Blog
Well, here it is! The complete blog of R.A. Gregory, Author. A collection of random musings and the occasional rant about life, the universe and everything, as Douglas Adams so succinctly put it. Happy reading!
How to get a police certificate in Thailand – Updated May 2024
Everything you need to know about getting a police certificate in Thailand ... by someone who did it the hard way! MAY 2024 Update: A lot has changed since I originally wrote this article and apparently, the system is now much improved compared to 2019. Many thanks to...
Seven Books in Seven Weeks – Part Seven
Seven Books in Seven Weeks - Drynwideon, The Sword of Destiny - Yeah, Right Part seven of a seven part series Introduction to Drynwideon, The Sword of Destiny – Yeah, Right Well, here it is, the long awaited final to Seven Books in Seven Weeks. Okay, so it...
Ever Increasing Collins – A Cartoon
Ever Increasing Collins ... A Surreal Trip Down Memory Lane... Adolescence. It’s a funny old thing. Hormones sloshing wildly around a body which doesn’t seem to know what to do with them. Hair sprouting from funny places and a voice box that goes from...
Seven Books in Seven Weeks – Part Six
Seven Books in Seven Weeks - Part Six - Professor Branestawm ... Part six of a seven part series... Welcome! Well, you’ve made it this far, so welcome to the penultimate instalment of Seven Books in Seven Weeks. Having covered science fiction, epic fantasy...
Asian Dust – A Pervasive Problem
Further musings on Thailand's bad air quality An Ominous Introduction As you probably already know, Chiang Mai, in Northern Thailand, has the unenviable distinction of having the most polluted air in the world at certain times of the year, most notably...
Seven Books in Seven Weeks – Part Five
Seven Books in Seven Weeks - Part Five ... The Pyrates by George MacDonald Fraser... Introduction Welcome back to Seven Books in Seven Weeks. Last time, I left you with a taste of epic fantasy, in the form of The Lightstone by David Zindell,...
Amazing Thailand No 6 – Asian Insects
Amazing Thailand No 6 - Asian Insects ... An occasional series... Welcome back to Amazing Thailand, the land of smiles, although you might be hard pressed to manage a grin if any of these little critters turned up on your plate! Yes, that's right. This...
Seven Books in Seven Weeks – Part Four
Seven Books in Seven Weeks - The Lightstone ... Part four of a seven part series... Welcome back to Seven Books in Seven Weeks. After beginning our journey in the realm of classic children’s fiction and then retreating to the far reaches of the galaxy,...
An Interview with Jon Hillman
An Interview with Jon Hillman Hi there! Another month, another interview with an up and coming legend of the world-wide writing community. This time, I have the pleasure of introducing British author, Jon Hillman. If dark fantasy is your thing, then Jon...
Seven Books in Seven Weeks – Part Three
Seven Books in Seven Weeks - The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy ... Part three of a seven part series... Welcome once again, to Seven Books in Seven Weeks. This time, we’re all about Hoopy Froods, Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters, Vogon poetry and a man...
Angkor What? Discovery leaves experts baffled
New discovery leaves archaeologists baffled ... You heard it here first... CAMBODIA: Archaeologists exploring a recently unearthed section of the massive temple complex, known as Angkor Wat, have been left scratching their heads, by the discovery of what...
Seven Books in Seven Weeks – Part Two
Seven Books in Seven Weeks - The Book Of Three ... Part two of a seven part series... Welcome back to Seven Books in Seven Weeks, a series of blogs, where I talk about stories that have made an impact on me over the years. This week, I’m covering another...
An Interview with James Stevens
An Interview with James Stevens Welcome! This month, I have a very special treat in store for you. We’re back in the land of the American dream, which, funnily enough, is America, for an interview with the multi-talented, James Stevens. In addition to...
Seven Books in Seven Weeks
Seven Books in Seven Weeks - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe ... Part one of a seven part series... Last year, I did a silly thing on Twitter. No, it wasn’t sharing an inappropriate picture of my anatomy with my followers or trying to...
