About
Born in Greenwich (London, UK) I began my professional life as a trainee accountant for an emblematic, though now defunct, airline. I spent the next quarter of a century gnawing my way up the corporate food chain, ascending to the agreeable billet of country manager to the Spanish branch of a successful software house. Having honed my creative writing talents on a myriad of mellifluous emails, inspired management reporting and imaginatively worded submissions as to why sales targets were not being met, I decided to go the whole hog and immerse myself full-time in the world of fiction writing. Your ComeUppance and The AQALAN Initiative are the first of my novels to hit the virtual bookshelves. Madrid has been my home for much of the last fifteen years. Due to the precarious and mostly impecunious nature of my new-found profession, I have redoubled my resolve not to marry, not to have kids, and not to own a Mercedes.
Description
<p>FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES<br /><br />At barely nineteen, Angelica Donovan became one of the more successful winners of the T.V. show Our Next Super Model. The world assumed she was destined for a happy, fairy tale life as ‘Angel,’ the beautiful girl who was living the dream; sadly, that wasn’t to be the case. As the years passed, she flashed her million dollar smile to all her fans and fought to stay on top in a profession where you never knew who it was safe to trust while the fashion industry took big bites out of her heart and soul. And trust was a constant challenge for Angel due to the painful childhood secret she guarded as carefully as she did her heart. As a result, she never did find her true love on earth.<br /><br />When she wakes up ‘dead’ from a heart condition a month before her thirty-fifth birthday, Angel is at first relieved to find there is no death, just a change of state, like ice to water, and then she’s scared because her biggest and most important adventure is about to begin.<br /><br />Angelica is chosen to be an angel in training as a spirit guide for three souls on earth! Her assignment is to help two women to gain the courage and confidence to find, recognize and embrace the love that had eluded Angel in life. But her biggest challenge will be to save a very special little girl from the same evil experience that had poisoned Angel’s own earthly happiness and altered the course of her life.<br /><br />Will Angel be able to heal her own shattered soul in the process? And will the three souls she is guiding be able to recognize her, not as a ghostly threat, but as one of those ‘friends in high places’ we all have; the kind who often end up earning their wings.<br /><br /> </p>
Story Behind The Book
I had lived and worked in Spain for 14 years when I had the chance to sit down and put together a novel which covered many things for which I love Spain; the history, the Moorish architecture and the fiestas - above all, La Feria de Abril (Sevilla). I wanted to juxtapose comedy with drama, light against dark, good against evil ... and to top it all I wanted an unusual and unlikely hero. So that´s what "The AQALAN Initiative" will hopefully provide. I enjoyed writing it ... something which I hope you might pick up on should you read it.
Reviews
<p class="western" align="justify" style="margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;">Overall a strong, crafted narrative that evokes reaction. There is
confidence and originality leaping from the pages. The story is
utterly engaging and was a pleasure to edit.</p>
<p class="western" align="justify" style="margin-top:.2cm;margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;">
A clever and controlled ending to what has been a highly crafted
novel that speaks of experience. </p>
<p class="western" align="justify" style="margin-top:.2cm;margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;">
I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed reading this submission. I would go as far
as saying that it is one of the best I’ve read in all my years
working with BubbleCow. I feel strongly that (the author) should be
seeking publication for this novel.</p>
<p class="western" align="justify" style="margin-top:.2cm;margin-bottom:0cm;line-height:150%;">
www.bubblecow.net</p>
