tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89851851758965603832024-03-10T09:13:37.282+13:00Robert Philip Bolton's author blog Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.comBlogger105125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-16147587388288157702024-03-10T09:12:00.004+13:002024-03-10T09:12:36.810+13:00It's an Amazon #1 BEST SELLER <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><b>Yes! The Boltons of The Little Boltons is now an Amazon #1 Best Seller in 'London Travel'. For those who don't know about this book here's the cover blurb: </b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHLDFMP9iNLynsg3KjqH-of05vVPoQESO7d3LcjmBct_c8OG1-G-Yc7sM-XbhZXt-qNKqQAIBzKd8D6YZ9h9ckQxj_MKNwpNW3T5GXWtt2inbuUt1qaECgn_lTY00lR0PN6n-vu4k8fvYbQV-0iTXldvSrSqHA97fnQQatNYp17hzPueg0KYKyMfpIo76/s1109/Boltons%20Amazon%20%231%20screenshot%20%20(3).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1109" data-original-width="946" height="275" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRHLDFMP9iNLynsg3KjqH-of05vVPoQESO7d3LcjmBct_c8OG1-G-Yc7sM-XbhZXt-qNKqQAIBzKd8D6YZ9h9ckQxj_MKNwpNW3T5GXWtt2inbuUt1qaECgn_lTY00lR0PN6n-vu4k8fvYbQV-0iTXldvSrSqHA97fnQQatNYp17hzPueg0KYKyMfpIo76/w234-h275/Boltons%20Amazon%20%231%20screenshot%20%20(3).jpg" width="234" /></a></div><span style="font-family: arial;"> This is the story of the few months the author and his wife
spent working together as servants for a wealthy old couple in their large home
of faded glory in The Little Boltons, one of the most desirable addresses in
the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. <br /> It begins by documenting their leap from the comfort and security of their New
Zealand home into the bizarre world of domestic service in London. They secured
a live-in position, he as the cook and she as the lady's maid, and the engaging
narrative describes their duties and how they did their best to provide their
eccentric employers with the quality of old-fashioned service and dining to
which they were accustomed. In the process they met an odd assortment of
people, somehow connected to the running of the house, whose lives were
governed by the unwritten rules of the English class system.<br /> It was, as the author says, a sad and somewhat surreal and shabby end of an
era, unmarked by history; a metaphor for the demise of what was once the
capital of the world's most powerful empire. <br /> And yet it's such a charming little story</span>. </div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukfZ0wwCIZZDar1qXrWjUU2wsbNaDkxTk4YYpj-RhxFyD4WQXSRqRtzhR5jit6HtHf7dvAFjMUldlUmRil7zag6l8mzcs2YpK02PaCK3k0LkA-5mrXUPC66aJznmxi3fcRbK_wIbmdy3MBcXsAzgR16b5dnAVu_X8VH_mQmyh-1zLjWzpUTs5GFDCJ2zZ/s1567/Boltons%20Amazon%20%231%20screenshot%20%20(2).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="904" data-original-width="1567" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjukfZ0wwCIZZDar1qXrWjUU2wsbNaDkxTk4YYpj-RhxFyD4WQXSRqRtzhR5jit6HtHf7dvAFjMUldlUmRil7zag6l8mzcs2YpK02PaCK3k0LkA-5mrXUPC66aJznmxi3fcRbK_wIbmdy3MBcXsAzgR16b5dnAVu_X8VH_mQmyh-1zLjWzpUTs5GFDCJ2zZ/w521-h301/Boltons%20Amazon%20%231%20screenshot%20%20(2).jpg" width="521" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><br /> <p></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-60503034631366232692023-08-05T09:50:00.011+12:002023-10-05T10:24:14.970+13:00AVAILABLE NOW. The international rise and fall of an Auckland ad man <p><span style="font-size: medium;">It's taken more than a year but my new novel is finished. It's called <b>IT'S WHAT EDDIE DID</b>. Available now from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJBLF61G?ref_=ast_author_dp" target="_blank">Amazon and Kindle</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Here's the cover image and synopsis.<span style="font-family: helvetica;"> </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><h4></h4><h3><p></p></h3><h4><span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoXRF_InaHtakGcXgX_dJHXdb3cK7LuiHuzd8igHlK-F8pXkNZJCG15JTMkUTo__h_SOYSoPOq5ih9teYNjjTQDK_HJRHhQA-7kFvqx8DNKvmqfTn06ERUhcihHAwnsAoyDMNuU8jSLr19AXS1g39xrtjvORE-y4WcIB460at2n_y7B3O9n5QY-PVELuv/s1280/Eddie%20front%20cover%20interim%20%20file.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXoXRF_InaHtakGcXgX_dJHXdb3cK7LuiHuzd8igHlK-F8pXkNZJCG15JTMkUTo__h_SOYSoPOq5ih9teYNjjTQDK_HJRHhQA-7kFvqx8DNKvmqfTn06ERUhcihHAwnsAoyDMNuU8jSLr19AXS1g39xrtjvORE-y4WcIB460at2n_y7B3O9n5QY-PVELuv/s1280/Eddie%20front%20cover%20interim%20%20file.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: left;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVwgKEti-V1DF9skycbR_pFxHwLu2-5aSShMUYnauMzxpc6ULzxbXxn1lcL8bdm_lQNzoMm3-H5-PHL4MAd_gDdk9XZknkrgqYzT1I3jGnZlFDSiAAOnh9snO9iWCQCUkGBYviPkCFXUSI39e6BWnxgPnCgCzO6tehOVYf6me5C10I8ybmXsGWxMmIeM_/s1296/Eddie%20cover%20full%20size%20with%20border.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1296" data-original-width="924" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwVwgKEti-V1DF9skycbR_pFxHwLu2-5aSShMUYnauMzxpc6ULzxbXxn1lcL8bdm_lQNzoMm3-H5-PHL4MAd_gDdk9XZknkrgqYzT1I3jGnZlFDSiAAOnh9snO9iWCQCUkGBYviPkCFXUSI39e6BWnxgPnCgCzO6tehOVYf6me5C10I8ybmXsGWxMmIeM_/s320/Eddie%20cover%20full%20size%20with%20border.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="mi-NZ"><span style="color: #444444; font-family: verdana; font-weight: normal;">From an
Auckland slum to the heights of a New York boardroom and, eventually, an
obscure and unhappy old age, <i>It’s What Eddie Did</i> 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. </span><o:p></o:p></span></p></span></h4><p></p></div><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: helvetica;"></span></span><p></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-44916086201217788782022-04-05T15:23:00.000+12:002022-04-05T15:23:54.529+12:00The first review of 'The Fable of Flitcroft Point is in. It's five-star. Very perceptive. And it's from Germany. <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbYgt195U4lvm6dAiYHuR5sAY-saX4XS0rliApwUeNxuzBZy93ReE2Ep5OhBuPULW7EoP7fFA9rOvdm4sJqrAeHNCxQcQBGRV1pkF_w6txQzs9c_iBreCxQyoSIjIJCHExXKFdj5mqHDCiEgP0nPUNfWoJ4hRc_ZH1Asb_ObW9c188akj3MgjUwqgljg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="513" data-original-width="1705" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhbYgt195U4lvm6dAiYHuR5sAY-saX4XS0rliApwUeNxuzBZy93ReE2Ep5OhBuPULW7EoP7fFA9rOvdm4sJqrAeHNCxQcQBGRV1pkF_w6txQzs9c_iBreCxQyoSIjIJCHExXKFdj5mqHDCiEgP0nPUNfWoJ4hRc_ZH1Asb_ObW9c188akj3MgjUwqgljg=w507-h152" width="507" /></a></div> <p></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpXPdXvtoFt-oWORIAjs7IHiiXE9ggcUKLAIFAa1DgX5rVjgGLwMB_2SHaC7GuiI-XJLsmIBqXW18Cb3LiBeAQVmS3gId6kUIgSqRdJYyXgwir-uDqsylHo74Ue6KpZ4NzljyXzVLfXAvXJLYWn7W19F9ovKltqho2tP7qA56uaL_a1Bjp54PsoXFwdQ/s2481/9780473617066.