Guest Post by Neuro Surgeon and Best Selling Author- Fred Nath

The Cyclist and an Inspiration

Fredrik Nath

The early morning sunlight flickered from behind the high clouds and reflected golden and crisp from the monument in Bergerac’s market square. Around me, shoppers bustled and in the roadway a car beeped its horn. The grey stone pillar rose fifteen feet above me, its shadow pointing away towards the elm trees that line the roadway. A smell of garlic wafted as I read those brave words that showed the strength of the French and France’s indomitable leaders. The monument was a reminder of the valour and sacrifice of those brave local partisans who gave up their lives in the struggle against the occupying Nazi forces all those years ago.

Yes, it is moving. Surely there’s a story here.

In my head a story began to form. What would it have been like to have to make the choices needed to protect oneself and one’s family yet still remain French? The main character would need to do something admirable. He would need to depart from the norm. If you became a partisan you would endanger the people nearest you. What if you were caught?

I began to think of how it would be to be the one who is rounding up the local Jewish people. Would you hate it? Of course you would, even if you were forced to it for fear of endangering your family. For a religious man it would be even harder. Surely one would do anything to avoid such ‘duties’ if you had a conscience?

The story began to form. A Vichy French policeman, a man of conscience, a family man working with evil Nazis whom he secretly hated. I created Auguste Ran, a good policeman, but in essence weak, until a certain event tips him over the edge and slowly he begins to fight back.

That’s where THE CYCLIST came from and it was my springboard for the other books in my French resistance series. Each takes a character and makes life hard for them, allowing them to become. In the end, THE CYCLIST sold 30,000 copies. It was Editor’s choice in the Historical Novel Review in 2011.

You can catch all six books on Amazon: a policeman, a teacher, an artist, a chef, a philosopher and in THE PROMISE a medical student.

THE PROMISE is the last and most recent of the series. Jean Valois, a medical student before the war, swears to his sister he will protect her. But in war, who can keep such promises? Trained to kill by SOE, in a desperate bid to save his sister Rebecca, he undertakes a mission deep into enemy-occupied Poland, risking all for the sake of a promise made long ago. A story of love, war, hatred and revenge, THE PROMISE tells a tale of courage and staunchness.

If you like drama and character-based plots check them out!

If you have questions you can reach me at:

fred@neurosurg.co.uk or

http://www.frednath.com

(Fred Nath is a renowned Neuro-Surgeon and also the author of the best-selling  'The Cyclist')
-nikhimenon

Guest Post by Best Selling Author 'Thomas M.D. Brooke'

  Here in this guest post,eminent writer 'Thomas M.D.Brooke' shares with us the inspiration behind his recent best-selling work,'Roman Mask'.Read on...!

Turning a negative into a positive – the inspiration behind Roman Mask

                     It was an October night, and I was returning home from a night out with a few friends in my local pub in London, when something happened that changed my life dramatically.  The nights were closing in, so it was already dark by the time I left the pub, but I was in a good mood.   I’d recently returned from a trip to Pompeii , so I’d been telling everyone of my excitement at walking through the Roman streets, marvelling at the murals and depictions on the well preserved houses, and laughing about the seedier aspects of the ancient city – the brothels and street graffiti that had also survived the great volcanic eruption of AD 79.

                It was probably because I was so preoccupied with these thoughts, that I didn’t see the guy who came out of an alcove and wrapped an arm around my neck.  My first thought was, ‘Am I being mugged?  Who’s going to mug me??’ – I’m a big guy, over six feet tall and I keep myself in pretty good shape, so I’d always thought the chance of this happening in Londonwere pretty remote.  But I was wrong.

                When the second guy came out from behind a car, then the third from behind a bush I knew I was in trouble.  This was no ordinary street robbery; these guys were out for blood, and the three of them surrounded me and between them punched, kicked, and smashed me to the ground, beating me to an inch of my life.

                Afterwards, as I tried to hobble home – one of them had crushed my foot, to prevent me from getting up – another passer-by saw me covered in blood and called an ambulance.  I was lucky, I got to live another day.  And within a few weeks, my bruises healed, and I began to walk without a limp, all physical signs of my encounter disappeared.  But that was just the start of my nightmare.

