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English Editing Group
We provide English editing services for companies throughout the European Union. Prompt, accurate and confidential proof reading & editing. We also work with clients to develop sales brochures and text suitable for British or American markets.
The English Editing Group
- Bernard W Rees
- Bernard Rees, founder of the English Editing Group, has been involved in international commerce for over thirty years, in activities as diverse as commodity trading, maritime shipping and publishing. He is the author of the novels 'The Manila Galleon'and 'The Last Patriot'. He brings a wealth of business experience to the group and is well positioned to assist businesses communicate effectivly in English speaking markets in Britain or North America. Client lists and business activities are kept strictly confidential. For further information contact bernardwrees@gmail.com
Expatica Magazine-Europe-Book Reviews
Book reviews: expat thrillers
Having seen the world through the shipping business for many years, expat Bernard W. Rees has re-invented himself as a writer. We review his two thrillers, The Manila Galleon and The Last Patriot.
Expats have an advantage when writing fiction; doing unusual things in exotic places is often part of the experience of living and working outside your native country. Dutch resident Bernard W. Rees takes us to the Philippines in The Manila Galleon and to China, along the Silk Road and over the Himalayas into Pakistan in The Last Patriot.
Born in Llanelli in Wales, Rees has seen his fair share of the world. He grew up in Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi in Kenya. At sixteen he went to sea and got his first taste of the Orient. He emigrated to Canada in his early 20s where he traded ships and cargo for many years, from "the Americas to the Persian Gulf, China, Japan and Korea".
Following the death of his first wife in 1995, Rees decided he needed "to change my life and do something new". He sold his shipping business and moved to Manila, where, in his spare time, he searched for Spanish treasure ships.
This is when he developed another talent: he pens a good yarn. The main character of The Manila Galleon is Peter de Vries, a rogue CIA agent. Of course rogue CIA agents are common in thrillers these days, and one who has lost his memory isn't that original either. But what really matters is that Rees makes something of this character in this page-turning thriller, with a twist.
De Vries gets involved in the salvage of a 17th century Spanish treasure ship, while at the same time he must avoid the CIA and discover the significance of his dreams about the Galleon and its fatal encounter with Dutch privateers. The sole survivor was a Dutch prisoner, Captain Jeroen de Vries.
Rees wrote his second novel while living in the US from 2003 to 2005. The CIA is there again but this time the main setting is China. This book is heavier than Galleons as it deals with the "major problems facing the world today": energy security, terrorism and the looming potential of conflict between the US and China.
The hero, if that is the correct term, is Owen O' Brien, a cynical, alcoholic journalist and the heroine is an idealistic young doctor working with orphaned AIDS children in China.
Written as a memoir to his daughter, the book recounts how O'Brien comes into possession of secret documents outlining a plan to attack the US. The CIA, which will never hire Rees to do its PR, is again the bad guy as it joins forces with the Chinese to stop O'Brien fleeing with the papers.
If this was Hollywood, the hero would save the day at the last minute. But Rees, a world-wise expat, doesn't go for sugar-coated endings. Not to give too many secrets away, Rees wrote a second, 'Hollywood ending' for Galleons to "maintain the domestic peace" with his wife. The Last Patriot has a more open ending.
Rees opened yet another new chapter in his life when he moved to the Netherlands in 2006.
This expat author is now working on a series of books about an American living in Paris. We will eagerly await publication.
________________________
Trouble in China in The Last PatriotThe Last PatriotBernard W. ReesPages: 410Xlibris Corporation2005ISBN: 1-4134-8506-5
The Manila GalleonBernard W. Reespages: 396Xlibris Corporation2003ISBN: 1-4134-1455-9
[Copyright Expatica 2006]
Subject: expat books, Bernard W. Rees, The Manila Galleon, The Last Patriot
Having seen the world through the shipping business for many years, expat Bernard W. Rees has re-invented himself as a writer. We review his two thrillers, The Manila Galleon and The Last Patriot.
Expats have an advantage when writing fiction; doing unusual things in exotic places is often part of the experience of living and working outside your native country. Dutch resident Bernard W. Rees takes us to the Philippines in The Manila Galleon and to China, along the Silk Road and over the Himalayas into Pakistan in The Last Patriot.
Born in Llanelli in Wales, Rees has seen his fair share of the world. He grew up in Kampala, Uganda and Nairobi in Kenya. At sixteen he went to sea and got his first taste of the Orient. He emigrated to Canada in his early 20s where he traded ships and cargo for many years, from "the Americas to the Persian Gulf, China, Japan and Korea".