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2481" data-original-width="1771" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpXPdXvtoFt-oWORIAjs7IHiiXE9ggcUKLAIFAa1DgX5rVjgGLwMB_2SHaC7GuiI-XJLsmIBqXW18Cb3LiBeAQVmS3gId6kUIgSqRdJYyXgwir-uDqsylHo74Ue6KpZ4NzljyXzVLfXAvXJLYWn7W19F9ovKltqho2tP7qA56uaL_a1Bjp54PsoXFwdQ/w229-h320/9780473617066.jpg" width="229" /></a></h3><p><span style="font-size: large;"><b>It says, in English (according to Herr Google):</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">"The acting persons [the characters] are very lively and you feel with them. This is not just a made-up story but could have happened several times - for the Maori in New Zealand and everywhere in the world." </span></p><p></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0New Zealand-40.900557 174.885971-67.9203480383359 139.729721 -13.880765961664096 -149.95777899999996tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-44311992717122420602022-02-23T10:41:00.004+13:002022-04-05T15:25:34.783+12:00Found: A nice review of 'The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang' in the Whanganui Chronicle. <p> </p><header class="article__header" data-ref-group="header" data-test-ui="article__header" style="background-color: white; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><div class="article__header-info" data-test-ui="article__header-info"><h1 class="article__heading" data-test-ui="article__heading" style="color: #4c585d; font-family: Stag, Georgia, serif; font-size: 2.8125rem; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.1; margin: 1.25rem 0px 0.625rem;">Book review: The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang</h1><div class="meta-data" data-test-ui="meta-data" style="align-items: center; color: #9e9f9f; display: flex; font-size: 0.75rem; justify-content: space-between;"><time class="meta-data__time-stamp" data-test-ui="meta-data__time-stamp" datetime="2022-02-21T15:15:41Z" style="font-size: 0.75rem;">22 Feb, 2022 04:15 AM</time><span class="meta-data__read-time" data-test-ui="meta-data__read-time" style="align-items: center; display: flex; line-height: 1;"><svg class="meta-data__read-time-icon" data-test-ui="svg__svg" focusable="false" viewbox="0 0 11 11" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><use xlink:href="/pf/resources/dist/svg/spritemap.svg?d=257#clock"></use></svg>2 minutes to read</span></div></div><div class="article-media__hero-wrapper no-video" data-test-ui="hero-wrapper" style="margin-top: 1.25rem; padding-top: 354.361px; position: relative;"><figure class="header__figure" style="margin: 0px;"><img alt="" class="article-media__image responsively-lazy loaded" data-srcset="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/mGCklMpMrfsur6GC1dAs2CJCo7M=/16x9/smart/filters:quality(70)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/ZAARP5LKFJSHLPLDRAVMIV4PLE.jpg 16w,https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/VDpeiCV97e3GIhRaz_1eltL7t0A=/320x341/smart/filters:quality(70)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/ZAARP5LKFJSHLPLDRAVMIV4PLE.jpg 320w,https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/40XaN9Wvqh22dswFOX8Hxl5vEN0=/576x613/smart/filters:quality(70)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/ZAARP5LKFJSHLPLDRAVMIV4PLE.jpg 576w,https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/WPXRH2o14L0DSmPyeRv-AGP2VME=/768x432/smart/filters:quality(70)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/ZAARP5LKFJSHLPLDRAVMIV4PLE.jpg 768w,https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/8DqE95U0qL2Knm-cv4fVkHxcM08=/992x558/smart/filters:quality(70)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/ZAARP5LKFJSHLPLDRAVMIV4PLE.jpg 992w,https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/eHI--HJceVZuTBbvGGkKpOa9WBg=/1440x810/smart/filters:quality(70)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/ZAARP5LKFJSHLPLDRAVMIV4PLE.jpg 1440w" data-test-ui="article-media__image" src="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/resizer/eHI--HJceVZuTBbvGGkKpOa9WBg=/1440x810/smart/filters:quality(70)/cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/ZAARP5LKFJSHLPLDRAVMIV4PLE.jpg" style="border-style: none; display: block; height: auto; left: 0px; margin-top: 0px; max-width: 100%; position: absolute; top: 0px; vertical-align: middle; width: 629.986px;" /></figure></div></header><section class="article__action-bar" data-ref-group="author" data-test-ui="article__action-bar" style="background-color: white; display: flex; font-family: "Source Sans Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; justify-content: space-between; margin-bottom: 2rem; margin-top: 1.25rem;"><div class="author" data-test-ui="author" style="align-items: center; color: #4c585d; display: flex; font-size: 0.875rem;"><div class="author__info" data-test-ui="author__info" style="max-width: 18.75rem;"><div class="syndicator__name" data-test-ui="syndicator__name">Whanganui Midweek</div><div class="author__name" data-test-ui="author__name" style="color: #313c3d; line-height: 1.125rem;"></div></div></div><div class="share-bar" data-test-ui="share-bar" style="display: flex;"><a class="social-link social-link--mail" data-ref-page-element="art:author:2:1" data-test-ui="social-link--mail" href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/book-review-the-boys-and-men-of-aucklands-mickey-rooney-gang/FJO33VBJFTMXIZOUSETR7VNO7I/#" style="align-items: center; 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border-top: 1px solid rgb(221, 226, 227); font-family: "Source Sans Pro", Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; padding-top: 1.25rem;"><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang<br />By Robert Philip Bolton<br />Reviewed by Albert Sword</p><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">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.</p><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">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.</p><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">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.</p><div><div class="ad ad-container has-text ad-rectangle" data-test-ui="ad" style="color: #9e9f9f; text-align: center;"><h4 class="ad__heading" data-ad-env="both" data-test-ui="ad__heading" style="font-size: 0.6875rem; font-weight: 300; margin: 0px 0px 0.625rem; text-transform: uppercase;">ADVERTISEMENT</h4><div class="pb-ad-container" data-ad-env="both" data-adsize="[[300,250],["fluid"]]" data-adtype="rectangle" id="ContentRect" style="margin: 0px auto; max-width: 300px;"></div><a class="ad__link" data-ad-env="both" data-test-ui="ad__link" href="https://advertising.nzme.co.nz/" style="background-color: transparent; color: #9e9f9f; display: block; font-size: 0.625rem; font-style: italic; text-decoration-line: none;">Advertise with NZME.</a></div></div><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">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.</p><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">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.</p><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">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.