Jam Tomorrow

Jam Tomorrow is a light, and sometimes irreverent, account of starting and growing a business. In his ‘tell it like it is' style, author Wayne Palmer shares with us his experience of the challenges, pitfalls and triumphs through a 20-year journey in development, manufacturing and design. Wayne’s company, Thinking Space, started in a dining room and is now a major player in its sector, exporting internationally.

For anyone thinking about starting or growing a business or just curious to know what it’s like, this book provides a straightforward insight into Wayne’s first hand experiences.

Busting some myths and sharing some gems, this book is not about business theory – it’s about business reality. 

Jack the Ripper

I fired my second editor in 2016 after 10 years, and I asked: “Why are you changing my book and putting in voices he supposedly is hearing in his head like a schizophrenic?” Louise responded, “Well he would have to have been crazy to carve up those women in that way.” I resonated “If he was a schizophrenic, then I’m a schizophrenic, you’ve been brainwashed by social media, he was a killer!”

Then I hired my third editor/proofreader, Harold Winberg, who translated technical instruction manuals into six languages. I knew he would pay close attention to details and not change, or distort the message. To understand one’s psyche, as a trained psychologist I know, you have to start at the true beginning. You can’t just jump into London 1888 during the Jack the Ripper murders and begin chapter 1 there because it’s thrilling, at first glance he would appear a deranged psychopath, at the least.

John or Jack was already a skilled horse slaughterer at age 17, he could slit the throat and sever the vocal cords of horses with a sharp knife – a silent killer.

Oh, a knife, The Ripper, why is a knife so much scarier than a gun? Because it’s personal and intimate.  

It's Hard to Be Good

Times were hard in the 1940s and early '50s: kids went hungry and food was rationed; some families had to beg, steal or borrow to survive. But Charlie found his own way out. On a routine basis, together with his childhood gang, they became kid grafters (bang into crime). They did what they had to do, providing food to put on their family's table amongst other things. 

In 1953, aged 13, Charlie and his gang were always bunking off school. He went on to make further progress with his life. With his baby face and dressed as an office boy in a blazer, shirt, and tie, he was darting in and out of buildings in the city centre of Liverpool, buildings which provided rich pickings as he raided their cash drawers and safes.

Charlie meets his mentor: an older woman, who was a professional in the business. She teaches him how to rob high-class jewellers of their expensive diamond rings: a well planned-out scene which is typical of the classic, highly rewarding cases of jewellery robberies of the time.

Here's what Charlie has to say about his younger self: 'In 1954 and at the age of fourteen, I was earning more money than a professional adult. I was the richest poor teenager in Liverpool.'

It Will Happen

How many times have you heard the words, “It will happen?”

For Laura and her husband, Scoop, the phrase that once brought comfort, hope and reassurance began to lose all positive meaning.

When they first started trying for a baby, they had no idea what they would be in for. After the heartbreak of each loss, when the world around her frustratingly seemed to carry on like normal, Laura struggled to cope with her inability to do something others seemed to find so easy. In this candid memoir, she shares her isolating experiences and talks openly and honestly about how she and her husband navigated the harsh realities of their rollercoaster journey to parenthood.

It Will Happen covers:

- trying to conceive and the strain on relationships

- miscarriage, ectopic and molar pregnancies

- jealousy and resentment

- treatments and testing

- the anxiety of pregnancy and motherhood after loss

- communicating with people in these situations

Written from the heart of someone with first-hand experiences, It Will Happen gives you tools and information to feel empowered and supported through the difficult times when trying to conceive. Who ever really knows what WILL happen? What’s important is that it CAN happen.

Isabel Cowe: Shore Gull and Suffragist

Isabel Cowe was the owner of The St Abb’s Haven boarding house from 1914 to 1931. A native of St Abb’s and of fishing folk, she was a popular figure in the village. Throughout her life, Miss Cowe fought against the injustice of the Parish Council on a number of issues which she believed were detrimental to the community, earning herself the title ‘The Provost of St Abb’s’ from those who came to know her and respect her.

Isabel Cowe was no ordinary woman, devoting her life to serving others through charitable work for organisations such as the RNLI and the Children’s League of Pity. It was through her tireless devotion to the RNLI and the St Abb’s lifeboat crew that she earned one of her greatest accolades when awarded with the RNLI’s Golden Brooch.

As an influential female business owner, in a time before women were granted the vote, Miss Cowe gravitated towards the Suffrage Movement, becoming a member of the Women’s Freedom League.

In October 1912, she was to help organise and participate in the gruelling 400-mile Scottish Suffrage March from Edinburgh to London, which was a precursor for the Great Pilgrimage of 1913.

On her death a sundial was erected in her memory in the grounds of The Haven. The sundial, which still stands to this day, was funded by over 200 subscriptions from the length and breadth of the country by the many people who had come to know and respect this great woman and pioneer.

Intrepid Souls

Intrepid Souls is the story of millions of minorities who live in India, struggle for equal rights, humane treatment, and survival. The hatred projected by the Hindu majority, especially towards Muslims, is immense, uncontrolled, and often supported by those in charge of maintaining law and order. This book provides an understanding of the inglorious and dangerous idealism of the Hindu nationalism which will eventually lead to instability and insecurity in the nation. A nation must support its minorities and in turn, the minorities must support the nation for its survival.

This is not the India where Farrukh Jamal grew up; nor where her ancestors lived. They loved this land and worked hard to make it a wonderful place as the Muslim minority of today is doing. However, the sense of belonging inherited by them via their ancestors is now being obliterated through violence and coercive efforts of the majority to remove Muslims from the fabric of Indian society.

