New Hotel Stories “Sense of Arrival” and “Pomegranates” have arrived on Amazon. They are the 14th and 15th tales starring mischievous hotelier Ms N and her beautiful but naive ally, Tatiana. Like all the Hotel Stories, they are inspired by real events.
New Hotel Stories: new characters
“Sense of Arrival”
What do I like most, as a writer? Creating characters is, surely, the greatest thrill. Good characters spring fully-formed onto the page. They behave unpredictably, taking over and developing stories in ways you, the author, never imagined.
One such character, who appears for the first time in Sense of Arrival, is Tatiana’s redoubtable mother. Here is Tatiana describing her to Ms N in Sense of Arrival:
‘You have not met my mother,’ I say. ‘As well as being an English teacher, she was the champion of our village buqabosh team six years in a row. She can toss a fresh ox’s head through a burning tractor tyre at ten metres, even when she is bareback on a spirited mountain stallion and being attacked with whips, rocks and clubs by players of the opposing team.’
‘My colleague Gabriel le Batard was injured trying to play buqabosh when he travelled through the remote mountains of your country after our Château d’Yquem marketing initiative,’ Ms N says. ‘Your mother must be tough.’
‘She is the toughest. The three concussions, eight broken limbs, six cracked ribs and five skull fractures she suffered in twenty years playing buqabosh were the fewest of any living champion. But her sense of humour is the best. She once put a live cobra in the helmet of the opposing captain after he insulted her riding style.’ I smile at the memory. ‘She is a funny woman, actually.’
“Buqabosh” is an invented synthesis of Central Asian horseback games
New Hotel Stories: new mysteries
FOR MANY YEARS I have believed that Ms N—the most brilliant of hotel general managers—is good at solving problems. But the curious case of Mr Swallow has, if I am honest, shaken my belief in the problem-solving skills of my idol.
Thus begins Pomegranates, Hotel Story No. 15. The story concerns the disappearance in a remote mountain valley of Mr George Swallow, head of the Zolmash gold-mining conglomerate and the biggest investor in Tatiana’s beautiful but not yet economically fully-developed country. Ms N, Mrs Sally Swallow and the portly chief of police explore the legend of the Clan Mother Khutulush and her many suitors as they try to solve the mystery.
“Pomegranates” is the second of the new stories
Pomegranates is unusual, in that it concludes with the naive Tatiana believing that Ms N has failed to solve the mystery of the missing magnate. But is she right? You be the judge. The story draws on accounts of guests who do not appreciate the culture of the countries they visit; the legend of Princess Bi Khole, in Zanzibar; a rum distillery in Jamaica; and the Millennium Forest in St Helena.
The historic distillery of the “anarspirt” liqueur in “Pomegranates” owes much to the Appleton rum storehouse in Jamaica
New Hotel Stories: new reviews, please!
The new Hotel Stories are both priced at $0.99. I would be delighted if any readers of this post felt strong enough to invest that sum, and then write a review. If you don’t fancy buying one, let me know and I’ll send you one.
Actually, I would greatly welcome reviews of any Hotel Stories. When I was still working as a diplomat, the stories appeared under the pseudonym of Robert Pimm. They were my first published stories. Some got a lot of reviews. When I retired in 2021, I republished them under my own name. Most languish with almost no reviews. In particular, if anyone would like to write a review of the very first Hotel Story, “Britches” or the second, The Two Rooms, I’d be slavishly grateful.
What to do next?
Do feel free to download a Hotel Story, or let me know if you’d like me to send you one. If you’d like to write a review, that would be even better! Thanks for all your help, and happy reading.
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