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Patrick G Cox was born in Cape Town in 1946 and grew up in a small city on the East Cape coast called East London. He has long had a fascination with both the sea and ships and the world of science fiction and space travel. Educated at Selborne Primary and College in East London, he worked in commerce and industry before joining the Fire Service in South Africa. In 1988 he and his family moved to the UK where he continued his fire service career finally retiring from the service in 2006. He is a published technical author and has ventured into fiction for his own pleasure as much as anything else. While his career has been focused on dealing with emergencies and in trying to prevent them, his interests have ranged far beyond the technical and include a love of history, especially naval history, science, the exploration of space and some simpler pursuits such as painting and simply reading a good book. Among his favourite authors are such luminaries as Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Douglas Reeman, C S Forrester and Terry Pratchett, with whom he shares the view that writing is the most fun one can have on one's own.
A Reader in the Church of England, he has a deep faith and is active in the work and life of the Parish he serves. Possessed of a quirky sense of humour, working with and too the civil services of two different countries he has also developed a deep cynicism about the entire process of government, both political and bureaucratic. He subscribes to the view that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Each generation simply has to deal with the mess left by the last and hope they aren't making it any worse.
I agree entirely with Terry Pratchett - writing is the most fun anyone can have on their own!
See also my blog at The Gray Monk's Scriptorium
http://www.thegraymonksscriptorium.blogspot.com |
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PATRICK G COX IS FOLLOWING |
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Patrick G Cox:
The year seems to be vanishing faster than ever. I haven't had a lot of time between trying to rewrite one of my early books and working with my publisher to get my book on the life of St Patrick into print. The good news is it will happen later this year. The bad news is the time it absorbs making the changes, rewriting and correcting ...
But it's getting there. My apologies to everyone I used to review ...
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 July 17, 2016 at 8:07AM
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Taffspride: Looking forward to reading the
Life of St. Patrick when it comes out.
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July 17, 2016 at 9:23AM
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Patrick G Cox:
My aplogies to all my friends here, and to those I regularly read. I have a lot on my plate at the moment with promoting, writing, editing, revising and ...
Well you get the picture. I keep telling myself that once winter starts I'll have more reading/reviewing time. Here's hoping.
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September 6, 2015 at 12:47PM
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| giraffmang: Your presence is sorely missed, my friend
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September 6, 2015 at 2:22PM
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Patrick G Cox:
Finally. The editing is complete, the formatting is complete, the book layout and cover is complete, even some 'illustrations' internally are complete - so Limehouse Boys is now 'in the works' with the printer (Lightning Source and Create Space) and uploaded to Kindle by the publisher, IndieGo Publishing LLC ... It's been quite a haul, which is why I've been somewhat absent here, but I must say the end result is looking really good. As soon as I can I'll upload a link to the Kindle Store for it, and I hope some readers here will want to buy it.
The book will be on sale from the 31st July.
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July 28, 2015 at 4:12PM
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| michaelcahill: Congrats! I can't tell you how encouraging that is for some of us who are intimidated by the process. It gives us a little more courage. :))
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July 28, 2015 at 4:54PM
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| IndianaIrish: Congratulations, Patrick! Your long process is,over, and now you can bask in your published glory!
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July 28, 2015 at 6:21PM
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Taffspride: Congratulations Patrick, that is great. I hope you will let us know of on Facebook when it is available. Besides I like to share it for on my writers group, and also with my friends ther.
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July 28, 2015 at 6:39PM
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Patrick G Cox:
Entering the final stages of publishing my latest book. This has been a long, long haul and pretty demanding, but the final draft version is now with the Beta Readers. Hopefully once we have their responses, the book will go to print.
All of which leaves little time for writing at the moment.
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July 15, 2015 at 1:55PM
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Taffspride: That is wonderful Patrick, congratulations.
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July 15, 2015 at 1:58PM
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| giraffmang: Nice one Patrick. All the best with it. Hope you'll be back soon too.
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July 16, 2015 at 1:36AM
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Patrick G Cox:
Hay fever has me firmly in its grip. Sneezing, burning eyes, bad throat ... Can't focus on anything at present, sorry folks ...
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June 12, 2015 at 9:51AM
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| nor84: I had hay fever so bad this spring that over-the-counter meds didn't work. Went to the doc and got prednisone, Nasacort and allergy eye drops, which are over the counter. Maybe that would help you two.
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June 12, 2015 at 11:44PM
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| Patrick G Cox: It's easing off a bit now, nor84, but I'm on pills, nasal spray and eyedrops, none of which control it completely. This has been the worst year for it in a long time.
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June 17, 2015 at 4:38PM
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Patrick G Cox:
Still rewriting and waiting on editor's criticisms and suggestions. An interesting challenge on top now, trying to find the copyright owner of a photo taken in the 1880s ...
Now there's a challenge.
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June 1, 2015 at 2:43PM
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| Julia.: A photo that old is in the public domain in the U.S.. The absolute longest/worst case length of copyright here for photos or written works is 120 years. Where are you located?
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June 1, 2015 at 3:24PM
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Patrick G Cox:
My apologies to those I usually read ... I'm having to take a break for a bit as I'm having to do some rewrites and a lot of extra work for my publisher.
More cheerfully, I had a great five days with my kids in the UK. Now back to the grindstone ...
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May 21, 2015 at 1:22PM
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| IndianaIrish: Best wishes on your rewrites for your book, Patrick!
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May 21, 2015 at 5:00PM
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| Patrick G Cox: Thanks Indiana - it's proving a little tougher than expected, but it is getting there.