The mid-year writing review
The Mid-Year Writing Review ... A lot has happened in six months... Wow! It’s hard to believe that we’re fast approaching the middle of the year already. So much has happened in the last six months, that it feels like it was only yesterday that I was...
An Interview with Chris Whyatt
An Interview with Chris Whyatt Welcome back to my, hopefully, regular author interview series, in which, I rather unsurprisingly interview up and coming authors that I’ve met on my various travels around the Internet. This month, we have Chris Whyatt, from...
Another bubble for Bitcoin?
Another bubble for Bitcoin? Over the last forty-eight hours, Bitcoin has hit the headlines once again, this time due to a huge increase in its price. At the time of writing, according to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at just under US$7900.00,...
CP name change shocker!
CP name change shocker! ... Thai food giant, CP, changes name in surprise announcement... In an emotional press conference, held outside its first ever Sleven-Eleven store on Patpong Road, Bangkok, a tearful Supali Chariariariot, CEO of Thai food giant,...
An Interview with Shauna McGuiness
An Interview with Shauna McGuiness In the two-and-a-bit years since I’ve been writing full-time, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many fantastic writers and creative folks and the time has come to give them a bit of time in the spotlight of my blog. First...
Fotherington-Tomas and the Unexpected Move
Fotherington-Tomas and the Unexpected Move ... FT makes the big jump to Amazon and Smashwords... Fotherington-Tomas and Maxwell were sitting in the Middle Drawing Room of Haggrid’s, enjoying the fusty smell of antiquity that surrounded them and a quick...
Yogol’s Gold – A Novel in Rhyme
Yogol's Gold - A Novel in Rhyme ... Or what I did after several literary agent rejections... After receiving a few literary agent rejections concerning my recent novel, Yogol’s Gold, which I am currently trying to get traditionally published, I decided to...
The Lucius Chronicles Hits One Million Sales
The Lucius Chronicles Hits One Million Sales ... This is the interview that I will give when the inevitable happens... Editor's Note: It is April 1, okay... Read on and enjoy yourselves! ***** So, The Lucius Chronicles has just hit one million sales....
New Book: Turning the Tide
Turning the Tide ... Not another new book, surely... Well, after getting two blogs last week, you’ve certainly had to wait right up until the eleventh hour, for this week’s instalment of ‘A Writer’s Life for Me’. It’s not because I got myself arrested...
Air, so thick, you could eat it
Chiang Mai businessman opens world’s first ‘air restaurant’ in famous city of smog A humorous look at the serious topic of Thailand's poor air quailty By Makin Melungsurt (Special News Correspondent) With the eyes, ears and noses of the world focused...
Fotherington-Tomas and the Mephostus Meeting
Fotherington-Tomas and the Mephostus Meeting ... Dark revelations abound at Haggrid's Club for Gentleman... Two besuited figures, one substantially larger than the other, sat in high, wing-backed, leather chairs, enjoying their glasses of brandy, as they...
The Lucius Chronicles – Released Today
The Lucius Chronicles - Released Today! All three titles in the DATS Trilogy, available in one place, at last! Howdy folks! Today, March 8 2019, saw The Lucius Chronicles released on Amazon, Smashwords and all other good ebook retailers, including Barnes...
What the FCK are we doing?
A damning insight into fast food, cheap meat and sustainability "There is an alternative to the ‘more for less’ philosophy of fast food and low-cost meat." The other day, I read an article about fast-food chains competing with each other in the ‘value...
The DATS Trilogy – New Covers Unveiled!
The DATS Trilogy - New Covers Unveiled! ... Just in time for the release of The Lucius Chronicles... To coincide with the release of The Lucius Chronicles, on 8 March, which is a compilation of the DATS Trilogy that I published during 2017 and 2018, I’ve...
The Lucius Chronicles… IT’S ALIVE!
The Lucius Chronicles... IT'S ALIVE! ... The complete DATS Trilogy in one volume is now available for pre-order... IT LIVES! Finally, many moons after I first alerted you to its existence, The Lucius Chronicles is alive!!! Igor, fetch me a clean shirt!...
