A quick note to let you know that those of you who pre-ordered my book from Amazon should receive it on your Kindle on Monday (9th). If you’ve bought it elsewhere, such as Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo and Smashwords, then you should receive it the following Monday, 16th. This is ahead of my original release date of 1st December.
I would like to thank each and every one of you for your support over the last five years, either as readers of my blog or diaries. Thanks to you I can be confident I will not be publishing into a gaping crevasse, and the book will find a readership straight away.
I hope you enjoy it. I’ve certainly enjoyed working on it. If you do then I would be very grateful if you can post a review (of any length – even a couple of lines is a great help) on Amazon or wherever you bought it, and help me to find other readers and build a word-of-mouth following.
If you’ve not bought it yet, and are still considering, then you can whet your appetite by reading the full prologue. The book will be half price for a little longer, and there is a list of bookstores here. I will also be making it available as a paperback next year, so if you would like to be kept updated please sign up to my mailing list.
The book is about my ten year journey from hill walker to Everest climber, and if you’re still wondering about the title, the seven steps I followed were:
- Hill walking
- High-altitude trekking
- A high-altitude summit
- Ice axe and crampons
- Expedition style
- The first 8,000er
- The Big One
My journey to write and publish the book has taken only three years, but I’ve been writing for longer than that, and now that I have my first proper book I feel I can finally call myself an indie author.
Thank you for your support. The journey begins on Snowdon.
I preordered and I cannot wait to download it to my Kindle and starting….so looking forward to it. 🙂
I just read your book and really enjoyed it! I first became enthralled with mountaineering when I saw “The Eiger Sanction” when I was 17. Oh how I wish I had your book then! I might have believed that I could actually climb mountains then. I, too have always felt the most at peace, and at the same time my spirit rejuvenates in the mountains. I had the opportunity to ride the Jungfraujoch while stationed in Germany with the US Army in the late 80s. In 2013 I took a tour to Nepal, where we visited Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Pokhara, and Chitwan. I only got to fly by Everest, but our tour guide used to lead treks to base camp and I’m hoping to do that trek with my daughter. I really enjoyed your descriptions of other places I haven’t been, they have piqued my interest in visiting those places, but I loved reading that you were as enchanted with Nepal as I became in my visit!! I fell in love with the country and it’s people! I am very interested in the education charity you are involved with,. Please email me with details about the charity. Thank you again for a very enjoyable read, and giving me the confidence that a Base Camp Trek is not out of the question for a 58 year old woman. – Brenda
Wow, you must be a quick reader! I’m glad you enjoyed it and I’m even happier if it has inspired you to go trekking in Nepal.
The charity is called CHANCE. Our principal focus is to introduce the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award to schools and youth organisations across Nepal, provide training for Award leaders, and ultimately set up a national organisation to take over the operation of the Award in Nepal.
Our website is http://www.educationfonepal.org. You can read posts I have written about my involvement with CHANCE in the Good Causes category of this blog: https://www.markhorrell.com/blog/category/good-causes/
Just finished it!! Loved it, laughed a lot as i expected to, as you know I have read all of your books and have never been disappointed, this was no exception. Looking forward to the next one!!! Bev x
Forgot to add I have left you a review on Amazon! 5 stars!!
Thanks, Bev. I’m glad you enjoyed it and thanks so much for the review!
RE Snowden to Everst:
I would be interested to know why you did not mention Griffith Pugh when presenting the Hillary/Tenzig conqest of Everest. You mention the book by his daughter in the bibliography section which is her attempt to get his contribution to the expedition recognised. Maybe it is my engineering background that has endeared myself to this unsung man and therefore I have been seduced.
As you can see I was so engrossed in your book that I even read the bibliography, signed up to your mailing list and have started to read more of your stuff.
Many thanks for sharing you adventure and experiences.
Vic
I may have done at some point, and then edited it out again. The first draft of my book was 50% longer, so quite a lot of stuff that wasn’t essential to the overall story ended up being cut.
If you are interested, my review of Harriet Tuckey’s book is here:
https://www.markhorrell.com/blog/2013/book-review-everest-the-first-ascent-by-harriet-tuckey/
Glad you enjoyed Seven Steps. Some would no doubt say the bibliography is the most interesting part. 😉