Here in Japan, it's only 21 days to the big one. Slowly Japan is becoming like North America with Christmas, including the holiday rush for gift buying.
But, I have embraced internet shopping for getting the gifts I can't find in Japan. This mostly consists of books and wargamming figures which I like.
On the literature front, I enjoy the Julian Stockwin novels. Mr. Stockwin is a former Royal Navy officer who is retired and has been writing for the better part of eleven years. His genre is about the Royal Navy from 1793 up to 1815. I enjoy his style of writing because he writes like someone who has been there, and it's not stuff, pompous. I had read some of Patrick O'Brien's Master and Commander series, but I just couldn't get around the imperialistic style of attitude which he approached his work.
I also make time for Bernard Cromwell's Sharpe series. I recently was able to find a DVD copy of Shapre's Challange, which was in a Japanese used book/dvd shop as whoever had bought it probobly didn't know what it was about. I recall reading his first novel Redcoat, which was set in Philadelphia in 1776-77 but there were so many accuracy problems that I was turned off of it. However, he did find his footing and his Sharpe novels are very interesting.
But I must plug my good friend Keith Blackmore. He's a fellow EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher who is also turning to writing science fiction. His first novel The Missing Boatman is a great read. If anyone wants to know what it's like living in Eastern Canada, or all of Canada at the start of winter, this is a good novel.
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