Saturday 28 June 2014

Isia's Secret




He has wealth and power and an

Heir with hatred in his heart.
                                                       Both share a terrible family secret
                                                      That is about to be exposed.

An Enda Osin Mystery

Political correspondent Enda Osin and his beautiful assistant Jessica Du Ross must foil one man’s political dream for Cypriot Sovereignty. With a powerful position in Brussels Paul Hrisacopolis, who has an heir with hatred in his heart, could bring a terrorist war to the island. While Enda struggles to end the nightmare, he infolds the tragic tale of two women living lives of poverty and an illegitimate s



Enda Osin is a sharp cookie when it comes to political intrigue. His daily column in the Herald is controversial and popular. Upsetting the incumbents of the White House and Downing Street over an embarrassing article, his editor has been forced to side-line him. He has been assigned to write a series of articles for the Herald’s Sunday supplement about Paul Hrisacopolis, a shipping billionaire with a thirst for power in the European Union and a believer in Enosis for Cyprus.

To help him is art correspondent, Jessica Du Rosse, a beautiful and sophisticated West Indian half his age and with whom he is soon falling in love.

Hrisacopolis has offered to transport priceless artifacts that the British Museum has agreed to relinquish claim to, from London to Athens on board the flagship of his cruise line. He’s looking forward to partying on the cruise with influential European politicians who can vote him onto a powerful committee chairmanship. That position could be used to influence public opinion against Turkey and cause the return of civil war on Cyprus. With news that Paul’s only grandson, essential key player to take his grandfather’s place as figurehead, has agreed to end a family feud, the old man has everything going his way. A few loose tongues need silencing. Ahmet Zeki, Paul’s murderous Turkish shipping agent is ordered to deal with the situation. Ahmet however, has his own plans. Working for the KKA, a Turkish terrorist group and the Turkish Secret Service, his sole aim as a double agent is to destroy Paul and profit from the chaos by using his son as an impostor to replace the real grandson.

It doesn’t take Enda long to get entangled in the Hrisacopolis family mystery involving Paul’s brother, Ioannis, George his dead son and Isia the young girl George hoped to marry. Dating back to the dark days of the EOKA terrorist campaign from the fifties to the seventies, Enda and Jessica find themselves unearthing Isia’s secret, something that would rock Greek and Turkish societies and bring shame and disgrace to Hrisacopolis if made public. Escaping an attempt on their lives, Enda and Jessica learn of a heart-breaking story involving an illegitimate lovechild and Isia’s desperate bid to find freedom; a freedom that ends in tragedy. Enda is even more determined to seek the truth when he is told the grandson, Baki, is dead by one source and alive by another. Confusion reigns while Enda struggles to control his own personal demons that haunt him; involving a fire from his childhood that killed his parents.

Baki, surviving an explosion, escapes the army and hides his true identity behind the name of ‘Anthony’ He has hatred in his heart for a man who broke a promise to his father and caused his mother to lead a life of poverty until her untimely death. On hearing the news of his grandfather’s philanthropic plan, Baki vows to kill the man in a terrible act of revenge. Hiring the services of a ruthless ex legionnaire, Baki makes meticulous plans to confront and kill his grandfather in a daring assault on the liner.

About the author   
                                                                                                   


Ray Stone is an accomplished author with a variety of published works to his name. Born just outside London in 1946, he grew up in post war Britain during a period of depression and ration books, bombed out housing and BBC radio. At school he won a writing competition at the age of eleven.


At the age of eighteen he began writing poetry and lyrics whilst studying at college. Two years later he was working in theatre as a technician and worked with many orchestras' and artists including the London Philharmonic, London Symphony, Mantovani, The Doyle Carte Opera Company, Harlequin Ballet, Joan Baez, Jimmy Hendrix, Oscar Peterson and worked on local shows such as My Fair Lady, Camelot and West Side Story.

His poetry won him a first place in 1998 in an international internet poetry competition with 'Angry Silence.' Moving to Colchester in the same year he wrote a full page article about the historical significance of the locale and was published with a by-line in the local press. Whilst writing his first novel he returned to writing lyrics and teamed up with a local composer. Together they produced and recorded five blues numbers.

His novel, 'THE TROJAN TOWERS,' was published in 2005. A second political thriller, 'ISIA'S SECRET,' was published in 2013. Raymond's favourite authors are Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Neville Shute, Alistair Maclean, C.S.Forrester, Len Deighton, Daniel Silva, Ernest Hemingway - and the list goes on.

