You’d think that recording an almost 400-page book aloud would be boring and dull. Not a bit of it; it’s electrifying and great fun.

As those of you who know me from the YOUNGER NEXT YEAR books can see, I am off on a new tack … a third life, you could almost say … and I am plenty excited about it. THE PRACTICAL NAVIGATOR—my “debut novel”, at the tender age of 86—is to be published on March 15th and is available to preorder now.

Writing this book—my somewhat delayed “debut novel”—was the most fun (and the hardest job) I’ve had in a long, long time. And it is my favorite.

To my continuing astonishment, I turned 86 this week. And I’m glad to report that it was a joy, despite the wretched Covid-19.

One birthday, my beloved co-author and friend, the late Harry Lodge, gave me a brass marine clock which he had had restored. The face is some ten inches across and it sits on a deep brass ring.