On reaching that time of life when he finally had a choice, Mark Newham had no hesitation. No more winters for him. Escaping somewhere warmer and sunnier for the worst months of the year was now standard winter operating procedure. Every year. For the entire winter. For the rest of his life. The only question was where. It had to be a place that ticked all the boxes as a winter refuge he could happily flee to year after year without breaking the bank. After a lifetime on the road as an international journalist Newham already had a long list of candidates. Places he'd either already been on short term assignments or had been suggested by those met along the way. All he needed do was check out the highest ranking for long term stay acceptability. Shouldn't take too long, he thought. A couple of years? Three, maybe? Try twenty. And even then not one of the thirty-something original contenders on six continents had achieved a perfect winter bolthole criteria list score. While every one had its pluses, there was always something. Some flaw in the facade you only saw when staying longer than the average tourist. He wasn't alone in seeing them. Fellow certain age snow-dodgers encountered in the course of his quest reported similar findings and the general consensus was that here was something the regular range of travel guidebooks should be devoting a lot more space to. Winter refuge suitability ratings would have saved this rapidly expanding community of sanctuary-seekers a great deal of time and trouble. With guidebook publishers looking unlikely to consider catering for this growing need in the near term, Newham decided to take matters into his own hands and draw on two decades of 'research' to produce a warts-and-all travel advisory/memoir on how (not) to find that perfect sanctuary from winter. 'SNOW-DODGING FOR UMPTEENAGERS' is the result, now widely available in paperback and e-book formats worldwide. Full details at: http://www.moriartimedia.com/SDU_summary.htm

PLUNDERLAND is the story of Ireland's colonisation of Africa. Not really. It's about China's. But there is a connection. Ireland's answer to Stanley and Livingstone have something China wants and will pay any price to get. Without it, Africa's latest colonial invader will never become undisputed master of the universe. How though to seal the deal? Hopelessly out of their deal-making depth and teetering precariously on the edge of financial ruin, Kearney and Ryan know this could be their Waterloo. Get this one wrong and they'll likely never see their homeland again. But get it right and they'll be home free. Out of Africa at last to enjoy the fruits of their dubious exploits at their leisure. In Africa so long they're becoming choc-ices in reverse, this, they're under no illusion, is their final throw of the fortune-hunting dice. Africa has had the best of them and both know this is their last hurrah. Their last chance to atone for a lifetime of failing to unearth the crock of gold they came to Africa to find. So this time things have to be different. This time uncharted depths have to be plumbed. This time both know they have to break the habit of a lifetime and do some planning. Unable to recall when watertight was last used to describe a Kearney/Ryan money-making escapade it's a tough ask. But finally they're ready. In their hands is a plan covering every base, foreseeing every eventuality, envisaging every likely Chinese scamming angle. With every possible route to disaster closed off what could possibly go wrong? What indeed. CAUTION: PLUNDERLAND IS AFRICA IN THE RAW. CONTAINED IN ITS PAGES IS SOMETHING TO OFFEND EVERYBODY. SO THOSE OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION MIGHT CARE TO LOOK AWAY NOW. OTHERWISE... ENJOY!

"An intricate and colourful story of deception beautifully rendered. As a portrait of the idiosyncrasies of English cricket, Cometh the Yuan is a Chinese cut above the rest." - The Guardian They said it could never happen. They said such a national treasure would never be allowed to fall into China's insatiable grasping clutches. And anyway, they said, what could China possibly want with the spiritual home of the game of cricket? Retribution, said some. Lord's Cricket Ground owes its eighteenth century origins to fortunes made from getting the Chinese hooked on opium and now it's payback time. Nonsense, said China. We're just extending a helping hand to a western cultural icon in a financial fix. Honest. Smelling a sizeable rat in China's assurances, the fraternity of world cricket starts digging. What it unearths is enough to shake western civilisation to its roots. With England's hosting of the Cricket World Cup just a year away, China's motives for taking an interest in Lord's are not only not honourable, it discovers, they're simply not cricket."