I am the author of "Trading Vincent Crow" a humomous fiction novel set in the Midlands, in the UK, where Vince Crow decides to trade up his life for an entirely new one every 3 months until he becomes the person he needs to be.   I have many influences, and have particularly enjoyed some of P.G. Wodehouse’s dialogue with misunderstandings and absurd cross-purposes. There are conversations between Vince and his nan in Trading Vincent Crow where there is a similar level of non-communication. I appreciate the way Gerald Durrell in books like ‘My family and other animals’ seemed to delight in observing the eccentricities in others, without making any particular judgment. I think there’s an element of this with some of the characters in my book as well.  I hold post graduate qualifications in development management as well as community water supply engineering. Over the past fourteen years I have worked extensively in developing countries in Africa and Asia, managing emergency and development programmes. Synopsis: Vince Crow had heard somewhere that you could trade a piece of useless junk on the internet and within a year of swapping it for better and better things you could get cool stuff. Crow decided that he himself was going to start off as that piece of tat, jump from one job to the next; indeed he would trade one lifestyle for a new one, until he was finally a success. Every three months he would have to trade-up for an entirely new life - new job, new girl, new wheels, new pad, new threads - until he reached the top. The plan of comparing himself to a used item traded over the internet was of course marginally flawed, as there is a human factor to all of this which he'd over-looked. Besides, success isn't just about work. It's about the car, the clothes, the house, and getting the girl, so changing all of that with every new trade upwards is a lot more difficult than swapping an old stereo in the classifieds. Crow quickly learns what the price of success really is. An education he would never have got if he had gone to college.   There are elements of real humour in this excellent novel, and I have to say I enjoyed it immensely. (www.booksmonthly.co.uk Feb 2013) `Trading Vincent Crow' is a sharply written, character-driven satire, laced with acute observations and delightfully recognizable situations. (cemery: Amazon.com review) Worth reading - but not in a public place where snorts of laughter would cause offence! A story of success (of sorts!) told with a very wry sense of humour.....(Harriet Fowler: Amazon.com review) Trading Vincent crow is, once started, hard to put down. ... This intelligent novel will make you laugh very loud but also invite you to reflect on the things in life that can make it a real adventure  Just sit back and enjoy. Nothing to figure out, nothing to scare me, just laugh and enjoy.(http://fernijerbook.wordpress.com/2012/02/28/trading-vincent-crow/)  the author's witty descriptions and humorous portrayals make for an easy and enjoyable read! (Henock: Amazon.co.uk review