Bear Islands -- almost a disaster

 Another very spooky thing.  In "Acts of God" there is an episode which involves a vast iceberg breaking up near the shore of the Bear Islands -- with tragic consequences for those who are caught in the resulting waves as they rush shorewards.  I came across this, in a travel log from 2007, which mirrors the situation almost exactly.........

From Markus Ziebell's travel log:
http://www.travel-fever.com/script/parsesets.php?sdir=0803002&set=01 
He stopped off at the Bear Islands in 2007 during what was to be a single-handed kayak circumnavigation of Milne Land.  The trip could not be completed because of technical problems with a vessel which should have brought him additional supplies, and because of adverse ice conditions.

After a few kilometers, I reach open water and set course straight for Bear Island, which is 45 km away. As the mountain slopes are much steeper here, I intend to land at a bay with a hut indicated on my map. I'm hoping to find good landing conditions and drinking water there. Just before the bay, I pass another huge iceberg that appears quite brittle even from a distance. I have just pulled the boat onto the protruding rocks of the sheltered bay and unloaded the first two bags, when I am startled by a loud cracking sound. I watch as 800 m away from me a broad wall of ice plunges down the iceberg into the depths. A tall, breaking wave develops in front of the iceberg, and quickly turns into a flat swell that approaches fast. I have barely a minute to prepare for it. I can't pull the boat higher onto the rocks because of its weight. So I just stand next to the boat in my drysuit with the tow rope in my hand and wait. The first wave is still slowed down by the protruding rocks. But the next four breakers crash over them, and I stand in the surf up to my hips while the boat is being thrown from left to right against the rocks. I am lucky, and my sturdy PE- boat doesn't get damaged.

 http://actsofgod.weebly.com/

Greenland Sunday -- 9th November 2014

GREENLAND SUNDAY

2.30 - 4.30 pm on Sunday 9th November 2014
Commodore's Lounge, Boat Club, Parrog, Newport

And now for something completely different --  nothing whatsoever to do with Martha Morgan, angels or Carningli....

Please join Brian and Inger for a couple of hours to celebrate the book launch of the new thriller
ACTS OF GOD

Set in East Greenland in 1962, in the depths of the Cold War

At 3 pm there will be a brief illustrated presentation on the Arctic Riviera and Brian's eventful 1962 expedition on which the novel is based
and at 4 pm  the author will give a short reading from the new book

Light refreshments will be served.
Please join us, and bring your friends!

Best wishes

Brian
01239-820470

Latest Kindle freebie promo

A week ago I finished the latest Kindle freebie promo via the Amazon web site, and my experience might help other authors with other Kindle books to sell.

This is the third promo I have done for this title -- and the most successful, by far, was the first one.  We should not be surprised about that.  This time I only managed to give away about 550 copies, but what interested me most of all was the very big peak in downloads on the first day.  That's when the book went to number two in the "free Historical Fiction" section.  After that, there was a very rapid drop-off.  My recommendation?  Do freebie promotions just one day at a time.  That way, you get the full weight of the Amazon publicity machine behind you -- since the "machine" does nothing at all after that -- so subsequent downloads just fade away inless you do some pretty hefty marketing yourself.

Now we shall see whether, after another few days have passed, there will be any lift in actual sales of the subsequent volumes in the saga.......

Oxford University Expedition to East Greenland 1962

Above:  the "red mountain" of Malmbjerget, seen from the other side of the Schuchert Gletscher.  The ore body is well defined.  Note the accumulated mine waste carried out from the excavation of the tunnels inside the mountain.  The mountain is called Himmelbjerg in the novel.

Below: camp site on the Oxford Gletscher, after a heavy snowfall.

At long last, I have digitised the key photos from our 1962 expedition, and they are now in a Facebook Album here:

https://www.facebook.com/brian.john.526/media_set?set=a.982579645090735.1073741845.100000161271278&type=1

Some of the images have been in slide boxes collecting dust and mildew for 52 years......... so the quality is less than perfect!  Nonetheless, the photos give a good impression of what we all got up to over the course of 8 weeks in the "Arctic Riviera".........

Acts of God now available for pre-ordering

My new novel is now uploaded onto the Kindle web site and is available for pre-publication ordering.  So book your copy now, and it will be delivered to you in pristine condition on 5th November, which is designated publication day.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Acts-God-Brian-John-ebook/dp/B00OGTY17O/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1413300286&sr=1-2&keywords=Acts+of+God+Brian+John

By the way, the creature above is a tupilaq or tupilak -- a magic token traditionally carved out of walrus tusk or some other suitable material -- and often designed to place a curse or bring ill luck to somebody you might count as your enemy.  These figurines are normally quite grotesque, and no two are the same.  Nowadays they are created for the tourist industry, but in the old days they were heavily invested with magic -- and the carving of one was almost a ritual, undertaken with due care and respect.

They are generally quite small -- no more than three inches high.

A tupilaq figures quite prominently in the new novel -- but its role in the story is a closely guarded secret.....

"On Angel Mountain" hits the Regency Fiction list

Well, this is fun!  "On Angel Mountain" has reached number 2 in the Top Hundred free regency fiction titles.  (Actually, it's only competing with 14 other titles, but don't tell anybody else about that!)  It's also at number 8 in the Historical Fiction list -- so there must be some downloads going on......  Please encourage everybody you know to download it, between now and Tuesday, when the free promo comes to an end.

Not sure how Martha Morgan comes to compete with Lizzie Bennet and other timid and precious Regency ladies for the affections of readers -- but she will certainly have fun stirring things up for a few days!

This is where you can get it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Angel-Mountain-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B007GATW2O/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

Free Kindle download offer - On Angel Mountain

My autumn promotion is under way -- starting today and running for 5 days.  "On Angel Mountain" is free  -- in the Kindle version -- for those who might not have encountered the Saga before.  Let's hope that many new readers come on board and join the happy crew of Martha Morgan fans!

A Kindle freebie promotion probably doesn't take away many sales that might have brought in good money,  and indeed previous experience shows that sales of the other volumes in the Saga do go upwards sharply after a freebie promo of this sort.  I'll monitor that carefully and report back......

In the meantime, please spread the word and encourage your friends to take advantage of this amazing opportunity for enlightenment......