Brotherly Love

      

      

Brotherly Love by Edmund J Gubbins

Ken Flood lived a quiet life with his wife and two daughters in Plymouth, working as a lecturer in the University, minding his own business and relatively happy and content. Out of loyalty to his brother he enters a world for which he has no experience. On the run from enemies he does not know, fearful and scared out of his mind. Running, moving, never staying in one place, not knowing to whom to turn for help. Never sure which men or women are on his side or against him. Not even sure of which side his brother is on. Wondering whether his brother his using him for purposes he has no control over. In the end, doubting his brother's motives.

It is a story of fear, of somebody out of their depth in a world made strange, of chance encounters with people willing to help, of finding hidden depths behind a placid exterior and of the extent which loyalty to ones family can led on down paths best left unexplored.

Read this thriller by downloading to your iPad, Kimble or computer etc. from:

 www.smashwords.com 

for the bargain price of $1.99.

Running After Maria

Running After Maria

Running after Maria

by

Eddie Gubbins

Published as an ebook for downloading at:

www.smashwords.com

James Ashleigh went to sea after leaving school and began to live what turned out to be, for him, the ideal life. Plenty of money, plenty of women and drink and visiting places only read about in books. The ideal life for somebody in their mid twenties with nothing to hold them in one place. Then one day at a party on one of ship on which he was an officer, in port in Finland, he meets Maria and life's complications start.

This is the story of one man’s descent into depression after tragedy strikes, his anger at other people trying to help and his redemption in the arms of somebody who admired the dedication of other people who try to help. It explores the question of whether a person can really be saved after a devastating loss especially of somebody that person loves deeply? Does not their world and the will to live end?

A Ceremony of Innocence

A Ceremony of Innocence by Eddie Gubbins

My novel A Ceremony of Innocence has now been posted as an ebook on Kindle. It can be downloaded for $3.99 from Amazon with apps for

iPad and other platforms

Set against the political and industrial strife of the 1980's, this is a story  follows the lives of one family during one summer in 1981. 

Joan Brookes, the mother, is excited because her two sons will be back home together for the holidays, something that has not happened for what seems to her an age. All she wants for the holiday is her house filled with laughter, conversation and joy. In anticipation of the holiday she is happy.

Her husband Charlie is a shop steward at the Brents shipyard and at the same time as her boys are arriving home, there are redundancies announced at the shipyard. The workers led by Charlie vote to strike at the same time as his sons arrive home on holiday.

Jim, her youngest son is to graduate that summer from university with a first class honours degree making her feel proud and happy.  Left wing and loyal to his friends, Jim wants only to help his father in what he sees as the struggle for justice. Jim thinks of his brother as left wing and shy from the little he remembers of him when they were together at school ten years before. From this stand point Jim thinks his brother will help with the strike.

Mark, her oldest son, wants a quiet life while on leave from his travels as an officer in the merchant navy. He is skeptical about the strike and its effects on the community although he supports his father. Mark feels that because time is short while he is at home, he has to grab any opportunity for gain or happiness that comes his way. He is not prepared to subordinate his pleasure for the sake of the family over something that he sees as none of his business.

Against the background of the strike, Jim painfully finds out what his brother is like and is annoyed that Mark has enough friends to help Jim out of a brush with the law when the rest of the family were helpless.

What will be the climax, reconciliation or a final fractured relationship.

Can the brothers find a way to compromise their positions and fulfil their mother’s wish for a happy few weeks or will their anger boil over into open conflict and family break up?

Download it now for a good read.

Loyalty in Football

How can we talk about loyalty in football in the light of Steve Coteral's leaving Portsmouth for Nottingham Forest? The next time he rants about the loyalty of player under his management he should think deeply about his record of loyalty. He was at Notts County for a few months but as soon as he was asked to move he moved. Now he has abandoned Portsmouth for Forest.
The only loyalty in football is the fans. Most turn up to support their local team come rain come shine. They suffer the good times and they rejoice in the good. For most they know that they have to enjoy the good because as night follows day, there will come a time when things turn bad. I can remember when even the mighty Liverpool of today languished in the lower reaches of the old second division. Chelsea, Aston Villa, Man united have also had to endure those times. During the dark days of bottom of the table, loss after loss, I have sat in the pub with my friends wondering whether to have another pint or go to the match. Of course as true fans, we have gone to the match full of hope that it will get better. The Rooney's and Teveses of this world would do well to think of the fans when they make their exaggerated claims that they should move.
It is all about money. AND now we have those  ignorant Americans coming here and demanding that all the history and tradition be thrown out of the window. They want to stop promotion and relegation so that they can protect their investment. It is the NFL model. I have never understood how people who made their money through capitalism and competition can be so communistic when it comes to sport. They will condemn foreign companies for trying to protect their businesses by co-operation or state subsidies. When it comes to two things the Americans are more socialist than left government countries. They pour subsidies into agriculture, build barriers against foreign imports and suppress competition in sport.
If you do not accept our systems take your money back home. The dream of mixing with the big boys is what drives football in England from the park team to the football league. It should be preserved!

