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Welcome to The Surkling; and the wider world of the Land of Muggy! This is a real-Fantasy story. No elves or monsters I am afraid! But the inhabitants- the Wilderfolk, are somewhat different. The stories are set in another galaxy; or you may even think ours- you may be judge in the end! There are four chapters printed here in their entirety- as a prelude to the linked-cd I am working on. These pages will give you a glimpse as you skip from one subject to another.You will find here also the matters before the prologue; and the short appendices. There are some maps and illustrations but no Lexicon. And of course I would like to here from you. |
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NOTE to READERS You may go as far into the story as you wish. There are text links that take you from a short synopsis into a fuller synopsis, complete passages, excerpts and, whole illustrations. Three chapters are available on page 2. You can jump through the chapters by my selected excerpts or just enjoy the read. The entire contents page is provided so that you can see the layout of the novel. |
Take me to the really short synopsis
take me to the really short synopsis. All of the very short Synopsis Illustration Book One
Book Two Book Three Book Four Chapter One, Twenty Seven, and
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There is provision for comment and questions by e-mailing me. None of this material may be reproduced elsewhere without the authors consent. If you want to visit The land of Muggy Journal- the background of this story, click on the map icon. Click on the rocket icon for the Dreamtime Fiction site. If you want to know about me right now, go to G.P.Weston. |
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The very short synopsis. Not just a Voyage! The Gods gave their world to a Race of Man! And the land awoke in the hands of the Wilderfolk! And Ordwi made the great stone up on Mount Peasa. This was the great alliance of Gods and all Wilderfolk! Yet, a race of Man was not yet strong enough against the shadow of evil! The Ordwi Stone was smashed by the evil doer Dargo! And so the Dark signs were carried away to do evil. Then, Dargo fashioned the First terrible shield of the Surkling from the first part! But the Wilderfolk were rescued by the Immortal Quilatroy! And they stood mighty under their Southern War Crown. And that Age was saved from domination! But in the Age of this tale, the Southern War Crown had been lost, and there was forged yet another Surkling! This time it was given down to Azzarlon- the Dark King! And his armies gathered to bring the shadow of war upon the land! When Terra Kottager found the Surkling, his adventure had already begun! The Dark King had struck! But by a series of mischance, catastrophe, and Great Good Luck, Terra Kottager discovered he was the Immortal Heir of Quilatroy! The peace of his beloved cottage of Felendeer was broken forever! In the shadow of the Dark King, Terra and his companions fell to a desperate exploit that took them across the legendary, mythical and jeweled Lands of Muggy. They were in pursuit of victory; with a chance to turn the tide of the final battle! The tale takes us to another world! And on into the turmoil of war via a whole host of worthy and dubious characters! Cheats and fools; wise men and craftsmen! Servants, soldiers and Kings! Through the sweeping vistas to the mountain tops, across the wide blue seas; to villages, cities, citadels, and empires! Down holes and into Pyramid Forges. And the final battle. There could never be another world like it! Mystery: Legend: Adventure. |
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INTRODUCTION TO THIS WRITERS EDITION FORWARD PROLOGUE 1: THE LETTER FROM ARGO BELLO 19: BINNEY'S LETTER 22: MAP 23: BOOK ONE-THE VOYAGE: ONE- STRANGE THINGS 27: TWO- SAFE ENOUGH 42: THREE- DISASTER ON THE TELEMBRAR 57: FOUR- THE KEEPER OF FELENDEER 78: FIVE- THE VOYAGE TO THE FAR OFF CITY 90: SIX- THE STELE 106: SEVEN- GAZER OF THE STARS 117: EIGHT- THE MIDDLE OF THIS WORLD 137: NINE- GLYPTICS 158: TEN- THE BATTLE OF AVATUS 182: ELEVEN- WELCOME BACK MASTER 193: BOOK TWO -THE DARK KING TWELVE- THE HOMELAND 217: THIRTEEN- A GREAT AND STRIKING EVENT 230: FOURTEEN- SHALDARN'S WAR 244: FIFTEEN- MYSTERIES RESOLVED 275: SIXTEEN- THE 'FELENDEERY' 295: SEVENTEEN- THE FIRST BATTLE OF MACHINES 308: EIGHTEEN- THE GREAT COUNCIL 329: NINETEEN- THE RINGING OF THE CHIME 341: TWENTY- TWO KINGS 365: TWENTY- ONE ASLEEP! 384: BOOK THREE- THE FAR SOUTHING TWENTY- TWO THE WONDERVADE 397: TWENTY- THREE BALARID OF 'O' 414: TWENTY FOUR- THE BURNING SEA 437: TWENTY FIVE- THE ARMINNAR 448: TWENTY SIX- LOD EZZURBARA 469: TWENTY SEVEN- THE VALLEY OF THE RED ARKH 487: TWENTY EIGHT- MAKING THE JEWEL 502: TWENTY NINE- AWAY FROM HERE 522: BOOK FOUR-THE THRONE AND THE STARS THIRTY- HALF-WORTHY GABBIRS 531: THIRTY ONE- THE TOMB KEEPERS HOUSE 547: THIRTY TWO- FOURTH BRIDGE 567: THIRTY THREE- THE ARMY OF THE JEWEL 584: THIRTY FOUR- THE RING DANCERS DANCE 599: THIRTY FIVE- A WILD RIDE 613: THIRTY SIX- THE FIELDS OF TALIVANAR 632: THIRTY SEVEN- AT THE INN OF ARGNEH 638: THIRTY EIGHT- THE CITY, THE THRONE AND WAR 644: THIRTY NINE- THE SCEPTRE 647: FORTY- HOBBLING YEARS 654: APPENDICES