Fotherington-Tomas and The Ashes Affair
Fotherington-Tomas and the Ashes Affair ... Ice cream, leather on willow and a mysterious moving bush. There's no game quite like cricket... “Why are we here, FT?” asked Maxwell, giving his Mister Whippy a quick lick and leaving a fine trace of melted ice...
Do chickens have faces?
Forget about them crossing the road, this is the big one, folks! A semi-serious anecdote from a former student of poultry behaviour... The rise of facial recognition technology Today, we live in a world dominated by technology, one particular part of which...
Back again in the USSA
Back again in the USSA ... or 'New York, New York'. 'New York, New York'... Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, I was on my way to America, to New York to be exact, to visit a good friend of mine who was working for the Office of the Chief Medical...
Amazing Thailand No 5 – Television Repair
Amazing Thailand! ... Number 5 in an occasional series... Welcome back to Amazing Thailand! Okay, so I’ll admit that this particular incident could have happened anywhere, but the fact that it occurred in Thailand just makes it all the more satisfying. A...
2018 – A Writing Year in Review
2018 - A Writing Year in Review ... or that's 365 days we won't get back... “Ding dong merrily on high…” No, sorry, that was last month. So, 2019. Has it been good to you so far? Have you broken all of your New Year’s resolutions yet? I know that I have...
Taking the Road Less Travelled
Taking the Road Less Travelled ... or, an unexpected surprise at the Southward Car Museum... Here’s a nice little yuletide story for you… For those readers not resident in the southern hemisphere, it might come as a bit of a surprise to learn that...
Driven to Distraction
Driven to Distraction UK government launches ‘dangerous driving’ holidays, starting summer-2019 In a desperate bid to draw attention away from the howling debacle that is Brexit and free up more Police time for attending political protest rallies, the UK...
Fotherington-Tomas: A Christmas advert
Fotherington-Tomas: A Christmas advert ... Just a little something I knocked up this afternoon... Hi Everyone! Earlier today, I created a promotional video for a Facebook campaign that's running about my latest Fotherington-Tomas blog. I was so pleased...
Fotherington-Tomas and the Christmas Crisis
Fotherington-Tomas and the Christmas Crisis ... or how FT saved the Queen at Hamleys... Fotherington-Tomas was drunk. Sarah had left the Harveys Bristol Cream out on the sideboard and he had been tippling away quite happily since mid-morning. Now with...
Why I hate Zen Buddhism
Why I hate Zen Buddhism ... Or 'The Trouble with Transcendence'... A few years ago, my life was absolute chaos. Writing, working, running a bar, raising a small child and trying to avoid an untimely death at the paws of a psychotically happy puppy, I was a...
Tales Of The Beast – Part 2 – The South Island
Tales of the Beast - Part 2 ... The South Island Initiative... Last time I left you, I had arrived in Picton with my best friend and the beast, ready to begin a ten-day road trip around the South Island of New Zealand. I’m pretty sure that it was 2003 back...
The Untimely Demise of Fotherington-Tomas
The Untimely Demise of Fotheringon-Tomas ... A short story by R.A. Gregory... It was noon when Maxwell reached the cottage, his feet crunching noisily on the freshly raked gravel, as he hastened down the garden path. Rapping smartly on the front door, he...
Lost Consonants – A tribute to Graham Rawle
Lost Consonants ... a tribute to the genius of Graham Rawle (still alive)... Many years ago, I used to be an avid weekend reader of the Guardian newspaper. Every Saturday, I would trek down to the local newsagent (usually with a hangover from the night...
Going Solo by Roald Dahl – A review in conception
Going Solo by Roald Dahl ... A review in conception... Every now and again, I am motivated to write something bookish in one of my blogs and today is one of those occasions. Earlier this week, I was given a copy of Going Solo by Roald Dahl, by a friend who...
The Blogger’s Nightmare… a struggling author talks
More tales of woe from a struggling author ... a true story... The struggling author sat in front of his monitor, the blank white screen and endlessly flashing cursor taunting him as he wracked his tortured brain for new content. This time there was no...
