PJ SKINNER

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Consulting 1995-1998

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After I came back to the UK from Ecuador, I worked in a mining finance boutique looking for projects to fund. It was a big change for me and the first time I got the opportunity to work in Africa. I also used my first computer. These photos are from Mali. We traveled in an ancient car with no air conditioning so you can see my face is covered in red dust in the photo with the children

  • Village meeting
  • Mali Village
  • Red Dust on my face
  • Clothes Washing
  • Market
  • Milling Corn
  • Artisanal miner in pit
  • Panning for Gold

NEW COVER ALERT

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I am about to change my Sam Harris covers for a completely different look. If you wanted to buy paperbacks with the old covers, now would be the time as they will change in a couple of days. They are available on all retail sites.

Very excited to show you the new ones. Watch this space….

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Ecuador 1991-1995

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In 1991 I started working for myself and with the help of some funding set up a small project washing gold placers. We never made any money because the gold price was $250 and the machinery constantly broken down, but it was an intense and interesting time.

  • The Team
  • The village
  • Cockfighting
  • Countryside
  • Threshing the sugar cane
  • Panning
  • A fish trap
  • Digging the gravel
  • Washing plant
  • Welding new teeth on bucket
  • A good day
  • Gold bar

The experiences from my eight years in Ecuador form the basis for the background materials for my first two books, Fool’s Gold and Hitler’s Finger. I am writing a third book based in Ecuador at present. It will be called the Bonita Protocol and you can pre-order soon.

Ecuador 1987-1990

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In 1987 I went to work for my uncle in Ecuador. He couldn’t afford to pay me, but I didn’t care. Getting a job as a female geologist in those days was a pipe dream. I hoped some real experience and fluent Spanish would help me rise above the prevalent sexism of those days. It was an amazing time, responsible for turning me into the adventurer I am now. The more I discovered, the more I wanted to travel and explore. Did your first job inspire or deter you?

I wrote the first two books in the Sam Harris Adventures using material from my early Ecuador years. Fool’s Gold uses the jungle settings I first worked in. The idea for Hitler’s Finger sprang from a report about Nazis in Ecuador which truly shocked me as I had no idea about Ecuador’s Nazi past. The characters are mostly generated in my imagination but Gloria and Alfredo are based on people I know and love, one of whom is no longer with us.

First Work Experience

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I have recently been asked to elaborate on my career and talk about how it influences my novels. We are going to take a tour through my career so that you can understand where my novels spring from. Here is a photo of me on my first foreign field trip during my MSc. Note the glamour and my expression of hopelessness. It was in Cyprus that I first realised just how tough the life of an exploration geologist was going to be. It was also the first time I appreciated the breadth of experiences available to me if I was brave enough.

I’d love to see photos of your first jobs. Post on my facebook page or on my twitter feed

The Bonita Protocol

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Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great Holiday Season. I have started writing the next book in the Sam Harris Series, The Bonita Protocol. It’s Book 5, believe it or not. I should be ready to publish it in July.

Book 6, Digging Deeper, will follow shortly after and the last book in the series will hopefully be published by year end.

Meanwhile why don’t you give The Pink Elephants a try? It has nine 5* reviews on Goodreads already. I’d love to hear what you think. Here is the universal link so you can chose your favourite bookstore.