‘a collection of six delightful tales full of wit, quirky characters and an abundance of welcome nonsense’ – back copy, The Magnificent Moustache and other stories.
I’ve been writing stories pretty much since I could hold a pencil. In what are called our formative years, the world of imagination was as real to me as most of the three-dimensional things that were actually going. As far as I was concerned, I was the lead character in an unfolding story of heroics which took me on numerous flights of fancy: from uncovering criminal rings and unmasking the bad guys, to holding audiences spell bound with my various (very fictitious) talents; plunging into adventures and coming out both unscathed and victorious – almost all inspired by voracious book reading (Enid Blyton has a lot to answer for).
Whether you believe laughter is good medicine, the sunbeam of the soul, delicate blossom on the pond of life (?!), a dash of summer in a winter world, or just a really good idea, then this is the book for you, your colleagues, your friends, your children and your relatives.
To be clear (spoiler-alert): there are no drug dealers, gun runners or shoot outs. You will not encounter any detectives, forensic investigations, martial arts, space travel, dead bodies, zombies or dark magic. There are no political motivated reflections on ethics, climate, population control or economic trade. You will not find any mention of wars, civil or otherwise; no strident polemic and no clumsy moralising.
What you will find are six humorous children’s stories written with 8-10 year-olds in mind but which appeal to adults who enjoy the innocence of yesteryear and the memory of the captivating stories you used to read above or below the bedcovers, many years ago.
The back cover blurb explains:
These highly original stories will take you from a national moustache-growing competition to the Queen’s vexation when her usual cuppa fails to appear; and to the challenge of having a name so lengthy that it takes forever to simply introduce yourself. A 200-year-old business faces imminent collapse unless a solution can be found; a kingdom has been cut off from civilisation for 100 years and what happened in that bitterly cold winter of 1740 in northwest Wales?
Four of the six were written for my own children; I wonder whether you’ll be able to guess which one was written for whom… One was having a particularly challenging time in her job, so I wrote her something in the hope that it would make her smile. In a moment of dazzling yet sobering clarity I realised that, inevitably, I would now have to write one for each of the others in order to maintain the spirit of fairness with which both children and adults are all too familiar. It took some time, but one by one, the tales emerged from a freshly excavated corner of my creative brain, and took form on the page.
Aristotle told us that one summer does not a summer make and, if he’d have thought about it, I’m sure he’d also have said that four stories do not a collection make. Further yarns must be woven, if not weaved. And they were, in due course: written, edited, expanded, contracted, worried over, re-crafted and submitted to a variety of publishers and agents.
Let’s hurry along from the demoralising rejection slips (publishing, like most businesses is a tough and competitive world), and revisit the day last December when I received this heartening reply from Mr James Essinger at The Conrad Press,:
Many thanks for sending me your excellent book The Magnificent Moustache and Other Stories. This is to confirm that The Conrad Press would like to publish it in March 2022.
Need I say that there was much excitement even before the yuletide spirit had kicked in? I think not.
You will, of course, be aware that March is long gone and June is about to ambush us all, frightening us with the realisation that we are already half way through the year. Such is life. Delays caused by multiple hiccups and unforeseen glitches endeavoured to subdue the mood, but the designers I was allotted rose to various challenges and I procured the talents of long-standing friend, Mrs Amanda Young, to illustrate the stories; this gave both of us a quantity of giggles and delight.
It is with great pleasure that I can now tell you the next instalment of this – let’s be honest, – rather thrilling saga. Several boxes of books are scheduled to arrive at an address in Somerset this weekend. Hurrah! I will catch up with them several days later on my return from Cape Town. Double hurrah! I have no doubt that the meeting will be celebratory. Then, a week long blog tour will begin tomorrow during which you can hear from some other marvellous writers who have already had access to the book and who, I hope, have enjoyed it as much as you will.
The Magnificent Moustache and other stories is about as different from Spiritual Feasting as you can get. It has allowed me to move from Bible teaching to comedic children’s fiction and give my brain a simultaneous break and a stretch. Right now – young or old – we could all use some healthy escapism from the relentless gloom of the stories on our screens and news feeds.
My nonsense stories and quirky characters may be the oasis you need.
And, with impeccable timing, there’s even a story about Her Majesty the Queen; just in time for her Jubilee weekend. I hope she enjoys it. Congratulations Ma’am!
The Magnificent Moustache and other stories will be available directly from the Conrad Press or to order in bookshops (ISBN number: 978-1-914913-85-3), and on Amazon priced £9.99. It will also be released as an e-book.
Blog tour begins 28th May 2022:
Saturday 28th May – Wendy H Jones https://www.wendyhjones.com/blog-posts/
Sunday 29th May – Penelope Swithinbank https://penelopeswithinbank.com/blog
Monday 30th May – Ruth Leigh https://www.ruthleighwrites.co.uk/ruth-leigh-blog
Tuesday 31st May – John Stevens https://unlessaseed.com/
Wednesday 1st June – Joy Margetts https://joymargetts.com/blog/
Thursday 2nd June – Debbie Duncan https://debbielduncan.wordpress.com/
Friday 3rd June – Veronica Bright http://www.veronicabright.co.uk/blog/
dancingthroughchaos 