Author from Bury St Edmunds thrilled to see his book published
An author is celebrating after a book he wrote more than 25 years ago has been published.
John Biggs spent months writing his novel in 1995, then on a portable Olivetti, in part as an homage to his late father-in-law, Reginald.
It had been his ambition since he left school at 15 to write a novel - but after a friend told him it was probably 'fit for a ladies' magazine', he threw it away in a cupboard.
Now, 25 years later, after learning another friend’s daughter had recently self-published two books on Amazon, he thought he’d take a look.
“I am a bit of a techno-dinosaur but it looked quite easy to do, so I thought I’d give it a go,” said Mr Biggs, 76, a retired print business owner and salesman.
“When we went into lockdown earlier this year I decided to fill my time typing out my book on my laptop.
Not having read it for 25 years, I saw room for improvement, took out and added little bits, and this time, I didn’t even have to use Tipex.
"Then I sent it to Amazon."
Mr Biggs, may be better known to some of our readers as ‘Jean D’Arc’, a pseudonym he uses whenever he writes to the Bury Free Press .
He chose this particular ‘nom de plume’ as he lives in the arc in Bury St Edmunds, and enjoys learning French. He also ran ‘Strictly Saturdays’ dance classes at the Apex until lockdown.
“My father-in-law was a working class chap who still rode the old bike his mother bought him when he was 15, until his late 80s.
“He didn’t have a great education but amassed a wardrobe full of old 78rpm jazz and swing records. He read every book on the subject.
“The character in my book is Harry Tether, very much like my father-in -law but unmarried. He retires at 65 but very soon gets totally bored and reaches the ‘end of his tether”, until he realises that he can record all his old records on to cassette tapes
After meeting a wealthy American businessman, and following a hangover, a daft but fun adventure begins, with a little bit of romance thrown in, for good measure.
Tether’s End by John David Biggs is available from Amazon Books priced £3.99 for the paperback and £1.77 for Kindle.
"I gave it to a friend to read when I first wrote it and when he said it 'was fit for a ladies' magazine', I threw it away in a cupboard.
"Since I left school at 15 and started an apprenticeship as a letterpress printer, I'd always had an ambition I would one day write a book and print it.
“It only took me another 61 years and a lockdown to get there.”
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