Yialos from Thursday 11^th August until the 20^th – the opening is at 18:00 to 23:00 on Thursday, free, everyone welcome and there will be music at 8pm too. Friday there’s a performance by the dance group of Eirini Mylonakis, and on Saturday the Symi Theatre group are performing, ‘Ο γιος μου εχασολόνσε.’

If a venue isn’t mentioned here it’s because the venues are usually announced on the day of the perforce, or just before, via the loud speaker system on the island. Mind you, when you walk through the village square at four in the afternoon and see rows of chairs and a speaker system shipped in from Wembley Arena, it looked like, then you can be fairly sure a concert is going to be taking place there before long.

As for our weekend, that was spent: popping down to Yialos on Friday to get some money out of the bank, spending €60.00 of it on a load of cat food and litter for HRH Jack, and then €20.00 or so on a dinner at ‘The Trawler.’ This is a taverna at the bottom of the Kali Strata noted (by us) for its garlic potatoes and stuffed mushrooms, among other lovelies. We took the bus back up, chatting to a Canadian/American couple who were on a sailing trip and then went to the village square. It was good to see Georgio & Maria taverna full to overflowing with tables out on the street. I hope Taverna Zoi was just as busy, and the other eateries in the village. On Saturday I did some work at home tidying up an old book that is coming up to its 20^th year in publication – I thought it was about time I corrected some of these ‘early learning’ errors in its writing and had a second edition. The concert was on Saturday night and then on Sunday I worked on the last assignment of my screenplay writing course while Neil got on with his I-GCSE.

So, it was all go and it looks like it’s going to be all Symi Festival fun and frolics through this week too, with the weather still hot – a nice breeze on Sunday – and the skies are clear. Here’s to the week ahead.

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Owls, flags, films and books
And that was the week that was. New book out, another one given away for free for a few days (if only the 200+ folk who got hold of it chipped in a euro or two, ah well, good publicity), a film finished, a great night out for a friend’s birthday at the wonderful Windmill Restaurant, the first part of the last part of my scriptwriting course started (to be finished this weekend and then second part by next weekend), and an incredible weight-loss result of 0.0012 kg or something. Ah well, again. Oh, and some interesting photos. At least I think they are interesting. Here’s a jumble of cables and thing on a nearby pole at around 5.50 one morning:

In there is some kind of owl, it’s the round thing. I also took a photo of what I thought was an oriole (that’s a biscuit, surely?) but I think it turned out to be a sparrow.

And there were loads of boats in the other day all flying some very colourful flags from around the world.

But, what might be of more interest to you than this post with my dodgy pics is Lyndon’s Symi Flora and Fauna post which is about the reptiles of Symi. If you’ve wondered what the wildlife of the mountains gets up to at night, then his current post will give you some examples. Snakes, frogs, lizards, bulrushes and a much better picture of an owl than mine above, can all be found on his site here.

I will leave you for the weekend now with a gentle reminder that there is someone in your life who would like a copy of my latest comedy novel, ‘Remotely‘ and you can order them a copy simply by clicking that link.

Oh, and I’ll also leave a note in case you’re waiting on the link to the film, The Thirteenth: they are uploading it to a place where it can be password protected but as this is also going to be for potential distributors to see, it has to be the highest quality. That means a huge file and that means finding a suitable place and then waiting for an upload that could take many hours, or even days to complete. Bear with, and I’m sure it’ll be there ere long.

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Symi film news
Amid the festival celebrations and the heat of summer comes news from 1066 Productions that the film, shot on Symi, now titled ‘The Thirteenth,’ has finished its post-production stage. This time three years ago we were in fundraising mode through the Kickstarter programme. The target was reached on Neil’s birthday, September 8^th and pre-production started. Filming took place on Symi in the October of that year and it’s been a long time in post due to various problems. But finally they have got it there. Got it where? You might now ask?

Well, as I understand it, the next stage is for the company to find a distributor for the film, and this, like everything else, is not an overnight event. They must work up publicity, a ‘one sheet’, which outlines the film, its stars, the look and reach, audience, scope, its synopsis etc., and then use that to attract a company who will take on the all-important job of selling the film onwards. That could be to television companies around the world, things like Netflix or other online outlets and then DVD, with what’s called a ‘theatrical release’ being at the top of the wish list. It’s too early to say how long this part of the process will take or where the film will end up. But meanwhile…

Those people who put money into the project three years ago should soon be getting the first of their ‘rewards.’ These were things promised by the company in return for the backing and the first one is a link to a protected page online where the finished film can be streamed (password protected). I am told that this should go out ‘very soon,’ so stand by your emails. As for the rest of the ‘perks’, the book and other goodies, we’re still waiting to hear when they will be sent out and as I wasn’t part of that process I don’t have any more current news. I’ll let you know when I do.

So, will ‘The Thirteenth’ be on show at the Symi Cinema next year as part of the Symi Festival? That’s something else we shall have to wait and see about. Meanwhile, if you haven’t already read it, you might like to get hold of a copy of the book on which the film was based: ‘The Judas Inheritance,’ by James Collins (that’s me). Just follow that link and you’ll be at Amazon where you can order a copy.

