Reader's Magnet approached me recently for them to conduct an interview for their Authors' Lounge section with regard to my latest novel, 'There Must Be Daffodils.' That interview is reproduced here. ‘There Must Be Daffodils,’ billed as a cosy, clean novel, was a departure from the norm for Stephenson Holt. After twenty-three novels and two books of poetry and short stories, his attempt at cosy and clean was a challenge for this author. It’s a boy-meets-girl in her thirties novel and follows a will-they-won’t-they scenario, laced together with what one reviewer called “love at first sight intermingled with clandestine wealth, fishing, domestic counter-intelligence, terminal illness, and fugitive spies, with a happily-ever-after ending to boot.” Authors’ Lounge asked Stephenson why he had diverted from his norm. “I love writing about the unusual,” Stephenson told us. “For instance, my vampire trilogy is different from the norm in that any human only turns when made love to by three diff

Let's face it, women talk to each other about medical situations, men do not. This is not an old fashioned view, it is a current view, and those with prostate cancer (or any other type) should, in my opinion, speak out more and inform. There is a fear though that if you do speak out, you will be criticised for scare-mongering, or worse, for mis-diagnosing someone else's condition. Everyone's journey is different and not all will follow mine, so anything that happened to me should not be a sign that it could be happening to you, or your male partner. In other words, I am no medical expert, the following should not be taken as medical advice, and if you have any suspicions of any cancer you should consult a specialist such as your GP. The logo shown here is from an association that I support but it does not reflect any of my views and cannot therefore be construed as a plea for routine testing. My own story starts some twenty-two years before diagnosis, when I reached fifty, and went for

Resting Heart Rate - A Possible Correlation? For this and anything else I blog on the subject of prostate cancer, I first have to divulge that I am not medically proficient, am not a scientific person, and nothing that I say can be verified by professionals. Anyone with suspicions about their own prostate cancer or their own rise in their resting heart rate should contact proper medical advice and anyone of a certain age (varies country to country) should have their prostate specific androgen (PSA) tested at least annually. The purpose of this blog post is to outline the changes in my personal resting heart rate before and during the time when the cancer took over and during treatment. I should point out at this point that my oncologist told me that my rapid increase in resting heart rate was maybe due to a massive flare-up of the cancer at that time and the cancer would have taken hold a long time before the rise started. I have also contacted various cancer researching charities, no

During my working days, my life felt one-dimensional, with work taking up most of my time and relaxation being a counter measure. Since retirement (I am 71 as I write) time management has been split between a number of areas. I have always written novels and used to be a member of the 5am writing club, getting words down before showering and getting to work. These days writing can come as ideas flow and that, as you can imagine, is far more fruitful. More on this in the "Novel Writing" category. Time driving around the country in a work capacity has been swapped for a three-times-a-week round trip to Llandarcy where my granddaughter trains in rhythmic gymnastics at international level as a mamber of Llanelli Rhythmic Gymnastics Association. Meanwhile, my grandson, at aged fourteen, is making his own stop-motion videos and wants to make it his career. I support this with the purchase of models that are used in the videos, by pushing things on social media and by sitting with him during