Coming Soon: 'The Life Of My Stories'

 

Here it is. The Life Of My Stories. 
A brief memoir of my life with a loose emphasis on the people and events which inspired by stories and books.

Available soon from Amazon (paperback) and Kindle.   

NEW. 'The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang'. KIndle version available NOW

I started it on 1 April, 2018. Now, after nearly two years work, my new book is finished. It's called The Boys and Men of Auckland's Mickey Rooney Gang 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 available now. 
Here's the cover and the back cover blurb: 

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.

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.

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.

Nine men with nothing in common but the teenage year they wasted in Mickey Rooney’s gang. 

KINDLE VERSION AVAILABLE NOW. PAPERBACK VERSION AVAILABLE SOON. EMAIL ME HERE TO RESERVE YOUR COPY FOR DELIVERY LATE FEBRUARY.

A new cover for 'For Viktor'

As I had to reprint 'For Viktor' I decided that it warranted a new cover. And here it is, thanks to DIY Publishing. 

About my book, For Viktor. The story of Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’.

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'.

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.

It is a unique meeting of art, music and literature.


Endorsed and supported by Vladimir Ashkenazy 
Accordingly, ‘For Viktor’ has received the personal endorsement of the celebrated Russian concert pianist and conductor Vladimir Ashkenazy.

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. 

What Vladimir Ashkenazy said about For Viktor 

May 2009

Sydney

Dear Mr Bolton

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.

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.

Sincerely

(Signed)

Vladimir Ashkenazy