The photos today are a few I’ve purloined from Neil’s stills photos file. He is listed on the credits as the Stills Photographer as it was his job to get production images for publicity and for the ‘perks’, and some of these have not been seen before. There are hundreds, some of which will be in the book of the making of the film, when it is ready. More news on this ‘filmed on Symi’ project when I have it.

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More Symi Festival 2016
Tonight, Thursday 4^th August, in the Symi Festival 2016, there is a concert with a traditional orchestra, ‘Menexedes’ (my translator tells me that ΜΕΝΕΞΕΔΕ means purple?). The venue has yet to be announced so listen out for the PA system which will announce the venue and time (usually 9pm going on 10pm) in various languages.

Friday night’s event is the festival of Great Sotiris at the church on the Panormitis road. We’ve attended this in the past. It’s a lovely event, starts late and goes on, there is music and dancing and the church is open. The walk or drive home under the stars up in the hills is pretty amazing too with the whole of the Milky Way on display.

On Saturday there is a concert with Christos Thivaios – again, exact details to be announced on the PA system nearer the time.

And now for something completely different… Sales of ‘Remotely‘ have been going well, but I’ve been advised that the price is an introductory one and it will be going up in the near future. I’m not sure by how much at present but if you haven’t ordered a copy, now’s your chance to do so. I’m not sure what the Kindle price will be though.

On that note, it never fails to surprise me that authors can spend a year or two writing a book, then sell it for a tiny profit (most of the cost of my books is for printing and tax), and publish it in print form, and then go and sell it as a Kindle version for even less profit. I know everyone says that there is no printing involved in Kindle, but there is still formatting to be done, if it’s done properly as my more recent books now are. But it’s still the same amount of work and words that’s gone into it. I’ve seen some authors give theirs away for €0.20 or less, for example, or even for free. Surely it took them just as long to write, just as much time and talent (or not) and just as much effort. And surely they can’t value their work so little as to only take twenty cents for it? Would you do that with your paintings, your songs, the cake you just made, your business? It took just as long to create and publish the electronic version as the printed one so why not make yourself the same meagre income from a sale?

Having said that, I think ‘The Judas Inheritance’ is currently free on Kindle, for a few days anyway – something the publisher does every now and then to boost interest in the author. I always feel it’s unfair on those who paid the full price, but there’s nothing I can do about it.

Anyway, enough about that. The images today are from Neil’s collection. I hope you enjoyed them and don’t forget to grab your ‘Remotely‘ before the price does go up (at no extra profit to me I expect) and if you want to visit and share my Amazon Author Page you can find the link there. Remember: reviews are the new black and every author needs them these days to get more of a push from Amazon itself. Thank you!

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Symi Festival 2016 (and other matters)
It’s good to hear, from up here, the festival events taking place down in Yialos, and there are many more planned over the next two months in various locations around the island. I am trying to get hold of a copy of the listings so I can put some details on the blog. But keep an eye out here and when I learn of events taking place in the Symi Festival 2016, I’ll let you know as soon as possible through the Symi Dream blog.

Side-stepping… I’ve heard of some awful stories coming out of the British press recently and I don’t know if they are true or not. Well, actually, I imagine they are as the people who were telling me of them wouldn’t have made them up as they are far too fantastic to be made up. Maybe, while showing you some random images from my folders, I can expel a couple of myths that seem to be circulating. Remember these are what I’ve been told by people coming over from Britain.

One: Greece is awash with refugees still and it means holidays are being spoiled. In a word, rubbish. No refugees here on Symi for months, most other places are quiet too, and even when there were refugees here, they were not spoiling anyone’s holiday; not unless you were a racist of course.

Two: There is no money in the Greek bank machines. There’s plenty of cash in the machines, you can use your cards, you can exchange currency with no hassles and everything is running normally. No worries on that score.

Three: Turkey is about to invade Greece so the islands are a dangerous place to be. I don’t think so. Turkey is doing its own (in my opinion) very undemocratic thing and has far too much to worry about to cause trouble over here. Anyway, why would it? Get a grip and stop reading those dreadful newspapers. Besides, just about every Greek man between the age of 18 and I don’t know when, has been trained through national service, many are reserves and they all know what they are doing should there be any troubles – which there haven’t been, so stop worrying.

Four: It’s all so expensive. Well, those folk who believed the wrong kind of make-believe and plunged the pound might well say that, but it’s still cheaper over here than it is over there for all you need for a holiday: fresh air, sea, nice pole (who actually like you being in their country), fresh food, water and, with the Symi Festival going on, free entertainment. Fancy a lunch out? Giros, a drink, and a salad for two, £10.00 – cheaper than some fast food places and much more healthy (depending on what you drink).

So, if you hear anyone ‘over there’ or in your own country, moaning on and saying they are not coming to Greece because of 1 – 4 above, please point them in this direction and suggest they ask people who live in this country before they start believing ‘news’ papers whose only job is to sell ‘news’ papers, mainly through deceit.

Thank you very much. And before I forget, don’t you forget that ‘Remotely‘ is still at its introductory price; grab a copy now before that price goes up.

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