Bookshelves

 

So, Christmas has been and gone, and you’re left with book tokens you don’t know what to buy with or, far, far worse, the dreaded One4All card that allows you to spend in hundreds of different stores but none of which seem to allow you to or have anything remotely worth buying.

This is where I come in.

Maybe.

You see, I’ve got books for sale. Not the ones in the photo above; technically they are mine, because I own them, but they’re not my books.

You can buy my books from any bookshop, online or physical, including Waterstones for whom the One4All card is acceptable. You may need to wait a week or so as they may not be in stock, but you can still buy them. 

But which to buy?

Well. 

‘The Broken Bottle’, ‘How Green Are Your Eyes’ and ‘This Is Not The End’ are a trilogy of books aimed at readers from 12 to adult. Indeed, most of the readers seem to be adults, so you’ll be in good company. They tell the story of Wilf, a teenager in Croalworth, near Manchester, as he goes to school, forms a band, falls in love, gets scammed, gets involved in gun and drug crime, goes to Ireland, searches for an awol alcoholic, stumbles across an arms dump, is befriended by a mysterious girl, meets the most drunk stop/go sign holder in the world, goes home, goes to university, makes some new friends, finds his flatmate is a bit weird and unhinged, finds his bag mistaken for an unattended package by the bomb squad, is the victim of mistaken identity and rings his sister to take him home. 

https://books2read.com/b/3nBzEP

https://books2read.com/b/bPGOPl

https://books2read.com/b/m00DAA

‘Capturing the Wry’ and ‘Welcome To The Underachievers’ are memoirs of my time in actual real bands writing and recording actual real music and playing actual real gigs. Across the two you can read the trails and tribulations of nearly being signed to record labels, the highs and lows of playing in youth clubs, restaurants and universities, and marvel at just how many venues I have played gigs in which have now closed down and become housing developments.

https://books2read.com/b/3LVWp1

https://books2read.com/b/b5JlqO

‘Seasonal Adjustments’ is a poetry anthology. I once wrote a poem that came in the top 0.17% of a national competition, and still didn’t win. But it shows the potential quality, even if it is up to you to decide the actuality of it. ‘Out of Tune’ meanwhile is the cleverly-titled collection of lyrics presented without their tune. Do you see what I did there?

https://books2read.com/b/49LEaw

https://books2read.com/b/b5W5wk

‘The View From Orlando Bridge’ is another memoir, this time about supporting Bolton Wanderers in the 1980s and 1990s. Yes, it’s that bleak.

https://www.lulu.com/shop/john-hartley/the-view-from-orlando-bridge/paperback/product-m5z964.html?srsltid=AfmBOopiLnNATy_RPJS1AEiE2eEbyl3Ghqjk84MvuYSWnweTsQmh8kgm&page=1&pageSize=4

You can get all of these anywhere, really, including Amazon. You can also get signed copies of most of the titles directly from me at www.brokendownrecords.bandcamp.com/merch

So come on, don’t be shy. Spend those vouchers, or just your hard earned cash, and you too can have my books on your bookshelves (but not the ones in the photograph for reasons already established).

All Paths

All Paths

All paths lead me here:

Where endless horizons

Meet tracks so well-trodden,

And questions abound ...

To ebb or to flow?

To wave or to drown?

To sink or to swim?

Dilemmas unfaced.

All paths lead me here: 

Where walking books bring me,

A holey-souled pilgrim

All sea breeze-slapped face

And saline-spray tears.

Futures less certain

Than those which have passed

Wash out on the tide.

All paths lead me here:

Where storm-weathered bridge 

Meets saltwater dreams,

Beach-pebbled nightmares,

White horseback escapes,

Deep contemplation,

Fleet-footed endings

And fresh-faced new starts.

All paths lead me here.

All paths lead me here.

This poem of mine recently won the Watford Writers' Poetry Competition. We were invited to submit poems that were inspired by an image. The image inspiring the poem was one I took between Worthing and the Sea Lane Cafe at Goring-by-Sea, although the poem could have been written on any beach, anywhere.

I grew up in an industrial town where the nearest 'seaside' was Southport where, on a good day, you could walk a mile out on the beach and still not be actually able to see the sea. Perhaps the draw of the coast instead from the mariners and shipbuilders of my mum's ancestry. 

Image and text copyright John Hartley 2025

Seasonal Adjustments

Paperback published by Broken Down Books via Draft2Digital 2023 ISBN 9798215580080

Ebook published by Broken Down Books via Draft2Digital 2022 ISBN 9798215613696

Order print copy here £8.99 + P&P

Order ebook copy here

Poetry!

My first anthology of poems was published in 2022 by Broken Down Books via Draft2Digital.

The poems take the reader on a journey from Spring through to Spring, with humour, wit, wisdom and rhyme (delete as applicable...)

Here's an example. A follow-up is in process, and future posts here might include some contenders.

Print copies can be ordered by emailing at the above link