Living the Dream

Title : No going Back

ISBN: 0751535486

Author: Martin Kirby


Martin & Maggie are living the dream. How many times, especially on a cold wet Monday morning, have you thought ,"living in Spain or France has got to be better than here"? It does not matter where "here" is . The thought of living in the sun, good wine , growing your own food, and no daily grind has got to have crossed all of our minds at some time.

Well, Martin, Maggie, and their two lucky children did just that. They gave up their jobs and moved to Northern Spain. The book "No going Back" is the story of what motivated them to take the gamble and a warts and all story of their first years at their new home they called " Mothers Garden"

The book is one of those that captures the imagination and I must admit to reading it in a day. I couldn't put it down.

I cannot recommend the book highly enough to those who wish to follow their dreams.

Martin & Maggie have progressed in their dream since the book was written. More information on their exploits can be found on their website. http://www.mothersgarden.org/

What really impressed me was following an email from me to tell them how much I envied their courage in undertaking the move I received a reply the same day. I wish them well in their future and look forward to the next episode in the series.

Anthology Launch

I recently attended an anthology launch. The anthology was produced and published by "Creative Writers Network Ltd" here in Belfast. (More about the network later.) The anthology was entitled "Stories My Granny Used to Tell Me" . It is a well produced booklet with great art work.

One of the contibutors, Christine O` Reilly is a member of the Dunlewey Creative Writing class.

Christine has given her permission for one of her stories "Emer`s Elephant" to be published on the blog.

The launch took place in Belfast`s "Linenhall Library" and were read on the day by a great story teller Fra Gunn.

More details about the Library and its interesting history will follow shortly on another post.

New Short Story Magazine

Libbon is billed as UK`s newest short story magazine. It is published by and edited by David Soulsby. The edition I ordered was the third published and appears to be as a result of a change of direction for the magazine. From the information it would appear the first two editions were formulated as a result of a competition. Now stories of up to 5000 words will be accepted. The competition element has also been abandoned along with entry fees. The magazine will accept work from both new and published authors. Payment is for single issue rights only.

The magazine has a good quality glossy cover. The contents are well laid out on good quality paper with several black and white photographs to break up the type face. At £3 a copy is excellent value for money.

Libbon is a new potential market worth serious consideration for aspiring writers. The entries for this edition numbered 280. The odds of having a piece of work published is greater than some of the more established monthly mags.

More information can be found at the magazine web site http://www.libbon.co.uk/ or email enquiries to enquiries@libbon.co.uk