Paul Stretton-Stephens - Writer

Create compelling stories to entertain you.

Book Research

Pistols and How to Carry Them

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Pistols and How to Carry Them

Now, there’s no good having a hero style protagonist in a thriller without them being well versed in weaponry is there? So I’ve been busy researching the different type of pistols. While I have lots of experience having carried one for some years, I still wanted to see what is out there today.

One of my favorites is the Glock and with that comes the decision as to how my character carries his. Should he carry his Glock in a belt holster like this?

Or should he use a thigh strapped holster like this?  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now have you seen one of those elastic waistband holsters that even accommodates your mobile phone? 

I’m not so sure that my character would feel comfortable with this on? What do you think? Or should he just gauge it by the activity he’s going to be involved in?

That’s it, I think that he should have a Glock holster for all occasions. Problem solved!

Watercraft – Seabreacher x

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Watercraft – Seabreacher x

Hello,
I’ve spent virtually a month in the Mandurah, South of Perth, Western Australia. I had a great time, and the whole place is full of natural coastline, water inlets, estuary, canals and lots and lots of watercraft. I had the good fortune to come across this spectacular craft, the Seabreacher X, and it might just make its way into one of the Jack Jago Thriller novels, so watch out for that!

To appreciate what this craft is all about, how versatile it is, check out these couple of videos:

 

 

 

Check out The Museum Outlet charts of – SeaBreacher – A high quality A3 Poster Print (Click the image to obtain your copy)

Apiology – All Things ‘Bee’ Related

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Apiology – All Things ‘Bee’ Related

I always marvel at what research writing leads me into. And at the moment I’m researching Bees, the study of which is Apiology, the Apis being the Bee.

Without giving too much away, I’m researching bees from a variety of countries, and beekeepers or apiarists. It is proving to be a fascinating subject,  although I’m not about to get going in this area myself.

I’ve also been looking at the different types of hives that can found the world over and the reasons for the differences, which are not solely based upon the climate which was my first thought.  I’ve also come across a recent design that allows you to see Bees at work in a kind of ‘mini indoor hive’ that you can install in your house, or school (if health and safety regulations permit?). It’s a very clever design that you can see for yourself here:

 

Click the link if you’re interested in finding out more details about the indoor beehive, The BEEcosystemobservation Hive

Here are some bee and beekeeping related terms that I have come across during the course of my research for one of my future titles:

 

Alarm pheromone This alerts guard bees to potential threats to the colony. It is produced by worker bees
Anther The part of a flower’s stamen that produces pollen.
Apiary The place where beehives are situated
Apiculture The science and art of bees and beekeeping.
Bee veil Protective cloth of wire netting which stops a beekeeper’s head and neck from being stung
Beeswax Wax that is secreted by special glands on the underside of the bees.
Blending Like making a fine whiskey, mixing various varieties of honey can make something better than the sum of the parts, typically improving flavour and colour.
Brood All stages of immature honey bees; eggs, larvae and pupae
Brood chamber The part of the hive where the brood is based. Generally this is at the bottom of most modern hives.
Cell A single hexagonal wax compartment, the basic unit of comb. Each honey bee develops within a single cell, and honey and pollen are stored within cells.
Colony Honey bees are social insects. Each honey bee can only live as part of a colony and not individually. Each colony of honey bees contains one queen bee who is the female parent of the colony, a few hundred drone bees and thousands of worker bees.
Comb
The wax structure made of hexagonal cells in which honey bees rear young and store food.
Drone A male honey bee Drones undertake no work within the hive: their sole function is to fertilize the queen.
Extractor The centrifugal machine in which honey is spun out of cells within com
Forage Flowering plants which provide nectar and/or pollen for bees.
Forager A worker honey bee that collects pollen, nectar, water or propolis for the colony.
Foundation A thin sheet of beeswax embossed with the hexagonal pattern of comb. A sheet of foundation is placed in each wooden frame and this serves as a base upon which honey bees build their comb. Without foundation honey bees would not necessarily build their comb in the orientation required by the beekeeper.
Frame A wooden rectangular frame that holds a sheet of wax foundation. A number of frames hang parallel to one another inside the hive.
Frame hive A hive which contains frames. The honey bees are encouraged to build their comb within these
Hive Any container provided by humans for bees to nest in.
Langstroth hive A design of frame hive. The inventor, the Rev L Langstroth recognised the importance of bee space and this allowed him to design the movable-frame hive.
National The name given to the most popular style of hobby hive in the UK
Nectar A sweet liquid secreted by flowers, a watery solution of various sugars.
Pacifier A substance used to calm bees
Pollen The fine dust-like substances which are the male reproductive cells of flowering plants. Collected by bees as a source of protein.
Pollen basket Areas of stiff hairs on the hind legs of worker honey bees where they carry pollen
Propolis This is a sticky brown filler or type of glue that bees produce to seal gaps in the hive. It is made from many differing sources, the main one being tree sap. Propolis has many amazing antiseptic medicinal uses and is produced commercially for sale in tincture or tablet form
Queen The female parent of the colony, the only sexually developed female.
Queen excluder A metal grid placed between the brood box and super in a modern hive. The spaces are wide enough to allow worker bees to pass through with honey but are too narrow for the Queen to pass through and lay eggs.
Royal jelly Glandular secretions of worker honey bees mixed with some regurgitated carbohydrates and fed to developing bees.
Scout bees Worker honey bees that are responsible for locating new sources of forage’, or a new location for a swarm.
Smoker A device for generating smoke to subdue bees. Often made from a metal can with bellows attached.
Super Any hive box placed above the brood nest. Usually contains combs in which bees will store honey.
Swarming When a honey bee colony becomes large enough to divide into two, swarming takes place. When this happens a new queen is reared, the colony divides and a swarm leaves the hive or nest. This swarm consists of a queen, drones and workers which will form another colony in a new location.
Worker bees Female honey bees that make up the bulk of the colony and undertake all the work of the colony except for mating and egg laying. Workers are sterile females.

Book Research

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Plastic Oceans

I’ve been researching get the effects of plastic in our oceans for an up and coming new Tacrem Adventure title.  My research has taken me from a BBC Natural World documentary featuring the applying plastic debris that is swept up on some of the islands of Hawai i. It also shows quite graphically how the plastic is affecting the Enemies Risingmarine and bird life, especially the Albatrosses over there. Many of the young birds can’t even learn to fly because their stomachs contain plastics. The presenter scoured an area full of dead birds.Their decaying bodies were open to the elements, and the contents of their stomachs were on view. The presenter collected some of these items, and there was everything from golf balls to print cartridges, toothbrushes to cigarette lighters. It was unbelievable. It seems that the adult birds cannot determine floating plastic from fish and that’s what they feed their young. Then there was the sheer amount of plastic being washed up on the beaches which was impossible to comprehend.

I then moved onto the Plastic Ocean Foundation. This body has recently produced a film which I’m now going to obtain and watch as the next part of my research. I’ll let you know what it’s like soon.

By the way, you may find this well-researched article by Wendy Kathryn regarding plastic pollution useful:  Plastic Is Killing our Oceans – The Issues, Facts, and Possible Solutions