Who wants to be a chip engineer?
No, not that kind of chip, silly! ... A humorous story about mobile phone technology and the end of the world... Q: What do scientists eat for lunch? A: Nuclear fission chips, of course! Sorry, I don’t know where that came from. It just popped into my head...
The Lucius Chronicles – A Peek Inside the Pages
The Lucius Chronicles – A Peek Inside the Pages Last month, I had the pleasure of being able to share the conceptual cover art for my forthcoming book, The Lucius Chronicles with you, done by American author and illustrator, James Stevens. His first novel,...
Age – It really is relative, man!
Age – It really is relative, man! ... Musings on the inevtiability of getting old... It’s a fact, we’re all getting older. Try what you like to avoid it. Exercise until you’re blue in the face, eat a diet so healthy it would make a rabbit blush, resort to...
Tales Of The Beast – Part 1
Tales Of The Beast - Part 1 ... or 'Car-rie, I love you'... Cars. Here in My Car. Silver Machine. The Road to Hell. I don’t know what it is about me, but I love cars. Big ones in particular. The bigger the better, in fact. Gas guzzling, earth destroying...
Dusty deeds done dirt cheap
Dusty deeds done dirt cheap ... or one good book deserves another... Yesterday, I woke up, as I often do and found a cry for help in my inbox. It was from a young lady who was searching for a particular book and thought that I might be able to help....
Amazing Thailand No 4 – Correct spelling
Amazing Thailand! ... Number 4 in an occasional series... Welcome back to ‘Amazing Thailand’. It’s been a while since I last shared one of the joys of living in South East Asia with you, so, not wanting to keep all the fun to myself, here is the latest...
First glimpse: Cover art for The Lucius Chronicles
First Glimpse ... Cover art for 'The Lucius Chronicles'... Hi Everyone! I wanted to share with you, the first sneak preview of the cover artwork for my latest book, ‘The Lucius Chronicles’. This is only a rough mock-up of the proposed cover, but I liked it...
Dear Diary
Dear Diary... ... or a writer's life less ordinary... Dear diary. Wow! It’s hard to believe that I haven’t written a blog since 24 July, more than two weeks ago now. Well, an awful lot has happened since then, not the least of which was a very successful...
Reddit ‘Writer of the day’ announcement – 25 July
Reddit 'Writer of the day' announcement - 25 July ... Your chance to ask me anything on the Reddit Fantasy Forum... Hey everybody! This Wednesday, I’m going to be having my first outing as ‘Writer of the day’ on Reddit. I’m really excited about it, as it’s...
Hey! Wha’ happened to my writing?
Hey! Wha' happened to my writing? ... or the gentle subversion of one man's week... Life’s a funny old thing, especially when you’re a writer. Take this week for example. Almost nothing that I had planned ended up happening, or if it did, it didn’t quite...
Barbarian chefs rule the world
A free humorous short story... ... originally written for the Reddit Fantasy Writers Group Hi Everyone! I've been a member of the Reddit Fantasy Writers (r/fantasywriters) forum for a little while now, but until last week I hadn't been all that active....
We’ve got (another) dog
We've got (another) dog ... Or why does it always rain on me... Okay, so I’m sitting at home yesterday, finally getting a spot of peace and quiet to catch up on a movie, the excellent ‘Brawl in Cell Block 99’, starring Vince Vaughn, because wifey and the...
Nok Air – Thailand’s airline shame
Nok Air ... Thailand's airline shame... When I first started writing this blog, I mentioned that there would be the occasional rant in and amongst the plethora of often alcohol-induced thoughts and musings that I generally provide you, my beloved readers,...
Space, the final frontier – 1960’s style
Space, the final frontier - 1960's style A couple of weeks ago, I published a blog called ‘London Lost’, about how I’d found a box of old slides from the 1950’s and 60’s and spent a very pleasant hour or so flicking through them to see what secrets they...