</p><div class="email-boost"><div class="email-boost__container" data-test-ui="email-boost--container" style="border: 1px solid rgb(239, 239, 239); box-sizing: border-box; margin: 2.8125rem auto; max-width: 39.375rem;"><div class="email-boost__email-section" data-test-ui="email-boost--section" style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 2rem 2.4375rem 1.5rem;"><h2 class="email-boost__heading" data-test-ui="email-boost--title" style="color: #313c3d; font-family: Stag, Georgia, serif; font-size: 1.5rem; font-weight: 500; margin-bottom: 0.3125rem; margin-top: 0.3125rem;"><br /></h2></div></div></div><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">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!</p><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">I enjoyed every word of The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang.<br />Robert Philip Bolton is an independent New Zealand writer.</p><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">Like many dedicated and professional writers, he found it impossible to break into the small New Zealand publishing establishment.</p><p style="font-size: 1.0625rem; line-height: 1.6; margin-bottom: 0.625rem; margin-top: 0px;">"Thus," he says, "I happily publish my own books on Amazon and Kindle and sell them to loyal and satisfied readers around the world."</p></section>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-62541660012205995872022-02-18T12:57:00.012+13:002022-02-22T13:24:12.907+13:00My new novel 'The Fable of Flitcroft Point' is now AVAILABLE<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizfLXeOdzjTAL35aHMI-18jjvWFlepLJOqO6Z74b7Bfrf1DC0SPhaamhulPr-14k05Wj64uvBsvFMdhjpAQ_o08r7qrYwhqs1JAsy0zPRNdgBuKKj6fqD8xMfGyjYXyesyLaWHB9KdgGXUY4MAUafbGKemvOgVFdPEEypklqG5ULM2l9dJIrkX6-DQZA=s2481" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2481" data-original-width="1771" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEizfLXeOdzjTAL35aHMI-18jjvWFlepLJOqO6Z74b7Bfrf1DC0SPhaamhulPr-14k05Wj64uvBsvFMdhjpAQ_o08r7qrYwhqs1JAsy0zPRNdgBuKKj6fqD8xMfGyjYXyesyLaWHB9KdgGXUY4MAUafbGKemvOgVFdPEEypklqG5ULM2l9dJIrkX6-DQZA=w285-h400" width="285" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Yes. <i>The Fable of Flitcroft Point </i><strike>will be available soon</strike> <b>is available now</b> in New Zealand paperback and internationally from Amazon and Kindle. <br />Set in the distamt future, it's like nothing else I've ever written. </span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>HERE IS THE COVER BLURB:</b> </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> Early in the twenty-first
century a series of viruses killed eighty percent of the world’s population. Famine
loomed.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><i>The Fable of Flitcroft
Point</i> 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? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"> </span></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-6671040417372789032021-09-28T13:50:00.000+13:002021-09-28T13:50:16.361+13:00A new novel<p><span style="font-size: large;"> 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. </span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;">The Fa</span><span style="font-family: arial;">ble of Flitcroft
Point <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">Early in the twenty-first
century a series of viruses killed eighty percent of the world’s population. Famine
loomed.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;">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. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"><i>The Fable of Flitcroft
Point</i> 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?<o:p></o:p></span></p><br /><p></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-42897439172327062212020-12-13T08:46:00.004+13:002020-12-13T08:46:50.438+13:00At last. Now ALL my books are available internationally as Amazon paperbacks and Kindle e-books. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Wtltux0C4y_NMP6P4-TvsV8nhF5a7osq6XD6fGIaLNQ_nKO7HEG8xyVqYqYb3vup1yD8R0G0SOzu9OMONAvGE3PtCwykkxeCdcyV1gMMuEcCsu1arPkt27kRSt2NVMJBeNCA8iGB9SUn/s2048/All+books+spines.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1Wtltux0C4y_NMP6P4-TvsV8nhF5a7osq6XD6fGIaLNQ_nKO7HEG8xyVqYqYb3vup1yD8R0G0SOzu9OMONAvGE3PtCwykkxeCdcyV1gMMuEcCsu1arPkt27kRSt2NVMJBeNCA8iGB9SUn/w400-h300/All+books+spines.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Yes. All eleven of my books are now available </span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B01EGMHZFA?_encoding=UTF8&node=283155&offset=0&pageSize=12&searchAlias=stripbooks&sort=author-sidecar-rank&page=1&langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader" target="_blank"><b><span style="font-size: large;">here</span></b></a><b style="font-size: large;"> </b><span style="font-size: medium;">in paperback (ideal for posting as gifts to anywhere in the world) and Kindle downloads.</span></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-11262417795962363362020-11-27T10:45:00.004+13:002020-11-27T10:52:52.843+13:00'Jacko. One Bloke. One Year.' Paperback now available to New Zealand readers. <p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCHhInJAaknV412dbQ5V2NZLw-C4Atug49HdTLd1tX80Ou_PRMj8smCE0kMbDMTToSEXRj-uNdVa9VwfS9B1Al1Nr5Bk1YD4LAB65ptkyNKDZ2K89W46ibRLfQwSAXl3SZ4AaoOdEJOwy/s2048/978-0-473-54583-3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1449" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzCHhInJAaknV412dbQ5V2NZLw-C4Atug49HdTLd1tX80Ou_PRMj8smCE0kMbDMTToSEXRj-uNdVa9VwfS9B1Al1Nr5Bk1YD4LAB65ptkyNKDZ2K89W46ibRLfQwSAXl3SZ4AaoOdEJOwy/s320/978-0-473-54583-3.jpg" /></a></div><span style="font-size: large;">Only $34.50 from my <a href="http://bolton.co.nz/jacko.html" target="_blank">website</a>. </span><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Or email me <a href="mailto:robert@bolton.co.nz" target="_blank">here</a> and pay online to my bank account 060 583 0891406 00. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Kindle version <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jacko-One-Bloke-Year-ebook/dp/B08LYVJ8NX/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+philip+bolton&qid=1603830664&sr=8-1" target="_blank">available here</a>. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">See all my books on <a href="http://bolton.co.nz" target="_blank">my website</a> or on <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Philip-Bolton/e/B01EGMHZFA/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1" target="_blank">Amazon/Kindle</a>.</span></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-41508672428559650382020-10-22T16:14:00.002+13:002020-10-28T09:42:01.634+13:00My new book. Ready for printing and publishing. Kindle available now. <h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"> </span><span style="font-size: x-large;"><span style="font-family: times;">Here it is. Now available from Kindle. Paperback available soon. </span></span></h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WuGb5fOht7fG7qtUlkil1PIyGHQF3ebGCOTY3xyJHI82mNN8Rlxxj3FKa-NyHXGoPeDOyv4hC8zlQ-scfkoR35gf7bScG8HPdmFe0Km2KQp4oKprg68KQLgDnCEqacYQsFCpYK3gV590/s2048/978-0-473-54583-3.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1449" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_WuGb5fOht7fG7qtUlkil1PIyGHQF3ebGCOTY3xyJHI82mNN8Rlxxj3FKa-NyHXGoPeDOyv4hC8zlQ-scfkoR35gf7bScG8HPdmFe0Km2KQp4oKprg68KQLgDnCEqacYQsFCpYK3gV590/w283-h400/978-0-473-54583-3.jpg" width="283" /></a></div><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Jackson Fearnsby’s fiftieth year began badly, ended better,
