Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Lost Anchor


What yarn is in an object?
Where as it come from?
Why was it made?
It sits on the shelf, almost forgotten.
A wooden plinth  of many steps
Topped by a carved wooden anchor
The brass chain hanging loose.
Aplaque proclaims
“ Lost anchor 1967”. 
What is the tale behind this?
What memories does it bring forth?
To most people just a thing.
To me a day when the anchor fell
The chain came loose
And the ship ploughed on.
They laughed the engineers 
And made this memorial to that day.

In Helsinki we had to moor at the Ford berth. It was difficult to approach. The method used was to approach the berth and drop the port anchor using this to help the ship move sideways. and prevent the bow overshooting the berth area.
That day we approached the berth in exactly the way we had on many times. I was on the forecastle in charge of the anchor party and the forward mooring party. 
The Captain ordered the anchor dropped. I gave the order, the carpenter banged off the brake. The anchor fell into the water but the end of chain flew up into the air unattached to the anchor.
For a moment there was confusion  but we dropped the other anchor and used this round the bow of the ship to get us to the berth.
The dock authority did dredge up our anchor and we were able to lift it back in place with one of our cranes.
The engineers on the ship presented me with this trophy that night over drinks before dinner.

Friday, 12 August 2011

The Return of the Exiles


COMING SOON!!

Editing and checking 

Book 2 of the Rombuli Saga

called The Return of the Exiles 

before publishing alongside 

Book 1 The Teacher of the Rombuli 

on Kindle.

Monday, 1 August 2011

Liu Xiaobo and Liu Xia

The free world community must keep supporting and pressurising the Chinese Government over the continued harassment of LUI XIAOBO and his wife LIU XIA. Are the bunch of old thugs in charge of China so scared of a mild spoken non violent man and his supportive wife that they have to lock them away?
Raise your voices in proptest all you free people!

Monday, 18 July 2011

Eddie Gubbins Poetry: Galway Bay

Eddie Gubbins Poetry: Galway Bay: "We sing Watch the sun go down on Galway Bay But the rain poured down The clouds raced across the sky Waves beat on the shore. A Rainbow ar..."

Wednesday, 6 July 2011

tales from the sea: POETRY BY EDDIE GUBBINS

tales from the sea: POETRY BY EDDIE GUBBINS

POETRY BY EDDIE GUBBINS

POETRY BY EDDIE GUBBINS

I am publishing some of my poetry on www.eddiegubbinspoetry.blogspot.com.
Feel free to criticise, comment or praise.
Post your poems for comparison

Monday, 13 June 2011

A Ceremony Of Innocence

NOW AVAILABLE 0N KINDLE 
AS A 
DOWNLOADABLE EBOOK!!!


GET YOUR COPY NOW!!


A Ceremony Of Innocence


\by


Edmund Gubbins

Set against the political and industrial strife of the 1980's, this is a story  follows the lives of one family during one summer in 1981. 
Joan Brookes, the mother, is excited because her two sons will be back home together for the holidays, something that has not happened for what seems to her an age. All she wants for the holiday is her house filled with laughter, conversation and joy. In anticipation of the holiday she is happy.
Her husband Charlie is a shop steward at the Brents shipyard and at the same time as her boys are arriving home, there are redundancies announced at the shipyard. The workers led by Charlie vote to strike at the same time as his sons arrive home on holiday.
Jim, her youngest son is to graduate that summer from university with a first class honours degree making her feel proud and happy.  Left wing and loyal to his friends, Jim wants only to help his father in what he sees as the struggle for justice. Jim thinks of his brother as left wing and shy from the little he remembers of him when they were together at school ten years before. From this stand point Jim thinks his brother will help with the strike.
Mark, her oldest son, wants a quiet life while on leave from his travels as an officer in the merchant navy. He is skeptical about the strike and its effects on the community although he supports his father. Mark feels that because time is short while he is at home, he has to grab any opportunity for gain or happiness that comes his way. He is not prepared to subordinate his pleasure for the sake of the family over something that he sees as none of his business.
Against the background of the strike, Jim painfully finds out what his brother is like and is annoyed that Mark has enough friends to help Jim out of a brush with the law when the rest of the family were helpless.
What will be the climax, reconciliation or a final fractured relationship.

The book is available through Amazon in paperback.
It is also available on Kindle, iPad, Sony Reader etc.

Tuesday, 31 May 2011

The Teacher of the Rombuli

My fantasy novel 

The Teacher of The Rombuli 

BOOK 1 of the trilogy Rombuli Saga 

is now published on Kindle.