She grew up not just facing discrimination but also fearful of unprovoked occurrences of riot and violence. Intermittent wars with Pakistan also jeopardized the lives of the Muslims in India because they were perceived as enemies. What protected her was the profound love of her parents, their emphasis on education, the kind and impartial treatment of the nuns in her English Catholic school and the support of friends regardless of religion.

Independence to Freedom

This is a story of migration from rural Gujarat to Nairobi, Kenya and the impact of the struggles for independence from British rule on a traditional Hindu Gujarati family, and finally to London in 1949.

Here, the family navigated a life in between two cultures maintaining and imbibing the best of both. Hemkunver lived a life of bhakti – devotion. Manilal, her husband, followed a life of engaging with the world but spiritually grounded in his love for Indian classical music and philosophy. These characteristics were passed on to the main protagonist Viram, who from a very early age fell in love with Indian classical music. His abilities and interests were varied though – so he did not mind playing his sitar with jazz, or playing with Jimmy Page on Led Zeppelin or composing for films, TV and radio, whilst also developing a successful career in business. His desire to create awareness for one of the most sophisticated music systems of the world, led him to become an authority as a performer, advocate and producer of Indian music throughout the UK and Europe, creating around one hundred iconic events per year. He overcame the prejudice he faced from the British arts elite and jealous Indians by embarking on a journey into Vedantic philosophy to find his freedom.

Indelible: A Social Worker in the Wake of Civil War

Driven by a long-standing desire, her education and her faith, mental health professional, Wendy Nordick, and her husband Bill Blair, a retired judge, plunged into a two-year assignment with Canadian University Services Overseas. She believed her 25 years of clinical social work were appropriate credentials to help a country with the highest rates of suicide in the world. Bill hoped to work for peace and justice. They felt they became laughingstocks when work visa delays left them homeless. Days before leaving, Wendy’s father died. Once in Sri Lanka, she shivered in a rickety beer factory cum hospital where she taught mental health skills. A year later, she was transported into steamy, bombed out Jaffna, the epicenter of a civil war to teach a trauma team who worked with the war affected and tortured during the war. She was humbled by what she did not know and sought help from a previous refugee. 

In Steel and Computing the Rise of the Dip Tech Sandwich Generation

This book is intended as a legacy of the experience of several years in science-based roles being initially challenged technically but in later years challenged and rewarded by leadership roles. This was amongst Sandwich educated colleagues who were motivated in part by themselves and partly by the community around them. Such is the nature of Sandwich Education both in terms of attitude and competence that it is a privilege to be part of this community of graduates.The authors consider that the Sandwich initiative should be a vital steppingstone in the nation’s education. Therefore, it is recommended to the Department of Education and the Department of Industry and to young people contemplating the future direction of their education that they embrace Sandwich education.

In Search of the Queen of Sheba

The figure of the Queen of Sheba spans religion, history and geography. She came from the South as a queen of trade to embark on an affair which changed the course of humanity. She is an icon, a temptress, a political power. She is claimed by at least two countries, Yemen and Ethiopia, by art and by many societies. She stands for black empowerment. Is she real or did we need to invent her? Sarah Sands, a celebrated British journalist, goes on a quest to find her, ending up setting sail in a warship up the Red Sea on her trail.

In Search of Mina Wylie

In 1912, against a backdrop of growing feminist and national movements, the Australian public united behind a fundraising campaign to send two female swimmers to Stockholm to compete, for the first time, at an Olympic Games.  Coogee resident, Mina Wylie, was one of those women, and after winning silver at the 1912 Olympics she went on to become one of the greatest swimmers Australia ever produced.  Her career coincided with a growing view of beach culture and swimming as essential to a unique Australian way of life, and Mina became a role model for the vigorous and healthy ‘Australian Girl’.   As one of the first female sporting celebrities, she typified the new modern woman as she travelled to Europe and the USA, maintained an independent lifestyle and disregarded societal conventions.  In 1975, Mina was selected as an Honoree to the Florida based International Swimming Hall of Fame.  When her request to the Federal Government for expenses to attend the induction ceremony was denied, a nationwide fundraising campaign launched Mina back into the spotlight.  Sixty years after the Australian public had sent Mina to the Stockholm Olympics, the populace re-embraced the forgotten champion and sent her to Florida to take her place amongst the Greats of international swimming.   The book rediscovers Mina Wylie, a woman who twice inspired a nation, sixty years apart.  And a woman who was determined not be written out of Australian sporting history.    

In At The Sharp End (Stories From The Front Line Of The Music Business)

Anyone interested in music will consider this to be essential reading! Covering every genre, it provides intimate inside stories about many artists, songwriters, and music execs never previously documented. Those included are KYLIE MINOGUE, BURT BACHARACH, GEORGE MARTIN, BOB GELDOF, STOCK/AITKEN/WATERMAN, SIMON COWELL, RONNIE WOOD, JUSTIN HAYWARD, GRAHAM GOULDMAN, LEO SAYER, PAUL JONES, JASON DONOVAN, SINITTA, ALLAN CLARKE (The Hollies) and many more. Revelations: How Kylie nearly missed her big chance; when Simon Cowell lost it all; how George Martin signed The Beatles out of pure sympathy; the rise and subsequent disappearance of Clive Calder – the wealthiest man in music; what motivated Bob Geldof to stage the greatest show of all time; where the classic songs originated from: Burt Bacharach, Elton John, Lieber and Stoller, Neil Sedaka, Gene Pitney, Randy Edelman, Tony Hatch, Tony Macaulay, Roger Greenway, Les Reed/Barry Mason plus modern day songwriter of the year, Jamie Hartman.