It's taken more than a year but my new novel is finished. It's called IT'S WHAT EDDIE DID. Available now from Amazon and Kindle.
Here's the cover image and synopsis.
It's taken more than a year but my new novel is finished. It's called IT'S WHAT EDDIE DID. Available now from Amazon and Kindle.
Here's the cover image and synopsis.
From an
Auckland slum to the heights of a New York boardroom and, eventually, an
obscure and unhappy old age, It’s What Eddie Did records the rise and
fall of Eddie Purvis, a rich and successful New Zealand advertising man, and his
relationship with one of the world’s great international airlines and its New
York advertising agency. However, obsessed with his own mid-life success, Eddie
later discovers the importance of family, and that wealth can’t protect him and
them from life’s troubles and disappointments.
The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang
By Robert Philip Bolton
Reviewed by Albert Sword
There is so much 'knowingness' in this exceptional novel, a knowingness bred of the author's deep wisdom, a common-sense knowingness of the surety of relationships and entanglements.
To say the characters are finely drawn is an understatement, for, from page one, each character is etched into the reader's consciousness; they become persons we knew growing up, or persons we know now, with hindsight helping form the connections.
Crudely put, we fall in love with Bolton's characters, who take us on a well-constructed romp through the 60s and 70s of the 20th century.
My baby-boomer birth date of 1950 meant a catch-up of a few years to join these characters, but everything mentioned in this superbly researched book is strong in my memories of the time, vivid and meaningful.
Robert Bolton doesn't put a foot wrong in his narrative, I am there with him, all the way, and anyone growing up in working-class/middle class 60s/70s New Zealand will also be with the author. The ease of the everyday vernacular, and laid-back syntax instantly draws the reader into the narrative, also into trusting the writer.
There are no off putting gaps in the narrative, or in the way. Bolton stitches together the nine separate main characters, their families, friends and significant relationships. To bring together all these varied stories into one cogent and powerful novel is nothing short of magical.
Robert Philip Bolton is a consummate, and prolific, storyteller. In all his books, he creates interesting characters, hones them to perfection, then lets them tell their stories, just like a brilliant symphonic conductor can set parameters for the orchestra, then get out of the way of the musicians who are then left free to create their own realities. Wonderful stuff!
I enjoyed every word of The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang.
Robert Philip Bolton is an independent New Zealand writer.
Like many dedicated and professional writers, he found it impossible to break into the small New Zealand publishing establishment.
"Thus," he says, "I happily publish my own books on Amazon and Kindle and sell them to loyal and satisfied readers around the world."
HERE IS THE COVER BLURB:
Early in the twenty-first century a series of viruses killed eighty percent of the world’s population. Famine loomed.
In New Zealand there was
plenty of food but too few people to process it. The surviving city folk therefore
fled to the countryside where they provided labour to the remaining farmers in
return for a share of the food they helped produce. As a result the country’s
towns and cities were abandoned.
Into this vacuum came the invading
Vandiers, so numerous and wealthy they dominated the small Kiwiland population
whose traditions, culture, religion and language they despised.
The Fable of Flitcroft Point is set in a typical Kiwiland village where, in 2177, the land-grabbing Vandier government has taken village land for its own purposes. The Kiwilanders, angry and frustrated, want their land back. But can their feeble protest succeed against the overwhelming power of central government?
Almost a year after the publication of 'Jacko' my new novel is finished. (Lockdown helped.) It is now in the final stages of preparation for publication. It's called 'The Fable of Flitcroft Point'. There's no cover yet but the cover blurb is written and ready to go.
The Fable of Flitcroft
Point
Early in the twenty-first
century a series of viruses killed eighty percent of the world’s population. Famine
loomed.
In New Zealand there was
plenty of food but too few people to process it. The surviving city folk therefore
fled to the countryside where they provided labour to the remaining farmers in
return for a share of the food they produced. As a result the country’s towns and
cities were abandoned.
Into this vacuum, in 2076,
came the Vandiers, so numerous and wealthy they dominated the small Kiwiland
population whose traditions, culture, religion and language they despised.
The Fable of Flitcroft
Point is set in a typical Kiwiland
village where the Vandier government has taken village land for its own
purposes. The Kiwilanders decide they want their land back. But can their
feeble protest succeed against the overwhelming power of central government?
Yes. All eleven of my books are now available here in paperback (ideal for posting as gifts to anywhere in the world) and Kindle downloads.
Only $34.50 from my website.
Or email me here and pay online to my bank account 060 583 0891406 00.
Kindle version available here.
See all my books on my website or on Amazon/Kindle.