Turbulence - Bruce McLaren

A young man’s flight of fancy. A series of sensual encounters. An epic journey that will either lead to destruction, enlightenment, or both.

He loves exotic travel and alluring women, preferably together. Embarking on a lifelong journey across the world, a razor-sharp academic delights in highly sensual encounters with the opposite sex. As each experience deepens his philosophy, he experiments on a quest for something more, suffering several hard landings along the way.

But drink, ambition, and tragedy eventually send him down a bumpy path of self-destruction. If he doesn’t moderate his excesses, his original journey will only go in one direction… into a death spiral. Will a determined man learn from his travels or will his hedonistic vision send him crashing down to earth?

Turbulence is a rich and poignant literary novel. If you like sizzling indulgences, intriguing encounters, and anti-heroes with attitude, then you’ll love Bruce McLaren’s extravagant adventure.

What did I think?

I have to admit that I was drawn to this book because of the author sharing his name with a Formula 1 legend and Turbulence does actually have something in common with today’s McLaren – neither of them are very racy!  Despite being described as an erotic novel, Amsterdam Press took a chance on this book and wow, am I glad that they did.  I can totally see the publisher’s quandary; Turbulence does not fit into any one genre and it is difficult to market a book that doesn’t fit into a particular category.  I’m sure this isn’t an isolated incident and I’m so sad that readers could be missing out on some great books so…how about we create a new genre called ‘Unique’.  See, Turbulence fits perfectly there!

Both the author and the ‘nameless’ main character are both archaeologists, which made me wonder whether this was more of a memoir.  As he travels round the world for work, he inevitably meets a beautiful woman on each flight and, more often than not, they end up meeting for sex at their mutual destination.  Bruce McLaren doesn’t go into details, sparing our blushes and leaving most of it to the reader’s imagination.  Although there are a lot of these encounters, by not dwelling on it, you know that this isn’t the main focus of the story.  We are free to discover some of the amazing cities through the eyes of this philosophical man, which I found both educational and fascinating.

I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I agreed to read Turbulence, but I certainly didn’t expect something so deep, meaningful and thought-provoking.  It was actually really refreshing to read something from a man’s point of view; they’re not as confident as we think, ladies!  It’s a short read at only 194 pages but I found myself pausing after each chapter to savour the sounds and smells of the city we had just virtually visited through the all-encompassing faultless prose of Bruce McLaren.

So pack your passport and pick up a copy of Turbulence; the book that takes you on a virtual tour of the world as you follow one man’s quest to charm the birds out of the sky.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

The Dear God Letters - Claire H Perkins

You are not alone. Not for one minute, not for one second do you ever need to feel alone.

This is a year's journal of letters, letters to God. Not the God that is supposed to be feared, nor the God that will strike you down if you do something 'wrong'. It's not a religious book. This is a book that will bring you comfort, serenity and peace in a crazy world.

Claire writes letters to God asking questions such as:

If love is all there is, why are there terrorists?

Why do I feel that I never have enough money?

Is there a heaven?

How to find proof of God

Is death the end?

Why is it so hard to be patient?

How do you fall in love with your life?

What do you do when you have eternity to live?

The answers are astoundingly simple yet they comfort enormously.....Fear leaves, uncertainty is banished and you are left with an understanding that there is no separateness, that you are eternal and much loved.

God is approachable and God is listening.

What did I think?

It is a unique experience to read what is inside someone's mind and I felt that Claire H Perkins has really bared her soul in The Dear God Letters.  It was a privilege and an honour to read her thoughts and it is a book that I would read and refer to again.

I loved how the book was written in months with each chapter starting with a little paragraph which perfectly captured the essence of the month itself.  The questions and thoughts within are deep and meaningful with some eye-opening answers from God aka Claire's inner being.  Whichever God you believe in, he/she lives inside all of us so we only have to look deep within ourselves for the answers that we crave.

I think I need to read the book again as it's quite short at 90 pages, and I did rocket through it, as I didn't feel that it spoke to me as much as Life Purpose.  It did, however, lead me to seek out my own inner voice.  Once I find it, I intend to listen to it and perhaps I will have the amazing experience that Claire clearly has.

It's not a religious book but whatever your belief or religion, The Dear God Letters will bring peace and understanding if you allow it into your soul.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon

Author Interview: Q&A with Anthony Alvarado

I was so lucky to receive a copy of Anthony Alvarado's D.I.Y Magic from Amy at Souvenir Press and I can't begin to express how grateful I am.  This is a book that can really change your life, and I wasn't even in the market for a self-help book.  You can read my review of this amazing book here but first I have a fascinating Q&A with Anthony Alvarado.

What’s the idea behind DIY Magic?

DIY Magic is a collection of activities that readers can try for themselves. It is a cookbook of experiments to be experienced. So, even though it is a salmagundi of philosophy, esoterica, modern psychology and ancient wisdom, it is unified by the idea that these are all things the reader can try out for themselves and then make up their own mind about. If creativity is a fire, DIY Magic is a box of matches. The fuel is up to the reader.

What’s your favourite mind hack?