and was in between punctuated by a series of seasonal events and anniversaries
shared with his friends and family. Set in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1950, this
story follows the life of an ordinary man in an ordinary job living an ordinary
life with his ordinary family in an ordinary city — then no more than a large
town — while struggling with the doubts and anxieties which came with
middle-age to an already troubled mind.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">Download the Kindle file <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Jacko-One-Bloke-Year-ebook/dp/B08LYVJ8NX/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=robert+philip+bolton&qid=1603830664&sr=8-1" target="_blank">here</a>. </span></p><div class="separator" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: both; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></div><p></p><p style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></p><p class="BlurbTemp"><o:p></o:p></p><span style="font-size: small;"></span><p></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-72754583673911139462020-09-25T08:44:00.000+12:002020-09-25T08:44:15.954+12:00One of the benefits of the Covid lockdown: my new book. <p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Writers can usually only dream of being able to lock themselves away to work uninterrupted by the 'real world'. But my dream came true over the lockdown period. I started my new book on May 1 and it's finished.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">It's called:</span> </span></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Jacko. One Bloke. One Year. </span></b></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Here's the cover blurb: </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><p class="BlurbTemp" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;">Jackson Fearnsby’s fiftieth year began badly, ended better,
and was in between punctuated by a series of seasonal events and anniversaries
shared with his friends and family. Set in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1950, this
story follows the life of an ordinary man in an ordinary job living an ordinary
life with his ordinary family in an ordinary city — then no more than a large
town — while struggling with the doubts and anxieties which came with
middle-age to an already troubled mind.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It's with readers now, the cover's being designed, so I should have it up on Kindle by the end of October and paperbacks available to New Zealand readers by the middle of November. Email me now to reserve an early copy. </span></div><p></p>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0Auckland, New Zealand-36.848304800000008 174.7624886-65.647588679485381 139.6062386 -8.0490209205146357 -150.08126140000002tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-67268293961939424642020-02-24T08:58:00.000+13:002020-02-24T09:10:39.469+13:00'The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang' is here. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9U-g444GL9canXj65vihG0mnU7f5YZ0LSYNhyRqO_3s9gSKl82ylzjv97YaqKKcJ8Zd8Nb1vyE0I44mCUK_WsPqLQ_G7O2Cn5RCaFxNb1ZHQb5EIbm7Kan60Mu3vSb8ERT0Auv3VRgD8w/s1600/9780473506346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9U-g444GL9canXj65vihG0mnU7f5YZ0LSYNhyRqO_3s9gSKl82ylzjv97YaqKKcJ8Zd8Nb1vyE0I44mCUK_WsPqLQ_G7O2Cn5RCaFxNb1ZHQb5EIbm7Kan60Mu3vSb8ERT0Auv3VRgD8w/s1600/9780473506346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1137" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9U-g444GL9canXj65vihG0mnU7f5YZ0LSYNhyRqO_3s9gSKl82ylzjv97YaqKKcJ8Zd8Nb1vyE0I44mCUK_WsPqLQ_G7O2Cn5RCaFxNb1ZHQb5EIbm7Kan60Mu3vSb8ERT0Auv3VRgD8w/s320/9780473506346.jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9U-g444GL9canXj65vihG0mnU7f5YZ0LSYNhyRqO_3s9gSKl82ylzjv97YaqKKcJ8Zd8Nb1vyE0I44mCUK_WsPqLQ_G7O2Cn5RCaFxNb1ZHQb5EIbm7Kan60Mu3vSb8ERT0Auv3VRgD8w/s1600/9780473506346.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">
<div class="Normal P-9" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: content-box; color: black; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 1px; margin: 0px 0px 5px; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; vertical-align: 0px; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></div>
</a><span style="font-size: large;"><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 12pt 12pt 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<i><b>‘Bolton’s new book lifts the dark lid off Auckland’s past in a
brilliant, clever read. Loved it.’</b></i></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 24px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 12pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 12pt; margin-top: 0cm; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Sir Bob Harvey</span></div>
</span><div>
<span style="font-size: large;">
</span><span style="font-size: large;">The Kindle version's been available for a couple of weeks and now, at last, the first printed copies have arrived at my studio and are available for sale. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Only $34.50 </b></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;">You can order your copy online from my <a href="http://www.bolton.co.nz/" target="_blank">website</a> or <a href="mailto:robert@bolton.co.nz" target="_blank">email me</a> and pay with online banking. </span></div>
Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-56105696778749700622020-01-30T10:12:00.001+13:002020-01-30T10:13:43.044+13:00First reactions are in for my new book. And they're brilliant. <br />
<div style="font-family: Garamond; margin: 0in;">
</div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Two important and discerning early readers have posted brilliant reviews of my new book, <i>The
Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang. </i></span></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br /></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWb2uz9jreXej28d3SSH9p8OrUYRm-WuryQBKgaeQZ7vVvphKJa9Zvl7bb0R2WPwM1Q_7yW7-ilrMnEZxbdfDv1j_QbeMfW4yDUX0vYl4g2PeghA9jc3Ox5qbSCqy3z0i-5kt09vQGqbn/s1600/Micky+Rooney+full+size+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #0066cc; float: left; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; orphans: 2; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1137" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWb2uz9jreXej28d3SSH9p8OrUYRm-WuryQBKgaeQZ7vVvphKJa9Zvl7bb0R2WPwM1Q_7yW7-ilrMnEZxbdfDv1j_QbeMfW4yDUX0vYl4g2PeghA9jc3Ox5qbSCqy3z0i-5kt09vQGqbn/s320/Micky+Rooney+full+size+front+cover.jpg" width="227" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVWb2uz9jreXej28d3SSH9p8OrUYRm-WuryQBKgaeQZ7vVvphKJa9Zvl7bb0R2WPwM1Q_7yW7-ilrMnEZxbdfDv1j_QbeMfW4yDUX0vYl4g2PeghA9jc3Ox5qbSCqy3z0i-5kt09vQGqbn/s1600/Micky+Rooney+full+size+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>'</i><i>To understand the shape of the real Auckland of the
