As of October 23, 2024, MEXICAN FOLLIES, Moomor Publishing’s sixth book, is now available for purchase worldwide on all amazon sites. Just go to your local amazon site and search for “Mexican Follies” and the book’s details should come up on your screen.
As of November 12, 2024, an eBook version is also available on Amazon sites.
For Winnipeg readers who might like to buy paperback copies directly from me (Gayle Moore-Morrans, the author/editor), a book launch was held on Saturday, November 9 at Fred Douglas Place in downtown Winnipeg. Those who were not able to attend and want to obtain a copy should email me at: gayleian@gmail.com to make arrangements.
Here is the back cover blurb describing the book:
A dual memoir and travelogue, Mexican Follies follows the adventures and misadventures of Ian, 72 years young, and Gayle, 61 years young, as they embark in October 2004 on a tour of discovery from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada to Mexico.
Married just a year, Ian and Gayle sell their Winnipeg house and celebrate her retirement by fixing up a used 35-foot motorhome and heading for southern climes. Their goal is to escape the northern winters and maybe find a permanently warm and peaceful place to settle down and enjoy togetherness and independence, now that Gayle’s young adult children are finally off on their own.
Readers of Ian’s two previous memoirs, From Poverty To Poverty: A Scotsman Encounters Canada and Came To Canada, Eh? Adventures of a Scottish Nomad, will have become familiar with his musical talents as a Scottish entertainer and his penchant for moving (from Scotland to England to Wales to Egypt, back to Scotland and then, with a young wife and two children, on to Canada). There he moved back and forth over a period of almost four decades within multiple provinces, but often managed to wind up in Winnipeg where he was eventually widowed.
Ian soon met Gayle, also widowed, who had immigrated to Winnipeg from the USA after spending 18 years in Germany. By then Ian had retired from his machining career and had begun to write stories while continuing with his avocation of making music.
Shortly after meeting, writer Ian and writer/editor Gayle began to plan a life of producing books and making music together in what they hoped would be their own little corner of paradise. They initially loved living in Mexico and eventually bought a house in the world’s largest English-speaking expatriate community in the mountainous region of Central Mexico along the shores of Lake Chapala, started singing together as Scottish entertainers and joined a writers’ group.
But read along as their excitement and Follies-like experiences turn into Folly after Folly, including house break-ins/robberies, the murder of friends, partial wreckage of their motorhome and many other disappointments.
Ian and Gayle finally conclude that, after all, returning to Canada is the best way for them to fulfill their dreams. Were the Follies worth the many types of Folly they encountered? You decide.
Cover photo: Gayle and Ian Moore-Morrans with their terripoo Peppy in the gardens of the Lake Chapala Society, Ajijic, Jalisco, Mexico, November 2006. The background surround is from a colourful Mexican blanket they bought in an open-air market in Ajijic, woven by Huichol indigenous artisans who still inhabit the area and maintain their ancient Uto-Aztecan language along with their bright bead and textile arts.
Buy your copy of Mexican Follies on Amazon.ca or Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com.
A beta reader’s feedback on Mexican Follies:
“Contrasting the personalities of the writers in their letter writing and subsequent narratives was a very interesting concept and they certainly achieved what they were trying to convey to this reader. I especially enjoyed the many descripie passages. In “An April Swim in Paradise” I was along in that pool. I could really smell those flowers and feel that warm sun on my back. What a beautiful piece of writing!
“The writers’ changing perspecties on Mexico and Mexicans throughout the book was handled well. I really didn’t feel any resentment on their part until the last chapters. What happened to them both should colour someone’s ideas of a “Safe Mexico.” Their last comments in the Penticton Herld were certainly warranted and I hope they both were ale to finally get some satisfaction from them.
“I very much enjoyed the good read. I could really feel how much the writers enjoyed each other. Both of them had made many moves before they met, so I could see how they thought it would be easy to move to Mexico but !! Mexico???”
Five star review on Amazon.ca:
*****Engaging, Absorbing, Rewarding
Reviewed in Canada on October 28, 2024 by James Osborne
“This is a warm and engaging story with three compelling dimensions: It is a deeply sensitive love story, it is a delightfully entertaining tour-de-force of popular destinations in Mexico, and it is firmly rooted in the authors’ devout spirituality. A rewarding read for those with an affinity for one or more of those three dimensions.
NOTE: AN UPDATED VERSION OF THIS BOOK HAS BEEN PREPARED IN E-BOOK FORMAT AND, HOPEFULLY, WILL EVENTUALLY ALSO APPEAR IN SOFT COVER FORMAT , AVAILABLE FOR ORDER THROUGH AMAZON AS WELL AS FROM THE PUBLISHER, WRITER’S EXCHANGE E-PUBLISHING.
MOOMOR PUBLISHING 