The Novelist Bernard Veale
Bernard Veale was born in Durban in the Republic of South Africa and educated largely in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), where he had a marvellous boyhood.
His interests are family-life, growing herbs and vegetables, computers, horses and reading. He loves country living but his beautiful wife hates it so they live on the outskirts of Johannesburg in South Africa. He takes out his subsequent frustration by writing novels.
SPIRIT OF ECSTASY - A Novel by Bernard Veale
A Hugely Enjoyable Romp
Patrick Murphy is a charming 'Irish' layabout. He pilfers the purses of his lady friends, gambles and relies on his inherited Irish luck and wits to keep going. But his gambling debts are beginning to over take him and his bookmaker intends to collect forthwith. Living in a drug and alcohol induced haze, Patrick falls in with the mysterious Gigi who is not only gorgeous but changes his luck dramatically.
He finds her most intriguing, especially when she admits to being the ghost of an unprepossessing girl that he had recently seduced. His world becomes more confused when he is attracted to Gigi's real - life double, Gina, the daughter of "The Judge". . . reputed head of the local Mafia.
For the first time in his life, he is in love. Possibly from lack of experience in matters of the heart, he cannot discern whether he loves Gigi or Gina. Only assistance from the unworldly Gigi and a good deal of Irish whiskey helps him to keep ahead of his creditors and opposing Mafia factions.
How Patrick deals with his problems and pulls himself together is a story that is out of this world.
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Awaiting Publication
a.) THE CALL TO ARMS
(Spying during the French Revolution Book 1)
Frank Steel is a young man raised in a multi-lingual household in Gloucestershire at the time of the French revolution. He is brought up to be the complete European gentleman, the master of sword, pistol and horse, but the only English he speaks is that of the household servants and the surrounding country folk.
When he tries to join the British army, he is classed as a country bumpkin and put in the front line as cannon fodder but Frank is anything but a country bumpkin. He is surrounded by the French army and assumes the identity of a French ensign. From here, his career in the French army blossoms. The French accept him as the British never did. He ends up spying for the British and fighting for the French. He stumbles through historic times where his most dangerous opponents are always the women in his life. His sword and his wits are all he has to carry him through to the meagre approval of his British masters.
b.) THE PROFESSION OF ARMS
(Spying during the French Revolution Book
2)
Frank Steel is now established in the French Army. The French accept him as the British never did. He is spying for the British and fighting for the French. He climbs rapidly through the ranks of the French army to a colonelcy and achieves a great spying coup which results in his elevation to the lowest commissioned rank in the British Army, whilst the spy-master at home receives a peerage.
He fights in historic times but his most dangerous and troublesome opponents are always the women in his life. His male opponents he handles easily with his sword and quick wits. All his efforts earn under-whelming approval from his British masters.
c.) THE WICH CHILD
(A fantasy series of the Wich people Book 1)
Can you imagine a race of people with minds that set them apart from ordinary humans? A race that appeared on earth twenty thousand years ago and ultimately produced the pyramids of Egypt and Central America and founded a great civilisation on the islands of Atlantis. The core of this civilisation was destroyed with Atlantis. The scattered colonies of the Wich people left their mark on history as the Phoenician and Basque peoples but the purity of their blood was soon swamped by human genes. The powers dwindled and became no more than suspected actions of poltergeists until a remnant of those that believed in the ancient myths began a long term breeding program, spanning centuries, to restore the Wich genes.
The Wich Child is the story of the first fully restored Wich child, Sena. A girl with such powers as had never been seen in many millennia upon this earth.
d.) THE RETURN OF THE WICHES
(A fantasy series of the Wich people Book 2)
The children of the Wich people return from the planet of Bodasen, that they had discovered while searching for their original planet Wika, to Earth to collect technology and equipment for their new society. The nations of the earth want to use them as weapons against each other.
This is the story of a primitive race with no technology that is able by natural gifts of the mind and by natural resources available from their planet of Wika to travel through space at just below the speed of light. This story covers their escape from the governments of Earth and return to Bodasen.
e.) THE CHRONICLES OF WIKA
(A fantasy series of the Wich people book
3)
The Wich people came from a planet called Wika. They were a primitive people with no technology and yet thousands of years ago they were able to cross space and reach our earth.
They did this with the natural gifts of their race and a few special
resources that their planet provided.
The natural gifts set them apart from the humans of earth who regarded them as gods. They became pharaohs and kings and built pyramids and temples which are marvels to this day. But as they inter-bred with earthlings, their powers were diluted, with their blood, until only vestiges of that power remained. Their descendants were branded as witches and demons and burnt at the stake for the weakened powers that they were foolish enough to display. They were forced to hide their powers for centuries until their secret council decided to embark on a breeding program that mated the strongest powers together to produce children with enhanced gifts.
Once this program showed signs of success, the governments of earth realized the weapon-potential of humans that could lift buildings by telekinesis and see through solid objects, or into them, down to molecular level. The governments began to collect them and confine them for military purposes until a small resisting group of reconstituted Wich people discovered one of their ancient star ships lying on the bottom of the ocean and raised it by telekinesis. They gathered as many of the specially-bred Wich people as they could and set off into space to try to find the planet of Wika.
