About
Frank Riley's life has been one adventure after another. As a fifteen-year-old kid he worked on river boats in the River Mersey, Liverpool. At sixteen, he went into the Merchant Navy and served on nine ships.
When he was eighteen he began hitch-hiking through Scandinavia and mainland Europe. At twenty he worked on schooners in the Mediterranean, then hitch-hiked twice through Europe and the Middle East.
He ran out of money on the first attempt to get to Australia in Karachi and ended up getting a job as a third cook on a Norwegian freighter which took him to India, Ethiopia, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, the USA and Antwerp in Belgium.
The second attempt to get to Australia (to see his brother) he ran out of money in Teheran in Iran and had to do a runner out of that country with the financial assistance of his brother.
He's a brown belt in judo, and has done some boxing and karate.
He spent twenty-two years as a professional ballroom and Latin American dancer and became a judge in both American style and international.
He began writing over forty years ago and has written numerous novels and movie scripts and has recently teamed up with Amazon.com to sell his books. He currently has three titles for sale: two novels, 'Bell's Lot' a detective drama set in Sydney, and 'The last Dance', a romance drama set in the cauldron of the dance world. His third title is 'The Life of Riley, a tongue-in-cheek autobiography'.
His motivation for writing, he says: "is from life itself. I draw on my past, but I rely heavily on my observations of people and their motivations. I don't subscribe to the notion that people really change their character during their life - the so-called 'arc' in movie parlance - and it is that belief in the basic flaw of humans that gives me much fodder for my works."
He wrote and directed a pilot for a children's television series, called 'The Magician'. It was a vehicle for showing the difficulties children have in growing up. The pilot dealt with bullying. Sadly, the television station, for which he wrote and directed his work, went belly up whilst they were in post production.
Description
<p><span style="color:rgb(15,17,17);font-family:'Amazon Ember', Arial, sans-serif;font-size:14px;">What happens when a king loses his prowess? The day Henry IV could finally declare he had vanquished his enemies, he threw it all away with an infamous deed. No English king had executed an archbishop before. And divine judgment was quick to follow. Many thought he was struck with leprosy—God's greatest punishment for sinners. From that point on, Henry's health was cursed and he fought doggedly on as his body continued to betray him—reducing this once great warrior to an invalid. Fortunately for England, his heir was ready and eager to take over. But Henry wasn't willing to relinquish what he had worked so hard to preserve. No one was going to take away his royal prerogative—not even Prince Hal. But Henry didn't count on Hal's dauntless nature, which threatened to tear the royal family apart.</span></p>
Story Behind The Book
For a time in my dim dark past, I worked as a salesman for an armoured car security company, hence the insider detail of the heist that takes place. I should mention, however, that the methods of security in the various branches are not quite the same as I have depicted in the book - for obvious reasons.