50s this is a truly great reveal. Loved it.'</i></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Sir Bob Harvey</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="font-size: large;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">'I loved this book. Superbly drawn characters and a
clever, interwoven plot make for compulsive reading with a few shocking
surprises. Ten out of ten. But not for the faint-hearted.' </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: large;">Lel Scott,
Director, PublishMe self-publishing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The
Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang is available now from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0848PT1MX" target="_blank">Kindle</a>. Or you can order your paperback version from <a href="http://www.bolton.co.nz/" target="_blank">my website</a> for delivery late February. </span><b></b><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></span></div>
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<br />Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-86739559637395441692020-01-22T12:44:00.000+13:002020-01-28T16:38:27.756+13:00NEW. 'The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang'. KIndle version available NOW <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">I started it on 1 April, 2018. Now, after nearly two years work, my new book is finished. It's called <i>The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang</i> and it's like nothing I've ever written before. It's off to the printer now and will soon be available from my website. Meanwhile the very affordable Kindle version is <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0848PT1MX" target="_blank">available now</a>. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Here's the cover and the back cover blurb: </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg468yhzYLopUyBFaCIKhJ_U1ufXAs3sDLTHMhbCUr0PLhyn04_-CjAHRp3Rr6sgPp66fVmYUbL5pKdA5-D0fblTDh3BfnMVte8DLRdSf3MMyMNCzcStXxQkhjNYX3I-LFPaa2EHkQNYt7Y/s1600/Micky+Rooney+full+size+front+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><i><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1137" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg468yhzYLopUyBFaCIKhJ_U1ufXAs3sDLTHMhbCUr0PLhyn04_-CjAHRp3Rr6sgPp66fVmYUbL5pKdA5-D0fblTDh3BfnMVte8DLRdSf3MMyMNCzcStXxQkhjNYX3I-LFPaa2EHkQNYt7Y/s400/Micky+Rooney+full+size+front+cover.jpg" width="283" /></i></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In a working-class suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, in 1957, eight mildly rebellious schoolboys, inevitably obsessed with sex, were attracted to the arrogant and thoroughly delinquent little Mickey Rooney whose fantastic dreams of Hollywood fame were to be his downfall. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br />It wasn’t a real gang, and it didn’t last long. It disintegrated after an obscene practical joke played by Mickey on the gang’s most vulnerable member. Meanwhile, though, the boys’ thoughts, conversations and actions, which were largely crude and obscene – as the thoughts, conversations and actions of boys and men often are – are faithfully reported here in plain and graphic language. <br /><br />The book then follows the boys into manhood. Nine men. Nine lives involving love and romance, sadness and joy, success and failure, illness and death, drugs and vice, violence and crime, and murder. <br /><br />Nine men with nothing in common but the teenage year they wasted in Mickey Rooney’s gang. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0848PT1MX" target="_blank">KINDLE VERSION AVAILABLE NOW</a>. </b></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: red;">PAPERBACK VERSION AVAILABLE SOON. EMAIL ME <a href="mailto:robert@bolton.co.nz" target="_blank">HERE</a> TO RESERVE YOUR COPY FOR DELIVERY LATE FEBRUARY.</span></span>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-32841646019561843022019-09-04T09:31:00.000+12:002019-09-04T09:31:11.544+12:00My short story collection now available on Kindle<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Until now my short stories have been available only in paperback and only in New Zealand as the cost of posting such a 'fat' book internationally is more than the the cost of the book itself. But now I've put all my short stories -- more than seventy of them -- together in one Kindle file which can be downloaded (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X9PVCZP" target="_blank">from here</a>) to any Kindle, phone, tablet or computer in the world for <b>only $US3.99</b>. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X9PVCZP" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" target="_blank"><img alt="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07X9PVCZP" border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1130" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88l328FLn0tR-Ehw3jKTAKPVN6Zf5Bti_NRy6DrtRDsjPyKrptKiBdnSGeKbt6fhsgDCGhKkd419hm-EDPMBQ0UJ-5y96K7vOR0yAw-07c05pWy71cE3V3BX1Cl94SnT-X__oUgPaWD3a/s320/Collected+Short+Stories+%2528v2%2529+full+size+cover.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div>
More than seventy of my short stories in one Kindle file for only $US3.99</div>
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<br />Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-57574485915430012412019-07-02T12:35:00.000+12:002019-07-02T12:42:54.605+12:00Read what Vladimir Ashkenazy said about 'For Viktor'. Now available from Kindle.It's taken a while -- I wanted to wait until the new cover was ready -- but <i>For Viktor </i>is now available from <a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TRYZFSB" target="_blank">Kindle</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvEz-Lmx-LOa1nbUBa9Ws9S8f4NGC5sWfFMXZ3q1S-QMQVGEMU1f2jpyexNNKBy5XMIEOlCZQHqNCOyYuBq9YwfifTejR8MNFWT-aC1BjZaP96wxK9OX4dP4RFGqB__fxNpVDAGsMoJacV/s1600/9780473131258.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1143" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvEz-Lmx-LOa1nbUBa9Ws9S8f4NGC5sWfFMXZ3q1S-QMQVGEMU1f2jpyexNNKBy5XMIEOlCZQHqNCOyYuBq9YwfifTejR8MNFWT-aC1BjZaP96wxK9OX4dP4RFGqB__fxNpVDAGsMoJacV/s320/9780473131258.jpg" width="228" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">Maestro Ashkenazy is an acknowledged expert
on Russian music. He has recorded Mussorgsky's <i>Pictures at an Exhibition </i>twice
and has created his own orchestration of the suite which he has recorded with
the Philharmonia Orchestra as well as conducting its performance with other
orchestras all over the world. </span></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-GB"><span lang="EN-GB">
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<span lang="EN-GB">Here's what he said about <i>For Viktor</i>.
