New Website

The past year has seen a great deal of changes in our lives.

First, we moved back to NC for family reasons yet spent the month of July in Cuenca so we could visit old friends and hope we can do the same on future summers. It was a wonderful time for each of us. Cuenca has certainly changed. On the few occasions we went to expat haunts, we hardly knew a soul. A whole new contingent has arrived and looked like they were thriving. Jonny quickly had his Spanish back. We've tried hard to keep it going during the school year in NC, however, the Spanish children at his school only want to speak English. But, we toss him into the Spanish mix as often as we can.

Secondly, our book, Retire in Ecuador has done very well in both the eBook and print edition. People have commented that the photos bring Cuenca to life like nothing else could do.

Bill has put out a new website at www.WilliamBurrBooks.com The website is crammed full of photos, descriptions, and links on more than a dozen of his books. If you like adventure novels, how to guides on boating peppered with personal experiences, and his book on retirement in Ecuador, please take a look.

Reading abroad

 Living in Ecuador is off the beaten track but fortunately it allows both of us to write, publish, and communicate with the world of authors and readers in a number of ways.

Over the last two years, this blog has enabled us to visit with readers from 111 countries more than 36,000 times.  For us, it has been a huge success because we have interacted with countless families throughout the world. Some, who have moved here, have become good friends. Others have had a steady discourse with us over long periods of time. But, coming up with new postings has become more difficult because many subjects of interest to possible expats have already been covered by our blog or by other blogs. We would appreciate your comments on subjects that you might be interested in. We will research them and give you our take on the problem or question.

            Meanwhile, we continue to write. Loretta is in the process of finishing a memoir called Jonny First which will be sent to her agent in New York by the end of July.

Loretta has also just published her first ebook novel on Amazon.com called, Soulmates, a Story of Love, Passion, and Obsession That Transcends Life. Bill too has published an Amazon.com ebook, a Caribbean adventure novel called Chinchorro Reef, Kidnapped at Sea.

Electronic books like these are the new publishing trend. Already Amazon.com sells more ebooks than conventional hardbacks and paperbacks. What is interesting for those of us who are expats is that an ebook can be downloaded to a PC in less than a minute and can then be transferred and read on your PC, Kindle, iphone, iPad, Blackberry, or Android device at your leisure. Often an ebook at Amazon costs between 0.99 cents per book all the way up to $10.00 which is considerably less than a print book. Some are even free. Sample chapters can be downloaded at no cost before you purchase a book.

The other great advantage for expats is that very few English title books are sold in Cuenca. Purchasing a print book from the US and having it shipped via USPS almost doubles the cost of the book and it takes weeks to get here instead of a minute with an ebook.

Reading an ebook on a hand held electronic reader like a Kindle is a change from the familiar and comfortable feeling of holding a bound paper book in your two hands but it is remarkable how quickly it begins to feel completely natural.  It appears to us that ebooks are the way to go for voracious readers located in places where English language books are not readably available.  Ebooks are a change in how we read but, when you think of it, the reason we read is for the content inside not the device we hold.  

Bill's new book, "Chinchorro Reef"

Here is something new for our blog. We have always said there would be nothing commercial on the blog but it seems there is always an exception. Bill has published a new book, an action adventure story called Chinchorro Reef, Kidnapped at Sea. He started writing Chinchorro Reef in 1989, played with it for years, finished it recently, and has published it in paperback and as an e-book. Previously, he has published three non-fiction books on sailing and boating. Chinchorro Reef is his first book of fiction.  It is available on Amazon.com, Barnesand Noble.com, and Xlibris.com for shipment anywhere in the world.

Short description:

“Chinchorro Reef is an action thriller that touches on almost every human emotion, a page turner that you will find hard to put down. Murphy Fontaine, recently divorced from U.S. Senator Michael Fontaine, cruises the Caribbean in the family sailboat with Benji, her ten-year-old son. She has lost Benji in a custody battle with the Senator and has begun this cruise hoping to find a solution to regain custody. It is night and Benji sleeps below. She rescues two young Americans, Cotton and Mark, from a disabled fishing boat. During an argument, Murphy is knocked out and drug addled Mark sets her adrift in their stolen fishing boat. Murphy spends days drifting at sea, is rescued, hospitalized and released in Puerto Lempira, Honduras. She hears of a stranded helicopter pilot, Aram Tanner, whom she hires to pursue the kidnappers of her son. Mark and Cotton, after setting unconscious Murphy adrift in the disabled fishing boat, struggle to guide the sailboat North toward the U.S. Mark has the single minded purpose of getting a stolen cache of cocaine home to Texas. One life threatening adventure after another follows both the kidnappers and the rescuers. Murphy, with the undying devotion of a mother, faces every possible adversity to rescue her son.”

If you are a fan of high adventure with a taste for a little spice, give Chinchorro Reef a read.  It is a wild ride via sailboat and helicopter through the tropical Caribbean. If you are in the States, just push the “Buy Now” button for an easy way to purchase the book via Pay Pal. If you are somewhere abroad, try Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or Xlibris.