The Garden Party
Or what happens when you let an author loose ... A humorous short story about English garden parties... The following tale was inspired by the classic British comedy series, 'Stella Street'... Deep in the bowels of the palatial mansion that I call home,...
A question of drains
A question of drains ...tales from Reading Uni, part two... During my time at Reading University in the early-1990’s, I had the pleasure to share a house with some truly wonderful people, most of whom remain good friends of mine to this day. Unfortunately,...
Drone bring me down
Drone bring me down ... Police announce new weapon in the fight against crime... Forget the drone! At a lavish ceremony held today in the Merseyside Hitlon Hotel, Greater Manchester’s Chief of Police, Randy McKeetod, unveiled the latest weapon in the North...
London Lost
London Lost ... images of a time gone by... Back in late April, when I was flicking through some of my old photos, searching for shots of Reading University to support my blog ‘A peek down memory lane’, I came across upon a small box of 35mm slides, which...
That was the week that was – 25 May 2018
That was the week that was ... 25th of May, 2018... It’s been a funny old week here in Writing Land. My son’s second week back at school should have heralded the beginning of a fantastic writing streak for yours truly on my new novel, Yogol’s Gold... more...
My first book signing at Icon Amazed!
My first book signing! ... At the opening of 'Icon Amazed' in Chiang Mai, Thailand... Wednesday 16 May 2018, saw the opening of ‘Icon Amazed’, the latest exhibition by talented Thai artist, Goy Kankanakul, at the Meeting Room Art Café, in Chiang Mai. Goy...
McDuggan and the Spider-Men
A free short story inspired by Frank Miller's Sin City A five minute read, which contains Spider-men... The rain hammered down like nails from an iron-shod sky and ricocheted off the pavement, soaking everything that it touched, including the hunched form...
Amazing Thailand No 3 – How to park a car
Amazing Thailand! ... Number 3 in an occasional series... Welcome back to 'Amazing Thailand', my infrequent, yet hopefully amusing, look at daily life in the land of eternal smiles. In this instalment, we take a look at the delicate art of car-parking....
Terminator Trump: Hidden message in NRA speech
Trump is a Terminator sent back to destroy humanity ... Boffins surprised by mystery message hidden in US President's NRA speech... The world is on edge today, following the discovery of a secret message embedded within US President, Donald Trump’s,...
The Wizard – A free short story (5 min read)
The Wizard ... a free short story from R.A. Gregory... Seeing as I'm a day late with my usual blog, here's a free short story about Wizards, High Magic and Information Technology to keep you amused. Happy reading! ***** THE WIZARD by R.A. Gregory Deep...
High Cool
High Cool ... only in 'Incredible India'... I’ve been meaning to share this little gem, entitled ‘High Cool’ with you for ages, just because it always makes me smile when I see it. But you know how it is, things come up, the weather changes and before you...
How to be Topp – A new author speaks out
How to be Topp - A new author speaks out A good friend of mine recently suggested that as a new author I should probably write a few book themed blogs, in addition to the myriad of offbeat ramblings that have been my blogging bread and butter to date. Not...
A peek down memory lane. Kodak Ektra photos
A peek down memory lane ... old photos of Reading University... A couple of weeks ago, I posted a blog called ‘A walk in the dark’. The cover image for the blog was a scan of a photograph that I’d taken while I was studying at Reading University, back in...
Top ten facts about Wales
Truly amazing things you never knew about the land of dragons... I’ve recently come back from the UK, where I spent some time promoting my new book, Drynwideon. While I was there, I happened to find myself in the beautiful country of Wales. During my stay,...
Great life experiences – Part 1
Great life experiences - Part 1 ... An essential resource for understanding where you are in life... Ever wondered how well you are doing in the great race of life? Running on empty or full to the brim with the glory of your own existence. Well, worry no...
A summer’s day in Oxford
A summer's day in Oxford ... or a punt around the harbour... For those of you who have been loyally following my blog, you could well be forgiven for coming to the conclusion that I am something of a booze-hound. After all, quite a few of my posts have...
