New Posts

No bus on Highgate West Hill
Existential/women

Microcourtesies

Microcourtesies are a counterweight to microaggressions. They are easy and life-affirming. Let’s embrace them.

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Leigh Turner Leros
Existential/women

The Shallows by Nicholas Carr – the internet and your brain

Nicholas Carr’s “The Shallows” explores why you should put your smartphone in another room and embrace a human being instead. You know this already. But “The Shallows” spells exactly how much harm the Internet is doing to us every minute of every day.

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Self-publish your paperback book
Writing tips

Self-publishing a paperback

Self-publishing a paperback is easy – but a bit more complicated than self-publishing an e-book. In particular the cover, manuscript and pricing need care. A step-by-step guide.

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Leigh Turner im Zentrum
Biography

What changes when you retire?

What changes when you retire? I finished as British ambassador to Vienna in September 2021, 42 years after starting work. What have I done since then?

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Book published leigh turner
Writing tips

Self-publishing your own book

Self-publishing your own book on Amazon is easy, but you may find a bit of help useful the first time. A simple step-by-step guide.

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Leigh Turner The Latest Thing
Fiction

“The Latest Thing”: Ms N and Tatiana return

“The Latest Thing” is the 12th “Hotel Story”. Ms N, the world’s most brilliant, unpredictable and occasionally homicidal hotelier, must fight off a team of experts sent from HQ to “improve” her hotel…

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Fiction

John Savage in therapy: an interview

John Savage: ‘I won’t talk more about what happened that winter in Moscow. It’s between me, the Office and – I suppose the Russians know the whole story. Moscow was worse for Clare than it was for me. She suffered most. Obviously. She’s dead. I’m alive.’

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Writing in Loutro
Writing tips

Resources for writers

Resources for writers on this post include how to write articles and blogs; how to write a novel; dealing with rejection; scenes, sequels and cliff-hangers; editing as you go along – or not – and a selection of writing courses for you to try.

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Kyiv
Journalism

Russia’s war on Ukraine: what’s happening?

Russia’s war on Ukraine has failed on most fronts. But Russian President Putin continues to slaughter vast numbers of his own troops, and Ukrainian soldiers and civilians, in the hope of a military breakthrough. That could yet happen. The top task for countries supporting Ukraine must be to maintain unity for weeks, months or years to come. This will be a challenge.

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Valide Han Istanbul
Palladium

Slow publishing: a case study

Slow publishing is not necessarily bad publishing. Let’s look at how a Russian banker’s murder in 1993 and the Gezi Park protests of 2013 led to publication of my international thriller “Palladium” in 2022.

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Bosphorus sunset, istanbul
Novels

Will Elif Mutlu discover the mysterious “Palladium”?

As archaeology professor Elif Mutlu races against time to complete research at the site of Arzu Pasha’s smart new “Heart of Istanbul” mall, rumours swirl that Elif will discover the Palladium itself. An exclusive interview by Misty Anderson.

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Journalism

Russian lying: the war in Ukraine

Russian lying about the war in Ukraine obeys key rules. First: never admit to anything. Second: lying to mislead your enemy, or your own people, is legitimate.

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