Brotherly Love

This is a story about fear, of somebody out of his depth in a world made strange to him by events he could not fully comprehend. It is a novel about Ken Flood, living a mundane, steady life as an academic in Plymouth but is pulled by family loyalty along paths of experience which would be best left unexplored. Along the way there are chance encounters with people who through friendship are willing to help. Though scared to death, Ken somehow finds hidden depths behind his placid exterior and keeps going when to give up would be the easier option. The novel explores the conflicts which arise when an ordinary person is forced to choose between family loyalty and obligation to the wider public. Would you question what is being asked of you by a family member who you had always thought was honest or just help in any way you could? What happens if the activity you are being asked to undertake looks very dodgy, if not criminal? The problem is Ken's brother, who Ken now believes after some time on the run, appears to be on the other side. Are there sides in the game Ken is forced to play? Which side is good and which evil? Who are the buddies in black hats? It is soon obvious to Ken that there are no sides in this game  and friend and foe are not easily distinguished. The novel follows Ken's quest to answer these questions to its ultimate conclusion. His brother Norman arrives unexpectedly one day asking for help. Norman puts forward a proposition to Ken but which appears to Ken to verge on an attempt pull him into the murky waters on the edges of crime. Ken has to decide quickly whether to help his brother out of brotherly love or let his brother face his unknown pursuers alone? Reluctantly Ken agrees to help and soon finds himself outside the law, being chased by people he does not know, trying to deliver a mysterious package given to him by his brother to a man he has never met in London.

Has Ken been fooled by his brother? Has his brother used Ken to get attention of some hard men away from what his brother is doing? Will Ken finally find out what he ahs been pulled into against his better instincts?

Read Brotherly Love and find out.

Available at amazon.com and amazon.co.uk for downloading on Kindle.

Also through www.smashwords.com for downloading on all electronic reading devises.

Angry!

I lay in bed this morning drinking my mug of tea listening to the radio. There was somebody rabbiting on about unhealthy food and the way we were all getting fatter. Then he went on to say that the government should legislate to ban all adverts of unhealthy food. How we define unhealthy food they did not have time to discuss. I know that obesity is one of the main strains on the health system but there are other more pernicious trends at the moment,
Addiction to betting causes more stresses and strains in society than most other activities. We have banned adverts for smoking, for drinking. One cannot turn on a sporting programme on television without being assailed by adverts for betting. Gambling losses cause suicide, marriage breakdown, domestic violence and ill health.
NOW IS THE TIME TO BAN ALL ADVERTS AND SPONSORSHIP BY BETTING COMPANIES!

Ban betting adverts

They are as much a threat to the wellbeing of society than drinking. Why not ban all betting adverts from TV and sponsorship?

EddieGubbins: Running After Maria

EddieGubbins: Running After Maria: Running after Maria Published as an ebook for downloading at:   www.smashwords.com www.amazon.co.uk www.amazon.com and as a ...

Running After Maria

Running after Maria

Published as an ebook for downloading at:

 www.smashwords.com

www.amazon.co.uk

www.amazon.com

and as a paperback from 

www.createspace.com

www.amazon.co.uk

www.amazon.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. After several voyages from London to Helsinki when he stayed in her flat making love and to concerts, he asks Maria to marry him but he is devastated when she refuses. Though she says she loves him and still wants him to come to her flat,  it is his Englishness which prevents her from saying yes. She will not marry him if this means leaving Finland. Though angry and bewildered, James lets their relationship drift on.

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?

If you like it tell all your friends about it.

Tales from the Sea

Tales from the Sea

I have published my novel Tales from the Sea with smashwords for downloading as an ebook at  www.smashwords.com

It is available for downloading in the following formats

epub:This is the format Smashwords distributes to the Apple iBookstore, Sony, Kobo, B&N, Stanza, Aldiko, Sony Reader (LRF), Kindle (.mobi), Palm Doc (PDB), PDF, RTF, Plain Text

TALES FROM THE SEA is a semi-autobiographical novel based on my life at sea between 1957 and 1969.

In its pages, the reader will meet the characters with whom I sailed, the good, the bad, the comedians and the tough guys. They will experience nights ashore and visit, through my eyes, exotic places to which I voyaged. Read about the different ships, old and new, as they plough across the oceans carrying the products of the world.  Weaving a spell over everything is the sea and its dangers. To most seamen the sea itself calls. No seamen will ever know what moods will greet them when they sail out of port to meet the sea or how the mood can change very quickly. The sailor never arrives because each new port is a stepping stone to the next and on to the next until the nomadic lifestyle grows too much. This is the excitement of the sea.