Raymond has lived in and around London's colorful EastEnd and the café sets of Westminster and Kensington. Rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous-and infamous-he has acquired a unique insight into the lives of both criminal and upper classes that give his works a believable realism. He moved to the USA in 2003 and married. He has since retired from a successful landscape design business and now lives on Malta with his wife and fellow author, Mrellan Harahan.

My Review


This is such a fast moving spy thriller that you almost need a ‘who’s who’ to keep up with the ever- changing list of characters. However, as it is well written I’m prepared to forgive the author on this occasion. The story is set against the backdrop of Cyprus in 1974 and takes us from there to the present day passing through Turkey, Greece, the South of France and various other locations that are described in such detail that the reader feels immediately transported there.

I enjoyed the modern politics less than the relationship between newspaper columnist Enda and his colleague Jessica. Nevertheless, this novel will appeal to those who love a thriller with lots of twists and turns – I didn’t read the blurb beforehand so each development really was a surprise – and equally to those who enjoy a good story set in some fantastic locations. It will certainly keep you on your toes.

4/5


Back to Creative Writing School




BACK TO CREATIVE WRITING SCHOOL is out in paperback and has gathered 43 reviews on Amazon UK - 40 five star, 3 four star. (10 reviews on Amazon US 9 five star, 1 four star) 
Paperback £5.99
Ebook £1.70

About the book 

'The creative writing bible 
Catherine Quinn, bestselling author of No Contacts, No Problem 
This book is about writing.

About defeating the blank page. It’s about taking risks and experimenting, giving yourself the freedom to make mistakes. It’s about finding ideas and developing them.

 THIS BOOK WILL NOT TELL YOU HOW TO:

·        write a bestseller at the weekend
·        win competitions
·        become rich and famous as a novelist.

Nor is it a guide to finding an agent or selling a short story. There are other books – good books – that can help with all that (except about being rich and famous, never trust a how-to book on that subject). This book is about creating the material that might become a prizewinning short story or the novel you’ve always wanted to write.

Written with passion, authority and gentle humour, BACK TO CREATIVE WRITING SCHOOL is recommended by bestselling authors, creative writing lecturers and students. 

What bestselling authors say: 

An indispensable tool for anyone wanting to write fiction... 
Sarah Rayner, author of One Moment, One Morning 

It's more than a writer's handbook - it's a book which anyone could read and if they did they would probably find their pleasure in words and the world heightened. 
Lizzie Enfield, author of What You Don’t Know and Uncoupled 

What creative writing lecturers say: 

Accessible, practical, useful advice from a true professional; what more could you want? There are exercises here for every situation and you are guaranteed to improve as a writer if you follow them. I recommend this book to all my students, and I recommend it to you. Great stuff. 
Alex Pheby, Programme Leader for Creative Writing, University of Greenwich 

One exercise triggered a sudden rush of character development for my third novel: a pivotal moment akin to falling in love. 
Dr Naomi Foyle, writer and creative writing lecturer, Chichester University 


Author Links

Book Links


Bridget

BACK TO CREATIVE WRITING SCHOOL  - Bridget's bestselling ebook is now available in paperback  Amazon 
Visit Dancing with Words - the soon-to-be-published charity anthology supporting Martlets Hospice


About the author
                                                  


With a background in journalism, (Bridget was once a researcher at the Daily Mirror) Bridget became a lecturer in non-fiction at Goldsmiths College – the leading creative university of the UK - just two years after graduating from the MA creative writing programme. She now teaches at many locations in south east England, including City Lit, the largest adult education centre in Europe. She has also been Writer in Residence at a community centre serving the unemployed and low waged and a medical charity . 
Her own writing career was launched when she won first prize in an international short story competition and she was granted an Arts Council bursary to complete A Good Confession, a novel set in 1960s Ireland and London described by newspaper columnist Miriam Stoppard as “unputdownable”. 

My review

I found this book really useful. There are loads of exercises that you can dip into and whilst I didn't try them all, the ones I did were extremely practical and certainly got the creative juices flowing. For any writer who needs a kick start, this book is invaluable. I really enjoyed the exercises on choosing character names and agree wholeheartedly that unless your aim is to deliberately confuse, then you shouldn't choose two characters whose names begin with the same letter. Many times I have had to go back and reread a chapter because of confusing identities in a writer's work.
The book is well set out and the activities easy to pick and choose from. My only regret is that I didn't read this book sooner as now I may just have to go back and check my own novel for all kinds of literary devices that hadn't occurred to me before. A great aid to writers that should be compulsory reading - Bridget's book that is - not mine!

5/5