Two Five Star Reviews So Far

Ask any self published author what spurs them on and I'm sure that they will tell you that a positive response to their work is high on the list. So I am delighted to say that, after a couple of weeks since its release, Mr Pendergast's Fantastic Find now appears with a couple of five star reviews. It's early days but it is encouraging that two readers (both of whom read my first novel) have taken the time to review Mr P. 

I'm also enrolled in the scheme whereby Kindle readers can borrow my books. I can see when somebody borrows one and it is really encouraging when you see that they read the entire book in just a couple of days or, in one case above, in just one day.

I hope to start publicising the book with a vengeance over the next couple of weeks starting with a 25 book giveaway currently running on Goodreads. If you would like the chance to win a signed copy just click here and click the "enter giveaway" button.

The novel tells the story of Dave Pendergast who tries to make his fortune by finding hidden bargains on eBay. It's not a fantasy. Here are a couple of finds that I've made recently. They aren't going to make my fortune but are certainly much better than the description that the seller gave them.

This lovely Victorian majolica water lily plate circa 1890 was described as an "Unmarked Novelty Flower Plate".

And this fine Fukagawa Koransha Japanese vase from around 1900 was listed as "Pretty Ceramic Vase" which is true but unlikely to reach collectors of Japanese porcelain.

eBay and writing apart, I've been enjoying competing with my old work colleagues at Instanta in the TalkSport football predictor league. I'm top of their league at the moment with eight rounds of matches to go but, more pleasingly, I am in 260th place out of 175,000.

We've been doing a lot of gardening but had a break from that at the weekend when we headed to Rochester to visit our son Paul and our grandchildren Catherine and Teddy.

How time disappears! I can remember the days when I was the one doing the pushing and Paul was the one in the swing. 

Rochester's medieval castle and cathedral looked glorious framed by the blue sky and this magnificent magnolia tree.

Our granddaughter Catherine, like her daddy before her, loves Ghostbusters. So we went into the garage and dug out Paul's old Ghostbusters' Fire Station to pass down to her. It's nice to see our children's old toys being recycled.  

Paul looked after his toys well and everything was in good working order.

There was even the added benefit of finding Paul's own Ghostbusters' poster that he made when he was five.

My favourite field has been drilled with a crop now so I can't go detecting there at the moment. As my current detector is a fair few years old I've treated myself to a shiny new one. I've got a few friends here in Framlingham who want to give the hobby a try so now they can use my old machine before deciding if they want to take it up. It will be good to have a bit of company on my days searching (as long as they don't find better stuff than me that is).