</span></div>
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What Vladimir Ashkenazy said about ‘For
Viktor’</h3>
</span><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-GB">Dear Mr Bolton, </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I read your book <i>For
Viktor. The Story of Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition' </i>with great
interest and satisfaction. I think it is very important to try to bring school
children to a certain level of appreciation and understanding of what great
music of the great composers brings to all of us. I know of numerous examples
of how children react being exposed to well presented lessons based on this
kind of music and the results are absolutely astounding; apart from the fact
that as they grow up they almost never abandon their affection for the serious
music, they perform much better in all other subjects of their curriculum than
those children who were not exposed to the same musical appreciation program. I
know first hand of these examples in many countries - from the U.K. to Russia -
having been a part of such programs.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB">I think your very well presented book on
'Pictures' could be a wonderful item in such a curriculum and I think you
should endeavour in presenting it to various educational institutions in your
country. I'll be delighted to be of help when needed and send you all my best
wishes.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">Sincerely</span></span></h3>
<h3 style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"></span></h3>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">(Signed)</span></span></h3>
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<span style="font-size: small;"></span></h3>
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<span lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">Vladimir Ashkenazy</span></span></h3>
</span><br />
<h3>
<span lang="EN-GB">About For Viktor</span></h3>
<span lang="EN-GB">Based on fact, and historically accurate, <i>For
Viktor </i>is written in Modest Mussorgsky’s own voice as he guides a young
companion around the picture exhibition held in honour of his friend Viktor
Hartman at the Academy of Artists in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1874. It was
this exhibition which inspired Mussorgsky to write the suite of music he called
‘Pictures at an Exhibition’.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB">The book is written to be read or delivered
in time with the playing of the music. The duration of each section — including
each of the promenades — is about the same as the musical piece it describes.
Indeed, important events in the narrative often intersect with appropriate
moments in the music to bring the unseen pictures to life.</span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN-GB">It is indeed a unique meeting of art, music
and literature.</span>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-49318072734433956132019-06-13T12:53:00.001+12:002019-06-13T12:55:31.092+12:00My new book is FINISHED <span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For the record my new novel (107,000+ words) is finished. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It's called <i><b>The Boys and Men of Mickey Rooney's Gang </b></i>and it's completely different from any of my other 'nice' books. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Unlike them it contains a lot of sex and violence. But, I have to add quickly, all for legitimate literary purposes. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It follows nine teenage boys into adulthood; and how can one talk about nine teenage boys struggling with adolescence without recording their sex-obsessed thoughts, language and activities? And how can one describe the lives of nine men without recording the weaknesses and flaws of their male character. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Next step: submission to publishers. That could take a while. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u><br /></u></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><u>Here's the revised cover blurb: </u></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">It was at the Point, a working class
suburb of Auckland, New Zealand, in nineteen fifty-seven, that eight mildly
rebellious adolescent boys, naturally obsessed with sex and frustrated by the
conservatism of their cautious elders, were attracted to the charismatic but thoroughly
delinquent Mickey Rooney whose fantastic dreams of Hollywood fame and fortune were
to be his downfall. The little gang didn’t last long; it disintegrated after a
cruel practical joke played by little Mickey Rooney on big Pearly Gates. Despite
his size and strength, the hapless Pearly Gates was the gang’s most vulnerable member
and the others came to regret their contribution to his humiliation. As a
result each of the boys – annoyed with himself, with nothing in common with the
others but his sex, age and place of residence, and confused, as all adolescent
males are, by his inner testosterone-based turmoil – then went his own way. </span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">This book follows each
of them into adulthood and, for those who survived, into old age. Nine lives
Nine stories. In New Zealand, Australia, America and around the world. Nine men with nothing in
common but the teenage year they wasted in Mickey Rooney’s gang. </span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><br /></div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br />Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-67031044012337572702019-05-02T08:39:00.000+12:002019-05-02T08:41:33.829+12:00Some more reader feedback for 'My Marian Year' <br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">My Marian Year keeps making friends. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;">I received this email yesterday which contains typical reader sentiments. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0yUEs964avf8smBDeWpo7ntdUB_6ONws64pa8XzDTvUv-pbmgPFBVCTBTNXw9Cz6PW1aKRebJWw90AWWKtMPrgSrM3XARAEZK6pu9Wg16RT4Bwzq873xtpXlal9ol5yjtu-1MjrDdNJs/s1600/My+Marian+Year+full+size+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1129" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia0yUEs964avf8smBDeWpo7ntdUB_6ONws64pa8XzDTvUv-pbmgPFBVCTBTNXw9Cz6PW1aKRebJWw90AWWKtMPrgSrM3XARAEZK6pu9Wg16RT4Bwzq873xtpXlal9ol5yjtu-1MjrDdNJs/s320/My+Marian+Year+full+size+cover.jpg" width="225" /></a><span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hi Robert</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I have just read “My Marian Year” and thoroughly enjoyed it. I was
not sure if it was an auto-biography or a novel based on your life, or just a
novel, but nevertheless I related to everything. Although older than you and a
child of the war years, I could relate to all of what you wrote – even the
small details like wrapping kitchen waste in newspaper and placing it in the
steel rubbish bin. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I also enjoyed the tussle with the church. Living near St Michaels
as a child it brought things home to me. I think we were a more affluent family
than Johnny Boy as we had a car and even a beach house. However we were not
allowed to fall in love with Catholics, even though at dancing class they were
the prettiest girls with their black hair and a touch of the Irish. The reason
we had to avoid them was because of the then discipline of the Catholic Church
– fish on Fridays, the rosary, grace before meals, Mass every Sunday,
confession etc. We therefore had to go to the more relaxed St Marks.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Where I lived it was a big neighbourhood with a big gully to play
