A Novel

Literary Fiction

Publisher: LaPuerta Books and Media

Awarded So Cal Publicists Best Literary Fiction, Best Indie 100, NYC Big Book Silver, NABE Pinnacle Best Literary Fiction, FAPA President’s Bronze Adult Fiction.

Intrigue on the white sands of the Indian Ocean.

Aldo Barbieri, a slick Italian tour operator, convinces Harry to join a group of adventuresome “voluntourists.” In a resort town on the Indian Ocean, Harry doesn’t find the promised excitement with local ladies. But in the supermarket he meets Esther Mwemba, a demure widow who works as a bookkeeper. The attraction is strong and mutual, but Harry gets worried when he finds out that Esther and Aldo have a history. They introduce him to Victor Skebelsky, rumored to be the meanest man in town. Skebelsky has a plan to convert his grand colonial home and residential compound into a rehab center – as a tax dodge. The scheme calls for Harry to head up the charity. He could live like a wealthy diplomat and it won’t cost him a shilling! Harry has to come to terms with questions at the heart of his character: Is corruption a fact of life everywhere? Is all love transactional? Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is an emotional story of expat intrigue in Africa, reminiscent of The Heart of the Matter by Graham Greene and The Constant Gardener by John le Carré.

Praise for Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner:

“Harry Harambee’s Kenyan Sundowner is a captivating, witty read that explores the sociopolitical climate in Kenya in an honest way that is both entertaining and thought-provoking. This is a clear and compelling outlook that realistically paints Kenya while exploring glaring issues that are a bane to the country. When Harry decides to stop being a bystander who lets other people decide his fate, it’s noteworthy. This can be equated to Kenyans finally deciding to take responsibility rather than just going with the flow, waiting for decisions that affect their lives to be made for them. And it can be done without selling one’s soul in the process and leave a legacy and a better country worthy of its name.” – Desmond Boi, Editorial Writer, The Standard and Citizen TV, Nairobi

“Jones writes with clarity and precision, offering a convincing study of a man taking risks and exploring new relationships with an almost childlike view on the world he’s thrown into. In relatable fashion, Harry soon gets in over his head for the attention of a woman or the thrill of the deal. Esther sums up his character best: “Mister go-along. The fellow who’s happy to ride in the back and look out the window.” Readers looking for engaging contemporary fiction with an emotionally available adult male lead–“Grand passion is fleeting, also blinding,” Harry notes — will quickly be pulled into Harry’s fast-paced adventure, a memorable (literal) vacation read.” – BookLife Reviews

“I lived in East Africa for five months. In Kenya this included Nairobi and a village on the banks of Lake Victoria. Reading this novel brought back vivid, exhilarating memories. It so accurately captures the people and the social milieu of this fascinating part of the world, no praise would be sufficient. The story is so starkly real, at times I thought I was Harry! Yes, it’s an adventure. It’s an education. It’s a literary delight!” – John Rachel, author of Live from Japan! and nine novels.

“Gerald Everett Jones’s experience-based tale of Kenya’s growth in a rapidly changing world is done with care and affection. Wonderfully entertaining, decorated with interesting facts, this tale acknowledges the hopes of past and present, along with warmth for the future. Virtual tourism which will make you long to share the experience yourself.” – Edgar Scott, author of 418: I Am a Teapot

“I was concerned that working halfway across the world, Mr. Jones’s fiction might take a hit, but from the shores of Kenya to the stores of the Santa Monica Promenade Jones does not miss a step. All is well. Buy the book.” – Morrie Ruvinsky, author of Meeting God or Something Like It and The Heart and Other Strangers

