Juggling Cats

This is a true story about a family whose lives were upturned on a fateful Spring day. The story of how their lives changed, and how they coped with the stress of having a family member murdered in cold blood. How was this allowed to happen? How are families allowed to be left with next to no resolution and hounded by press and government officials, then unceremoniously dumped and then ignored following life changing incidents. Will they ever find out any answers? 2014 was a year they would never forget, a year that would change the direction of their lives forever.

Life After Reconstruction

Life After Reconstruction is my story after genital reconstructive surgery. It follows the events of what happened in my life after I wrote my first book, Wings for the Butterfly, published in Germany and in Poland. After the book came out, I thought I would be famous on the spot. Instead, I ended up in a worse situation than I was in; from living in my own flat to being in a refugee home. In the refugee home, which was not supportive for the process of sexual healing after reconstruction, I met up with other forms of traumas, perhaps worse than my own. The result of the hostile environment in the refugee home was the tension that heightened the already frightened sexual restoration, leading to numbness once again and even more rage which eventually became uncontrollable. In order to understand myself better, I became involved with trying to understand the people I came to live with, trying to understand their problems, to the point of understanding that we are all looking for pure love that was denied to us in the formative years.

Lighthouse Stories

Lighthouses remain a fascination to most people. The light beam still flashes a warning to all shipping and acts as a guide to safe harbour in rough weather, but unfortunately the lighthouse keepers are now a thing of the past. Modern technology has meant that satellite navigation where signals can be bounced off satellites to turn engines on and off and fog signals can be operated from ashore without the trusty keepers. The lights still twinkle and backup systems ensure ships still have guidance to safety. No keepers, alas: they have all been made redundant. The way of life of the lighthouse keeper is now well past.
The reader of my stories should gain an insight into what being a keeper was all about. The working details provide a fair look at what makes a lighthouse function. The short stories cover a wide variety of different locations including the Channel Islands. Characters within the service are as varied as the lighthouse but there is always a story to tell given the nature of the work and the importance of safety at sea for shipping. As always, it’s the sea that is the master in everything that happens but humour keeps rearing its head to remind us of the simple things in life; it constantly raises a smile.
Although lighthouses are now unmanned, the public is still curious about their history and what a keeper's life was all about. This book and its stories perhaps can give an insight into a time when keepers were essential to safe passage.

Margaret: Daughter of Destiny

“The damage done tonight will resound down the generations!”

These words, spoken in anger by an outraged mother in the year 1904, will prove prophetic. Fourteen years later, a child enters the world, innocent, yet blighted by the repercussions of a distant crime, committed on a summer night, in remote Western Australia. From the beginning, the odds are stacked against Margaret as she is robbed of her childhood.

In due course, Margaret reaches adulthood and to her horror, finds herself powerless to prevent the outcome she most dreads. The malevolent forces of destiny reach down to a further generation and into the lives of her children.

This story is a tribute to the courage and tenacity of a mother’s love. It plays out against the backdrop of a period spanning two world wars, a great depression and the dawn of a new millenium. Through all of this, Margaret faces the additional challenges of being a single mother in an unforgiving era.

The story follows the relentless power of generational forces, pitted against the strength of the human spirit. It relives one woman’s heroic struggle to change the future. Margaret forges a path – ultimately – to release and redemption.

Margaret’s story is told by the person who shared so closely in this journey of struggle and redemption: her daughter.

Otto Papesch

Otto Papesch was my father. I was four years old when he died. I asked myself for years what kind of a human being he was. I have attempted to paint a picture of that handsome, charismatic, cultivated, professional chemical engineer, enthusiastic sportsman, photographer and family man by basing myself on the vast correspondence that still exists, his diary of 1917, stories about him from my mother and grandparents and the innumerable photos he took over the years. This has been an attempt to describe his prominent characteristics but also shed light on his dilemmas and the contradictions in his personality and thereby to describe the important events of his short life. Would his destiny have been different had he been born a year later?

Peter Wyngarde: A Life Amongst Strangers

FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THE LIFE STORY OF ONE OF THE GREAT TELEVISION AND STYLE ICONS Peter Wyngarde: the name elicits memories of an actor with worldwide renown and instantly adhesive star quality, who was to hit his professional zenith via his starring roles in the smash hit TV series, Department S, and its equally successful spin-off, Jason King. However, when this imperial phase of his career took a downturn during the mid-1970s, he stoically dusted himself off and returned to the theatre--the scene of so many of his earliest triumphs. There he enjoyed continued success until a late-period revival came with the role of General Klytus in the 1980 blockbuster, Flash Gordon. Ordinarily, this book would end there. The fact that it doesn't reveals an unusual dichotomy: it splits Wyngarde's life into two, almost equal, parts. From the late 1980s, the author came into his orbit as the long yearned-for, missing piece of the puzzle: namely a strong, dependable sounding board and, increasingly, his soulmate. To those who have been content to view Wyngarde as a two-dimensional figure on a TV screen, or merely as the subject of media gossip, this book will come as a revelation--and no doubt a startling one, as it will shatter many long-held myths and preconceptions. And yet in spite of her closeness to the subject, the author has refused to place him on a pedestal: her exploration of his life and career is as honest as it is eye-opening. While she does not shy away from Wyngarde's more difficult characteristics and painful life experiences, the thread running through the book is a story of love and devotion that is deeply touching and ultimately heart-wrenching. "This is an intimate biography that is elegantly crafted, intensively researched, and presented with the utmost honour." Steven Berkoff

