Category: Books

Perking the Pansies Book Giveaway

I’m plugging the book again. Hey, a boy’s gotta do what a boy’s gotta do. This time there’s something in it for you, though.

There are two chances to win a copy of Perking the Pansies. Firstly, I’ve offered Goodreads a couple of paperback books to give away to two lucky winners. The competition is open to any Goodreads member in the United Kingdom (sorry, but international postage from the Blighty is crippling). Simply provide your name and address by the end of the month (May) to be entered into the prize draw. Easy. Not a member of Goodreads? Why not join? It’s a great book lover’s site and it’s free.

Secondly, the wonderful Kay at British Expats has given the book a fab review. As a reward, I’m offering a free copy of the book for Kindle. All you need do is comment on the review and say why you’d like the book. Keep it clean, folks. The competition ends on the 7th June.

I know it’s not exactly the Lotto but it is something for nothing and the chance of winning is much better. You can always sell the paperback on Ebay when you’re done. And what do I ask in return? Well, nothing, of course, otherwise it wouldn’t be free. But, if you fancy adding a review to Goodreads or Amazon out the goodness of your heart, that would be nice. No pressure.

Click on the images below to find out more and enter. Good luck!

A Perfect Holiday Read

3d with LogoEven if I do say so myself, Perking the Pansies, Jack and Liam move to Turkey is the perfect holiday accompaniment to a bottle of chilled white around a cool pool. Now it’s even better value at £9.99 ($16.00 across the pond). Waterstones deliver free to any UK address and the Book Depository deliver free to 120 countries and territories worldwide. A bargain, I say.

Check out buying options here. Not sure? Maybe the reviews will help you decide.

Time Out, Istanbul

A tantalising glimpse at the April edition of Time Out, Istanbul. Right at the bottom there’s a tiny headline for Pat Yale’s article, the Best of Expat Literature. I’m in it. I don’t know what Pat has written as I haven’t yet got my grubby hands on a copy. I’m spending so much time hanging around my garden gate for the postie, passers-by think I’m soliciting. Well, if the book doesn’t sell…

Jack the Scribbler

Book promos are like buses (and men). Not a sniff for ages then several come at once.  Check out Blog to Book – Start to Finish on Redheaded Writer and my interviews with the Turkey Expat Forum and Working Traveller.

I’m constantly surprised by the continuing interest and remarkable book sales. Thank you.

Turkey from the Inside

I’ve been scribbling like a lunatic getting the message out about the book. The days when an author just sits back and lets someone else do all the PR and promotion are long gone. Sometimes, though, things just happen without any intervention from me. Pat Yale is an extremely respected British vetpat travel writer living in Cappadocia. You could say she put the pat in expat. Pat wrote A Handbook for Living in Turkey which is the definitive guide for moving to and living in our fosterland. Pat also writes a Turkey travel blog called Turkey from the Inside. Liam stumbled across the page about Yalıkavak. This is the introduction:

On the northwest side of the Bodrum Peninsula, pretty Yalıkavak centres on a harbourful of gülets but also boasts several inviting getaway-from-it-all boutique hotels up on the hillside. It served as the setting for Jack Scott’s 2012 travel memoir Perking the Pansies which dished the dirt on goings-on in the expat community.

Thank you, Pat. I’m chuffed.

Gay’s the Word and Perking Down Under

I’m ecstatic to announce to the room that London’s Gay’s the Word, Blighty’s premiere LGBT bookshop (and voted 3rd in the top 50 bookshops in Britain by the Independent newspaper), have added Perking the Pansies to their illustrious shelves. This is better than sex. Gay’s the Word really is the place to be seen. If you’re in the area, pop in, browse the aisles and thumb through the many titles on offer (and buy my book, of course). To celebrate this latest achievement and whet your appetite, I’ve released the first five chapters for everyone to read.

It doesn’t end there. Are you sitting down? On the very same day I found out about Gay’s the Word, my publisher told me that the Bookshop – Darlinghurst, Australia’s pre-eminent LGBT bookstore is also offering the book for sale, just in time for Mardi Gras. The discerning readers of Sydney will have the opportunity to meet:

“…the oddballs, VOMITs, vetpats, emigreys, semigreys, debauched waiters and middle England miseries.”

I can now declare that, just like the British Empire of yesteryear, the sun never sets on these pansies.

Telegraph Jack

I flung open the closet door in the same year that ‘Going Straight’ first aired on the BBC. It was a time when the age of consent for gay men was 21* and the number of gay bars in London could be counted on the fingers of one hand. The Fourth Estate – redtops and broadsheets alike – was routinely beastly to the down-trodden embryonic gay community and the police raided at will. It’s no surprise then, that my politics were a little leftish and I thought of myself as standing on the outside looking in. Now in my fifth decade, I find myself published in the Telegraph, that most ‘establishment’ of newspapers – only online, mind you. Read my Bumpy Rite of Passage. I’ve sold out for a sell-out.

