About me – Signs of a bipolar episode

Patricia grew from strength to strength. After a few months she left the Avril Elizabeth home for the disabled and started grade 10 at school. She was quite behind with her work and was tutored until she had caught up with the other pupils. She adapted and did fairly well at school. Patricia went on to complete her 10^th grade. Well at least she almost completed it. A month before her final exams she relapsed and experienced a full blown psychotic episode. She told the vice principal of the school that she was a detective and she was investigating criminal activity in the school. The vice principal handled her with care and admitted her to hospital.

I can still remember the gossip, how everybody was discussing this freak at Sunward Park High. It was really embarrassing for me being her brother, and people were even treating me differently.

Sadly Patricia always seemed to develop a resistance to the medication. The illness always evolved and formed a new strain. She had been diagnosed with so many different forms of the disease to the point that nobody knew what her exact condition was. Thankfully Patricia was given a pass on her grade 10 because of her previous annual results. 

At the same time I was in grade 8. I achieved well at school and when I was fourteen I experienced a long period of depression. This was the first time I had ever felt this way and it was a dark and cold place with very little relief found in whatever I did to try and escape it. It was a difficult time for me and my school grades depreciated. I tried to cope with the overwhelming heaviness that I was trying to overcome, but soon felt that it was far easier to just give up.

It was an intense pain at the pit of my stomach like an overwhelming heaviness dragging me down. It wasn’t a case of feeling sorry for myself because my life could not have been more perfect at the time. It was as if my focus was taken from the daylight and placed in a black tunnel of doom. I felt hopeless and longed for my death.

My mother was gravely concerned. She could detect the first signs of mental illness dragging me down to the pit. She took me to see a psychologist and he talked me through my feelings. The dog could have barked me through my feelings for all that was going to help. The psychologist said that he did not want to medicate me; he first wanted to see if things would improve.

I can remember that the depression lasted for exactly eight weeks and just as suddenly as I felt that way the depression lifted and vanished. It was like a chemical imbalance that radically altered my mood.

An epic adventure novel series for children

When I was a boy of about nine years old I soon developed a taste for reading. We never had Sony Playstation or incredible animated adventure movies to watch. I remember some of my favourites were Enid Blyton’s Adventure novels and mystery novels. I even enjoyed The Famous Five and Secret Seven. I used to escape into these stories and loved to take a journey with these characters. Some of the other stories I enjoyed were Bobby Brewster and the extraordinary things that happened to him, as well as Billy Bunter. These were the old classic children’s stories and they all revolved around the unusual and interesting behaviour of school children.

The story I have developed with Green Planet and Green Planet Under Fire also revolves around school children and their ways.

When I was young I would have loved nothing more than to get my hands on a copy of my latest book. It comes highly recommended to all young people and even adults as well. The story is fast, interesting and funny. It brims over with new concepts and entertaining ideas.

Emmaline Sawyer is one of the characters that gets captured by Azor the evil flower fairy on Green Planet. Emma is a compulsive liar and is cleverly taken care of by Azor. For every lie that she tells a new branch or twig would sprout from her body. Emma could not resist the urge to lie and pretty soon she had taken on the form of a colourful bush.

There are several events on Green Planet that occur quite the same as this one which makes the story bizarre and riveting. There is a portal in Chimzen the wizard’s tree house where the characters move between to teleport to Green Planet and back to earth. It is a lovely mixture of a foreign planet combined with the normal day to day events on earth.

If your children love reading I can highly recommend this epic fantasy series for them to enjoy.

About me – Love and patience heals all things

So Patricia had spent many months in Weskoppies. She had deteriorated even more and was at the point where all she did was sit and stare into space. The doctors told my mother that it would be best for her to forget about the fact that she had a daughter and leave Patricia be. She was the equivalent of somebody that was brain-damaged, who would never amount to anything.

My mother would never accept that though and insisted on the hospital releasing her daughter. The doctor asked my mother to reconsider, but she would hear nothing more about it.

It was a tough time for all of us as a family now that Patricia was home. I was petrified that she would go all crazy on us again and rip up the furniture. That was not going to happen though; Patricia was close to catatonic that she could barely move a limb. She literally sat in a chair all day long and stared at the ceiling.

My mother was in a desperate situation and tried everything in her power to bring Patricia around, but it was hopeless, she would not respond. My mother had to help dress and bath her in the beginning, until eventually she could at least do that much.

There was nowhere to take Patricia during the day and my mother had no idea what to do with her. My mother had to go to work and she did not like the idea of leaving her at home. So she decided to take my sister to the Avril Elizabeth home for the disabled.

The staff at Avril Elizabeth did not take too kindly to the idea of my sister spending time there, but my mother begged them to have her. They agreed on the grounds that if there was any trouble Patricia was to leave immediately.

