Getting a feel for the late 17th Century....

The new novel "Protective Craft" is now finished and out on Kindle and in Paperback.  The title refers to the actions of the naval craft as well as rites practised by one of the characters.

Also discussed are the rights of man and the systems of government set up in the colonies by an absolutist king and his followers that would have led eventually to uprisings.     It is the follow-up to the prize-winning "Any Means to an End" available in paperback and ebook. 

Thanks to winning the prize in the Rosetta Press Literary Contest,  I was able to let them do some proof-reading and editing to go along with my own.  They also did some adjustments to the original cover illustration by Vivien Welsh adapting it to reflect the new direction of the story towards romance and witchcraft. 

The issues covered in both novels are, I feel, taken further in the second book.  These are romantic and family values, loyalty to crew and captain, what is "freedom" and how government systems can justify their right to govern plus treatment of the governed.  (Analysis of the systems set up in the original charters of the American colonies by absolutist kings in the 17th century can clearly been seen to lay the seeds of the system's destruction in the revolution 100 years later.  They couldn't take the hints from a Civil War in England could they!)  However, double standards continue, with a "Do as I say, not as I do" attitude from the Commodore.  Researching the history of the time has been fun and enlightening.  My hopes are that you could read the novels and at least get a feel for the times.

I hope you can find time to read the books, wherever you are in the world.

One reader left this positive comment on the Amazon site after reading the  Kindle ebook version.  Another left this 5 star review after reading the paperback.

Keep buying and reading,

Andrew R Welsh 

Keep Calm

The new novel "Protective Craft - The Lost Diaries of Richard Buchanan" ISBN 9781781766576 will be finished with the editing and book cover on 15th July 2012.  The paper back book will come out in paperback mid September 2012.

To celebrate the fact I produced this poster.

The Flight Home...

I am now safely ensconced back in England.  Apart from the day after arrival I have been working back in schools here.  The weather has been much wetter than in Mongolia, though luckily my home village avoided the deluge that clobbered the rest of the "Geordie Land" last night.  I have re-instated my Facebook pages and added all the links there.  Some likes are required before Facebook admin does something with the author page so that would be appreciated.

Exiting Ulaanbaatar's Chinggis Khan Airport, via its' single gate, the checking in and boarding and exit visa all went smoothly.  The flight to Incheon with Korean Airways was a bit bumpy with some quite severe turbulence.  This didn't bode well for the return over Asia the next day to London.  3 hours after leaving UB we touched down in Incheon and found our way to the transfer hotel desk, collected the vouchers for the Airport Hyatt Hotel and hopped on the bus to find the roads smooth, the drivers courteous and 15 minutes later the doors of the hotel.  Check in was easy and the rooms such a change from the Khabu Hotel in UB.  I managed to sleep from 5am to 830am before being awoken by the automatic wake up phone call.  Again such a change to be in a place where things worked as they were supposed to.  Breakfast was beyond compare with the hotel in UB, which didn't even have a star rating as far as I'm aware.  The food choice was phenomenal and of exceptional the Incheon Hyatt.  After breakfast it was back to the airport to check in for the flight to London (Heathrow).  The flight was delayed in its take off due to air traffic control over China airspace issues.  Taking off It was pleasant to see in the glorious sunshine the islands and long suspension bridge to the airport from the mainland before the Boeing 777 inched up into the clouds and turbulence for 11 and a half hours of flying across China, Mongolia, Russia and Northern Europe.
The time on the watch had edged into Monday morning (Seoul time) by the time we landed at Terminal 4 and I had to rush over to Terminal 5 for the half-filled British Airways connecting flight to Newcastle.  This was on time time and I was back in my home at 1130pm local time to a rapturous welcome from family and dog!