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Synopsis
of each book within The Surkling. The Surkling is broken into four Books. Before Book One, there is a note on the text, a short forward, and the prologue that includes the Letters of Argo Bello and Binney Lensman. Here the story has its wider beginning. These are the last days of the Last Age and Argo Bello is the Fifth Immortal. He tells us of the magnificent Bir, the Glyptics, the War Crowns of Muggy, the strange Sceptre and the Ink of the Golden Glow. There is a drawing of the Surkling; and following is a map of the City of Bez. And there are appendices for those who would wish to learn more- but no Lexicon. Book One Book Two Book Three Book Four By the year 1354, it was known that a Surkling had been forged by the wilderlings. This was an Age when the Southern War Crown had been lost for two hundred years or more! And King Priim- the most powerful King in the Southing had made his bargain with the Dark King. These events are the shadows behind the story as it opens at the Cottage of Felendeer with Terra, Shaldarn and Salger. Their master is Jras Hornblende and his wife is the gentle Illgrrd. While he is away doing battle on the Frontier Lands, Illgrrd is taken by the feared Ring Dancers. On his return, his devastation leads him to make a Voyage with Terra and his companions to the Far Off City. On their Voyage across the Great Abroad they capture the Seventh Princess. Among her possessions is a strange and beautiful war-shield. Terra keeps it! This is the fearful and beautiful War Shield that is called the Surkling! Now they arrive at a place called Avatus. And here the Master leaves Terra, Shaldarn and his sideman- Pilk Anard behind while going on a Wind Ship to the Far Off City. The story stays at Avatus. Here Terra and Shaldarn climb the mountain of Peasa and there make amazing discoveries. Among them, the five Glyptics on the steps of the ruined Temple, a library of scrolls and the Ink of the Golden Glow. But life at Avatus turns to Battle. The wilderlings under Agrabar raid here and Terra is pressed to fight with the strange shield. It brings him victory and makes him a hero. The last chapter in Book One is the Return of the Master to Avatus with seven Quilatroy Striders, a fabulous Bir, jewels, a suit of silver armour and the Canapian- Indomus. Now they depart for home. Book One Book Two Book Three Book Four Book
Two-
The Dark King. The opening chapter is Back to the Homeland. On their return the Master Jras is risen into the ranks of the Kmare- Knights. Terra hides the Shield of Avatus in the stables of Felendeer, for he fears the power of it; and yet he does not want to let it go! Terra makes many ‘maps’ of his voyage in the Ink of the Golden Glow- a mere oddity! Then, Salger- the StarGazer, calculates his days of the year and convinces the Master that this be the truth of it! Jras takes Wend- the Seventh Princess for his bride and so is made a secret of Felendeer! In the chapter- A Great and Striking Event Wend tells Jras where the Southern War Crown is hidden. Jras goes to win it and destroy it- to remove the reason for war. This quest is in the Chapter- Shaldarn’s War. And Shaldarn unwittingly takes the shield to that war- promising Terra he will not loose it! This quest is in the Chapter- Shaldarn’s War. And Shaldarn unwittingly takes the shield to that war- promising Terra he will not loose it! The shield brings great power to Shaldarn as it did Terra at Avatus. Except Shaldarn likes the feeling! And Terra rejected this! Shaldarn is brave beyond all his dreams and climbs up into the Fortress of Gent to where the Southern War Crown is kept! But in his struggle for it, he gave up the shield to save himself! In the chapter Mysteries Resolved- after Shaldarn returns, Salger finds out from Terra about the ruined Temple and the Glyptics! He takes Terra to the Temple of the White Shield and here discovers he is the Immortal. He discovers his shield was the Surkling! So now, the gloom of what has happened strikes Terra and his companions. Terra- Heir to Quilatroy is the only one who can save them! In the chapter- The