12 February: Santiago

This date in 1541 saw the founding of Santiago, Chile, by Pedro de Valdivia. He named it Santiago del Nuevo Extremo or "Santiago of the New Frontier." By the end of the century, it was a settlement of just 200 houses. It's now the largest city in Chile and also its capital. Here are 10 things you might not know about it.

1. As of August 2019, around 6,300,000 people live in an area of 641 square kilometres/248 square miles. The city's elevation is between 500-650m/1,640-2,133 feet above sea level.
2. The city is named for Saint James.
3. It is nicknamed "The City of the Island Hills".
4. It is situated in the Santiago Basin, a bowl shaped valley surrounded by mountains - the Andes to the east and the Chilean Coastal Range to the west. The mountains contribute to a significant problem with smog.
5. There is a cemetery here especially for Clowns. The clown mausoleum is decorated in bright colours.
6. The city is the home of the Chilesaurus. The fossils of a previously unknown breed of Dinosaur were found there in 2015. The creature is 3 metres long and resembles a platypus, but is actually a relative of the T-rex.
7. It's home to the highest Skyscraper in Latin America - the Gran Torre Santiago which is 300m/984 feet high and has 64 floors. The building houses the largest shopping mall in South America.
8. Santiago is twinned with Ankara in Turkey, Manila in the Philippines, and Riga in Latvia. It also has a "Friendship Pact" dating back to 1997, with Paris, France.
9. It has the oldest university in both American continents - the Universidad de Chile was founded in 1622.
10. The most famous person to come from Santiago is probably the poet and diplomat, Pablo Neruda.

NEW!

Settling the Score

Another collection of short stories, even more murder and mayhem with carol singers, an orchestra out for revenge, a sinister magic stone and a haunted mansion.

Available on Amazon:
Paperback            E-book


A Tale of Two Sisters

During a battle with supervillains, a horrific accident leaves the Warner family with no option but to believe their youngest daughter, Jessica, is dead. It doesn't occur to them that the bad guys could, or would, save her.

Jessica wakes up with no memory of who she is or how she came to be on a space station with two bionic legs, a bionic arm and a bionic eye. She is told her family abandoned her and is sent back to Earth with a mission - to kill them. While Jessica wants to kill her family, along with the twin boys who once rejected her, she knows what the Alliance of Supervillains are asking her to do is a suicide mission. She decides to get her revenge in her own way.

As Jessica puts the first part of her revenge plan in motion, she finds herself with an agonising decision to make. Before she can decide, the Alliance come for her, determined to make her do their bidding. This time, it's the Alliance who leave her, crippled and at the mercy of the Warner family, who have no idea who the Alliance's Black Rose really is.

Jessica finds herself having to re-think her decisions in light of what she now learns about her family, the Alliance, the twins, and herself. It would appear the Alliance have left her with an unwanted and permanent reminder of her time with them. Or have they?

Jessica's older sister, Jill, knows her destiny is to be a doctor and specialise in bionics and genetic variant medicine. She is also hopelessly in love with Christopher, Crown Prince of Galorvia. Can their romance survive the lies Christopher told her when they were both at school, an unplanned pregnancy and Sophie, the wannabe princess who comes between them?

Available on Amazon
Paperback

E-book