True Humor

Solar-Powered Dreams is the second part of The Contented Expat, Alan Laycock’s sequel to his successful series, The Reluctant Expat. Back home again, Alan begins a new career which he hopes will make his fortune, and the search for a new home begins in earnest.

FINDING MY FEET is the second instalment of THE RELUCTANT EXPAT, Alan Laycock’s light-hearted account of his life in Spain. Part Three of Alan’s story is now also available.

THE OPPORTUNIST – AN ENTERPRISING LIFE IN SPAIN is Craig K. Kirkland’s account of his inventive and ignoble efforts to make his fortune. After a rather unscrupulous apprenticeship in the north midlands he is forced to flee abroad to further his ambitions and in this amusing chronicle he recounts his unethical exploits with brazen honesty. Mr Kirkland’s eye-opening tale of ingenuity and avarice, though not for the overly righteous, makes for an entertaining and thought-provoking read. This book is not intended as an instruction manual and the publisher does not condone the author’s ...

The fairy tale of Sophie and Agatha comes to a dramatic conclusion in this sixth and final book of Soman Chainani’s best-selling fantasy series. Who will sit on Camelot’s throne and rule the Endless Woods? Who will be the one true king? Prepare yourself for the end of ends....

Tristan Briggs is the reason Santa has a naughty list. He’s also my only hope for surviving the holidays. All I want for Christmas is to stay alive. Alone and on the run, I thought I was safe. Until my new life goes up in flames. Literally. Now old secrets are back to haunt me, and there’s no place left to hide. Tall, dark, and deadly, Tristan is everything I’m running from. He’s a hitman on the hunt for revenge. And I’m about to beg him to stuff my stocking. Can Tristan put the ghosts of my past to rest? Or am I doomed to an awful Christmas present?

I’ve always played by the rules. Until now. All’s fair in love and war games. Opening a board game shop on Driftwood Cove is my dream come true. Then my evil villain landlord decides to make my life a nightmare. The only silver lining in all of this? Donovan Black. I’ve got a crush on the smoldering bookstore owner next door. Brilliant, beautiful, and brawny; Donovan belongs on his own bookshelves. He’s promised to help me with my fundraiser. My very own Prince Charming. But this princess isn’t going to waste her chance. I don’t just want to win— I want the happily-ever-after ...

Given how hard life can be, who couldn't use a dollop of humor? This collection of stories -- inspired by actual events -- provides more than a dollop. Several bushel fulls of humor are contained in its pages. And the stories are all the more amusing because they are slices of actual events -- or nearly so. "The Dip Takes a Plunge" relates just how badly a weekend visit can go... and just how deadly a bowl of avocado dip can be. "My Life of Crime" tells the sordid (but very funny) tale of four normally God-fearing, obedient boys who decide to exact revenge on their own when one of their ...

Part thriller, part self-help manual, and part drinking companion, Corkscrew is a coruscating critique of neoliberal capitalism, religious intolerance, and the perils of blind tasting.

AN ENCOUNTER is the story of Macu, a young man who leaves his tribe on his first solo hunting trip. Hoping to prove himself by killing and carrying home a small deer, his encounter turns out to be of a much more singular and fateful nature. An entertaining and instructive story suitable for readers of all ages.

Two Swifties Crash and Burn at Speed Dating--But Later Learn They Have Quite a Few Things in Common: A Romantic Comedy About Two People Who are Perfect for Each Other! It’s Valentine’s Day, and 22-year old Emma is also alone. As if that wasn’t enough, she has to go to the Valentine’s Day Celebration event in the park sponsored by the beverage company where she recently started work. She’s hesitant, but her best friend Nia encourages her. So… Emma decides to make the best of it. She joins in the speed dating–and she meets an assorted group of unusual people and one guy who ...

Be careful what you lie about, for lies can twist back to truths. When two intractable cousins set out on a world trip together, things are bound to become unstuck. Past experience tells Australian party-girl and wannabe actor, Marigold Sheppard, that taking her unhappy cousin with her on the world trip will be a gamble. However, when Lainie falls off her mule on the Greek island of Santorini, Mari is diverted by her rescuer, the dishy Jeremy Sandford, English gentleman, who succumbs to the Marigold Sheppard A-1 special smile and invites them to dinner. Lainie doesn’t want to go, so Mari ...