Felendeery the King of the Bezites- Xander comes to Felendeer to fetch the Southern War Crown so that his hammer man can destroy it! Instead empowers Shaldarn to place it upon his head! Thus, he is made the True King! And King Xander plans War into the Dark Westing to seek the Dark King and bring war to him! However, in the Chapter- The First Battle of the Machines- this is all too late! The Dark King appears- with his armies in the Valley of Jewels and in the battle King Xander is killed. The Southern War Crown is lost! But Shaldarn finds the War Crown. And fantastically he tricks the Dark King into thinking he is the new King? Thus, he borrowed his life back again! So Shaldarn took the Great War Crown to his master- Jras not Bazus the heir, as he should have! So was the Council of Felendeer made. With Jras its king and a will to oppose Bazus who had by now welcomed in the Dark King! Was his throne safe? So Terra and his companions journeyed to the White Shield Temple amid the uncertainty of all this! The next Chapter- the Ringing of the Chime, tells of the answer to the riddle of the Glyptics. It is the riddle of how to win back the Surkling! And where we learn that Terra must embark on his own quest if he is to have any chance of saving this world! Terra rings the Chime of Marar; and good and evil are brought to battle! And from now on Terra is in great peril! The final battle of Bez takes place in the Chapter called The Two Kings. The last Chapter of Book Two is called- Asleep. Terra and his companions journey through the city to the Tiath Gate Arch and then into the countryside where they find Shaldarn and Indomus and the Southern War Crown! And in a most peculiar way! Shaldarn has a letter from Jras to explain why Terra and his companions must take the Southern War Crown away; and then return it when the army of exiles reaches Paradia. Book One Book Two Book Three Book Four Book Three- The Far Southing. This begins with the Chapter called- The Wondervade. There is a Voyage across the Wondervade, the making of the Glyptic tablet and the reaching of Ekepa. Here they meet Balarid of O. The strange wager of Shaldarn happens here and Balarid agrees to take them to the Far Southing in search of the Red Arkh. Their escape from Ekepa is detailed in the chapter- The Burning Sea. Now they voyaged across the seas by way of the star Matar Taris to the city of the Midor. Their voyage into the Beyond of the Seas is told in the chapter- The Arminnar. The next chapter- Lod Ezzurbara tells of the journey to find the Forge Masters who will make the Luan Jewel. The Chapter called the Valley of the Red Arkh tells of the strange things that make the Essence of the Luan Jewel. The chapter- The Making of the Jewel, tells of the strange things in the night sky that make the Jewel itself. Here the Glyptics; and all their secrets are brought to make the Jewel! And we learn the importance of the years 576. So the Jewel of Luan is made. And the hope is to win the Surkling! Now at last Terra can tempt the Dark King! But Lod Ezzurbara thieves the Luan Jewel! And Indomus and Lod Ezzurbara are both killed! In getting it, back! And keep it hidden they must! Keep it wrapped they must! Keep it secret they must! The Chapter- Away from Here, tells of their escape from Matar Taris and the War-Fleet of Agrabar and Gosel- sister of Wend! They make their way to Ard’ir on the Approaches of Paradia. And here they meet again with Nepus Yard- who has been sent to bring news of their quest back to the Master! Book One Book Two Book Three Book Four Book Four- The Throne and the Stars. The opening chapter of Book Four is The Tomb Keepers House. This is notable for the letter. Terra, Shaldarn and Salger go on to Fourth Bridge- where Nepus Yard said the battle would be. Here farewell is made to Ellavine, Tanta, Nepus and Balarid. While Terra and his companions carry on to confront the Dark King with the Luan Jewel! The following chapter is Fourth Bridge and tells of this failure! A dangerous episode! In- The Army of the Jewel Shaldarn rescues Indiica! He sees no other way but to give the Luan Jewel to her! Since Terra has forsaken it! Thus is made the Army of the Jewel. Following is the chapter- The Ring Dancers Dance where the Dark King defeats the Paradians- now without their King Priim. Terra and his companions find their way into a wood, where they discover the Ring Dancers Dance. And here they see the Dark King at his most fiendish! Here they see his Trillon Warriors and so discover where all the missing Wilderfolk had gone! And here is the Surkling! Shaldarn risks all to get it and they escape with it! But something else happened here- Shaldarn was allowed to take the Surkling by