So that was where Patricia stayed during the day. The first few months my sister did very little other than stare into space. There were several good nurses on staff at the home and they encouraged Patricia daily to try and help them with a few small things.

Gradually Patricia responded to the patient love she was shown and started helping out at the home with a few things.

As the time passed Patricia slowly progressed back to her normal self. She started assisting with the mentally handicapped children and before very long she became an asset to the home.

My brother, Grant suffered with cerebral palsy and also attended at the Avril Elizabeth. My mother used to fetch Patricia and Grant from there in the afternoon and Patricia would always go on excitedly about how she had helped the children.

So when the doctor tells you that there is no hope for your son or daughter, always remember that the hope that you have for your children is all the hope that they will ever need.

About Me – My Holiday

Just returned from a three week holiday out in Grahamstown in the Eastern Cape. Had the most wonderful time with family. First we went to Oudshoorn and travelled to the Kango caves from there. What a spectacular tourist destination. The caves were like something out of a creepy horror movie, yet the inside features were incredibly fascinating to look at.

We proceeded to take a trip through the garden route, what an absolutely awesome scenic journey. Gazing across at the massive stretches of snow capped mountains and awesome epic sheer drops into the valley. I have definitely drawn inspiration from this trip for my next epic fantasy adventure novel.

We travelled all the way to Hermanus where we stayed for a few days. The houses along the main road running through the town were massive and it became clear to me that most of the people residing in this neighbourhood were extremely wealthy. Even though I could not afford a house like one of these, I soaked up the beautiful scenery for a moment and pretended that one of these holiday homes was mine.

Then we were off to Cape Town and from there we journeyed back up along the coastline. Now Cape Town has to be such an incredible place to live. The entire city is like a massive utopia with age old trees towering over the houses.  When I was young I lived in Cape Town and never had much of an appreciation of this wonderful city. But now I can’t believe how spectacular it is with those incredible mountains high up in the background.

Our scenic journey took us past George, Knysna and Plettenburg bay. To be away from these beautiful long sandy beaches for such a long period made it most enjoyable to make sand castles with my nephews and splash in the icy sea. The scenery along the way was breathtaking. I think we must have documented an entire episode of National Geographic with the footage that we took. The Tsitsikamma forests were fascinating to look at with their endless rows of conifer trees. We passed the most beautiful bridges along the route with a sheer drop of over 200M’s. Bloukrans with a sheer drop of about 230M. To think that people actually bunjee jump off that one. Totally insane.

From there it was back up to Port Elizabeth and back to Grahamstown. It was a tiresome journey at times with the endless kilometres that we travelled, but the epic scenery and the great company more than made up for that.

Oh well, I’m back at home in sunny Johannesburg only wishing to be back there again. Those good times always seem to go by so quickly.

Green Planet Under Fire – Official release of my second epic fantasy adventure book

The time has finally arrived for the official release of my epic fantasy adventure book sequel, Green Planet Under Fire. It is a very exciting time for me as an author, knowing that the Green Planet series is going to bring tremendous success.

I have read the first instalment of Green Planet several times and it always manages to take me away to that faraway magical place. It is somewhat strange that my novel can have that effect on me as the author, but it is written with such vivid detail that it immediately pulls me into this incredible place. This land filled with magical flower fairies, wizards, druids, strange plant creatures and magical balls.

Now with the second magical adventure, Green Planet Under fire, the adventure occurs rapidly and the story comes across as clearly as an epic movie. Even for those that don’t enjoy reading as a pastime, this book is an exception; it will grab your attention and keep you riveted from the start.

If you don’t take a chance on it now, you will definitely do so in the near future, so why not be one of the first to experience this fun filled adrenalin pumped adventure of your lifetime.

My epic fantasy novel will appeal to just about anybody, young or old.

Green Planet Under Fire is here….

About me – Life in an institution

Patricia spent months in a lock up ward at Weskoppies hospital. I had not seen her for quite some time and still felt glad that she was gone. Home was a far more comfortable place now that she wasn’t going on with her nonsense.

After about a month my mother convinced Tracy and myself to come along and visit Patricia. We were both quite reluctant at first, but we finally agreed. On the way to the hospital I could feel that my tummy was filled with butterflies and I was feeling quite scared.

It was over an hour’s drive to the other side of Pretoria. We entered the premises through a large set of gates. The surrounding fence was covered on top with barbed wire and the institution looked like a prison.

Once inside the premises we headed across to my sisters ward. The ward itself was a lock up with high fences and barbed wire. A woman opened the entrance gate for us and she looked quite rough. She could have been mistaken for a man.

We walked inside the building towards the dormitory area. The rooms were dark and smelled quite miff. The beds had been neatly made but it appeared as though there was a shortage of space and the beds were almost positioned on top of each other.

