Life's a Banquet

Life's a Banquet is a guide book for your life. The author, Robin Bennett, reveals the techniques that are useful for helping us negotiate our pathway through life. Family life, education, relationships, business life, marriage and even failure and rejection.

At age 21 Robin had his life mapped out for him. He was going to be an officer in the cavalry. But well before his 22nd birthday he found himself working as a grave digger's assistant in South London wondering how everything had all gone so drastically wrong?

But he decided that he wasn't going to take this lying down. He was determined to turn his fortunes around and, at age 23, he founded the Bennett Group and ever since that early success he has gone on to create in excess of a dozen successful business enterprises, in a wide variety of different fields, including home tuition, something to do with cigars, translation and dog sitting. In fact in his book's prologue which contains ten highly valuable helpful Life Tips (worth the purchase price of the book, it must be noted) is a PS "Always be kind to animals... It is the truest measure of a person."

From growing up in Reading (it was fairly grim at the time) to being inadvertently marooned on an island with the family terrier by his father who panicked when he accidentally shot a hole in the canoe they were in, finding out about the use of live pigeons for hunting decoys, managing investment funds, Robin Bennett's life has never been dull, in fact, it's quite colourful.

This book will be an inspiration to anyone who reads it and it will make a wonderful self-Christmas gift to you or a great Christmas gift to anyone else.

It's published by the Book Guild at £9.99.

Verbatim

In Verbatim Andrew Hill introduces his readers to two different writers.

There's Carol, who is an intelligent woman, known for being sensible, who is in her late 20s. She has her life together and is currently employed as a civil servant.

Grant, however, most certainly does not have his life together. Since his childhood Grant has suffered from mental health issues. Sadly these were just swept under the carpet and, as much as possible, merely ignored instead of being worked with and treated.

Grant is working as a barman and intends to get his life trued around.

Grant is looking for a publishing house to publish his debut novel, which he has titled 'Dead Letter Perfect, but after being rejected by publisher after publisher and by a curious twist of fate, he learns that another writer, a woman called Carol Green (who he has never heard of before now) is publishing a novel with exactly the same title.

But would it ever be possible for two writers, working totally independently of each other, with no prior knowledge of the existence of the other, to write a novel with not only the same title but with every detail and every word exactly, precisely the same?

Totally unaware of Grant's discovery, Carol's life continues as normal, but after the rejection of his novel, Grant's life continues to spiral out of control.

And when they finally meet things take a very, very dramatic turn for the worst.

It's a gripping a very moving novel and will make a very thought provoking Christmas gift for the writer or budding writer in your life.

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99.

The Trial of Lester Chan

The Trial of Lester Chan is a light-hearted novel from retired barrister Martin Wilson QC.

It examines what happens when Lester Chan, aka the Jewellery King of Hong Kong, is brought up on a charge of banking fraud, a QC of the middle orders, Jonathan Savage, is sent out to Hong Kong to mount the defence of Lester Chan.

It's going to be a bit of a change for Martin as his caseload usually consists of murder and the like. Plus he has never dealt with a case outside of Britain, before.

However, also thrown or drawn into this case is retired solicitor Frank Grinder, who is also working for the defence.

For the prosecution is Graham Truckett, who is serving as a member of the Legal Department of the Government of Hong Kong. Unfortunately for Truckett, he is totally and utterly out of his depth.

The trial judge, Mr Justice O'Brien, is overly pleased with his reputation for running an efficient court, but even Homer sometimes nods, and troubles within the home of Justice O'Brien might mean  that his attention is somewhat distracted.

And all set against the background of life in Hong Kong!

Martin Wilson QC based his novel on his experiences with dealing with a number of major law trials in Hong Kong.

The book is published by Matador at £9.99.

The Ears of a Cat

In his novel The Ears of a Cat Roderick Hart takes a look at a world very, very similar to our own.

It's the future, but not the far future, it's a very, very near future.

Over population is a topic that people are taking very seriously indeed.

But some are taking this far more seriously than most. In fact they are actually prepared to take the extra step, several pretty huge extra steps, to be perfectly honest, and to actually do something about it.

They are stuck for an idea of what to do. That is, until they find a source of a weaponised bird flu virus that has been turned into a lethal weapon in a laboratory.

