Books & Bucharest
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.