Mark David Holtom

I have half a degree in Computer Science, half a degree in Acting and Stage Management, half an MBA, and a degree in Osteopathy. I am a lot of things but I am not an author, so please bear with me.

When I was a child, my father would regale me and my brothers with wild and amazing stories. They involved lions and elephants, princes and emperors, soldiers and spies.

We had always asked him to write these stories down into a book, and year after year, he had put it off. Then, all of a sudden, my father had a health scare, and I realised that his stories were never going to get written. More than that, they were going to die with him. I had no choice. I had to write them down myself, otherwise the story of Haile Selassie's Lion's teeth would be lost forever.

As a child the stories were eminently believable, but when I grew up I realised, when recounting these same stories, how far fetched and unbelievable they actually were. Surely my father hadn't lied to us. So I had to research the details of where they happened, when and with whom.

What came out was stranger than the fiction I thought I was uncovering. Not only were the stories true, but when placed against the backdrop of real historical events, such as the partition of Austria, or the Suez Crisis, they took on a whole new level of meaning.

As I say, I am not an author, but I had to write these down, so they were not lost. As you read, you will discover a world that no longer exists. The things that he did are just not possible now.

Enjoy reading about a lost places in a bygone time.