*In fact it was only legal for two men to get down and dirty if they were alone in a private dwelling. Also, lesbianism was never a crime, presumably because most of the (male) public school lawmaking hypocrites not knocking off the boys on the side were rather turned on by the thought of their nannies at it.  

A Brilliant New Book

Ayak is a splendid British emikoy living in a small village in Turkey with her doting Turkish husband. See, sometimes it can work! Ayak writes a refreshingly honest account of her rural life called Ayak’s Turkish Delight which she describes as:

“The ups and down, the trials and tribulations, the happy and the sad…not to mention the often disastrous adventures of Mr Ayak.”

Ayak has written a wonderful review of my book. I’m touched and really grateful. You can read it here.

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Til Death Us Do Part

VOMITs

And the Winners Are…

All medieval Gothic cathedrals look the same to me – all those lofty arches, graceful buttresses, elegant cloisters, grimacing gargoyles and more effigies of martyred saints than I could shake a stick at. Thank you to everyone who entered the spot the Goth competition. Some were stumped and plumped for Chichester, Durham, Oxford and second favourite, Salisbury. All fine buildings, but nil points to you lot. Yes, the next exciting whistle-stop on our pansy trail is the fair city of Norwich, the handsome capital of East Anglia and former home to the quiz of the week with Nicholas Parsons.

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We decided to alter the competition rules a little (we can do that) and pick a couple of winners at random instead of just the one. Liam selected one and I chose the other. Congratulations to Niki Fowler and Paul Hard. A pristine copy of Perking the Pansies will be with you very soon, signed, sealed and delivered. We hope you enjoy it. And if you do, tell your family, your friends, strangers in the street, shout it from the rooftops and maybe add a review to Amazon. As they say at Tesco’s, every little helps.

Off to Norwich we shall plod and that’s where I’ll write the sequel. Emigreys beware. Just when you thought it was safe to dip your toes in the Ege, I’ll be tying up the loose ends of our extraordinary time in old Bodrum Town and moving the story along to its bitter end. I’ll also keep on blogging, reporting on the Motherland and our foster home through my veracious, liberal eyes. The uncensored safety of Blighty will allow me to write more honestly.

Have a look at No Going Back on Going Back for all the competition entries (those not published elsewhere). It’s my most commented on post.

No Going Back on Going Back

‘In the beginning there was work and work was God. After 35 years in the business, the endless predictability made me question the Faith.’

I wrote those words on the 8th October 2010, the opening sentence of my debut post on a brand new blog about a couple of silly, cynical old queens who decided to jump the good ship Blighty and wade ashore to Asia Minor as gay semigreys (or is it semigays? No, that would be those who dip in and out). For a minority report, the blog’s done rather well. Now there’s a book. That’s done rather well too. Remarkable. Both crept up behind us without hint or herald. Maybe we should have listened to the early advice of our playground peers and kept our backs to the wall. Too late now.

We planned to stay in Turkey for a good few years, slowly descend into memory loss and erectile dysfunction disguised by a haze of alcohol, then paddle back to Blighty for the liver transplant and wait for the Grim Reaper’s call. Sadly, it’s not to be. I’d like to do author things and keep the pennies (and believe me I do mean pennies) rolling in. I can do neither in Turkey. There’s another reason. An important reason. There are pressing family issues that cannot be ducked or delayed. If you have read the book you will understand:

“One day, our Turkish adventure might be curtailed. We were prepared.” (Chapter 12)

That time has come.

Where will we be laying our hatboxes next? Well, there’s a clue in the picture below. Hint – it’s not in Soho.

Where is this?

Thank you Turkey for breaking the umbilical cord between wages and lifestyle. Thank you Turkey for giving me the time and space to write. Thank you Turkey for handing me a story on a plate. We hope one day to return. But, for now there’s no going back on going back.

Perking the Pansies2 (464 x 700)The photo above is a picture of one of the great cathedrals of England but where is it? Answer correctly for the chance to win* a signed copy of Perking the Pansies, Jack and Liam move to Turkey. Submit your answer by commenting on this post.

*The winner will be chosen at random by Liam from correct entries submitted before 4th March 2012. Comments containing entries to the competition will not be published until after this date so no cheating. The book will be shipped free to the winner to any address in the UK or Turkey. Delivery elsewhere (Mongolia, the dark side of the Moon, etc) may incur charges depending on the cost. Those who already know the answer are banned (we know who you are).

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In the Beginning

And the Winners Are…

Norwich?!