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For all my American readers, please pause from eating all that Thanksgiving turkey and sweet potato a moment. And for all my other readers, who'd like to be eating turkey and sweet potato too if they had the chance.. I've something to tell you. I'm not used to this advertising lark, but a little bird told me tomorrow's Black Friday, so just thought I'd let those of you who haven't yet bought my novel about university life know there's an amazing sale on tomorrow. So,  roll up, roll up.  Isn't that what they say? Tomorrow's the day to grab a real bargain. Yes, '3rd Degree Murder' is available for the amazing price of just 99p/99c!  How much, I hear you say?  Come on:there must be someone in your life who needs to know just what goes on behind the scenes in university college life. You must surely want to know who killed Professor Axel Sloan, don't you? Let's see. Likely suspects:  Maliha, the Bangladeshi PhD student, whose family will kill her if she doesn't get her PhD, his wife(!) - enough said, the lecturers he's overlooked for promotion, Jenny his long-suffering Jewish secretary, sick and tired of all those anti-semitic comments, or even the office cleaner....the list is endless.  So who did it in the end?    

You'll have to hurry.  One day only. Here's the link. Just click and buy at just 99p/99c.

 http://www.amazon.com/3rd-Degree-Murder-Olga-Swan-ebook/dp/B016NM2Y4I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1448553449&sr=8-1&keywords=3rd+degree+murder

And, if you don't have a kindle, just go to amazon and click on the free kindle download button. Simple. Even a technophobe like me can do it! 

9 August 2015

When we came to France ten years ago, I asked the vendor lots of questions. But, the important one I missed was 'does it have fast broadband?'  TG it did. Zoom back nearly 30 years ago when my professor first brought in a brand new, sooper-dooper Apple Mac, and introduced the phrase desktop publishing onto my job description (even though I didn't have a clue what it meant.) Sleepless nights trying to work out how to use the infernal machine, staring myopically at the tiny screen. What an embarrassment when the professor you worked for knew more about how to work it than you did!  Fast forward to yesterday, here in the wilds of SW France, far away from any English tech support.  Because I had to, I overcame my apprehension and managed to:  i) create new Amazon and FB Olga Swan and Gillian Green author pages and ii) cope with the fact that my publisher informed us of the unavoidable change of FB rules that required authors to re-create their own FB new event launch pages.  How did I get on?  Take a look at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B013IBD4PU
www.facebook.com/events/909706395761162
So, at last I understand what 'desktop publishing' means! My old, working, self would have been amazed.

27 July 2014

As with most with E. European heritage, I like to complain about things all the time. And if life seems to be going right, don't say anything: you might be tempting fate. Years ago I used to argue with a Professor. He said never trust people, only machines. But I just don't get on with machines. Never have. Cars work every time for trivial journeys, but just when you need it for that urgent trip to the airport/hospital, that's when it decides to break down.  I worry that this laptop will do the same just at a critical moment, so I've thought of getting another one. Being an old touch-typist, I need a qwerty keyboard + English system. Dell used to do both, but will no longer change the system in France. Amazon uk won't send laptops to France, so I thought I'd buy one when in the UK on a forthcoming trip. But for security reasons flights to/from the UK now require electronics to be powered-up at check-in.  Can I do that with a brand-new, boxed-up laptop, or does it need a complicated set-up first? Him indoors says he'll just ask for a screwdriver. What? They don't sell alcohol at check-in. No, not to drink, just to open the box.

27th December 2009

Bruno, our mad 'chasseur' gundog, was lonely. I asked Him indoors whether we should think the unthinkable and get him a little friend to play with. 'Are you mad?' he said. 'We can't control Bruno as it is. How are we gonna look after two? And think of the vet's fees if they get ill?' Practical as always. But, being a woman, I persisted and so, when a nearby friend suggested we accompany her on one of her regular visits to nearby Figeac rescue centre, I dragged the reluctant Him indoors and a panting Bruno (or was it the other way round?) to the most heartbreaking place you could imagine. There are hundreds of abandoned dogs there and because it's not funded by the SPA (French RSPCA), they struggle to house and feed them. One of the dogs that my friend regularly exercises was a cute Springer spaniel, a gundog like Bruno, but black with brown freckles on the nose. The good thing here was that the dog itself had no specific 'issues' - she was there simply because the owner was an alcoholic and could no longer look after her. She was so so placid, unlike Bruno (and Him indoors) and I thought maybe she would act as a calming influence. How could I resist?
We're now back home and I'm looking out at the front garden. Him indoors is busy raking the leaves and Bruno and her new pal Tina are racing around, stirring them all up again.
I 'ordered' our new doggie Tina on the same day as my new children's book 'Tina and the Colosseum of Rome' (2nd in the Rainbow series, after 'Rose') became available on Amazon.
A happy ending after all!