Prove It All Night

Can there be anything more uplifting than a great rock concert?

A concert where words like brilliant, fantastic, superb, amazing and incredible can never do it justice. They don’t even come close.

If you are blessed to have seen that one special gig that actually changed your life, a gig that you wished had never come to an end, then maybe, just maybe, you’ve been in the presence of greatness.

A night to remember that will never fade from your memory, however long you live. It’s as fresh today as it was all those years ago. It was a rock and roll epiphany.

Rebels 79: The Iconoclast, the Prophet, the Commando and the Bleeding Heart

Some people just own it. What is it? Transcendent charisma and the ability to articulate the unsung. In the 1970s, four musicians blurred the lines between the sacred and the profane. Come journey from Lagos and Kingston to New York City and London to live inside the raw imagination of that decade.

Sermons and Addresses

When a respected scholar with a career at three major American universities moves to a position as principal of an important institution in UK, there is likely to be considerable interest in what he has to say not only to his students, but to many others as well. The two most important formats for such communication were the sermon and the academic lecture. Historically, the sermon has been an extremely important form of communication, first as verbal communication to a specific group of listeners, and then as a written text made available to many more readers. Marc Saperstein was a member of Beth Shalom Reform Congregation in Cambridge, where religious services were directed and sermons delivered not by the rabbi of the synagogue – which never had a rabbi – but by members of the congregation. During the five years from 2006-2011, Marc Saperstein delivered 29 sermons in Beth Shalom. He also was asked to deliver sermons at 15 other congregations. The texts of these sermons are now accessible in the book.

Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll – Memoir of a Police Doctor

I can claim to have enjoyed a satisfying and fulfilling medical career. British General Practice was the jewel in the NHS crown and I was a Family Doctor during its heyday before the Government decided to take control and tell the doctors how to do their job, demoralize the profession and seriously compromise patient care, destroying the respect between patients and their doctors and turning a vocation into a chore. I was fortunate that I began my career at the right time and got out at the right time. My almost thirty years working with the local police force was hard work but once I’d seen a few corpses and gained the respect of the local constabulary I enjoyed the work immensely even if I was so often denied a good night’s sleep. The case load varied from the gruesome to the amusing but looking back it was never boring.

Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll – Memoir of a Police Doctor is an account of my experience as a Forensic Physician – a facet of the rich tapestry of medical practice that Joe Public never realized existed.

Sled Dog Gun: Aviemore Dreaming

Jim Bryde, sled dog racer, always had the ambition to place first in the pinnacle of Britain's sled dog racing, the competition ‘Aviemore'. This is the story of his life shared with Siberian Huskies; the trouble, love and tragedy that can come with a passion for racing and indeed for the dogs themselves.
Jim's beloved dogs include the loveable Joker, stubborn Dansa, the placid and friendly Bandit, but could it be Gun, son of Fly and Maji, and Gun's subsequent bloodline, who can finally lead Jim's team to victory, after many years of placing second?
While Jim's personal life sometimes overlaps into the world of racing, the passion for his hobby can be felt in every word of this endearing account of sled dog racing. To those interested in owning Siberian Huskies and racing sled dogs, his own individual accounts of his experiences are full of valuable tips.

Strange But True

Written clearly, the aim of the book “Strange but True” is to highlight some points.
There are many incidences that occurred in the hospitals which are of general interest to the general readers. The author is conscious that some points may be sensitive so he made it clear that the book is not meant to insult, degrade, defame or anything like this to anyone. The author believes that this world and this country (U.K.) have given him so much, which he wants to give back to the world/country for the benefit of other people.
As a Muslim, the author has questioned many beliefs common among Asian Muslims, which are frequently addressed in the mosques, written in so-called Islamic literature and believed by many Muslims.
In addition to his professional knowledge as a medical doctor, the author’s overall general knowledge and knowledge in sciences is of high standard. He was selected to be trained as a magistrate, went through two stages of interviews, but because of his heavy workload as a consultant in the NHS, could not complete his training.
His consultant colleagues from his last hospital, the manager of that hospital and the consultants from his previous jobs in NHS, where he worked as a junior doctor, speak very highly about him.