                I was completely unprepared for the mental-trauma that such an incident inflicts on you.  That winter was torture for me.  After any night out, I was terrified to go home; I found I was scared of the dark, constantly thinking that people would jump out of the shadows at me.  I’d never previously been a heavy drinker, but over that winter I found I needed to drink a lot just to give me the courage to walk home.  I could have called a taxi, but then people would wonder why I was taking a cab for such a small journey – this became another all-encompassing fear:  that others would find out about my terror.   This might seem irrational, but at the time, that fear was almost as great as being mugged again.

                Those first six months were very difficult, but then as the nights started getting lighter, an idea came to me.  After visiting Pompeii I’d been searching for a character to be a lead in a novel set in ancient Rome – someone who fully embraced the entirety of Rome, its seedier aspects as much as itsmagnificence.  Why not put my experiences to good use, rather than having it a weight bearing me down, let it be something that produces something positive.  At the time, the news on the television was full of stories of soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with post-traumatic stress and it made me think how soldiers dealt with such issues in the ancient world.  My experiences had shown me the power that traumatic events can play on the mind, and I quite simply didn’t believe anyone who claimed that in the ancient world such a thing was not a concern because life was different back then.   The human mind was biologically exactly the same then as it is now, and just as fallible to conditions we now diagnose and understand the importance of.

                So I came up with the character Cassius, a great soldier, but someone who’d been affected by a terrible battle a few years before in the forests of Germany.   I knew from my own experiences how easy it was to fall into a trap of blaming yourself for your own perceived weakness, and I knew how living a lie to hide that same weakness can become a part of life.  I then started my novel in Rome so I could show Cassius being seduced by the many vices of that ancient city – something that is all too easy under such circumstances.  I then returnedCassius to Germany where he learns to understand and come to terms with his fears, just as I did whilst writing my novel.  The novel culminates in the Teutoburg forest and one of the most dramatic and historically significant battles of the ancient world.  Cassius needs to draw on all his courage and strength in the midst of that terrible event.

                I’m now pleased that I encountered those three men, that fateful night in October.  It was a terrible experience, but it gave me something so much more – I wouldn’t change it for anything.

'Roman Mask' can be bought online through the following links 1,2,3.

-nikhimenon

When I Feel Angry - Cornelia Maude Spelman

[Guest review by Fabida]

Book Review: ‘When I Feel Angry’

Anger is an emotion that affects everyone, across continents, male and female, young and old, making it pretty much a universal feeling.

But like Cornelia Maude Spelman shows us in her book ‘When I Feel Angry’, it is how we respond to that emotion that makes us the person we are. This is an excellent book to help young children understand this anger and learn to deal with it.

Title: When I Feel Angry (Part of the ‘The Way I Feel’ series)

Author: Cornelia Maude Spelman

Illustrator: Nancy Cote

Plot: A little bunny finds that a lot of things make her angry, and when she feels angry she wants to do and say hurtful things. But she also learns that feeling something and doing those things are completely different and that she should take care not to hurt others in the process.

Review: This is a lovely little book, perfect for preschoolers. I would go so far as to say that even adults like us could gain quite a bit from reading this!!

Little Bunny first learns to identify the emotion called anger and she finds that many different events can trigger anger in her. All sorts of scenarios are covered – things that are out of our control can make us angry, as can something someone does or says to us, or sometimes even we can make ourselves angry when we get frustrated!

Nancy Cote has done a brilliant job of expressing Little Bunny’s facial expressions, especially since pictures are what’ll get to the child more than words. The text is in first person and in simple English, which will help children to express their feelings clearly, for example: ‘I feel angry when I have to stop my game’. This will be especially useful for children prone to tantrums, who can’t seem to use words to say exactly what they want.

The book also provides positive ways to control anger, and to curb violent impulses like wanting to hit someone. In the kind of world we have today, these lessons can’t be underestimated. My son gets angry quite frequently, but when I remind him of the book, he does make an effort to calm down (though some explosions are inevitable!!).

I would whole heartedly recommend this book to all mothers, however old your child is, and whether they have an anger problem or not. Learning to control your anger and express your feelings are skills that everyone needs and your child will be grateful to you long after the bedtime book reading sessions are done.

This review first appeared as a guest post on The Mom Views.

[This review is a part of the Children's Day Celebration Challenge hosted at ALOP]

- Fabida