All is going well, until their plot is uncovered by the German security services. Plus there is the added complication of their discovery by a freelance agent from the USA, who might not be as honest or as scrupulous as might be wished.

But can Gina Saito carry out their plans, especially as this would involve her own death in a land far from her own  homeland?

And what would happen if her plan was to succeed?

This is a novel that is filled with dark humour and many interesting diversions, from talks with a cat, to the testimony of a sex doll from Japan.

From the first page, which includes a murder on the street, to the last page, this novel is a heck of a ride.

It's published by Matador at £8.99 and will make an interesting Christmas gift for the SciFi fan in your life.

The Legacy of Crystal Island

The Legacy of Crystal Island is Book Two Truth and Courage by Colleen O'Flaherty-Hilder.

Orla has returned to Crystal Island. With her promised consort, Finn, Orla has been given the task of selecting new leaders who will govern the Earth's seven federations.

They will be the replacements for the Chief Generals who were under the control of the dangerous Shadow. The Chief Generals took planet Earth along a path that led to greed and destruction over a period of several decades.

Seven women and seven men are chosen to govern, and they will be ab le to access their buried Crystal Wisdom. But before this can happen the malign influence of the Shadow who is deeply embedded, must be removed for all time.

Will the planet be able to heal in order for it to evolve to the next stage?

It's a riveting read for fantasy fans and will make a neat Christmas present for them.

It's published by Matador at £9.99.

Kitchen Confidence

In Kitchen Confidence prize winning baker and expert cook Catherine Sloman shares her knowledge and passion for cooking with her readers.

Originally written as a special gift for her daughter Jessie to give her a taste of home cooking when she heads out into the big wide world of student life and beyond.

Catherine runs Kitchen Confidence cookery classes, operates a pop-up supper club and works as a private caterer, so she has developed considerable expertise in the field of good home cooking.

Whilst she was teaching people how to cook, Catherine became aware that there were a large number of people who, for a variety of reasons, had never really tried to cook, or had somehow lost confidence in their abilities to cook, or found that, due to a change in their circumstances, they needed to be able to learn to cook for themselves, perhaps alone.

Catherine realised that there needed to be a new type of cookery book which would be aimed at providing inspiration for both readers with very little experience as cooks or those who wanted to improve their skills and develop themselves as cooks.

The recipes in the book are all fully tested and absolutely delicious.

Catherine is an award winning baker and is a member of Bread Angels, which is involved with the teaching of baking skills and the sale of artisan breads https://breadangels.com/ she also blogs about her culinary adventures (under the name of Battenburgbelle) at http://www.battenburgbelle.com.

You can also learn more at https://www.kitchenconfidence.co.uk.

The book is published by Matador at £13.99 and is the perfect Christmas gift for the cook in your life.

Dancing the Skies

Dancing the Skies is an autobiographical accoount by former RAF pilot David Roome.

It records the flying career of RAF Group Captain David Roome who joined the RAF aged 18 as a pilot.

He flew the supersonic Lightning with 74 (Tiger) Squadron in Singapore until the eventual final withdrawal of UK armed forces in the year 1971.

He then took up a role as a trainer on the Folland Gnat for three years. After this he spent tours on the F-4 Phantom whilst flying with the RAF's Central Flying School's Advanced Squadron of Examining Wing.

His next tour of duty was as a member of the RAF's Tactical Evaluation Team, which was responsible for making assessments of the readiness of all RAF front-line stations and units for action, including war.

His next posting was to the HQ of the RAF's UK fighter force. After a short time there he was given command of a squadron of Phantom jets.

He returned to a staff position of No 11 (Fighter Group)  and in 1990 he became responsible for the detailed planning for the flypast of 168 aircraft over London on 15 September 1990 as a key part of the commemorations of the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain. It was for this vital role that he was appointed OBE.

He next returned to the world of training in 1994, he eventually was made responsible for the day-to-day operations of all RAF flight training.

But that wasn't all that he did. He also became qualified in flying all of the RAF's fighter jets (all save two, the Javelin and the Swift)  and he flew and he displayed the RAF's historic jets. A role that he loved, naturally.

But that's not the end of his extraordinary story, including exactly what he said that startled an army cook in RAF Tengah, Singapore.

It's a fantastic, well written (and beautifully illustrated) memoir which is a must have Christmas present for the aircraft fan in your life.

It's published by The Book Guild at £12.99.