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Tuesday 22 November 2016

Taking the plunge

A year ago, whilst on our cruise to North Anerica, I wrote a thriller. At the time I did it to satisfy an intellectual 'itch' ... and to do something other than to read, sit, eat, and drink on the cruise's sea days. When it was finished I had no real intention of making it available to a wider audience, but recently I decided to take the plunge and to publish it.

The plot arose from some research I did for a game I was planning to stage at a Conference of Wargamers (COW). The scenario for the game revolved around a terrorist attack on London, and the more research that I did, the more the plot of my book began to formulate in my mind. In the end I quite literally dreamt the story over a series of nights, and each day I wrote down the main events that had occurred in my dreams. Once that was done I began to fill in the details ... and the book was written.

The paperback edition of THE ELEPHANT AND THE COBRA is currently available from Lulu.com at a discounted price of £11.96, and an EBook edition is also available for £4.99.


Both editions of the book should be on sale at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other online retailers in the near future.

I'm not sure if I will write any more fiction in the future, but if a story that I think is worth telling does emerge, then I may well put pen to paper or - to be more accurate - finger to keyboard.

24 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Tim Gow,

      Neither was I ... but I was tidying my computer files, started to read the manuscript and thought that it wasn't too bad. Having published with Lulu before I didn't take long to get it ready for publication. The only problem was designing the cover, which I had to do on the 'hurry up'.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  2. Well done Bob, I shall look out for your name in the next Pulitzer prize list!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ray Rousell,

      Thanks!

      I don't expect to sell more than a dozen or so copies of the book in either format ... but I'm pleased that I've done it!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  3. Let me see if I've got this right...a surfeit of sitting, eating, and drinking prodded you to apply yourself in some (other) way?

    And I thought you were a gentleman! :)

    Ed M

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ed M,

      You've got it right on both counts; I was finding doing nothing but sitting, eating, drinking, and reading quite boring after a few days ... and I was certainly never a gentleman!

      All the best,

      Bob

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  4. Replies
    1. Tragardmastare (Alan),

      Thanks very much for your best wishes.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  5. I am impressed. I'd probably be content with lolling about in the sunshine...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Archduke Piccolo,

      I supposed that I should have just sat there and relaxed, but the story kept whirring about in my head and I knew that it wouldn't go away until I'd written it down.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  6. Bravo! 40 years ago I got a vague idea for the beginning of a fantasy novel. That's as far as it got or will get.

    I look forward to reading your work.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Ross Mac,

      Perhaps you should think about writing your story down. You never know, you might enjoy the process.

      As to my story ... well it remains to be seen if anyone else will buy the book and enjoy reading it. I hope so.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  7. Well done! The joy is in the writing and more especially in the completing of the manuscript. Having others buy and read your hard work is just icing on the cake. Here's to much icing!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. William Stewart,

      Thanks very much for the kind words and encouragement. I've yet to sell a copy of the book ... but I have hopes that once it is on sale via Amazon, Barnes & Noble etc., I might sell a few.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  8. I enjoyed the book Bob- did the scenario ever get gamed? If so how did it go?

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pete.,

      Thanks for letting me know that you enjoyed reading the book. I have yet to find anyone interested in gaming the scenario ... but I live in hoped!

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
    2. It is the kind of game I'd like to play but having read the book I've probably ruled myself out of the running.

      What sort of gamewas it? Crisis management/ committee game?

      Cheers,

      Pete.

      Delete
    3. Pete.,

      It was intended to be two part game; a planning game for the counter-terrorist forces (e.g. developing operating procedures to deal with a number of different potential threats) and then a committee game where they had to respond to a threat utilising their operating procedures.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    4. Sounds interesting. Am I right in thinking that the better plans that the players produced in the first part improved their chances in the second part?

      I hope it does run as I'd be very interested in seeing the outcome.

      Cheers,

      Pete.

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    5. Pete.,

      You have got the idea. I had hoped that it would be possible for the counter-terrorist team to be presented with a number of short test scenarios as they developed their procedures.

      All the best,

      Bob

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    6. If it is possible and you are amenable would it be possible to see the game materials?

      Cheers,

      Pete.

      Delete
    7. Pete.,

      There aren't any game materials as such, just a large file of webpage printouts, photocopies, and handwritten notes. Too much to copy and send I'm afraid ... and I'm not sure that it would make much sense to anyone other than me.

      I looked at things like old Civil Defence and Royal Observer Corps documents and files in the National Archives, published local government disaster plans (some of which were quite sparse!), and anything that I could get my hands on that dealt with emergency planning.

      The rest was inspired guesswork that I was able to discuss with various people who work or have worked within the country's security services.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete
  9. Thanks for that Bob, looks like I should do some reseach myself if I want to run a similar game.

    Cheers,

    Pete.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pete.,

      Good luck. The information is out there ... but it isn't that easy to find.

      All the best,

      Bob

      Delete

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