Two strangers in their mid-sixties come together to turn their dreams into reality. Their three-year adventure takes them through extreme sailing in some of the wildest and most remote waters on the planet, and they do it in comfort and style. Many of their experiences, both afloat and ashore, are so incredible that some might consider them fantasy. As the adventure unfolded, I published a blog that gained over 3,000 daily views. This is a rewrite of the 680-page, 315K-word, large-format book I published in 2013. It was illustrated with over 2,500 images, but with Wattpad's allowance of only twenty per chapter, I've included only 2,450 of them here.…
Camille disguises herself to gain a position as the captain's cabin boy aboard a ship bound for the Caribbean in 1676. She soon discovers her natural urges, and her feelings must be expressed as a young boy looking at a father figure, not as a smitten young lady of eighteen.The first portion of this novel was named Round One Winner in the 2020 Open Novella Contest, and it was selected for the Shortlist. It has now been expanded to a full-length novel, which is complete and was selected as a Wattpad Editor's Choice and as a 2022 Ambys winner. There is also a completed sequel, and a third volume is nearing completion.…
Early in World War One, a young Canadian soldier is wounded and trapped behind German lines. He uses quick thinking and ingenuity to evade capture, then deeper into enemy territory, he meets a young woman who recently lost her father and brothers to the war. She takes him home to meet her mother, hoping he can help them escape back to their family roots in Switzerland. As they flee over the mountains, love blossoms and stirs old traumas. He's torn between following his heart and honouring his sworn duty.…
A bastard by birth and orphaned at twelve, Charles has learnt to fend for himself in 1660s London. Homeless, he seeks shelter for the night in some canvas aboard a barge on the Thames. In the morning, he tumbles awake when the sail is hoisted, and the captain presses him to work as they move away from the wharf. Trapped, he sees no option but to follow orders.Captain Bryson likes his sharp mind and eagerness, and he offers him a job aboard with food and shelter. Charles wonders how he'll be able to repay this kindness, and he strives to do his best, lest he be set ashore, again homeless.Charles drives himself to learn and gain experience and to remain in the captain's favour as their adventure grows far beyond the barge, but his insecurity continues surfacing. What will it take to give him the confidence his natural abilities deserve?Written for ONC 2021, this story was selected for the Shortlist. I'm now expanding it into a full-length novel to serve as either the third volume of the Wattpad-featured Zeelandia story or as a prequel to it.…
On his doctor's recommendation, Alex signs up to an online dating site and creates a profile as Xander. His searches find nobody of interest, and he's about to dismiss it as a bad idea when Roxy posts a message to him.Rosario is an investigator for the dating site, and the tone and content of Xander's profile cause her to red-flag him as a financial predator. She creates a wealthy widow profile as Roxy to initiate contact and honey-trap him.Surprised by how well her interests fit with his, Alex responds. Their messages become longer and more complex, and after a few days, he invites her to dinner. Not long into their first date, he suspects he's being catfished, but hungry and intrigued by Roxy, he decides to play along with her and enjoy the evening.The story is presented in first-person PoV, alternating chapter by chapter.…
Reviewing restaurants is normally a safe pursuit, but Kate and Lorne face torture and death when they try to unravel organised crime's infiltration of the fine dining scene.Kate is a novelist and a dining columnist. Lorne is a lawyer, a prominent wine writer and an incognito restaurant reviewer who, since his teens, has believed he's asexual. Playmates when they were toddlers and friends ever since, they are now thrown together by increasingly dangerous circumstances as the Mob targets them. The intensity and closeness trigger Lorne's deeply buried sexuality and Kate's long-suppressed desires. Will they be able to set their passions aside and focus on evading and entrapping the Mob?…
Two reclusive people meet in a charity soup kitchen in a down-and-out area of London, and their mutual attraction tempts them to follow their hearts. Both know that breaking out of their social shells risks revisiting buried traumas, but it might relieve their loneliness.Valerie has been celibate since she was drugged and raped, and she now concentrates on three things - running her corporate empire, maintaining a low profile and guiding her inquisitive daughter through puberty. Lorne is still grieving a fiancée who died years before, but when he meets Valerie, his dormant desires waken. With little information beyond her first name, he takes a bold step and invites her to Valentine's Day dinner.Their relationship escalates with blinding speed and all the comforts of a billionaire lifestyle, but the bliss is interrupted by a smear campaign on social media. Valerie's rapist is out of prison and looking for revenge. She wants to crawl back into her shell, but Lorne's love and acceptance continue drawing her out.Though dark aspects are threaded through the story's background, the overbearing theme is a lighthearted and feel-good romance._____________________________________________________________________________________I portray the wealthy lifestyle and all its appurtenances through experience, having made my first million in the 1980s when that small amount could still buy something.…
The disappearance of a friend and millions of Francs worth of wine interrupts David's buying trip in France when he pauses to assist and comfort his friend's wife, Catherine. Their lives are threatened, the intensifying circumstances draw them closer together, and they uncover their buried traumas, insecurities and longings. This is a tale of mounting tensions, realisations and passions woven through a gripping crime thriller set on the Burgundy canals and in the French wine business of the 1980s. Although this is a work of fiction, most of the locations, adventures and characters are real or based on reality. The reminiscences, stories and timeline follow events from my own experiences, though sometimes they're slightly juggled to fit the crafting of this novel. Fortunately, the crimes and the criminals are fictional, and any resemblance to actual people or events is purely coincidental.…