Patricia appeared from the corner of the room and looked like a scarecrow. I remember jumping back in fright. She had lost a great deal of weight and her face was pale. She was very heavily medicated and she was drooling at the mouth. She grabbed hold of my mother and started sobbing. I felt sorry for her and placed my hand on her shoulder.

The female warden escorted us outside and locked the dormitory door. She joked with my sister about her having visitors. My sister forced a shaky smile.

According to Patricia the warden was actually a patient as well, and she was also a lesbian. That didn’t make much sense to me. It was only a few minutes later that I realized that Patricia was very sick and was not making any sense at all. She seemed so far gone; I thought there was absolutely no hope for her. She looked much worse off than she did when she was first admitted. A side of me felt glad, as I was not ready for her to come home.

7 Days before the release of an epic magical fantasy story

Green Planet Under Fire, my epic magical fantasy story was written with such a tremendous passion that my very inner being was ‘Under Fire.’

It was a mammoth project with a maze of complex fantasy sequences to try and solve. From shining blue schoolboys to deadly Spincrick spiders. Fire reigns down on the great Green Planet causing massive devastation. Incredible wizardry conventions with every perceivable witch and warlock present. Great feats of magic are performed like nothing seen on earth before. The crowds jump up and cheer in disbelief.  To create something so magical and so totally bizarre that it will capture ones attention from the very start. I am overwhelmed with such excitement, and I am bursting with pride over my epic novel for teenagers. It truly feels to me as though this magical adventure was somehow given to me. It was like riding a tremendous wave of unique ideas and dazzling thoughts. Like frantically painting a large canvas with bright colours and watching a brilliant picture unfold.

Monday the 11^th of April, 2011, let the magic begin.

About me – More trauma from a psychotic episode

I was spending an afternoon at a friend’s house after school and my sister Tracy was also visiting a friend. When I arrived home late that afternoon my mother was busy vacuuming the carpet. Patricia was home and lay on the couch with her feet up against the wall. She was behaving strangely as usual and swore at me as I walked inside the lounge.

Quite suddenly I noticed that the curtains had all been cut in half. I was so nervous around Patricia I never noticed it at first. Then to my horror I noticed that all three of the windows in the lounge had been smashed. Like somebody had missed the main centre window trying to break in, and had smashed both of the side windows by mistake.

Patricia insisted that somebody had broken into the house before she had come home and that it was already in a mess when she arrived there.

To make matters worse the lounge furniture had also been slashed to pieces with a scissors. It was sheer vandalism and my mother knew very well that Roslyn had convinced Patricia that that was the right thing for her to do in her twisted way of thinking. I was feeling really afraid and had no idea of what to make of my sister’s strange behaviour.

Tracy arrived home shortly after me and she looked horrified at the sight of the lounge. She confronted Patricia about what had happened but Patricia flatly denied having anything to do with the mess. My mother was unsure of how to handle the situation and decided to report the incident to the police. They arrived about half an hour later and my mother told them that her daughter was very ill.

Patricia disappeared into her bedroom, realizing that she might be in serious trouble. In her mind we were all plotting against her, and she believed that we wanted to see her destroyed.

One of the policemen knocked on her bedroom door and asked if he could have a word with her. She screamed out loudly telling the policemen to go to hell. This was when they realized that she was not well.

The policemen in charge immediately phoned for an ambulance and they must have arrived at our house in about fifteen minutes. Patricia was dragged out of her bedroom literally kicking and screaming. One of the policemen joined her inside the ambulance to try and keep her calm. I felt quite sorry for the poor man, my sister was a handful.

The ambulance siren sounded deafening as the vehicle rolled out of our driveway.  Patricia was off to Weskoppies mental institution, a hospital where patients were locked up for their own protection. I breathed a big sigh of relief as I watched her go.

About me – The trauma of a psychotic episode

I argued with my mother and demanded that she must take my sister away from us. I told her that Patricia was mental and that she might even try and murder us. My mother was obviously upset and told me to keep quiet. We waited in anticipation for Patricia to return home. I wanted to run away, but there was nowhere for me to go.

Patricia never returned home that afternoon and my mother was starting to panic. Patricia had made a new friend a couple of weeks back and her name was Roslyn. My mother had heard that Roslyn had recently been looked up in jail for petty theft and other minor offenses. She was a big woman in her mid-twenties and she was a bad influence on my sister in her current state of mind. My sister was only a teenager.  It was bad enough that Patricia was full-blown psychotic, now she was mixing with the unstable people as well.

The term psychotic tends to place fear into a person when they are not educated about mental illness. Usually when a person is gentle by nature, the worst that they do when they are mentally ill (psychotic) is become verbally abusive and violent. Violent meaning they may break things. Or they may overdose on tablets with the belief that they are invincible. A common occurrence with people that are schizophrenic or bipolar is that they may even develop the God complex during an extreme high. They believe that they are superhuman, and that way they become a danger to themselves. I am no expert on the topic; I only speak from personal experience.