Harry Gardner, who thought his given name “Harrison” much too formal, did not consider himself an immoral man. His shrink, if he still had one, would say he was on a therapeutic quest. The more generous of his peers in the golf-club locker room would say he was taking a much-deserved breather. But he had to admit, at least to himself, that his intention in going to East Africa was to engage in illicit activities, although he had only a vague idea of what those activities might involve.

~~~

As he sat at the bar in the Tiki Lounge in Diani Beach, just a short walk from the white sand, Harry wondered whether he’d been betrayed. Aldo was supposed to meet him here, and the fellow was more than an hour overdue. Granted that appointments in Kenya are more good intentions than hard deadlines, Aldo’s client expected to get what he’d paid for. The trip package had been prepaid, as was customary, and so far all the bookings had been solid and the accommodations sumptuous. Harry doubted whether Aldo had absconded with any funds. But this was wary Harry’s first venture offshore in a lifetime, and part of the deal was supposed to be Aldo’s companionship and watchful guidance.

Harry would later learn that Aldo was in Mombasa meeting with an attorney, David Odiengo. Since Esther was in Mombasa as well, did they meet? Were they somehow working together? On what? And for whom? These became questions that nagged at him.

About the Author

He is the host of the GetPublished! Radio show.

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YA Fantasy, YA Paranormal

Publisher: Austin Macauley Publishers

Love across time and space – a coming-of-age story with a twist!

Set in 1959 Italy at a posh finishing school. Melissa, a shy teenage girl, feels lost in a transnational high society world that drives her to the depths of despair. But her attraction to the very human Kasho, who has snippets of philosophy to impart, eventually enables her to develop her own strengths. But Kasho doesn’t dwell physically on Earth. Melissa’s realistic story traverses class, gender, and power dynamics. She is expected to walk, or is bullied into walking, a certain path required of her class, including marrying a certain man. It’s only when she connects with Kasho, an Indigenous man whose values are in-line with hers, that she finds a kindred spirit who truly sees her. In an age of bullying and teen suicide, the resonating lesson throughout the story is “There is always a way of making your life better.”

Camilla has had many interesting and varied occupations. She’s been a lyricist for an international performing group The Kuban Cossacks, a high school teacher, and an editor for Faber & Faber Publishers in London. Upon returning to Australia, she wrote book reviews for two prestigious Australian newspapers – The Age and The Australian. And she also married and became a mother as well.

Camilla has also been an advocate for Australia’s indigenous peoples, in part because of her Baha’i faith’s belief in unity and also because of her extraordinary 27 year friendship with Banjo Clark. Banjo Clarke’s life and teaching were the crux of her best-selling Australian book, Wisdom Man. Camilla took the highlights of her friendship with Banjo and created a book that was an instant best seller in Australia, and in its second edition won American USABookNews.com Award for best multicultural work. It also gained Honorable Mention at the London Book Festival. Camilla was also the first non-Aboriginal to receive the prestigious Unsung Hero Award from Aboriginal people for her dedicated friendship and work for them “behind the scenes.”

Melissa and Kasho,2018 and is a young adult novel set in the transition period of 1959. It’s a fantasy, love story, with a heavy dose of rock and roll, taking place in Florence Italy.

Currently, Camilla is at work on her autobiography, a companion piece to the Australian Bestselling Wisdom Man, called WARRUMYEA: THE LEFT-HANDED WOMAN

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Booktopia

The Spell of the Rose
Toni Behm
(Fleex: Adventures Around the Worlds, #1)
Publication date: December 11th 2021
Genres: Fantasy

— Magic may take many forms, but love shall rule supreme —
Though wholly shorn of memories like all who dwell in the village of Fogland, Fleex knows this: his heart will always beat for Fin and Fin alone. However, when his dearest friend is hoodwinked by the Gossiper, he’ll need to venture beyond the safety of “home” to somehow save her.

Armed with but the oddities his guardians had found him with—a cryptic book and broken necklace—Fleex must find his way through countless worlds, collecting scattered clues. Accompanied by Flip and Flop, two Greenies sent by Fog Almighty, Fleex soon finds his quest means rather more than simply saving Fin. In fact, the very universe is hanging in the balance now, for music, knowledge, and all things good are slowly being swallowed by a monster made of light.
Awaiting Fleex are riddles from the Reader in the World of Word, demands from the Collector, and a slew of wicked on the path to where the High Priest lives.
Only time will tell if Fleex can mend the fractures greed has caused, but either way, he’ll reclaim Fin or meet his fate en route.

Goodreads / Amazon

—

EXCERPT:

‘I travelled through many lands and, you know what? People outside Fogland don’t look like us. They are taller and they don’t have…, ’she hesitated for a moment, ‘for example, your family, you have tentacles which you call hats. The Gerions, on Round Street, have three arms. The Soleys have a light on their foreheads and they shine like torches all night. Where I come from, hair is hair, people have two arms, and their heads are not like bedside lamps in the dark. This is a strange place here.’

Fleex was thinking. Fogland was definitely a land which you could enter but could not leave. Not on your own. It was a place with a purpose. But exactly what that purpose was, none of the locals knew.

He turned to Fin, ‘What’s the last thing you remember before you came here?’

‘I remember a small forest, all green. I was walking along a path leading downwards. There was no other way, only down. In the thickest part of the forest, the path just disappeared. I was tired and sat down to have a rest. I must have fallen asleep because I remember that the path had reappeared when I woke up, and I followed it to the Rose Garden.’

Bright tears filled her eyes, held on for a moment and then ran down the silky skin of her cheeks. Fleex was looking at her with a heavy heart. So heavy that his face turned pale and the tentacles in his hair hung down like the dead limbs of an octofruit. He felt sorry for Fin. It was nice that she had chosen him to share her story with, and he was not going to tell anyone. And if she kept quiet, the fog was not going to take her.

A creepy, accusing shriek jolted him out of his thoughts. ‘Gold digger! Greedy, insensitive cow! ’Somebody was screaming and the voice was coming from the vines twisting over the café. Then there was a rumble as something round and clumsy rolled down the path and sped away.

‘The Gossiper! She’s been hiding above us all the time, eavesdropping! ’Fleex whispered, as he held the hands of his loved one. ‘Fin, whatever happens, I want you to know that I love you and…’

Before he could even finish, white and grey clouds of fog suddenly descended from all sides and surrounded Fin, blackening the sky and the garden. Wet cold froze them. The fog formed into the ugly face of an unknown creature, with black holes for eyes and sharp teeth. Fin was still squeezing Fleex ’hands when strangely fleshless yet strong fingers suddenly grabbed at his, forcing them apart. A powerful pull and then the fog monster pushed him aside with its enormous paw and opened its mouth. Fin sank inside, in a flood of tears. The fog spiralled up, taking Fin with it.

Fleex was stunned. It took him hours to realise she was gone and he was never going to see her again. Without looking at it, he took the piece of paper from the table and put it into his pocket. She had merely decided to share her secret with him, but the fog had taken her. Because of the Gossiper.

Author Bio:

Born and raised in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria, Toni Behm graduated MA in Bulgarian Language and Literature from the University of Plovdiv and later certified as a TEFL teacher. She worked for a time at a local radio station, newspaper, then she taught English at school and university. In 2008 she moved to the USA and started writing this story. The initial idea was that it would be a short humorous fantasy story, but later it turned into a longer fairy-tale.

Published under the pen name A.V. Osten as an e-book is her dystopian novelette The Head Employee Precedent, part of the Hemisphere series.

Toni lives in Michigan with her husband, daughter, and their two cats.

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