The oldies are of no consequence!

So they want to force the oldies to give up their houses and move to smaller ones. This is so that younger people with families can then move into those houses. We are to be treated like discards of society no longer wanted, to be herded into whatever the state thinks is best for the young. They say it is because there are millions of spare rooms in houses of the elderly sitting empty in the whole country. These could be put to better use.

Houses are not commodities to many people but homes. They contain memories, they have been decorated and organised to fit families and they are comfortable and familiar. In addition for many people they are located in the right place with neighbours and friends. They are the fabric of living to many elderly people. 

It smacks a little of what used to happen in communist states in that the authorities think they can order their citizens lives in ways that the authorities think is best.

Besides it is not only the old who live in houses with spare rooms. I know several younger people who live on their own in three bed roomed houses. There are married couples without children in similar situations. Should they be made to move into more appropriate accommodation? The worst example is the Queen. Surely she does not need all those rooms at Windsor. Buckingham Palace, Sandringham, Balmoral? Or what about the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth. Should he be made to move? I doubt it because there will be one rule for the rich gang and another for the poor.

Besides, many elderly people living in houses with vacant rooms suddenly find those rooms essential when their families come to visit. 

The authorities should make sure that all the houses left vacant by owners are put back into use before trying to bludgeon the elderly into giving up their homes.

Liam Fox

Is it a sign of our times the saga of Liam Fox? He appears to the innocent outside observer to be completely oblivious to doing anything wrong. The impression given is that he has a self ordained right to ignore the rules and give his friends not just help but privileges. It might be symptomatic of the arrogant view among politicians that they do not have to be honest or pay any regard to what in most of society passes as normal behavior.
How can politicians get back any trust from their employers that they might have had in the past when they appear to be on the make all the time. They cow tow to vested interests like the press and anybody with money in order to get elected. Then they in all innocence believe that the bill will not be presented at a latter date. Regulation of the financial sector? Wait a minute we gave you donations to help your election therefore we demand an end to this talk of stopping our making money. That defence contract must be ours because we helped you get into power.
It all stems back to Mrs. Thatcher and her comment that there is no such thing as society. She implied that it was everybody for themselves. Then there is the movement to treat discipline like  a dirty word. In schools and in the home it is felt wrong by a significant number of adults to discipline children. The result is an out of control generation.
Liam Fox should be honest and set an example by facing up to his wrong doing and resign straight away.

The Return Of The Exiles

At last the editing is finished and here it is:-

The Return Of The Exiles

Book 2 of The Rombuli Saga

The Empire is in trouble. It looks like all its administration is disintegrating. There had been no communication with the Parison for almost three years. People reported that strange creatures had been seen on the borders. Sending troops to investigate has proved futile. As soon as they cross the border of Sardonia, nothing has been heard of them again. Latask, the Covenenter, is scared which is not like one of his kind. To Edward Eastland they have always appeared in control.

A Council Meeting is called by Rulask the Governor to discuss what is happening. An idea emerges. From this the plan is to hold onto Rombuli while somebody finds out what is happening. Everybody agrees that it is a desperate measure but there appears to be no alternative.

Edward Eastland is given the task of finding the Walloonian army at a place called Bryants Ridge. There he will find two more Covenenters and will attempt to enlist their help. It means he has to leave his new wife Kitty in Nimmar. He must rely on her brother Boric and his friend Tag to get him through potentially enemy territory. In the event, they becomes cut off from Rombuli. With his friends Boric Borovic and Tag, he sets out to find his way back home by a circuitous route.

Edward wonders whether his powers, magic as Tag calls it, will help him and keep them safe. Will he learn more about the extent of his powers as he overcomes any obstacles in their way? Are there forces with greater powers than him waiting to prevent him reaching his goal? During the journey, will his friends keep following his lead no matter the dangers they encounter? 

As they set out they have to face the possibility that the Empire will no longer exist when the get back home.

The Return Of The Exiles, Book 2 of The Rombuli Saga,  is a sequel to Book 1 of The Rombuli Saga - The Teacher of the Rombuli.

The Return Of The Exiles can be downloaded from Amazon for Kindle and other platforms price $3:99.

The Teacher Of The Rombuli also can be downloaded from Amazon for Kindle and other platforms price $3:99.