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May 22, 2015 at 7:31AM
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Patrick G Cox:
Heading for the UK in the morning for a five day visit to see my kids in London and Dorset, so I will be 'absent' for a bit. I know, I know, I've been a bit 'absent' for the last couple of weeks -- and I apologise to anyone counting on my reviewing. I have a couple of big projects in the garden, on rewriting something, and bringing out another book.
Normal service will resume when I figure out what I'm doing with at least one of them ...
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May 12, 2015 at 7:25AM
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Patrick G Cox:
A BIG thanks to all those who voted for my entry to Dr Terry Fying's Crumbling Crypt - Tales from the Count's Crypt. I'm delighted to have won and I'm pleased that my rather quirky humour is giving amusement to so many readers.
The Count will do his best to continue to amuse ...
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April 19, 2015 at 6:17AM
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| DIS-illusioned: Why don't Counts just stick to what they were elected to do--counting?
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April 19, 2015 at 12:02PM
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| evilynne: I wouldn't count on that.
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April 19, 2015 at 5:55PM
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| michaelcahill: Your entry was a masterpiece. We all knew we were beat the moment we read it. Congrats.
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April 20, 2015 at 12:22AM
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| Patrick G Cox: This Count hires people to count ... Thanks Michael, I appreciate the compliment.
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April 20, 2015 at 11:20AM
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| Selina Stambi: We'll be counting on you to keep it up! Cpongratulations, Patrick.
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April 23, 2015 at 8:20PM
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Patrick G Cox:
A failed hard drive on my laptop - fortunately backed up regularly - is causing a bit of a problem at the moment. I'm doing my best on my iPad to read and review, but posting is tricky.
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March 16, 2015 at 9:28AM
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Patrick G Cox:
Anyone else have a complete 'outage' of FanStory last night? I suddenly couldn't access the site at all, the second time in recent days this has happened, I just get a message saying my browser 'can't access the server'. It lasted at least two hours here in my neck of the woods ...
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February 27, 2015 at 2:32AM
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LIJ Red: I'd suspect my local phone/cable company,
first, then my modem/browser
set-up, but that's out
here in the boondocks
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February 27, 2015 at 3:14AM
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| nor84: Nope. Everything was normal here in high desert California.
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February 27, 2015 at 5:28AM
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Patrick G Cox:
OK, so I'm probably a dinosaur when it comes to dramatic changes. I'm actually having a problem or two with the new layout of the site to try to find out how much I have in my 'kitty' for promoting chapters, where my message notifications are hiding now and how to know if and when I have been reviewed ...
As for where to find the forums ...
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December 3, 2014 at 3:24PM
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Imogen JH: Top bar. click your name. In menu on left, click status. Your dollars are there.
Forums are under the 'Community'
Messages are in your profile also, Or, top right symbol. very top right corner, click that.
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December 3, 2014 at 3:28PM
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| Ideasaregems-Dawn: Patrick, I've had (and still have) many issues - the first was even logging on, then no way to upload a new image to my profile page, then no way to access any of my old work, then no "save" button when writing a review - when that was fixed it then froze me out at the next window - still does) then, my new posting (a senryu ABOUT writing reviews and being frozen out) disappeared after I registered the copy write but before I took it out of "preview" mode...AND I have no idea IF I was paid for the reviews I DID write because, like you, I can't see my member dollar accumulation. (Whew - I wanted to say it all at once before I forgot any of it. LOL. I think I covered it all. NOW I am going to leave this site alone for awhile and hope that there are some resolutions when I come back!) *Grin* << but only because I am currently leaving! LOL
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December 3, 2014 at 3:54PM
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| Selina Stambi: Why don't you just get back to classic.fanstory.com? Most of us old timers have. Happy New Year, Patrick.
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January 6, 2015 at 8:22PM
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Patrick G Cox:
I plan to start posting chapters from my new book soon. Set in the period 1830-ish in the East End of London and the Thames estuary, Essex and Kent, it is proving interesting to write (in a phonetic 'Estuarine' vernacular) because the research has turned up some interesting aspects of early Victorian society.
My 'heroes' in this are a trio of orphaned boys who face efforts by organised crime barons to exploit them. There is murder, arson, blackmail, corruption - and some sailing barges and their crews ...
In other news, my publisher, Indiego Publishing, having taken on Their Lordships Request, one of my early books, asked for a total rewrite of it with new material and chapters, and the removal of others - and now plans to publish it as Harry Heron: Midshipman's Journey. The rewrite and the editing is taking a lot of time, but, from the feedback from the publisher, has been worth the effort..
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November 20, 2014 at 3:58PM
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| adewpearl: You know how much I love Harry :-) I am so eager for this new book!
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November 20, 2014 at 6:02PM
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Patrick G Cox:
Having been very busy editing two books, attempting to get another two started, gardening, household stuff, and dog training, walking and generally 'doggy' stuff with my Shelties, I'm now off to South Africa for a Class reunion for two weeks.
Hopefully, when I get back, I can start posting some chapters of my latest historical novel ...
I live in hope, ever the optimist!
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October 17, 2014 at 10:38AM
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| adewpearl: Have a great trip. I await, impatiently, a new book from you :-)
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October 17, 2014 at 11:29AM
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| Linda Engel: please be careful. and have a safe return
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October 17, 2014 at 11:41PM
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| Sankey: Hi new friend really enjoyed reading your recent offering.
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November 8, 2014 at 2:53PM
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| Sankey:
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March 20, 2015 at 8:43PM
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Patrick G Cox:
Figured it was time to update my profile picture to a more recent image.
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May 28, 2014 at 1:14PM
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| Green Lake Girl: I always appreciate knowing what my fellow writers look like!
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June 10, 2014 at 7:30AM
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None yet. 
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No writing posted.
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May 2011
 | Fresh Start reached "Recognized" status. | April 9 at 10:08AM
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Up For ReviewStand Out WritingAdditional Reading