in. The war years meant an air raid shelter where boys smoked, and where there
was a horse, sheep, bush tracks and huts and even the occasional unashamed
nudity. I wrote a novel about it which is on Kindle and trickles out. It was
called “The Par Rem Kids.” It has not the detail of your book though. It
just touches on the times. Your book retains the times for posterity.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The other books I have written are based on ruraldom. I ended up a
farmer for many years with a tourist side to it and wrote for magazines from
time to time among other things.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">My older brother also enjoyed your book. He said it brought back
his childhood very pleasantly.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Regards</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Stuart Chambers</span></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-92180868673111168522019-04-07T08:27:00.000+12:002019-04-07T08:27:38.359+12:00My new book. Only a few more months to go. The first of April 2019 marked one year since I started work on my new book. It's unlike anything else I've ever published as it follows nine men, each from his boyhood to manhood; it's like nine novels in one. It's probably going to be titled <i>The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang</i>. I've even drafted the blurb (although that could and probably will change).<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang. </b></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It was at the Point, a working class suburb of Auckland, New
Zealand, in nineteen fifty-seven, that eight mildly rebellious boys, in the
middle of their adolescence, and frustrated by the conservatism of their
cautious elders, were attracted to the charismatic but delinquent Mickey Rooney
and so joined his little gang. But later, after an especially unpleasant practical
joke – a nasty trick – played by Mickey Rooney on Pearly Gates, the gang broke
up. The hapless Pearly Gates was the gang’s most vulnerable member, despite his
size and strength, and the others came to be utterly ashamed of their participation
in his humiliation. The gang disintegrated then when each of the boys, angry
with himself, with nothing in common with the others but his sex, age and place
of residence, and confused, as all adolescent males are, by his inner turmoil –
went his own way. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This book follows each of them into adult-hood and, for those
who survived, into old age. Nine lives. Nine stories. Nine men with nothing in
common but the adolescent year they wasted in Auckland’s Mickey Rooney gang. </span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span></div>
Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-11971223204633624362019-04-03T15:29:00.000+13:002019-04-03T15:29:01.408+13:00A new cover for 'For Viktor'
<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJgl4wvz0jJZD9slhQaS4ysKPGXV9yx_61cqiJr__GlOVVcBnbdrEsnPaWE91FMPJBBygBycq5Xc3g-joiNT6jk1v4IMai4RG-EUKSrvZjF4jxRDzqP_8cz5hbdbhjv2axuJSSpRrVo7sA/s1600/Victor_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1141" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJgl4wvz0jJZD9slhQaS4ysKPGXV9yx_61cqiJr__GlOVVcBnbdrEsnPaWE91FMPJBBygBycq5Xc3g-joiNT6jk1v4IMai4RG-EUKSrvZjF4jxRDzqP_8cz5hbdbhjv2axuJSSpRrVo7sA/s320/Victor_front.jpg" width="228" /></a><span style="font-size: large;">As I had to reprint 'For Viktor' I decided that it warranted a new cover. And here it is, thanks to DIY Publishing. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;"></span><b></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">About my book, <i>For Viktor. The story
of Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’. </i></span><br />
<br />
This short, entertaining book, based on fact, is written in Modest
Mussorgsky’s own voice as he guides a young companion around the picture
exhibition held in honour of his friend Viktor Hartman at the Academy of
Artists in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in 1874. It was this exhibition which inspired
Mussorgsky to write the suite of music he called 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. <br />
<br />
The book is written to be read in time with the playing of
the music, preferably the original piano version. While reading the text the reader
will find that the duration of each section — including each of the promenades
— is about the same as the musical piece it describes. Indeed, important events
in the narrative often intersect with appropriate moments in the music to bring
the unseen pictures to life. <br />
<br />
It is a unique meeting of art, music and literature. <br />
<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white;"><br /></span></b>
<span style="color: red; font-family: inherit;"><b>Endorsed and supported by Vladimir Ashkenazy </b></span><br />
<span><span style="color: black;">Accordingly, ‘For
Viktor’ has received the personal endorsement of the celebrated Russian concert
pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span><span style="color: black;">Maestro Ashkenazy
is a recognised expert on Russian music. He has recorded ‘Pictures at an
Exhibition’ twice and has created his own orchestration of the suite which he
has recorded with the Philharmonia Orchestra as well as conducting its
performance with other orchestras all over the world. </span></span><br />
<span><span style="color: black;"><br /></span></span>
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: red;">What Vladimir Ashkenazy said about<i> For Viktor </i></span></span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: red;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">May 2009</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black;"><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Sydney</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Dear Mr
Bolton</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">I read
your book For Viktor. The Story of Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'
with great interest and satisfaction. I think it is very important to try to
bring school children to a certain level of appreciation and understanding of
what great music of the great composers brings to all of us. I know of numerous
examples of how children react being exposed to well presented lessons based on
this kind of music and the results are absolutely astounding; apart from the
fact that as they grow up they almost never abandon their affection for the
serious music, they perform much better in all other subjects of their
curriculum than those children who were not exposed to the same musical
appreciation program. I know first hand of these examples in many countries -
from the U.K. to Russia - having been a part of such programs.</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">I think
your very well presented book on 'Pictures' could be a wonderful item in such a
curriculum and I think you should endeavour in presenting it to various
educational institutions in your country. I'll be delighted to be of help when
needed and send you all my best wishes.</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Sincerely</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">(Signed)</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",serif;">Vladimir
Ashkenazy</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-color: white; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position-x: 0%; background-position-y: 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto;"><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></span></div>
</span><div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br /></div>
Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-62412722544985691432019-03-25T14:04:00.003+13:002019-04-03T15:30:09.859+13:00Huge savings on my short stories <span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">A few years ago I decided to combine my three books of short stories into one edition. More economical to print and so more economical to buy. But that meant I stopped selling the three separate books. Now, as I'm running out of stock of the 'combined' edition, I have decided to deeply discount the three separate books. So I'm selling the three of them -- <i>Nana's Special Day and other stories, The Dolphin and other stories, </i>and <i>Quickies -- </i>more than 70 of my short stories, worth $73.50 if bought separately, for the price of one: $24.50. <span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">To order: just email me your address and I'll send you online banking instructions and your books by return post. ('While stocks last' as they say.) </span></span></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-63085152456286118882019-02-27T17:12:00.001+13:002019-02-27T17:12:53.132+13:00A new edition of 'Underneath the Arclight' <span style="font-family: inherit;">My popular New Zealand novel<i>, Underneath the Arclight </i>is a wonderful, funny New Zealand story with a cast of delightful Kiwi characters. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">As a result of stocks being almost depleted I have taken the opportunity to reissue the book with a new cover. The new cover depicts a movie projector (The Arclight is an old movie theatre), the number 5 from a film leader countdown, and the mysterious silverbeet patch which is so central to the story. </span><br />
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HERE'S THE NEW COVER:</h3>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dvvmt_-aDX3VFZ9TNfBlooTuCFLSge2PxMJnempQt57-I6mMJDpyzV1pmC5q5dj11kOjGNawHtcScmn7W1O5OeGTQVs5f2EFhnGUuAIA-KPfZWva0vYZHbMslE3aUYHxG5moHGnLdnEC/s1600/Arclight+full+size+cover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1129" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1dvvmt_-aDX3VFZ9TNfBlooTuCFLSge2PxMJnempQt57-I6mMJDpyzV1pmC5q5dj11kOjGNawHtcScmn7W1O5OeGTQVs5f2EFhnGUuAIA-KPfZWva0vYZHbMslE3aUYHxG5moHGnLdnEC/s320/Arclight+full+size+cover.jpg" width="225" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">HERE'S THE BACK COVER BLURB FROM THE NEW EDITION OF <i>UNDERNEATH THE ARCLIGHT</i>: </span><b><br /></b></h3>
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Nothing much ever happens in Robinson Street, Blythewillow, and for Phyllis, Graham, Karen, Charlie Downs and Monkey Oldfield, and most of the other residents of the town, that's just the way they like it.</div>
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With The Arclight cinema, The Record Reign, Wake's butchers, the garden, and Monkey Oldfield's brand new chicken coop, the residents of Robinson Street have everything they need. So when Clint appears in the garden one night and tells Phyllis that it’s all about to change she doesn’t know what to think.</div>
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Within days there are changes at The Arclight, and Clint's isn't the only ghost making its presence felt. Long forgotten events from the past bring visitors from the outside world; from the city, Australia and from Los Angeles, with news, offers and veiled threats.</div>
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Are these the changes promised by Clint? And can the residents of Blythewillow save their town's bucolic charm?</div>
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Only time will tell as Karen and Graham and Jehoiada Hartsfield – the charming young city lawyer – peel back the layers of Blythewillow's forgotten history to discover Clint's secret treasure.</div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-33698247547707295412018-11-18T08:45:00.000+13:002018-11-18T08:45:00.779+13:00A good day at the 2018 NZ Book FestivalThe fifth year of the book festival was the best yet for me although I noticed some people abandoned their stalls with a couple for hours to go. Not a good look. Ended the day with Giles and Lel, from PublishMe, at De Post in Mt Eden.<br />
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<br />Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-11374386932542925772018-11-12T11:14:00.000+13:002018-11-12T11:14:06.484+13:00Another library talk. Monday 26 November, 2018, 2.00 pm at Epsom Library. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBYcPu3niLWEJMGfpNkwCafuv5046-7SqKp4GGbzTbJ-3hPNRrkgPBoIDfFpomvDcsnWq_4llW17AIP2_ZCXsc5VmNXt3tYBLvDyb6vf2Bb7ZEtjeTzwGl_0Mwebo8YyeVg16JQTESu7m/s1600/181126+Epsom+Library+talk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="788" data-original-width="886" height="355" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdBYcPu3niLWEJMGfpNkwCafuv5046-7SqKp4GGbzTbJ-3hPNRrkgPBoIDfFpomvDcsnWq_4llW17AIP2_ZCXsc5VmNXt3tYBLvDyb6vf2Bb7ZEtjeTzwGl_0Mwebo8YyeVg16JQTESu7m/s400/181126+Epsom+Library+talk.jpg" width="400" /></a>Looking forward to another library talk at Epsom library at two o'clock on Monday 26 November.<br />
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As I find people always ask (amongst other things) 'Where do you get your ideas from?' I'm going to talk through the origin of each of my books.<br />
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<a href="https://www.aucklandlibraries.govt.nz/pages/event.aspx?eventid=4940&fbclid=IwAR2GbIjGMHQ7FR562VBVancHXMkZxWlBRLakjtD-qC5-0G-dNrnHHsPLWBA" target="_blank">Epsom Library author talk</a><br />
<br />Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-14044972294255302922018-10-14T09:59:00.000+13:002018-10-14T09:59:10.898+13:00The new book is progressing. Slowly. For the record: I'm still working hard on the book I started early this year, on 1 April to be precise. I suppose I'm about a third of the way into the first draft and I do now have a tentative title. Unlike my other books -- and <i>most </i>other books -- my story has not one but <i>nine </i>'heros'; it's like writing nine novels in one which is a bit of a challenge. I'm having to do a lot of research and it's interesting to see how very helpful some people (and institutions) are and how some simply ignore my requests for background information.Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8985185175896560383.post-73401094146016271602018-09-24T12:40:00.000+12:002018-09-24T12:40:42.987+12:00Another nice review. <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #111111; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Just saw another five-star review on Amazon for <i>The Fine Art of Kindness</i></span></span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #111111; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><i></i><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #111111; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><b>Charming Novel </b></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #111111; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">T<i></i><i></i>his is a charming and endearing novel that you will be delighted to read.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #111111; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Although set in a small town in New Zealand the themes in this story are universal. It touches on social issues in a thought provoking but tender manner.</span><br style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;" /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #111111; display: inline !important; float: none; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">The relationship between the two elderly characters, as it develops is lovely.</span></span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Robert Philip Boltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17482934682589573414noreply@blogger.com0