Monday, October 19, 2009

C IS FOR COLIN COTTERILL


I thought I would belatedly join this meme at Kerrie's Mysteries in Paradise and start with C is for Colin Cotterill.

You can learn a lot about Colin Cotterill by exploring his fascinating website. As you will discover cartooning and writing are two of his great passions.

I have two of Colin's books sitting on my TBR pile and am ashamed to admit I have not found the time to read either of them. This is terribly remiss of me as there are certain coincidences that lead me to believe I have to read these books soon.

I received a proof copy of Anarchy and Old Dogs at Crime Fest 2008 in Bristol but perhaps the blurb on the back was a bit too close to home for me.

'When a blind, retired dentist is run down by a logging truck as he crosses the road to post a letter.'..........' The dentist's mortal remains aren't nearly as intriguing as the letter in his pocket.'

As a retired dentist whose eyes and feet are faltering I don't think I could dodge any trucks at the moment. But I must read this book!

When I entered the quiz for that prize I had no idea that my son would be in that part of the world within a few weeks. The coincidence is a little weird in that Colin Cotterill lives in Chumphon on the Gulf of Siam with his wife, Jess, while my son Ben is at the moment at Kampot, Cambodia on the other side of the Gulf of Siam visiting his girlfriend, Jess!

'Eight years ago, Colin Cotterill became involved in child protection, and set up an NGO in the south of Thailand which ran for two years. After two more years of study in Australia in child abuse issues, he spent more time with the southern project before joining ECPAT-an international organization that combats child prostitution and pornography. He set up their training programme for caregivers.'

After reading this I think I can now forgive him running over a dentist, and I must read his books.

Modern computer technology is fantastic as earlier today I was able to not only speak to, but also to see Ben on video, when I phoned Cambodia, and Skype to Skype is free.

8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Modern technology certainly is wonderful! I love Skype!

Thanks for introducing us to Colin Cotterill, too. I haven't checked his website (more wonders of modern technology!) but I certainly will. He sounds like a fascinating person, and I always enjoy learning something about the authors I read.

4:42 AM  
Blogger Uriah Robinson said...

Margot, I love Skype too now. Ben was in Taipei earlier this year and when I called his mobile was charged for incoming calls. The bill became horrendous after a few friends called him as well.

I feel very ashamed not to have read Colin Cotterill's books yet, especially after discovering he seems to be such a nice guy.

Thanks for your much appreciated comments.

4:59 AM  
Blogger Cathy said...

I'm a devoted follower of Dr. Siri. It's a wonderful series!

Skype is definitely the answer to avoiding horrendous phone bills.

5:26 AM  
Blogger Bernadette said...

I recently read my first Dr Siri book and it was wonderful and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series so i hope you do get around to reading one and that you enjoy it too.

And I agree Norman, skype has changed the world in terms of keeping in touch with family and friends

12:22 PM  
Blogger Kerrie said...

Are you saying you haven't read any of them yet Norman! You must!You'll love Dr Sri, but you need, I'm afraid, to start at the beginning for the full effect. Have you seen the blogging gang, International Crime Authors Colin's part of?

1:34 PM  
Blogger Uriah Robinson said...

Kerrie I think that is the site I won the book from, and with recommendations from Cathy, Bernadette and you it looks as if I will have start at the beginning.

2:45 PM  
Anonymous Leighton Gage said...

Hi Norman,
This Saturday (the 24th) at 12:30 PM United States Eastern time, I'll be hosting a program live on BlogtalkRadio.com. Listeners can use Skype (or any normal telephone) to call in with questions to a New York area code. If they can't catch it live, the program will remain archived for a month. The guests are Yrsa Sigurdardóttir, Michael Stanley, Stuart Neville and Cara Black. For more details, just go to www.blogtalkradio.com and type my name into the site's search function. If you "join" the site, it will convert the air time to your own time zone and you won't have to figure it out. Kindly talk this one up, because it's right up the street of most of your readers.
Thanks,

4:49 PM  
Blogger Uriah Robinson said...

Hi Leighton,
I will certainly put that in a post later today.
Best wishes
Norman

2:02 AM  

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