none other than Illgrrd! Now looms the final Battle! And they make their way into the camp of the Bezites but hide the Surkling with Shaldarn for fear of what it might do to others! Then on the morning of the great battle- unstoppable by now, Terra discovers they were tricked! The Chapter- A Wild Ride is where Terra could do something clever- and alone! So he leaves to do what he must! The Dark King thunders into the battle of battles taking all before him! Soon- as they day grows older, the Dark King looks a very likely victor! All seems to be ebbing away! The Dark King wins the Luan Jewel and now he has everything! But Terra confronts the Dark King in all his glory. Now by simple trickery do men fall! The Chapter- On the Fields of the Talivanar tells of this aftermath and reveals success or failure by Terra! The chapter, The Inn of Argneh- is of the events after and those to come! Then in the chapter- The City, The Throne and War Jras becomes the first True King of Paradia! In the ancient history- there was after Quilatroy, the tale of First Surkling. It is not enough to just win the Surkling, for it must be changed before the Wilderfolk fall to its power! Its very existence threatens this world and as long as it exists in this form, evil hands could gain it back! But it can not be un-made! So in the chapter- The Sceptre, the great forges of the Forge-Master and his Forge-workers do their work on it. And into what do they make it- you may ask? There are strange and remarkable things in this chapter. The final chapter is Hobbling Years. This is the farewell of the tale. Here is told the leaving of Tanta. Of the days after. Of the Andwalliun stone and the fate of Illgrrd. And the secret that Terra and his companions keep among themselves! The End |
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The Letter from Argo Bello 2521. The Garden of Telling. It was not easy to be an Immortal. I did not know I was one to begin with, and I only came to realise it by the strange turns of events. I thought it would mean that I would live forever but the real meaning was that I should be very careful with my life, for I was marked and sought after by evil doers from that moment on. Whenever there is an immortal there is a grave threat to civilisation; I could be killed at any time by my own foolishness or the stealth of others. This seemed to be at odds with the whole idea of immortality, for being 'Immortal' in the Land of Muggy was given for the purpose of something great. This was the saving of the World. It required great risk from me, but not carelessness; yet certain well-planned bravery. So alone Immortality was useless. I had to find others, who would be faithful to my cause, what ever that was. There was, I was sure, a struggle to be waged; my task was to be immense. It is a long time being an Immortal but others have lived longer than I have. There were five Immortals spanning the Ages of Muggy; I am Argo Bello the Fifth Immortal. Others knew me better by the name bestowed upon me by the Kings of the great city of Lolenia- Argo the Loremaster. I do not know if there was a sixth. Binney Lenseman might have been the sixth if ever he lived long enough. I suppose his story might never be told. For myself I discovered by adventure and voyaging an ivory Bir which is a chest or trunk- it was of moderate proportions being about two Gypt long by one wide and a little over one Gypt high. A Gypt is about from the elbow to the tip of the hand. In the Plato year 2402, I was a young adventurer and I had just returned to my Cottage in the City of Lolenia. The adventure of that voyage is another story. The Bir was ancient beyond my reckoning. The sides of the Bir were magnificently decorated in deep carving of strenuous and meticulous design. It was of the whitest of white ivory and had the look of a glow about it. Among the twisting wilderfrey figurines, winding trees, leaves, clouds and stars was a single great and powerful black figure, tortured and heaving that looked out from the lid. It was all part of the great story that unfolded on all the sides and lid of the Bir. The story is too long to be told here. It was the legend called the Story of the White Moth. I could not manage to open it for many years and had to find the secret to its lock pins. Even when I did, it was easier to lock and always stubborn to open. I did not understand what the things were inside at first. There was a sceptre with strange glyptics around it. A Corrella stone gillet with a blue feather and an inkpot inside; an Epatelt jewel, a large red leather book; and a larger dark green book, full of old calendars and important dates, a Thirsle, a thin slab of Minoe, a magnificent red