Reality shows not ‘real’ enough
Reality shows not 'real' enough... ... says UK TV Watchdog in damning new report... With the new season of ‘Britain’s Got Talent’ just around the corner, TV bosses were today stunned by a damning new report into the state of British reality TV shows, from...
Tommo the cat
Tommo the cat ... taking your life in your hands with an ancient, but loveable feline... Some years ago, during my time in Wellington, I had the great pleasure to lodge with a good friend of mine, way up in the Brooklyn hills overlooking the capital of New...
A walk in the dark at Reading Uni
A walk in the dark ... tales from Reading Uni, part one... As those of you who have spent any time on my website (www.rob-gregory.com) will doubtless already know, I spent some time back in the early nineties at Reading University, where I studied...
Drynwideon – The unofficial launch party
Drynwideon - The unofficial launch party ... a night to remember... Thanks to my wonderful literary agent, Brian McMullan, we had an unofficial launch party for Drynwideon back in early March at Jethro’s Lounge in Chiang Mai. Some of the less incriminating...
What’s in a name?
The sad story of a man washed overboard ... a humorous anecdote about New Zealand place names... Now, I love New Zealand. Really, I do. It’s like the Creator (insert your preferred deity here) spent four days working on it, only to be told that the world...
Guilt
Guilt ... or my Stilton shame... Guilt is a strange thing. On the one hand, we seem to be able to successfully bury the most heinous of transgressions deep inside us with no qualms at all, while on the other, the most trivial of events can sometimes fill...
Amazing Thailand No2 – Taxi Etiquette
Amazing Thailand! ...Number two in an occasional series... Welcome back to 'Amazing Thailand'. Today’s example is rather nice... taxi etiquette. It tells you in very simple terms exactly what you can and cannot do when in a taxi in Thailand. No need to...
On annoying nasal hair
On annoying nasal hair ...or my kingdom for a pair of tweezers... The other evening, I was talking to a good friend of mine in the bar about all things literary, when suddenly the conversation turned to hair. Nasal hair, in fact. Now, I am quite fond of my...
Don’t go in the yellow snow!
Don't go in the yellow snow! ...travellers beware of BBC weather reports... By the time that you read this post, I will hopefully be in the UK, having travelled from the balmy climes of SE Asia, through the blisteringly hot sands of the Middle East, to...
Save the Little Blue Penguin
Save the Little Blue Penguin ...the Tiphi commeth... Now, as you’ll learn in a future blog, New Zealander’s have a very practical and down to earth approach when it comes to naming things. It’s not very imaginative, especially when compared to the Maori...
Drynwideon update – The Paperback Lives!
Taking delivery of Drynwideon ...A proud father speaks... A quick Drynwideon update. On Tuesday this week, I got a call from the printers to say that the first batch of my new book, 'Drynwideon, The Sword of Destiny - Yeah, Right' was ready for collection....
A Load of Hot Water
A Load of Hot Water ... an immersive story about poor house design… So, there I am, happily ensconced in the Waikato, New Zealand, living in a lovely little pre-fabricated cottage with wonderful landlords. What could possibly go wrong, you might ask? Well,...
Dez Gouts
An amusing tale of two cultures, or how not to order French fries! Once upon a time, a long, long time ago, there was a fantastic burger bar in the centre of Bristol, called Mickey Finns. I’m not sure if it is still there today, but back then for a young...
How to load a digger on a truck
Amazing Thailand! ...Number one in an occasional series... Welcome to 'Amazing Thailand'. Over the years, I have collected quite a few pictures of what really makes this unique, South East Asian country so wonderful and now I'm pleased to be able to share...
A new word for you…
The story of how 'Halfaholic' came into the world... How new words are made Somewhere, high in one of the ancient, ivory towers of Oxford University, hidden far from prying eyes, sits a group of wizened academics, whose job it is to create new words for...
Blogety Blog. Welcome to my world
Blogety Blog! ...An aspiring author grapples with his first blog... Blogety Blog, Blogety Blog, Blogety Blog, thought the struggling author, as the theme tune to 'Blankety Blank' ran through his head once again. What to write about? I mean 'blogging', that...
