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Monday, September 18, 2023

NO MONKEYING AROUND WITH THESE BOOKS!


Various hard-backed books, including some classics, are dotted around the seating area of the Monkey Bar in the Baha Mar Resort, Cable Beach, Nassau!


 

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Tuesday, July 18, 2023

NOVEL WRITING MEMORIES!

 


Wow! This old post about my first novel “Love at Sunset”, which became “Dangerous Devotion” (The Buchanan Mystery Romance Series”), popped up in Facebook Memories from July 4, 2014! -

“I finished writing Chapter Fourteen of my novel in the blackout last night, scribbling the final few pages of the chapter in a notebook by flashlight and then typing them up this morning after the power came back on. Have started Chapter Fifteen, so am almost half way through the book. Now I’m plotting out the rest of the story, so I can gradually bring everything to a satisfactory conclusion.”

"Dangerous Devotion" is available as an e-book and in paperback HERE!


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Friday, July 14, 2023

FREE FREE FREE! - BOOK OF “ECLECTIC THOUGHT-PROVOKING” SHORT STORIES!

 


At this sizzling time of year, I’m delighted to offer FREE downloads of my book of “Eclectic thought-provoking” Short Stories - "MOONBEAMS FROM THE SOUL: A COLLECTION OF FOURTEEN PROVOCATIVE SHORT STORIES”!

This short story collection is FREE through Tuesday, July 18, 2023.  "Moonbeams from The Soul" is also available in paperback (regular and large print) and Kindle Unlimited.

Many of my short stories have appeared in “The Lady” magazine, U.K. As New York Times bestselling author Neil Gaiman says: “Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams. They are journeys you can make to the far side of the universe and still be back in time for dinner.”

Some excerpts from the short stories in Moonbeams from the Soul:

"Although she expected it, the sight of the devil’s mask made her gasp. The man had a whistle in his mouth and carried cowbells and maracas. She led the man across the room...." - from "The Merry Widow".

"I knew it was a mistake. I don’t know why I did it. Well, actually, I do know why. I’m no different from the other girls in my graduating class of that year...." - from "Love Made Me Do It".

"She wore shorts and a sleeveless top. Her hair gleamed in the sunshine. To him, at that moment, she looked even more beautiful in the daytime than she had in the moonlight...." - from "Queen Bee".

"The moles stared at me from some kind of solution in the jar! They looked like shrivelled raisons. I couldn’t drink any more coffee!" - from "The Palms".

Some Amazon Reviews of Moonbeams from The Soul:

"What a marvellous collection of stories. They will reel you in, entertain and refresh you, and have you eager to go on to the next one!"  

"I love FK books. They always leave you wanting more or dying to know what's next in the series."

"These are well-written stories with a twist. Fay Knowles is good at describing everyday life where you gradually discover that nothing is quite what it seems."

DOWNLOAD FREE AT AMAZON U.S.

DOWNLOAD FREE AT AMAZON U.K.

DOWNLOAD FREE AT AMAZON CANADA

DOWNLOAD FREE AT AMAZON AUSTRALIA

DOWNLOAD FREE WORLDWIDE

If you enjoy "Moonbeams from The Soul" and have time to leave your comments under Reviews on the book's page at Amazon or elsewhere that would be terrific. Thanks so much!


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Wednesday, June 21, 2023

HISTORICAL MARKER FOR FORMER HOBBY HORSE HALL RACE TRACK

 


There’s always something new to see at the Baha Mar Resort, Cable Beach! When Erskine and I walked past the Convention Centre there on Sunday, we came upon this beautiful “painted pony” as I call it! If you look closely at it in person, you’ll spot the Bahamas Coat of Arms among other Bahamian features and also a tiny tribute to Queen Elizabeth II.

We were mystified about it, but couldn’t find anyone to explain what it was all about. So I did a search online and found this on Facebook: 


Hope you can access it, but the following is basically what they were saying:
With our 50th year of Bahamas Independence (Golden Jubilee) approaching, this historical marker for the former Hobby Horse Hall Race Track was a public art gift from “The Horse Capital of the World, Lexington, Kentucky.” They had the unveiling at Baha Mar last Friday.

The Hobby Horse Hall Race Track was built in 1792 near the Cable Beach site where the Baha Mar resort is located today.

From The Bahamas Historical Society about The Hobby Horse Hall Race Track:

15th February 1958 - The Hobby Horse Hall Race Track was destroyed by fire. The track which had been in existence since 1792 was located in what is now Cable Beach on New Providence.

Then the Track was rebuilt and restarted in 1960, according to this Tribune article

It closed for good in 1977.


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Sunday, May 21, 2023

SHOPPING IN BAHAMAS POST COVID


It’s so difficult these days (post Covid) to find many of the products we’ve been used to buying locally. I’d been searching everywhere for moisturizing face cream. Both Lowes Pharmacy branches that I tried were out of the one I usually buy. I could have gone down town to try and find something, but parking there is difficult and expensive.

As we passed the MAC cosmetic store in Baha Mar today, I said to Erskine, let me check there. And sure enough, they had a choice of two face creams. I bought one for $36.30. Not too bad for hotel prices. 

However, roll on our summer vacation to Florida. I have started my shopping list!

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Sunday, May 14, 2023

A MOTHER'S DAY TRIBUTE


My mother when I took her by car from Devon to Buckingham for her 80th birthday


My dear mum, the late Mrs. Josephine (“Jo”) Johanson, was born in Scotland, but lived for thirty-seven years in Devon. I would visit her every year in the summer and she visited us in the winter. She died in March, 2007 at the ripe old age of 88, after a short illness.

Every year, while she was alive, I would call her to wish her Happy Mother’s Day in March, as that was when they celebrate Mother’s Day in the U.K.! Of course, there were few Mother’s Day cards in our shops at that time, because we celebrate Mother’s Day here in May!

Trained as a Comptometer Operator (the comptometer was the forerunner of the modern day computer), she served in the Women’s Royal Air Force during World War II as a Radio Telephony Operator, giving pilots on active duty bearings for home. During the war she met and married my father, Australian Royal Air Force instrument repairman, the late William Johanson. She and Dad, a watchmaker jeweller, once owned a jewellery business in Buckingham.

Mum worked as Head Receptionist at the Royal Clarence Hotel, Exeter, for several years, and as her hotel career progressed, she became Manager of the White Sands Hotel, Bermuda. During her lifetime, she also lived in Australia and Canada.

Mum enjoyed painting watercolours and had written two delightful, but unfortunately not published, children’s picture books. I still hope one day to try and get them published in her memory.


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A VIEW TO DIE FOR!

 


Co-conspirators in my novel “Dangerous Devotion” had a similar view as this as they plotted during a lunchtime break to work against Violet and steal what they could:

“The restaurant overlooked private yachts and commercial boats in the marina. Two nearby bridges permitted traffic and pedestrians to go back and forwards between the mainland and Paradise Island, where the Atlantis resort loomed like a large pink castle.”

"DANGEROUS DEVOTION"


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