Let That Dark Horse Run

Have you ever wondered why someone snaps? Just lose it mentally? Forensic experts conduct investigations to answer these very questions. Sometimes there are glaring reasons and sometimes there are not. Most would never understand the depth of the mental suffering of the person in question. This of course doesn’t absolve the person from any dastardly deeds. The mind of the individual may reach a fork in the road. That mind could either take the right fork to commit suicide or take the left fork and kill those who have perpetrated the most grievous harm towards them. Or further still, they could just keep going straight and suffer horribly, dying a little every day. Did anyone know of their mental suffering? Did he or she try to obtain mental health care? But there was no one and no one cared or helped. I suppose you wonder why and how that I could possibly speculate? Please read on…

Life's Too Short to Wear Dull Shirts

Graham Badrock was born in 1954 in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Australia. That indeed made him a baby boomer. Growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, life was uncomplicated and easy. He recalled asking his father, “Are we middle class, Dad?”

The family didn’t seem to go without, and it wasn’t until he was older that he had time to reflect on his good fortune. As he grew older, his leisure time was spent trying to find a girlfriend. When found, they embarked on a wonderful adventure, indulging in things that today might be off limits to their children.

They moved to Balnarring on the Mornington Peninsula several years after being married. Had the ‘Don’s Party’ times in their spa, much to the delight of the neighbourhood.

Tried to learn to sail and almost drowned, conquered rock climbing with a degree of terror at Mt Buffalo.

Grew up finally and moved to the Victorian town of Bright. Ran a bed and breakfast for over 19 years until the novelty of being nice every day took its toll. Finished signwriting after 45 years as technology caught up with him, thank God.

Travelled all over the place, Norfolk Island where they almost crashed and escaped Lord Howe Island.

They say, “Everyone has a story.” This is ‘his’ so far.

Living in Interesting Times: Curse or Chance?

These are the memoirs and reflections on the most acute issues of the contemporary world by a boy from the Estonian countryside who, through accident and pure ambition, ended up as a professor at Moscow University and adviser to President Gorbachev on matters of international law. After a stint as head of Estonian diplomacy at crucial moments in the restoration of its independence, he later became a centennial professor at the LSE and chair of international law at King’s College London. This is not a traditional autobiography. Besides reflecting on issues he dealt with while advising Soviet leaders, such as Yakovlev in his speech on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact or the status of the Kuril Islands, and their repercussions in today’s world, the book analyses the roots of the crisis within liberal democracy, the upsurge of populism, the rise of China and the re-emergence of Russia as a great power. A Marco Polo fellow at Jiaotong University in China and recently awarded the highest Russian Order for foreigners – the Friendship Order by President Putin, Professor Müllerson, who lives in London, feels equally at home discussing the renewal of great-power competition, the problems of the European Union including Brexit, the conflict in Ukraine, as well as the negative impacts of political correctness both in the former USSR and today’s West. Having lived equal thirds of his life in three different worlds and worked in and visited many countries as a UN diplomat, he is a man who understands small country mentality, though being ‘spoilt’ by great-power mindset. 

Love and Music Volume One

This is a joint autobiography of two singers whose lives have run in parallel from 1961 until the present day. It is based on the couple's letters and diaries. They met at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1961 and married in 1963. Love and Music - Volume One illustrates the training, dedication and grit that preparing for a life in the musical theatre entails. It also shows the enjoyment that such a life brings not only to the audience but to the performers themselves. As they say: "It's a great life if you don't weaken, but if you can't stand the heat in the kitchen, get out!!!"

Love Beyond Love

This very personal and moving love story takes us from the anticipation of the very first date through to the moment of the very last breath. It encompasses sheer joy, romance, fortitude and sadness. But love and memories live on forever because this is a Love Beyond Love. – Jan Smith (a friend)

Love or Money

Based on true events. Scott, a boy from a broken but good home suffers years of bullying from a very young age all before turning to fight back. And he quickly gets a taste for it as he realises he can fight back. He is more than capable of hurting people, which pretty much sets the tone for the future.

Along the way, he meets a series of crazy, messed-up characters from the Essex underworld, getting himself into deep muddy waters but finding a way through, a way to “stay afloat”. Pacman was a powerful, influential and charismatic Londoner who came to Essex and into his life with promises of being able to afford anything he would ever want or need. The same way he trapped a gang of about 14 people into believing he was their future!
Seeing hundreds of thousands of pounds pass hands every day, Scott was drawn into the dark world of gangs, robbery and hard drugs after finding a serious thirst for cash from a very young age. Would he ever escape this man and his gang without serious consequences?

The legend of “the Essex boys” is still going strong, well, this is one Essex boy that didn’t get caught and the gang… they were ten times more ruthless and twenty times more dangerous for sure! There were no rules, no loyalty and no morals! Love or money meant exactly that! Your money or everything you love… your call! On the brink of death, would Scott ever come back to the living? If so, how?

Missionaries, Mercenaries and Madmen

“We’ll have to leave. This country has had it.” My husband made the decision and I followed along feeling like my heart was being ripped from my chest. Robert Mugabe switched the trigger that changed our lives. He announced that University in Zimbabwe would be for black people only. We were white Africans and so needed to find a place where our children would have educational options. Australia was the obvious choice. This memoir takes the reader on a journey to places most Australians have no idea exists in their own country. The isolated, remote locations where Aboriginal people live, not as their ancestors had done but propped up by government welfare. Wild places where hunting and gathering had become recreational rather than a way of life and where western culture, knowledge and values were imposed on ancient knowledge and ways of being. The confused, bastardised culture emerging felt like stepping into hell. The dregs of white society had gravitated north; economic refugees, criminals, drunks and druggies and God botherers all trying to survive in a melee of heat, dust, flies, mosquitoes, and topical downpours. We were not welcomed. This is where my story began.