Going for a walk. It is one of the best ways to stimulate the creativity in the world. People may be disappointed in this “mind hack” because it is so simple, so easy, so everyday. But that is what I love about it! (Charles Dickens, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Charles Dickens, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Einstein, Erik Satie, Beckett, Darwin, Tchaikovsky, Steve Jobs, Thoreau, Aristotle, and Goethe were all prodigious walkers.) It is free, requires no equipment, it is enjoyable, good for you, puts you in a pleasant mood, and it’s eco-friendly. There is something about walking that relaxes the mind into a receptive state that is open to inspiration and new ideas. I think because you are moving, and the scenery is changing around you, it is impossible to really brood, or for the mind to get stuck in old ruts. And yet it is a gentle contemplative activity that allows one to really have an inner discourse and develop your thoughts. Always bring a notebook with you when you go for a walk, so you can bag the big idea!

You name quite a few authors in DIY Magic, has their writing had a strong influence?

Yes! All the writers I name-check contributed their ingredients to the stew! Writing is an ongoing conversation that incorporates the ideas of the past and hopefully passes the baton on to the future in a new form. Especially these weirdo magical ideas— there is a golden thread of esoteric thought you can trace through the ages (I think Aldous Huxley referred to it as the Perennial Philosophy.)

I like to think of it as being a bit like the album cover for the Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Heart’s Club Band, in that you can squeeze in the ideas of Burroughs, Carl Jung, Steve Jobs, Shakespeare, Carlos Castaneda, Kerouac and Lao-Tzu all in one kaleidoscoping chapter.

What prompted you to write DIY Magic?

I think the initial impetus grew out of the experience I had while working as a counselor with mentally ill clients. I worked with people who had schizophrenia and for various reasons experienced a quite different reality from the one we usually all agree upon as being real. This work got me fascinated with the philosophical question ”what is reality?”

There are quite a few mind hacks, how long did it take to practice them all? And write them all down?

It was an ongoing project that developed over a couple of years. I didn’t just sit down and write DIY Magic in one go. It was the culmination of years of reading, musing, daydreaming, journaling, and lots of weird late-night conversations with friends over a beer about philosophy and ideas. Really the process was like this: I would get some strange idea and try it out and play around with it, and then if it worked, I simply described how it worked so that others could try it.

Ebooks or paper?

Paper! I haven’t actually read an ebook yet. I love the feeling of curling up with a good book—the physicality of it. And also collecting the books you have read feels good. A bookshelf is a sort of trophy case for nerds. Studies are finding that our brains retain information better when we read on paper rather than on screens. (When you read something on the internet, you are always one link away from some distraction; when you pick up a book you are in it for the long haul, you get the full course meal, rather than some overwhelming buffet of options.) Books are a more immersive technology. New doesn’t always mean better! Plus, a well-made book is nice in and of itself, it is a real thing, it has weight, and a smell, and sometimes a nice cover. I love being able to hold a physical object that has its own existence and is filled with ideas.  

Anthony Alvarado has been a forest fire fighter, a high school science teacher, a library delivery truck driver, a telephone psychic and a mental health counsellor.

About the Author

Anthony Alvarado lives in Portland, Oregon, and spends his time writing when he is not busy daydreaming.

http://anthonyalvarado.net/

Read my review here!

D.I.Y Magic - Anthony Alvarado

D.I.Y Magic offers a set of mind hacks that will help any creative artist to find new sources of inspiration encompassing self-help, psychology and philosophy. D.I.Y Magic will change the way you think about yourself, about creativity, and about the world. This is not a book merely to be read; it is a book to be lived! Hack into deeper levels of creativity, access the subconscious, and discover techniques that have been used by artists from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Beethoven and Richard Wagner, David Lynch and Leonardo da Vinci for centuries. From vision quests and lucid dreaming to creating a memory palace and Salvador Dali s spoon trick the deceptively simple exercises collected by Anthony Alvarado are designed to help those born into the modern age of reason to escape the rational web of what we already know and to see. Explore creativity through the lens of actual magic and follow in the steps of the Romantics, the Dadaists, the surrealists, the beatniks, anyone chasing the muse, in learning how to pull the strings of everyday reality and unlock the magic of the creative mind. Illustrated by a host of visionary artists, including alternative comic artists such as Farel Dalrymple and Ron Rege Jr, D.I.Y Magic is a radically original arsenal of ways to think, perceive and experience the world.

What did I think?

Firstly, it took me a little while to open this book as I couldn't take my eyes off the cover.  The way the door is illustrated gives it an almost 3D effect and there's something so very soothing and heavenly about the blue sky on the other side.

I love quirky books and this was no exception and I found myself trying out the mind hacks as I went along.  They really work!  I was always the person walking along the road with her head down hoping to go unnoticed.  Little did I know that I was going about my quest for invisibility completely the wrong way.  Along came Anthony Alvarado and his mind hack number 8: the Cloak of Invisibility, so off I went to Newcastle with my head held high and looking disinterestedly at approaching strangers.  It actually worked - I looked at them first so they didn't look at me - it was amazing!

There are some really interesting ideas in the book that actually made me think about life (and death) and simpler times - I definitely want to walk more than drive and I will try the switching off from the internet for 1 day per week, although it does sound a bit daunting I am from the pre-internet era so how hard can it be?

With inspirational quotes at the start of each chapter and mind-boggling illustrations throughout, it's full of food for thought and life-enhancing tricks.  I know I will refer to this book time and time again and my life will only improve because of it.

I am indebted to Amy from Souvenir Press for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.

My rating:

Buy it from Amazon - you won't regret it!