The essence of the novel can be summed up in a poem:

The Sailor’s Mistress

When the cargo is loaded and all falls quiet

The sea itself is calling,

Beckoning the sailor out there beyond the dock.

His mistress is waiting

Where the river meets the sea.

He has no real knowledge of what her reaction will be

When he sails out to meet her.

She may greet him in a calm, balmy mood,

Like a gentle lover entwining him in her arms,

Leaving him refreshed and happy when they part.

It might be that she is angry

And will meet him with unmatched violence

A violence that beats upon the senses

And leaves the lovers drained and exhausted,

Ready to rush apart,

Ready to find a place of peace and quiet

Not the feeling of complete satisfaction.

Like all lovers, the sea and the sailor

Will never quite know what moods will greet them when they meet

Or how the mood can change very quickly.

This is the excitement of the sea.

Every time a ship leaves port,

The sailor approaches that love

With a mixture of exhilaration and apprehension.

Will they together make beautiful love under a clear blue sky

Or will they fight?

It is not for the sailor to subdue the sea

But to live with her moods

In the hope that he can survive.

The sea is calling, always calling

As a lover calls.

EddieGubbins: Football club managers.

EddieGubbins: Football club managers.: It is like something out of a nightmare. I have been a fan of Southampton Football Club since 1947 and am shocked at the sacking of Nigel Ad...

Football club managers.

It is like something out of a nightmare. I have been a fan of Southampton Football Club since 1947 and am shocked at the sacking of Nigel Adkins today. What are they thinking about? What does it show about the owners attitude to the fans? The owners of football clubs feel, with reason, that the fans will turn up regardless of what happens at the club. Unfortunately that is true of many fans. If a person has supported their team through the good times and the bad, they will stay loyal to that team. Unlike those when they are young jump on the bandwagon of the most successful team most supporters are fanatical about their home town team.
What is it with owners? I suppose it can be explained by the simple reason that if they invest their hard earned or dodgily earned cash in a football club, they can call the shots. This however was a case of a successful British manager being abandoned for an unknown Argentinian. That is the philosophy in the higher ranks of English football at the moment. Anything foreign is bound to be better than a home grown manager. Thus foreign losers get preference over British managers.
When will we learn? If Southampton fans boycott the next match or boo the new manager can the owners be surprised? That is if they even come to the games.

EddieGubbins: Tales from the Sea

EddieGubbins: Tales from the Sea: I have published my novel Tales from the Sea on Kindle for downloading as an ebook. TALES FROM THE SEA is a semi-autobiographical no...

Tales from the Sea

I have published my novel Tales from the Sea on Kindle for downloading as an ebook.

TALES FROM THE SEA is a semi-autobiographical novel based on my life at sea between 1957 and 1969.

In its pages, the reader will meet the characters with whom I sailed, the good, the bad, the comedians and the tough guys. They will experience nights ashore and visit, through my eyes, exotic places to which I voyaged. Read about the different ships, old and new, as they plough across the oceans carrying the products of the world.  Weaving a spell over everything is the sea and its dangers. To most seamen the sea itself calls. No seamen will ever know what moods will greet them when they sail out of port to meet the sea or how the mood can change very quickly. The sailor never arrives because each new port is a stepping stone to the next and on to the next until the nomadic lifestyle grows too much. This is the excitement of the sea.

The essence of the novel can be summed up in a poem:

The Sailor’s Mistress

When the cargo is loaded and all falls quiet

The sea itself is calling,

Beckoning the sailor out there beyond the dock.

His mistress is waiting

Where the river meets the sea.

He has no real knowledge of what her reaction will be

When he sails out to meet her.

She may greet him in a calm, balmy mood,

Like a gentle lover entwining him in her arms,

Leaving him refreshed and happy when they part.

It might be that she is angry

And will meet him with unmatched violence

A violence that beats upon the senses

And leaves the lovers drained and exhausted,

Ready to rush apart,

Ready to find a place of peace and quiet

Not the feeling of complete satisfaction.

Like all lovers, the sea and the sailor

Will never quite know what moods will greet them when they meet

Or how the mood can change very quickly.

This is the excitement of the sea.

Every time a ship leaves port,

The sailor approaches that love

With a mixture of exhilaration and apprehension.

Will they together make beautiful love under a clear blue sky

Or will they fight?

It is not for the sailor to subdue the sea

But to live with her moods

In the hope that he can survive.

The sea is calling, always calling

As a lover calls.