When Marissa's poodle, Thor is snatched, the police can do nothing, so she goes to a private investigator. Their initial encounter leaves her shaken and wondering whether it's time to review her decision to avoid men.Graham gave up on women after a series of disastrous relationships, but something about Marissa stirs him. Dog? Oh, yes, there's a dognapping to solve. Written for ONC 2024 in response to the prompt: Sometimes words speak louder than actions.This story was named a Winner in both Round One and Round Two.…
This is the sixth volume of my award-winning Wattpad Featured Story, 'Posted As Missing', an intense adventure/romance set in the turmoil of World War One Europe. I've grown tired of blood-and-guts war stories, so I've written this series to examine deeper issues. David left the battlefields in the first chapter of the first volume of this story, and to this point, he has not returned to them. He has found far more effective ways to fight the German war machine.You might wish to read the earlier volumes in this series: 'Posted As Missing', 'Missing', 'Back in Action', 'Watching Fritz' and 'Colonel Berry.…
Having escaped the pirates and evaded them, Jarvis must now decide whether his damaged ship can safely cross the Atlantic to England. Is it too much for the limited rig and the small crew? Should he put into a port up the coast? Or will his haste to settle into a life ashore with Gillian distort his reasoning?…
Held captive in the aftermath of a devastating attack and facing being sold as slaves, two strangers comfort each other, and as affinity grows, they conspire to overpower their guards and regain freedom.Jarvis is the son of a mariner and Gillian is of noble birth, but ignoring class differences, their mutual respect becomes love. This is a story of intense emotions and brilliant ingenuity set aboard a trading ship bound from the Caribbean to London early in the reign of King George.…
Gigi, an aromantic bi, doesn't know what she wants most - a husband, a lover, or her own restaurant. She has just lost her prestigious chef position and kicked out her latest fling, who threatens revenge. With her meagre savings, all three possibilities seem remote at the moment.A holding company acquires a failing restaurant chain, strips its name, and assigns the 'hot potato' to Duncan, a business consultant, to determine whether to rescue or liquidate it. The pressure of success weighs on his shoulders when he decides to attempt a turnaround, knowing failure means loss of jobs. Gigi is among those he hires to replace staff who had abandoned the 'sinking ship'. Attracted initially by her resumé, he is captivated by her beauty and spirit. Mutual interests become increasingly personal the closer they work, and maintaining professional façades falters. Gigi sees him as another gorgeous hunk to seduce, and she flirts, but Duncan, convinced since his teens that he's asexual, is confused by his frequent and obvious arousal. His plan of tying the success of the restaurants to the bigger goal of winning Gigi's aromantic heart is endangered when her deranged, stalking ex posts explicit videos of her on the web, threatening to smear her reputation and ruin her career. Can the fledgling relationship survive this and save the restaurants?A certified organic storyline with no artificialities, clichés or stereotypes.…
In the early months of the First World War, a young Canadian soldier uses quick thinking and ingenuity to evade capture after being wounded fighting in Flanders. While escaping through Germany to the Swiss border, he becomes intimately entwined with a beautiful woman and her British-Swiss family. A hundred metres from the border, on the cusp of escape, he pauses. His mission turns to plans of sabotage and to ways of slowing the German war machine. This is the sequel tp 'Posted As Missing'.…
In the early months of the First World War, a young Canadian soldier uses quick thinking and ingenuity to evade capture after being wounded fighting in Flanders. While escaping through Germany to the Swiss border, he becomes intimately entwined with a beautiful woman and her British-Swiss family. After arriving in Switzerland, his mission turns to plans of sabotage and to other ways of slowing the German war machine. This is the third in the Posted As Missing series of novels which show deep passion and intense love twined through the turmoil of war.…
This is the third sequel to my award-winning Wattpad Featured Story, 'Posted As Missing', an intense adventure/romance set in the turmoil of World War One Europe. I've grown tired of blood-and-guts war stories, so I've written this series to examine deeper issues. David left the battlefields in the first chapter of the first volume of this story, and to this point, he has not returned to them. He has found far more effective ways to fight the German war machine.…
This is the fifth volume of my award-winning Wattpad Featured Story, 'Posted As Missing', an intense adventure/romance set in the turmoil of World War One Europe. I've grown tired of blood-and-guts war stories, so I've written this series to examine deeper issues. David left the battlefields in the first chapter of the first volume of this story, and to this point, he has not returned to them. He has found far more effective ways to fight the German war machine.You might wish to read the earlier volumes in this series: 'Posted As Missing', 'Missing', 'Back in Action' and 'Watching Fritz'.…
Aldrick is obsessed with finding his grandfather's treasure. More than half a century and seventeen voyages have failed to locate his ships after they wrecked in Windward Passage, deeply-laden with pirate plunder and homeward-bound from the Caribbean in 1679. Elizabeth, the firstborn of Baron Leigh, was raised in Warwickshire, about as far from the sea as is possible in Britain. Recently betrothed to Aldrick, she doesn't want him to sail out of her life.First Place Winner in Round One and Shortlisted in the Open Novella Contest 2019 and now expanded into a full-length novel.…
With nothing left for her in England, Camille had disguised herself to become the captain's cabin boy in a ship bound for the Caribbean in 1676. This is the sequel to the award-winning first volume of her story.…
This Wattpad Anthology Winner is a collection of fifty-two of the short stories I've written for the Weekend Write-In challenges.Each story is exactly five hundred words long, except for two which specified one thousand words. From the beginning, I have taken the challenge further by using interpretations of the prompt that differ, sometimes dramatically, from those that usually come to mind.…