ivory pipe and a pair of hard worn shoes. I kept the chest on the floor of my study and it looked a wonderfully secret thing itself. It was, 'Something secret, something fabulous and something terrible.' My cottage had clear Minoe windows. They were small, except for the third window facing the West. I had retrieved that from the Bir and mounted it in the window frame there. I do not know why this Minoe was different from the rest. The Minoe itself was black from the outside, but when viewed from the inside it showed a silver lake in every detail with a blue sky above. I found out later, almost at the very end, that this was the 'Seeing stone' and that what I was seeing was Long Lake Anron. I had no idea how the Minoe for that window came to be in the Bir. My study was a glamorous room for those who visited. It had one wall of pigeonholes that contained ancient scrolls. On the other walls were maps that I had acquired on my first voyages. Others I had made myself. Above the fireplace was my 'Grand Map of the Muggy' that I had made. A copy hung in the famous Great Apania Halls in the city and it was quite famous. The study was lit well with large white candles in each corner. There was an oaken table in the shape of a Stelensor Shield. It was inlaid with the ancient wilderling design of the Sharnic- O. A most significant sign in all this I learned. I did a lot of thinking and writing at that table. I called my table, the Voyaging Table. On it, I consulted my maps and papers. There I dreamed of voyages to unknown places. The candle was everlasting. It came to be rumoured that I invented it. However, I did not, for I gleaned the secret of it from the words of the story that I called The Surkling. It poured out a fierce yellow light that drenched the room, and no wind could blow it out. Strangely- at times the flame would disappear but the candle itself glowed from within. But not even by my breath or my thick fingers could the flame be put out. The ivory Bir was against the far south wall. It had Unze buckles and red leather straps, and two large bright golden Unze locks of which I had the two long black Nusar lock pins. Their lustre was renown; but at first, I could not find the secret turns and twists- until I made pain-staking records of my failures. The way to unlocking them was a secret and a skill, for they turned different ways each time. Sometimes I was unable to get into the trunk for days on end! The trunk was very much easier to lock up than un-lock. I am a proud Silderilk and a wilderfallo. I do not tell anyone my exact age. That is why I have no birthdays. In the year 2402, I was exuberant of stride and full of energy, happy and full of tale telling. I was not yet slow as a 'Hobbling', as wilderfallo are known to be in older age. My Gton smoking pipe was a magnificent piece of carving- long and curved, and made from the deep red ivory of the Northing Lands. In that pipe, I smoked Gton, never the local Far Southing Sweet though; that was not for me, for my likes were somewhat noble. I mostly smoked the aristocratic Dan Ancient, and I even had a secret supply of Muv Fine Grain. There was another thing about that pipe; it too I found in the chest; it had no doubt belonged to one of the other 'Immortals'. There in the study of my cottage I sat at the Voyaging table. I would draw the fabulous pipe and sip Sipiti wine from bright white wineglasses. They were made from Gton, which, when held up to the sunlight, could be seen the delicate shapes of long interned butterflies. I spent much time at the Voyaging table amounting to years. I was resident at the Garden of Telling until 2439. Then I left on this great voyage. I reached lands only that I had ever read about, or been told about. I came to realise that I was the 'Fifth Immortal'. Now I knew the story of 'Immortals' and thus knew a great struggle was in the making. Yet I knew not of any struggle yet so important, but I realised this fate was not far distant. In the Plato Year 2510, the time of danger arrived. The other Immortals and I caused and brought to an end the Last War of the World. Of course history tells it differently, and calls it The Last War of All. Binney fought in that war- but far away, and it was owing to his bravery and skill and 'great good luck' that he survived. When we met again, I told him all about the war through my eyes and all about the other Immortals, and the part the Four War Crowns of Muggy played in that war. There I took up the blue feather from the Gillet, dipped its tip into the pot of ink, and wrote furiously from the red book onto this scroll. I did not stop for twenty-one years, except for tea, wine, pipe smoking and sleep. My cottage, you may have