Witch Vs. Mage. The battle continues... Once upon a time, there was a gingerbread cottage in the middle of the woods. The Big Bad Wolf had built it for his Wicked Witch, a place where they could have their Happily Ever After.
 But life isn’t a fairy tale. And there are no Happily Ever Afters for witches whose mother and aunt-in-law are coming for tea and procreational advice on Tuesday. When Drake stands her up one time too many, Penny runs away to Darkside and the games really begin. Witch Vs. Mage. Winner takes all.

STAYING PUT is an account of one Englishman’s battle to secure his future in Spain. Jack Birtwell, a sprightly sixty-year-old from Accrington, Lancashire, is due to retire in 2019 and hopes that his poor pension prospects won’t force him to sell his beloved house in Spain and return to England to live out his days. When Brian, his friend and employer, is forced to lay him off from his part-time building job his dilemma becomes even more acute. After racking his brains and those of his closest friends for money-making ideas, he thinks he has come up with a solution. It will put paid to ...

IDLE RICH is the entertaining account of one man’s attempt to turn over a new leaf in Spain. When lifelong underachiever Richie Bannister is offered free board and lodgings in a seaside resort on the south-western coast of Andalucia, he jumps at the chance to escape from the dull Lancashire town where he’s been stuck for the last forty-odd years. His host Peter, a retired photographer, turns out not to be the doddery old fellow he’s expecting to meet, but a man on a mission into which Richie finds himself inadvertently drawn. After his so-far aimless life, this new commitment proves ...

In HOW WE SEE YOU, teacher and translator Álvaro Ramírez has collected ten biographical accounts of the lives of British people in Spain, from the late fifties until the present day, written by himself and others, with significant input from the subjects themselves. In this diverse collection we see the trials and adventures of individuals and couples through mostly sympathetic Spanish eyes, from Walter’s enigmatic sojourn in mid-century Castile to Alan’s reflective tale of a long life in voluntary exile. Here we see Brits at work and play, prospering or enduring, from a point of view...

THE MAN IN THE TENT – MY LIFE UNDER CANVAS: GETTING STARTED IN SPAIN is the continuation of Tony Beardsall’s light-hearted account of the outdoor life which he commenced at the age of fifty-one. In this stand-alone volume he describes his first months on Spanish soil, from his mobile first winter in eastern Andalusia, through a more static period in the north of Malaga, to further travels in search of the perfect place to settle down, in a tent, of course.Readers of THE MAN IN THE TENT – MY LIFE UNDER CANVAS: THE FIRST FOUR YEARS will be familiar with Tony’s modus operandi, but a ...

BILL AND BEN, TRAVELLING MEN is the light-hearted account of a summer-long campervan tour of Scotland. When lively young butcher Ben Butler decides to pack in his job and hit the road, his sombre pal Bill takes early retirement in order to join him. During the action-packed journey north in Bertha the Boxer they recruit the young runaway Dylan, who adds a mercantile twist to their travels. Further north they befriend Alistair – an elderly gent revisiting old haunts with his tiny wooden caravan in tow – and continue their escapade, including a curious run-in with the law. As the four of ...

When three friends get together to take an exploratory trip around northern Spain they each have their own agenda. For Diego it’s a journey of rediscovery after nine years in Lancashire, while Justin is just eager to take a break from his humdrum life. For Frank it’s a sober return to a country where he taught and caroused for fifteen years until he found himself back in Blackburn after an unexpected windfall. Frank desires to take his new hobby of film-making to the next level, while his pals hope that it won’t come to dominate their every waking hour. TAKE THREE is a light-hearted ...

When Nigel Hamson arrives at the quiet village in Extremadura, no-one knows who he is or what he is doing there. Over the following weeks his eccentric behaviour intrigues the villagers, but little by little his intentions become clear, first to himself, and then to the people he befriends. In Ways of Escape – An Outsider in Spain, we follow Nigel’s first stumbling steps to carve out a new life for himself in the Spanish hinterland, as he adjusts his own needs and aspirations to those of the close-knit community. Both light-hearted and informative, this unusual account of a man striving...

STEADY ON, GEORGE! is the stirring and humorous account of the adventures of two mature men in Spain. Five months after his friend George becomes a widower, 76-year-old Mel Taylor finally gets his new knee into gear and flies out to visit him in Denia. Intending to stay for a couple of weeks, George soon whisks him off on a trip whose consequences threaten to turn his quiet life by the English seaside upside down. Despite the misgivings of his protective daughter Beth, Mel soon finds George’s desire for change and renewal so contagious that previously unthinkable ideas begin to seem quite...