16 December: Bahrain National Day

Today is Bahrain's National Day. Here are 10 things you might not know about Bahrain.

1. Bahrain is an island country, an archipelago of 33 islands (33 natural islands - if you include reclaimed land the number rises to 84), near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. Bahrain Island is the largest at 55 km (34 mi) long by 18 km (11 mi) wide. Other islands include Hawar, Muharraq Island, Umm an Nasan, and Sitrah.
2. As an island nation, it has no land borders with any other country, but it is connected to Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway, which is 24 km (15 mi) long.
3. The country's name derives from the Arabic for "two seas". Until the middle ages, the name was used to refer to a much larger area of Eastern Arabia which encompassed Southern Iraq, Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif and Bahrain. It is mentioned five times in the Quran, referring to this larger region.
4. According to legend, Bahrain was the site of the Garden of Eden. Whether or not that is the case, it was certainly the ancient land of Dilmun, mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh, an epic poem from ancient Mesopotamia which dates from around 2100 BC. The Epic of Gilgamesh is often regarded as the first great work of literature.
5. The capital and largest city is Manama.
6. 92% of the country is desert, so it suffers from time to time from droughts and dust storms. There are fresh water wells, though, and also areas in the sea to the north where fresh water bubbles up through the salt water.
7. The desert is also home to the Tree of Life, a 400 year old tree. It grows despite there being no water nearby and has become a popular tourist attraction.
8. The national Flag has evolved considerably since the 19th century. The first known flag was plain red, but a white stripe was added in 1820 to signify a treaty with the United Kingdom. So that it was more easily distinguished from the flags of neighbouring countries, a 28 point serrated edge to the stripes was added. In 1972 this was reduced to eight points and in 2002, to five, representing the five pillars of Islam. While on the subject of the flag, Bahrain held the Guinness World Record for the largest flag to be hoisted for a while from 2004. The flag in question measured 169.5m (555 feet) long and 97.1m (318 feet) wide. However, Israel has since broken the record.
9. Bahrain World Trade Centre is the first Skyscraper in the world to integrate wind turbines into its design.
10. Bahrain has a Formula One race-track, which has hosted a Grand Prix annually since 2004, except for 2011 when the race was cancelled due to anti-government protests. The violent protests were still going on in 2012, but the race went ahead. The decision to go ahead despite risks to the competitors has been described as "one of the most controversial in the history of the sport".

My Books:

Death and Faxes

Several women have been found murdered - it looks like the work of a ruthless serial killer. Psychic medium Maggie Flynn is one of the resources DI Jamie Swan has come to value in such cases - but Maggie is dead, leaving him with only the telephone number of the woman she saw as her successor, her granddaughter, Tabitha Drake.

Tabitha, grief-stricken by Maggie's death and suffering a crisis of confidence in her ability, wants nothing to do with solving murder cases. She wants to hold on to her job and find Mr Right (not necessarily in that order); so when DI Swan first contacts her, she refuses to get involved.

The ghosts of the victims have other ideas. They are anxious for the killer to be caught and for names to be cleared - and they won't leave Tabitha alone. It isn't long before Tabitha is drawn in so deeply that her own life is on the line.

Paperback - CreateSpace or Amazon 

Or get the E-book: Amazon Kindle (Where you can use the "Look Inside" function and read the first few pages for free!)

Glastonbury Swan

Every few weeks, there is a mysterious death in Glastonbury. They seem completely unrelated - an apparent suicide, a hit and run, a drug overdose, a magic act which goes horribly wrong - but is that what the killer wants people to think?

The police are certainly convinced - but one of the victims is communicating to medium Tabitha Drake that the deaths are linked.

Who is killing all these people and why? 

This is what Tabitha has to figure out - before it is too late to save someone very dear to her.

Paperback CreateSpace or Amazon

E-book Amazon Kindle

Jigsaw

Within these covers you will find murder, mayhem, ghosts, romance, dungeons and dragons and alien vampire bunnies.


Paperback CreateSpace or Amazon 

E-book Amazon Kindle

New! From A Jack To A King

A royal palace is burning. The King and Queen are dead. The only hopes for an ancient dynasty flee to England for their lives.

A boy runs from his mother and the people he believes want to mutilate him, and vanishes, seemingly forever.

Gary Winchcombe, the experimental "super-cop" pursues a notorious gang of bank robbers, and starts to discover that his friends and neighbours have secrets he never could have imagined.

Tod Reynard wants to turn his life around. When he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Jade, he knows she might just be the one to help him change his life for the better. He cannot possibly know just how much.

When Jade's twin sister Gloria is kidnapped, old rivalries must be put aside and new associations formed in order to save Gloria's life and restore the rightful order of things.

Available from: Createspace, Amazon, Amazon Kindle

I have plenty more stories to tell, but I don't know yet which will win the race to the end of the pipeline. If you'd like to know:

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