Pepi and I

Does freshly deceased rat taste better than frozen steak?

Can dogs weed a flowerbed?

Does the Universe provide free birthday cakes in a park?

As soon as Jitka and her fiancé buy a house, it’s time for Jitka to fulfil her long-time dream: to have a faithful, cute, furry friend, capable of true, unconditional love.

 
The new addition to their family is strong-willed, with a clear focus on his own wants. He displays daily his obvious love of all the things the world so generously provides for him, especially if it tastes good, or at least is not completely inedible.  

Not aware yet that a dramatic turn of events is just around the corner, Jitka and her fiancé are enjoying life with the many surprising and frequently comical situations that Pepi drags them into. As life, so often unpredictable, can change laughter into tears, joy into fear and vice-versa, Jitka’s secure world is turned upside down and she is hurtling down the roller coaster with Pepi by her side. Will they make it?

 
These are life lessons – powerful, maybe, but always entertaining.

Teaching in Fuzhou, China

English is the world’s international language. Consequently, many speakers of other languages have taken great pains to make English their second language, mainly for practical reasons rather than for love of the language itself. Practical reasons include travel, business, academic intercourse and inter-governmental communication. China recognises this need and, in consequence, the author spent more than ten years in China, finding the experience interesting, enlightening and exciting, albeit at times frustrating. It was a wonderful time. In the author’s view, it is essential that the world comes to know and understand this huge empire. This book is full of observations from within the country, which should help in presenting China, its people, customs, educational systems and way of life, its contradictions and its attractions as well as its darker side. Most importantly, it gives some insight into how the people think – and this is important. Hopefully readers learn something while enjoying the experience.

The Expert Within

The human mind and how it works, what it thinks and perhaps more importantly, why it thinks what it thinks, is a subject that has fascinated humans from time immemorial. The first scholar to tackle this subject was Aristotle, but he was certainly not the first to wonder and ponder the mysteries of human perception, comprehension and interpretation. Since then psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers and even novelists, poets and artists have tried in their own inimitable way to penetrate and reveal that most fascinating of all mysteries – the workings of the human mind.

This book is the story of a human mind ... not the human mind ... as all authentic stories of the ‘human mind’ must be. This book tells the story of the author’s mind; the only mind of which she can truthfully speak in spite of the fact that she has qualifications in Psychology, Philosophy (Theology) and Journalism. For all that, the qualification upon which she relies most is that of human experience – life and living. In adolescence her mind declined into insanity, lingered there for some years, then painfully and insightfully regained its place in the world of sanity ... only to go on and penetrate the world of formal, academic, or professional (whatever you wish to call it) education/understanding.

This book was not written for the edification of those called mental health professionals. It was written to share wisdom and understanding with the ordinary, everyday lay minds of those who care too much to embrace or be embraced by the word ‘professional’.

They Call Me Jake

In this captivating memoir, Jakob, a Welsh-born Australian, takes readers on a remarkable journey that begins with a troubled youth and a life-changing decision. After running into legal trouble as a teenager, his family sends him off to sea on Scandinavian ships, where Jakob finds himself working out of Brooklyn, New York, joining ships engaged in global trade. It’s the era of rock and roll, with an atmosphere of freedom, free-spiritedness, and indulgence. However, tired of the endless partying and constant financial struggle, Jakob sets his sights on a new path.

He travels to England, enrolls in a navigational school, and earns his license as a ship’s deck officer. But his thirst for adventure and reinvention leads him to an unexpected destination - Israel. Jakob’s love for the kibbutz lifestyle and a young woman on the kibbutz captures his heart. However, as war disrupts the region, their relationship crumbles, and Jakob finds solace in a hippie commune on the sunny shores of Eilat. Through ups and downs, Jakob’s journey takes him across continents, from the Canadian Arctic to Thailand and beyond. His tale is one of resilience, self-discovery, and the pursuit of a meaningful life amidst the challenges and uncertainties of a rapidly changing world.

The British in Italy

The British in Italy is a fascinating exploration of the enduring relationship between the English and Italians, dating back to the times of Shakespeare, Leghorn, The Grand Tour, Florence, and Venice, up to the cataclysmic events of World War II. The author draws parallels between Victorian England’s progress and the Italian Renaissance, particularly the British presence in Italy during the 19th century.

In a unique approach, the author embarks on a journey through Italy, beginning in the Alps and continuing on foot and by bicycle from Monviso to Trieste, then down to Sicily. Along the way, he rediscovers the forgotten Anglo-Saxon characters who played a significant role in shaping Italy’s cultural, artistic, and scientific landscape, such as the true Count of Montecristo, textile industrialists, inventors, painters, archaeologists, botanists, and travelers.

Their stories are intertwined with the author’s encounters, memories, lost friends, legends, and conversations, providing a rich tapestry of Italy’s diverse history and culture. The book is a veritable treasure trove of knowledge and insight, revealing Italy's layers of history and culture from a unique Anglo-Saxon perspective. As Doctor Johnson aptly said, “A man who has not been in Italy, is always conscious of an inferiority, from his not having seen what it is expected a man should see.” This book is a must-read for anyone seeking to discover the true heart of Italy and the enduring bond between the English and Italians.