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The Book Depository will now deliver Perking the Pansies free of charge to about 120 countries and territories across the world from Australia and Andorra to Vanuatu and Vietnam. Ironically, the free deal doesn’t cover Turkey.

_The whirlwind virtual world book tour has reached its final destination back in old Bodrum Town. The imaginary train has pulled into the non-existent station. I’m knackered. My final gig is at Roving Jay’s Bodrum Peninsular Travel Guide.

"My vision of hell is being squeezed onto a commercial party boat like the Victoria Line during the rush hour with a bunch of orange-faced holidaying strangers and brats in baseball caps. We select our boat trips carefully – usually with a handful of hand-picked gals and pals. My advice is get your own group together, find a smaller craft and talk to the captain about what floats your boat. Most owners are amenable to any reasonable request and open to negotiation on the price. We’ve cruised from Yalikavak, Bitez and Bodrum; another great way to get away from the madding crowd." More…

_ In December 2010 my blog, Perking the Pansies, was blocked by the Turkish internet police. I threw a hissy fit at the prospect of a firm hand on my door knob, a frisk by a frisky conscript and instant deportation. It all turned out to be a storm in a çay cup. Tens of thousands of Google blogs were instantly blacked out because they all shared the same IP address with a couple of Turkish websites that were infringing copyright law (laughable when you think that Turkey is flooded with counterfeit goods). As a result, my inconsequential ramblings were simply caught up in lazy censorship that uses a scatter gun approach to punish the innocent and the guilty alike. My blog became, as the Americans say, ‘collateral damage‘. I had to shut up shop at Google and move lock, stock and barrel to new premises at Word Press.

Well, bugger me. It’s happened again. This time the idiotic censors have targeted this website. I'd like to make some PR capital out of this by claiming anti-gay discrimination but, alas, I can’t. The circumstances are exactly the same as before. This time it seems porn and gambling sites are being a targeted. I found one site sharing my IP address called Jail Bait which sounds like it a particularly nasty little corner of the web. Ban illegal sites by all means but it can’t be beyond the wit of these petty bureaucrats to deal with offenders individually instead of just pulling the plug on thousands of innocent sites just because it’s easier.

I’m working with my domain host to move my website to another IP address. In the meantime, the only way for people in Turkey to visit this website is via a VPN or proxy server.

_Ex-spook, Linda (she denies it, but I know she was), gave up her 007 career at the Pentagon and settled in the Low Countries to write about life and fret about global warming. If my house was fifty feet below sea level, I’d fret too. Linda is a prolific blogger, accomplished writer and published author. She’s also an all-round good liberal egg with the all the right values and a huge heart. Linda has been a great supporter of my blog virtually from the outset. She wrote an incredible review of my book and, best of all, I didn’t have to bribe her. This just goes to prove you can’t wet the beak of the honourable. In addition to the review, she’s written a post Pansies, Oh So Successfully Perked on Adventures in Expatland. Read it here.

_ Jack Scott will be talking about his debut book, Perking the Pansies, Jack and Liam move to Turkey at the Polari Literary Salon at London’s Southbank Arts Centre on the 6th February 2012. Polari is the brainchild of Paul Burston, award winning author, Gay and Lesbian Editor of Time Out London and one of Britain’s leading commentators on gay life. Paul created the forum to showcase new LGBT writers. Since its launch in 2007, Polari has established an enviable reputation as a centre of excellence for promoting new talent.

For future details about the event check Time Out online. To buy tickets check out the Southbank Website.

_You don’t need a Kindle to buy and download the Perking the Pansies ebook. All you need is a Kindle Reading App for your iPhone, PC, iPad or Android device. Download it for free from Amazon.

_"...Jack has a true talent for keeping it real, saying it as it is and standing up for what he believes in. But his biggest talent is that he can write it all down in a way that keeps you hooked and eagerly turning the page for more."

Read the full review on Helen's European Journey

_When I planned my virtual tour, I knew the book would have to take centre stage. There would be little point if it didn’t. But I didn’t want to just bang on about it and do the hard sell. People would get bored and simply switch channels. I know I would. I had to find a theme, something to maintain interest. I also wanted to say something related to the people that have kindly let me loose on their blogs. A theme gradually emerged: me. My favourite subject.

Today’s post is on Helen’s European Journey. Elegant Helen is wander-lusting gypsy-like across Europe (well, so far across Iberia – give ‘em time) in a travelling caravan with hunky husband and three pretty pussies in tow. So, folks, I give you… me and caravans. Not the dusty camel trains of antiquity hauling exotic goods along the ancient Silk Road from China to Anatolia, but the common or garden static metal type of my childhood. It’s a tenuous link, but stay with me.

Over the Helen for Trailer Trash

_Next whistle stop on my virtual book tour (are you still on the train?) is Liz Cameron’s blog, Slowly-by-Slowly. Liz writes with depth and poetry about her cross-cultural life as an American married to a Turk through eyes of a troupe of Ottoman era Karagöz shadow puppets. She’s not insane. It’s a metaphor, silly. Of greatest interest to me, though,  is that Liz lives in Provincetown, a pretty little New England seaside resort which is a summer mecca for gay visitors – a kind of American Brighton. Yes, I am that shallow. My invite to the party must be lost in the post. Well, the mail in Turkey is shocking.

Hop over to Slowly-by-Slowly to catch the book review and hang out with the marionettes.