Friday 18 October 2013

Hi All, the full length, (no pun intended) novel is well underway, I'll post up an excerpt here soon. Due for release in the new year, we will release an audio book edition too with them tunes included too.
I'm away again, on an overnight. As usual.
Sleep calling. Swede Dreams to me.
Please do sign up and I'll keep you posted. AND, I'll send you free copies of my books if you write me a review on your ebook provider!
Doesn't get better than that.
Lots love
TC.... xx

Wednesday 26 June 2013



Terence Chang's Aviation Photographs Are Amazing As Are Many Of His Other Photographs. 

I love this one.

 
 Source: Terence Chang
 
https://secure.flickr.com/photos/exxonvaldez/3734764542/

Friday 31 May 2013

New Romance From Telma's Theater In The Sky

Rumours


Chris Anderson is a great pilot and a great guy. His relationship with Flight Attendant Tamara Wilkinson is progressing at an amazing pace and all is right with his world until hidden obligations crop up that require an unannounced absence. Rumours are part of human nature and can take on a life of their own. VisionAire is not immune to that human flaw which threatens dire consequences.


An excerpt from the book for you:

Hello, it’s me, Telma. Everything is fine at VisionAire, business as usual with the sole exception of poor Captain Anderson. It’s really a shame you know, what happened to him. We all share a little of the blame, but there really was no malice in what happened, it was just rumours and idle gossip and never should have gone so far. In our close knit aviation life, gossip can be a problem. It’s a sobering thought that just a few harmless words can have near tragic consequences. We say things every day without thinking, never realizing that words can also be weapons that hurt even though they were never intended to do so. Did you ever stand idly by and watch something really stupid happen? Did you wish later that you had intervened, even though you knew that anything you tried to do would probably have made things worse? I have and now I have to tell someone, because I feel so guilty so I’m writing to you about it. Chris Anderson was a new hire, but he fit right in and everyone quickly came to adore him. He was just as handsome as Grant and some of our other pilots…but in a totally different way. Just a tad older than the others, he had the rugged good looks of an action adventure movie star. With a craggy face, he looked like the wrong guy to tangle with. The only time I saw his lethal potential was at a restaurant in New York when he first came onboard our airline. Charles Stross, our CEO and chief hunk at VisionAire, had offered to buy dinner for the whole crew at the beginning of a four day mandated crew rest. The entire crew (Captain Grant Edwards was doing Captain Anderson’s flight checks) was taken to an expensive restaurant in Manhattan. As we approached the entrance, We heard screams from across the street, and saw a flamboyantly dressed man slapping a young girl who was obviously a prostitute. It was a brutal beating, and Chris excused himself from the group. He cros sed the four lanes of traffic in just a few strides, catching the out flung hand of the pimp, who was about to strike the girl again. Grant (Captain Edwards) started to go to Chris’s aid, but Charles held him back. “Trust me Grant,” Charles said, “the only one who needs any help is the pimp.” Charles smiled and we looked at him in amazement. Then there was another cry from across the street, to our shock it was that of a man. The pimp was on his knees and begging Chris to let him go. Chris asked the girl to leave, and stood watching as she reluctantly fled the scene. We never saw what actually happened, but the pimp excited stage left in another direction. When Chris returned, Charles smiled at him. “You know she’ll be right back with him in an hour, right?” “I know,” said Chris, “but he won’t hit her where I can see him anymore. Shall we??” suggested Chris, holding his arm out for me, he was totally unruffled. His dinner jacket wasn’t even mussed. Chris proved to be a charming dinner companion, and had a large stock of funny tales about people from around the world that kept us all laughing. Charles let him select the wine for dinner, he had a particular fondness for Argentine varieties. Charles challenged his knowledge of the wines, being the true connoisseur that he is, but Chris proved up to the task and we all got an interesting explanation of why Argentine wines are so delicious. He went into great detail, describing how the vines had been transplanted from France, and how the acid soil of the foothills of the Andes was the perfect place for wine grapes to be grown. It was an entertaining discussion, and it changed the way I order wine forever. There was no further mention of the pimp or of Charles’ strange comment about the pimp needing help. Chris was single, and it wasn’t very long before one of our lovely attendants managed to entice him to her bed…We spend a great deal of time away from home. It’s only natural that the unattached women (and some of the attached ones) take comfort where they can find it on our grueling schedule. Of course, there is no escaping the gossip that ripples through the organization, it’s human nature and not one of the things we really condone…but how does one stop it?

Monday 21 January 2013

Never Give A Pilot A Camera To Take Pictures Of His Cockpit...


Never Ever Give A Pilot A Camera, Here's Why...



Just before pushback from the gate, we gave the pilots a camera. A disposable one, yes that’s right the type with a film in it that has to be developed. Like this one with the CEO of the US, Obama, on it.   



I didn’t mind asking as the Captain was super cool, as was the c-pilot and both had a great sense of humour. And no it wasn’t sexy Arlo or Capitano Grant Edwards, thank god. Because the end result was… well. I will allow the el commandante to tell the story…


"We were, as Telma said, given the camera before we started the flight and asked to take pictures. "

What a great idea!  Telma would have something to remember us by in the years to come. She is the nostalgic type after all. So we snapped away... the airport, the runway, other planes, us, more boring pictures, of us. It was my idea to go beyond the call of duty for Telma’s sake. So, I ordered the First Officer to unbuckle his seatbelt, turn around and moon.
And he did, the daft idiot.
So we had a reasonably focused, extreme close-up, of a surprisingly hair-free backside. I know because I’m still having disturbing flashbacks.

"The tone deteriorated from that point. "

When ATC passed on some heading instructions we paused. I then proceeded to shove the camera down the front of my trousers and took a snap of Jeremy Joystick. The First Officer did the same for his little Teddy Bear’s arm, which remained, thankfully, hidden from my view.
Being the competitive type, I spun around on my seat and exposed my co-aviator to his commander’s ass. (He no longer works for the airline and I’m sorry if this exposure to my ace in the hole was the root cause of his departure.)

With schoolboy grins we gave the camera back to Telma before top of descent because we were about to get busy. Busy worrying.

We’d taken pictures of our faces. Our butts were readily identifiable, they could be matched! By now the stress was reaching dangerous levels in the cockpit and we finally cracked when the co-jo blurted out, "what if she gives the camera to her mother to develop?"

It was time to focus and get this bird on the ground where we could come up with a plan.

During the turnaround, we all gravitated to the centre of the empty aircraft cabin where the entire crew took a quick breather before the next flight home.

We’d decided that the First Officer would make the move.

Telma thanked us for taking the camera.
“No problem, a great idea,” said the co-jo. “And tell you what. Give me the camera, and I'll pay for it to be developed.”
Telma looked confused.
“That way I can double up on the prints, and perhaps even blow some up,” he said. The thought terrified me.
Telma frowned. “I don’t have the camera guys, it wasn’t mine. It belonged to one of the passengers…”