On Saturday I enjoyed a splendid evening reading my poetry, alongside fellow poets Peter John Cooper and Keith Bennett, as part of the Bournemouth Literary Festival’s Poetry Mash Up. I still don’t quite understand what a poetry mash up is, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. The audience at the Winchester Pub were both attentive and responsive, and I even sold a copy of my The Complete Nostradamus to some unwitting punter [all right, it was a friend from the Village Writers' Group, but 'unwitting' sounds so much better]. About half way through the evening I began to think that I might be over-egging the sad cake [or melancholy pudding, what have you] by reading too many poems about cancer and death, but the audience were kind enough to respond to the occasional glimmer of hope I laid before them, and I didn’t end up tarred and feathered. One young man even came up and told me that he particularly liked my poem on happiness, called The Decline of Philosophy, so I gave him my copy, duly signed. In a few years time it should be worth even less than it is now. Lillian Avon, who established the Bournemouth Literary Festival, ran the event, alongside photographer and Management Committee member Noel White. The whole evening was a credit to them both, and I wish the Bournemouth Literary Festival many happy returns!

I’ve just spent a marvellous couple of days in Bucharest, Transylvania and Moldavia. On Monday, my Romanian publishers, Litera, in the guise of Director General Dan Vidrascu, and his beautiful wife [and marketing and PR coordinator] Cristina, took me and my Romanian agent, the irrepressible, cat-loving, Simona Kessler, out to dinner. Then, on Tuesday, Dan and Cristina arranged for me to be interviewed by Spatamina Finanaciara, one of Romania’s major newspapers. It came as a complete surprise to me to find out that my book, Nostradamus: The Complete Prophecies For The Future [the title in Romanian is Nostradamus Prohpetii Complete 2001-2105] had been their bestselling book of the year, with an initial print run of 50,000 copies. As my thriller, The Nostradamus Prophecies, is due out there in December, I am suddenly paying a great deal more attention than previously to my Romanian readership! This is why personal visits to a country are so important to a writer, and the trip has been a lesson well learned [here is the link, for my Romanian readers http://www.okazii.ro/catalog/19375546/Nostradamus-profetii-complete-2001-2105-Mario-Reading.html].

Romania has proved a real discovery for me - delightful people, beautiful countryside, and the famous Moldavian painted monasteries are one of the Wonders of the World. The Doom painting at Voronet absolutely bowled me over, and I heartily recommend the country to anyone with a taste for adventure and beauty. As we stood inside the Voronet monastery [now a nunnery], I heard some wonderful singing coming from outside the church. At first I thought it was a recording, but then a priest entered, followed by fifty religious pilgrims. It was a magical moment to watch them all entering the crypt in single file, with the great frescoes surrounding us, and only the light of their candles as illumination. I shall never forget it.