I was pleased and honoured when Steve wrote to me last week with words of praise and encouragement for my new novel The Best Year Of Our Lives.

Set in a fictitious West London town beside the Thames in 1976, the book is about a group of youngsters growing up in those balmy days - their adventures and encounters, and their strategems and struggles against other gangs for mastery of their neighbourhood. Some have described it as a pleasant reminisce whilst others see deeper themes - me, I'm happy for readers to enjoy it as they prefer.

In writing the story I drew upon the various cultural influences of the day, but in particular it lingers on the affection which the two leading characters have for the music of Steve Harley (hence the title of the book), as well as of Bowie.

Steve advises me that he will be reading the book, which he says "entertained me riotously", for the second time between rehearsals and performances in Athens - news which has given me every encouragement in my continued work.

With his kind permission I am able to link to the sales page on Amazon, which is at https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B07491RXWN. Please note that with the Kindle edition one can download a free sample (the Prologue and first eight chapters) before deciding whether or not to purchase - although please do not use the "Look Inside" link as the layout there is scrambled and bears no resemblance to how the actual product itself looks.

Please take a look. For those who do take the plunge, I hope you enjoy it and of course any feedback will always be hugely appreciated.

Thank you.

A brief update if I may - I have made the ebook version of this book available free of charge for a limited period of 48 hours. Just click the link in the previous post and follow the instructions.

If you don't possess a Kindle reading device don't worry, the necessary software can be downloaded to your PC or smartphone - again free of charge - from the site.

Please feel free to take advantage, and thanks once again to Steve and the mods of this forum for their indulgence.

Hello Rebels

My thoughts over the past couple of days have led me here - via rereading of Honeybadger's thread and my own reference to it (The Impression of Being Relaxed, Vol 2? And Who's That Girl, respectively - both threads are located in the 'Forum Questions' section of the Forum).

I'm coming back to this thread, with more content to add, in the next few days...

For now...

(I wonder how he's done with it over the intervening eight years...who knows...he might come back to us?!)

Additions: There seem to be few books/other publications on Steve and/or Cockney Rebel, either of an autobiographical or biographical nature.

The Impression of Being Relaxed, by Steve, has already been touched upon (by Honeybadger), covering Steve's online diaries between 2000 and 2008. I may come back to this again at a later date, either here or as a reply on Honeybadger's thread.

I've also found reference to 'Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel: Complete Recordings Illustrated' by Andrew Sparke, and 'Matabeleland' apparently an e book by Steve, but today is the first time I've been aware of it's possible existence. This is described as one in a trilogy(?) Has anyone got either of these (or the novel at the head of this thread)?

In due course, I'll no doubt look into these further...

HNY!