The Teacher of the Rombuli

by

Eddie Gubbins

Edward Eastland lives in an obscure country of the Parison Empire son of the most powerful man in Alskar Province, Idris Eastland. For over a century, the small nation of the Rombuli has been bowed down under the yoke of the Parison Empire and the Imperial Army,. The Emperor and the Imperial High families are maintained in power by the mysterious group of magicians called the Covenent. 
Soon after Edward meets Kitty the daughter of the Imperial Army Commander, the Emperor plans a visit to this distant Province of his Empire. In Alskar Town Square he confronts a Covenenter using his power but has to back down.
Edward is taken to Nimmar the capital of Rombuli and is forced to confront the dichotomy of his hate for the Empire but his love and friendship for some of the Imperial servants? 
Follow Edward as he learns more of the secrets of the Rombuli, attempts to confront the Covenent as he learns more of his power and searches for the ancient Teacher of the Rombuli, Nelvask, who has not been seen for over one hundred years. 






There are Apps available for this book to be downloaded on iPad and other devises

Friday, 18 February 2011

If you enjoy romantic suspense, please do read a sample of my historical romantic suspense novel, BETRAYAL, now available for Kindle. "This one's a keeper!" New York Times Bestselling Author Kat Martinhttp://tinyurl.com/6z3ylsj Please share this on your FB page. Thank you.
tinyurl.com
To save her son and people from a deadly enemy, Lady Katherine Stanfield marries her former betrothed, a man she'd betrayed but has never stopped loving. Katherine has never revealed her reason for the betrayal and now, five years later, believes her secret is safe. But someone won't let the past re

Sunday, 13 February 2011

A Ceremony of Innocence by Eddie Gubbins


My novel A Ceremony of Innocence has now been posted as an ebook on Kindle. It can be downloaded for $3.99 from Amazon with apps for iPad and other platforms.


Set against the political and industrial strife of the 1980's, this is a story  follows the lives of one family during one summer in 1981. 
Joan Brookes, the mother, is excited because her two sons will be back home together for the holidays, something that has not happened for what seems to her an age. All she wants for the holiday is her house filled with laughter, conversation and joy. In anticipation of the holiday she is happy.
Her husband Charlie is a shop steward at the Brents shipyard and at the same time as her boys are arriving home, there are redundancies announced at the shipyard. The workers led by Charlie vote to strike at the same time as his sons arrive home on holiday.
Jim, her youngest son is to graduate that summer from university with a first class honours degree making her feel proud and happy.  Left wing and loyal to his friends, Jim wants only to help his father in what he sees as the struggle for justice. Jim thinks of his brother as left wing and shy from the little he remembers of him when they were together at school ten years before. From this stand point Jim thinks his brother will help with the strike.
Mark, her oldest son, wants a quiet life while on leave from his travels as an officer in the merchant navy. He is skeptical about the strike and its effects on the community although he supports his father. Mark feels that because time is short while he is at home, he has to grab any opportunity for gain or happiness that comes his way. He is not prepared to subordinate his pleasure for the sake of the family over something that he sees as none of his business.
Against the background of the strike, Jim painfully finds out what his brother is like and is annoyed that Mark has enough friends to help Jim out of a brush with the law when the rest of the family were helpless.
What will be the climax, reconciliation or a final fractured relationship.
Can the brothers find a way to compromise their positions and fulfil their mother’s wish for a happy few weeks or will their anger boil over into open conflict and family break up?

Download it now for a good read.

Friday, 7 January 2011

Brotherly Love by Edmund J Gubbins


Ken Flood lived a quiet life with his wife and two daughters in Plymouth, working as a lecturer in the University, minding his own business and relatively happy and content. Out of loyalty to his brother he enters a world for which he has no experience. On the run from enemies he does not know, fearful and scared out of his mind. Running, moving, never staying in one place, not knowing to whom to turn for help. Never sure which men or women are on his side or against him. Not even sure of which side his brother is on. Wondering whether his brother his using him for purposes he has no control over. In the end, doubting his brother's motives.

It is a story of fear, of somebody out of their depth in a world made strange, of chance encounters with people willing to help, of finding hidden depths behind a placid exterior and of the extent which loyalty to ones family can led on down paths best left unexplored.

Read it by downloading to your iPad, Kimble or computer etc. from:
 www.smashwords.com 
for the bargain price of $1.99.