Once upon a time, a long, long time ago in a land far, far away. I wrote a book. It did well, very well. For a few fruitful years it flew off the shelves, hitting the top spot on Amazon several times. No one was more surprised than me – a nobody well past his chuck-by date. But also just like me, everything has a shelf life and sales slowly dropped off. Remarkably, I still manage to flog a few copies of the book (and the sequel) each month.

Of course, decent reviews help, and Perking the Pansies has a solid set of global Amazon ratings – 129 – more than many, I reckon. Okay, 8% are just one star, but you can’t please ’em all, can you? As I wrote in Turkey Street…

‘You’ve rattled a few cages, that’s all,’ said Eve.

For some senior members of the emigrey politburo, my blog had gone down like the Hindenburg. I had shone a satirical light on our corner of the expat forest and, by doing so, had committed the gravest sin.

‘You haven’t served your time, Jack. You’re not entitled to an opinion.’

Chapter 8, All About Eve

And then, 15 years after the book was published, my 130th Amazon review dropped on the mat…

I really enjoyed this. If irreverence is your gig then you’ll love this. It is full of joy, naughtiness and a flavour of some of the challenges faced.

G Delaney, you’ve made a washed-up ex-pretty boy very happy. Ta very much!