Happy days!

Bette Midler is to stop touring to ‘help save the planet’ Read More »

Ever been to a high school reunion? Mine was a couple of months ago.

I was double booked as there was a kickboxing trial scheduled for the same time. I also had a bad cold and could barely get any air into my lungs without my nose fizzing and my throat feeling as if I was swallowing linseed oil.

Going to the trial would involve waking up really early in what was still winter and driving to the far East Rand of Gauteng in the dark. The East Rand is notorious as a place full of people who like to fight. At other times it’s referred to as the world’s biggest rusty Ford garage without a roof. The hall where the event was held is notoriously draughty and the toilets, wall-to-wall filth, always look like they belong in the ninth circle of hell. Read More »

Here are some answers to questions I get asked regularly:

1. Is Frank de Sales your real name?
It’s a pen name of course - a corruption ‘St Francis de Sales’, the patron of writers.

2. Why did you choose that?
Besides that I thought it sounded cool? St Francis is also my patron and someone whose works I admire very much. The Catholic nature of Devil’s Island makes it very clear what some of the things very important to me are and it fitted nicely from a number of perspectives. Besides, my real name is made up of three first names and doesn’t come across very well. Working for a bank for my day job, I also wanted to keep a bit of a distance while I got used to being published. My wife Linda furthermore does a lot of work on the books and they’re as much her output as they are mine. Using ‘Frank de Sales’ is a way of acknowledging her valuable input. Read More »

My good mate from school (we were a bit like Beavis & Butthead – only thicker), David, is now in the web design business.

When he isn’t creating the modern equivalent of wallpaper, David is on the lam for a killer online business. It got me thinking… We have this thing in South Africa where a traditional African custom (as we’re whities, it didn’t apply to us) demands that the family of a bride be paid in cattle - the longstanding measure of wealth. I thought a really useful service would be if someone could log-on and see a selection of cows. He’d click on the ones he liked the look of and the selection would be delivered to the prospective father-in-law either in cash, physical cows or cows conveniently rearranged as steaks and chops. Links for the hire of tents, chairs, booze, etc, would make handy add-ons. The novelty value would get the creator into the papers at least, even if a single cow was never ordered. Read More »

Full marks to the good people of the Scottish National Party (SNP) for suspending Glasgow councillor Jahangir Hanif  for firing an AK-47 rifle while in Pakistan.Â

Is this illegal in Pakistan?  Apparently not.  Then why suspend the man?  I have my own theories, most of them revolving around the belief that the SNP are a bunch of irrelevant, economic illiterates who are chasing a dream just as constructive as that of the separatists of South Ossetia.  A bunch of  clowns overcome by a whinging sense of political correctness (as Councillor Hanif found out) and whose claim to represent the interests of a proud nation makes as much sense as punishing someone for firing a rifle.  As the influence of the SNP seems to ebb and flow with the fortunes of the Labour Party, I really hope that Gordon Brown has a plan up his sleeve and that the SNP retreats back to holding the measly handful of real seats it used to before the quasi-high school debat Read More »

Here we are at the rear-end of August and Devil’s Island is about to be printed and distributed in the US. I would never have believed that it could be this exhausting to get a book out. Little things, like being asked questions by readers, make the exercise incredibly fulfilling and rewarding. I’m not sure that the novelty of knowing that someone read something I wrote will ever wear off. It’s especially pleasing when the reader obviously put a lot of intelligent thought into what they’re going to say. On the other hand, it does happen that the report backs show how a reader has completely missed the mark… Read More »

Brian Moore knew what was potting. Read More »

Apart from a fake blog site I once set-up to rip into a fake literary agent (now sadly removed – the site, not the agent), this is my first attempt at blogging. Read More »

I see from the weekend news that Ireland has a shortage of priests Read More »