The books are still circulating!

I was so happy to see my book outside The Old Gaol in Buckingham, doing its rounds a few days ago! 

I placed three books around Buckingham months ago. 

Utterly charmed to see one still circulating!

The Mayor's Bear and AI

I had a great day on Friday - helping a number of local councillors get to grips with Artificial Intelligence and how it might be applied to their local councils. You can read all about it here. I am most grateful to David Hall of CloudyIT for inviting me to be a part of this event. 

At the end of the day, David gave away some prizes to the participants as a thank you for coming along. I added a copy of The Mayor's Bear  (and my previous book - Cracking Questions) to the prizes and it was lovely to be able to sign a copy of each for the two people who were lucky to be drawn. 

If you were Town Mayor...?

I had a fabulous time at the MK Indie Book Fair last Saturday - lots of lovely other independent authors and lots of lovelu people to talk with, as they passed by my stall. I got to writing on my promo cards:

If you were Town Mayor, what would you change about the area around your home?

This provoked some interesting and diverse answers. I made notes! Below is what people told me:

This got me thinking... I am wondering in the next edition of my book (which I am currently working on) whether to put some workshop type questions in the back for teachers to use - or anyone to consider - after they have read some or all of the book.

What do you think? 

Getting your copy of "The Mayor's Bear"

Sometimes people ask me how to get hold of a copy of my book - especially in advance of a school's visit (so that I can sign the copies), or after such a visit - or indeed after a workshop with (for example) local councillors discussing engagement with young people and so forth. 

It is very easy! 

My book is available from all high street bookshops such as the Buckingham Bookshop - next to the Vinson Building at the University or Waterstones in Milton Keynes shopping centre. 

And of course, The Mayor's Bear can be ordered online with Amazon or Waterstones or World of Books (WoB often offers discounts). And it is available across the world also - bookshops on street and online. 

I would encourage you to use high street bookshops of course! 

You just need the name of the book and my name. If you feel the need - although it is rarely necessary - the ISBN number is 9781789634570 (ISBN10: 1789634571). 

And if you want me to sign it - I am happy to, of course, and I am sure we can work something out! 

MK Indie Book Fair 25/10/25

Along with many other local authors and indie publishers, I will be sitting in large shopping centre atrium called Middleton Hall tomorrow (Saturday 25 October 2025) signing books and running a short workshop for children. 

There are lots of authors to listen to, reading out some of their writings:

And the full list of who is who can be found here: https://www.mklitfest.org/ibf2025  - with links to the full catalogue of contributors. 

It is going to be fun! 

Fairies?

Several people have commented that there is a lot of me in the book. And I guess that is true - although isn't that always the case? How could any author write a book without them being present in every word and line. These words come from us, as authors.

So I hold my hands up - there many facets of me sprinkled throughout the story and its characters. Many of the scenes have been plucked from my life - although I will say from the outset - I never lost the Mayoral Chain when I was Mayor. But I worried about doing so! 

So, the next few blogposts here will focus on some of these stories and facets, to add some extra colour to the book - and also (maybe) give a trailer or two to an updated version of the book - which is in process! And I will begin this with a poem I wrote a few months ago about faries (sort of!). Fairies, of course, feature in The Mayor's Bear - in more than one place... (Did you spot all the places?)  And they are going to feature in one of the short stories which will be incorporated into the new version of the book... 

Anyway... here is the poem:

Fairies: a conversation 

Fred's with the fairies now. 

Not the birdies then? 

No. 

The fairies. 

He told me. 

He told you? 

Yes. 

He knows he's not making much sense to others these days. 

But he's making sense to him

And the fairies. 

The fairies. 

What do they say? 

I asked him that 

They told him not to worry

Yesterday's memories don't matter

It's the golden ones that do 

Sort of makes sense. 

What else? 

Be here now. 

Look past the rain to the rain drops. 

See how each flower is different. 

Touch the two oaks that have grown into each other. 

Worry less. 

The fairies say all this? 

Yes. 

Anything more? 

No. 

Fred went to sleep then. 

Ah. 

They sound like lovely, wise fairies. 

Yes. 

I might join them one day. 

Yes. 

We might. 

---

Catton Park

25 May 2025

New hat!

I have bought a new hat! It is something to wear when I am reading from or talking about #TheMayorsBear. Increasingly I am starting up conversations with people about the need to get more people - especially young people - involved and engaged in local politics. I emphasise Roxie's conversation with her sister...

"I know I am not going to make World Peace happen. But I can make a small piece of it better!"

So thought - let's put this on a hat... #OnePieceBetter 

(The pin is the UN 17 Colours Sustainable Development Goals with added peace dove - because world peace does still matter!)