learned, was strangely named The Garden of Telling. I wrote very many books from those more ancient that are too numerous to mention here. There was also another book important to mention- The Ink of the Golden Glow. Binney wrote this. It was held to be a very great work; but because it was written in just ordinary ink, much of it faded away. We come now to the year of this letter- the Plato year 2521. The Surkling story is now finished, gleaming upon the scroll. This is the very last tale of all my tales. In it are the secrets of the sceptre and many answers to many mysteries. Now my hands in this year have grown stiff and my eyes are not good enough to write anymore. At last, I must rest for good! I am content that the Eight Evils are revealed through all my tales- in all their forms, in one way or another. There is no telling how much of the Ink there is left in that inkpot, for it remains dark as ever in there. The Ink seems not to have run dry in all these years of writing. Perhaps there are more tales to be written yet? Therefore, I have replaced the Ink of the Golden Glow where I found it- in the dark corner at the bottom of the trunk, within the little stone gillet along with the blue feather. There it will await another beholder. In addition, I have placed the strange sceptre beside it and ordered everything else likewise. Moreover, something of me I have placed there also. My sword and its scabbard that I carried upon my back to voyages and war. And to you who think my life was a great burden, "Work is joy and joy is work," I say! "Rest only when at the last there is nothing to do." It is now the eighty-eighth day of spring 2521. This day is called Corrella. The hills of the city are early green; the branches of the trees are beginning to flow with the new sap. My ears can still hear the birds call and the distant bells of the city ring. I am quiet and tired. In my last ink upon this scroll, I say farewell all. Argo Bello. |
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On a world beyond ours, in a different time and days long ago, there was a place called the Land of Muggy. On this world I want to tell you about, dwelt the race of Man called the Wilderfolk, and all the years of their history were about ten thousand. |
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Who are these wilderfolk? If you have read the story you might expect them to be Terra, Shaldarn and Salger! Well, I can tell you- that's Salger in the front, holding the everlasting candle? But for now, that is all I will tell you! And to add to this little mystery- who is the fourth wilderfolk?
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I was born in 1950 in Dunedin, New Zealand. I did not go to school very often when I was young, because I was not very healthy. I read the National Geographic instead. At High School, I made my first wine- a gooseberry wine, launched my first rocket, delved into science fiction and astronomy, and wrote my first story. It was a time warp story! While at High School, I also began the Land of Muggy Fantasy Map. I had a fascination with space exploration and later on- in my thirties, I wrote about space exploration for Newspaper magazine sections. These days I like to think I am a futurist writer in that regard. I believe we are all space travelers and I would have been an astronaut- if they had picked me. I started work as a grocery shop assistant, then an apparel salesman- where laughter is not allowed! Then a tea salesperson, and then a furniture sales clerk; and then a research technician; and finally an Eye photographer. And while I was doing all that, I established a winery in the cellar of my brother’s house. These were the good old days! In 1989, I established the present winery on
my home property at Forresbank Avenue to make wines for a living. And I now
make Chardonnay and Pinot Noir- among others from Otago. I teach wine
appreciation and winemaking for the University of Otago. At various times I
write wine articles; and of course work on my stories, and dream of the day
when planet earth people will walk on the red sands of Mars. I do not believe
there are boundaries to the imagination or what one can earn a living from. I
believe you can do anything- as long as society remains free. I review wine
books, judge wine competitions and play Super touch. One of my other
interests is stamps, and so I invented the Wine Post, which is the winery
mail. I design and print my own perforated stamps and covers. The book I
authored on the topic- The Wine Post Hand Book, received a literary award
from the Royal New Zealand Philatelic Society. My wife is Jill and we have
two children- Hans and Gemma, and an orange cat called Toby. |