My mother was desperate and searched the neighbourhood for my sister. After a couple of hours she spotted Patricia outside a small shopping complex up the road from us. She was sitting next to Roslyn and my mother could hear the swear words flying. My mother felt as though she was the enemy and called Patricia to come with her. Roslyn whispered something into her ear and they both grinned.

When Patricia arrived back home it went from a bad dream to a nightmare. She was extremely paranoid and afraid of us. Believe me we were much more afraid than she was. I was shaking with fear. She would scream and swear at us and smash her dinner plate against the wall. Then when she had had enough of us she charged out the front door. My mother screamed after her, demanding that she come back. My mother was desperate and did not know how to deal with her behaviour.

Patricia marched off to her friend Roslyn again, and this time my mother didn’t try and stop her. The next day we all went to work and school, my mother didn’t sleep at all the previous night, she was in a state of shock. We were all confused and did not know how to deal with things. 

“Living a life of integrity is one of the greatest missions we can undertake.” Greg Anderson

Green Planet Under Fire – About My Epic Teenage Fantasy Adventure Novel

The days are counting down before the release of the second book in the Green Planet series. On the 11^th of April 2011 Green Planet Under Fire will be hitting the shelves worldwide. This is a very exciting time for me as an author as my dreams become a reality. But what is all the excitement about, who cares about this Green Planet Series anyway? 

Maybe that is something you will need to ask Amy Baird, one of my devout followers. She is twenty one years old and works for a large auditing firm in South Africa. Amy positively nags me for the next instalment of my book. She read Green Planet Under Fire in one evening and demanded to read Green Planet Three the following day. Not to brag about my achievement, but if you receive a fired up response like that you know you are onto something exciting beyond your wildest imagination. 

I have already taken a few snippets from Green Planet Under Fire, but would like to dig a little deeper just to enhance the epic splendour of this adventure.

Imagine four children and a wizard stranded on a foreign planet with colourful forests and unusual green life. An evil flower fairy has infected the forests with her cursed acorn goblins. 

A kind druid named Patroux lives on Green Planet and owns a large house on an open plain, filled with unusual and brilliant specimens of plants. Dragon pod plant, dog ears and lolly-grogs to name a few.  After Green Planet is cursed, Patroux’s greenhouse explodes into an army of killer weeds.

The dog ear plants find some of Patroux’s magic grow sticks and they change from sweet doggy plants to man eating beasts. The peaceful dragon pods erupt into potent fire breathing flowers five times their usual size. Patroux is at his wits end trying to cope with the onslaught against his greenhouse. The story is action packed, very tense, fast moving as well as funny. 

The good wizard Chimzen has three magical balls that possess incredible powers. Each entity has a personality and name of its own. They work together to form a unique triangular laser shield, or they act independently and fire laser beams. They form a shield or a flying hover board. They have countless useful functions. 

Will Chimzen and the four teenagers survive their dangerous ordeal with Green Planet in such a cursed state? Will they survive an attack from Azor’s army of deadly Spincrick spiders, along with her Indian plant tribes, armed with lethal bows and arrows? Are Chimzen’s potent magical balls able to withstand the scourge of evil infecting the land? Will the group be safely guarded, or will things go horribly wrong? 

There are many twists and turns to this story of adventure. Emma a beautiful blonde teenager who does nothing but tell lies throughout the story. She solves the incredible riddle to the great sceptre of magic, which is probably the most powerful sceptre ever known.  An amazing staff compiled of twelve wizard stones. 

The magic staff is snatched by a podgy boy named Robert. He holds it up in the air with trembling hands, shaking under its massive power. Within a split second he revealed his desires to the staff. His heart’s desire was simple at his tender age. An enormous chocolate bridge held together with caramel and condensed milk magically appeared in front of him. How would you like to bite into a large chocolate structure melting in the sun? Wait there is so much more to the story. What else has been done using the great sceptre’s awesome power? 

Then let’s not forget about Chimzen’s magical bird, Kenwood the cryptic cockatiel, an amazing bird capable of answering any question. Now what does that clever bird do to save the day? A creation like that could quite easily get somebody into serious trouble. And what about Elvis the deep voiced singing goldfish, and Squidget the talking squirrel. Then let us not forget to mention: the druid on a flying barstool cruising through the air, this you will have got to read about. 

The adventures and mishaps of all these bizarre characters and creatures are packed into one single story, Green Planet Under Fire. A magical fantasy adventure that will warm you right to the bottom of your big toes. 

The adventure continues with the third magical book in the series, Green Planet and the Doomsday Oil. A completely unique fantasy conquest, coming soon.