Without any means of navigating or any specific directions to lead them to Wika, it was not surprising that they ended up on a planet called Bodasen.
Bodasen was as beautiful as a tropical island and they setlled there happily until their children decided to return to earth to pick up supplies of seeds, together with books and technology that their new civilization lacked.
They were successful in this mission but once again fell foul of the governments of earth and had to leave in a hurry with a large contingent of earthlings on board. Some of these sabotaged their uncertain space navigation and they ended up at the planet of Wika.
f.) THE PERFECT VALLEY (western novel)
Matt Hudson is heading for California after completing a cattle drive from Texas. He is cheated out of his money, horse and guns by the Town marshal and deputies of Danville.
Penniless, he walks toward California carrying his stock saddle following
a river because he needs the water. Near the source of the river he
finds the perfect valley hidden in the foothills to the mountains.
The valley has everything he needs to survive including several hundred
sheep and there is a nearby herd of mustangs.
With the help of a young Mexican boy, he takes some sheep to the county seat where the railroad-Irish pay good prices for mutton. Here he meets the county sheriff and his pretty daughter Molly. Molly is already involved with the Town Marshal of nearby Danville against her father's wishes. When Matt takes her to a dance the Marshal is determined to get him. Their enmity increases to the point that the Marshal claims that Matt is a wanted criminal and puts a bounty on his head.
Three bounty hunters find his valley and attack it but are defeated by Matt and his Mexican boy. The captured bounty hunters disclose that the Marshal had been involved in the recent bank robbery in Danville. The Marshal goes on the run with his deputy and seeks out the valley, where there is a showdown and Molly finally sees the Marshal for what he is.
g.) HOW TO MAKE A MILLION QUICKLY WITHOUT RISK (fat girl)
Cara, the fat girl, is hiding from an assassin. In her disguise, she signs up as a famous photographer?s personal assistant. Soon she is running everything for him and covering for his undisciplined love-life. She arranges for a photo-shoot with a bevy of beautiful models at the Victoria Falls. The photographer continues to get his love-life tangled and they move into the country of Zimwe where the malignant power of its president, Bugame, holds sway. In the course of many adventures, Cara saves her potential assassin from imprisonment in Zimwe, an almost certain death sentence. Having no longer a reason to hide, she reverts to her true self as Lady Caroline Fenstone, a celebrated beauty, very rich novelist and a member of the European parliament. All the men in her life are vying for her attention. How she brings about the fall of the Zimwe president and chooses her love from her many suitors is the core of this story.
h.) SLEIGHT OF HAND
Some espionage agents might be incompetent. Adam Sleight is not, in fact, he is in many ways unusually talented and capable but there are two things he does not understand. The first is woman-kind and the second is what he has got himself into.
Adam Sleight is a stage magician that specializes in legerdemain or sleight of hand. He is engaged to lift a set of documents from the pocket of a diplomat and is caught up in a web of espionage that he does not understand.
His attempts to disentangle himself from this web throw him into the company of women that he understands even less than espionage. It is no surprise when one of them captures him completely despite his best efforts to stay in control.
i.) THE VIGILANTE (a modern adventure story)
The Vigilante is a classic comic-book hero. He is taken under the wing of a billionaire genius when he is an early teenager. With the help of his mentor he is trained up to be a martial arts expert and gymnast.
The genius invents body armor and a special weapon that enables the Vigilante to capture criminals almost effortlessly.
The police regard him as one who takes the law into his own hands and do not value his help; in fact, they actively look to arrest him. He is faced with two vicious and extremely resourceful criminal opponents that keep escaping from prison and changing their identities. He also has to deal with women who want him as the adopted son of a billionaire and do not mind too much what they have to do to get him.
This is a fast-paced story of how the young hero copes with the enormous responsibility that is thrust upon him while keeping his identity hidden to protect those close to him.
j.) THE BOY'S CLUB
Mac MacLeod is a surfer. Money is not important to him, surfing is.
Mac loves beach life and girls. His life changes when he finds a heavily pregnant girl abandoned on the beach with nothing except the clothing she is wearing.
Mac takes the girl to his tiny wooden beach shack. He delivers the baby and cares for mother and child. He takes a job as a lifeguard to earn more money.
The child becomes the center of his existence and when the mother runs off with a rich admirer, he is the sole guardian of the little girl. He takes a better job as lifeguard at the Country Club, far from the surf, to better provide for the youngster. Eventually he becomes the manager of the Country Club and through a girl friend learns about the Boy's Club. The club is a very exclusive secret association. Its membership includes a front-runner for president of the country.
The investigator that Mac finds to handle the divorce of his girl friend disappears while investigating the Boy's Club and is not the first to do so. Mac decides to launch his own investigation.
The mother of the child in Mac's care has married the rich admirer and when both are killed, the child inherits a vast fortune through a trust of which Mac is named as the sole trustee. Mac uses his financial backing to identify the guilty members one by one and bring them to ruin after several adventures. He ultimately closes down the Boy's Club and the love of his life makes an honest man of him.