Following the death of his first wife in 1995, Rees decided he needed "to change my life and do something new". He sold his shipping business and moved to Manila, where, in his spare time, he searched for Spanish treasure ships.
This is when he developed another talent: he pens a good yarn. The main character of The Manila Galleon is Peter de Vries, a rogue CIA agent. Of course rogue CIA agents are common in thrillers these days, and one who has lost his memory isn't that original either. But what really matters is that Rees makes something of this character in this page-turning thriller, with a twist.
De Vries gets involved in the salvage of a 17th century Spanish treasure ship, while at the same time he must avoid the CIA and discover the significance of his dreams about the Galleon and its fatal encounter with Dutch privateers. The sole survivor was a Dutch prisoner, Captain Jeroen de Vries.
Rees wrote his second novel while living in the US from 2003 to 2005. The CIA is there again but this time the main setting is China. This book is heavier than Galleons as it deals with the "major problems facing the world today": energy security, terrorism and the looming potential of conflict between the US and China.
The hero, if that is the correct term, is Owen O' Brien, a cynical, alcoholic journalist and the heroine is an idealistic young doctor working with orphaned AIDS children in China.
Written as a memoir to his daughter, the book recounts how O'Brien comes into possession of secret documents outlining a plan to attack the US. The CIA, which will never hire Rees to do its PR, is again the bad guy as it joins forces with the Chinese to stop O'Brien fleeing with the papers.
If this was Hollywood, the hero would save the day at the last minute. But Rees, a world-wise expat, doesn't go for sugar-coated endings. Not to give too many secrets away, Rees wrote a second, 'Hollywood ending' for Galleons to "maintain the domestic peace" with his wife. The Last Patriot has a more open ending.
Rees opened yet another new chapter in his life when he moved to the Netherlands in 2006.
This expat author is now working on a series of books about an American living in Paris. We will eagerly await publication.
________________________
Trouble in China in The Last PatriotThe Last PatriotBernard W. ReesPages: 410Xlibris Corporation2005ISBN: 1-4134-8506-5
The Manila GalleonBernard W. Reespages: 396Xlibris Corporation2003ISBN: 1-4134-1455-9
[Copyright Expatica 2006]
Subject: expat books, Bernard W. Rees, The Manila Galleon, The Last Patriot
The Last Patriot
by Bernard W. Rees ISBN13: 978-1-4134-8506-6 (Trade Paperback) ISBN: 1-4134-8506-5 (Trade Paperback) ISBN13: 978-1-4134-8507-3 (Hardback) ISBN: 1-4134-8507-3 (Hardback) Pages: 410 Subject: FICTION / Thrillers
AvailabilityPaperback prices reflect 15% discount off retailHardback prices reflect 10% discount off retail
Trade Paperback $21.24Hardback $31.49
Description
An American newspaper reporter, Owen O’Brien, is on the run in China. Why is he being chased by both the Chinese and the CIA? Who is the beautiful blonde with whom he becomes emotionally entangled? As O’Brien attempts to escape along the ancient Silk Road, over the high Himalayas into Pakistan, he carries a terrifying secret crucial to America’s security. This fast paced romantic thriller, dealing with big power politics, corruption in high places and the subversion of the democratic process in America, will grip the reader from beginning to end!
by Bernard W. Rees ISBN13: 978-1-4134-8506-6 (Trade Paperback) ISBN: 1-4134-8506-5 (Trade Paperback) ISBN13: 978-1-4134-8507-3 (Hardback) ISBN: 1-4134-8507-3 (Hardback) Pages: 410 Subject: FICTION / Thrillers
AvailabilityPaperback prices reflect 15% discount off retailHardback prices reflect 10% discount off retail
Trade Paperback $21.24Hardback $31.49
Description
An American newspaper reporter, Owen O’Brien, is on the run in China. Why is he being chased by both the Chinese and the CIA? Who is the beautiful blonde with whom he becomes emotionally entangled? As O’Brien attempts to escape along the ancient Silk Road, over the high Himalayas into Pakistan, he carries a terrifying secret crucial to America’s security. This fast paced romantic thriller, dealing with big power politics, corruption in high places and the subversion of the democratic process in America, will grip the reader from beginning to end!
The Manila Galleon
by Bernard W. Rees ISBN13: 978-1-4134-1455-4 (Trade Paperback) ISBN: 1-4134-1455-9 (Trade Paperback) Pages: 396 Subject: FICTION / Thrillers Subject: FICTION / Suspense
AvailabilityPaperback prices reflect 15% discount off retailHardback prices reflect 10% discount off retail
Trade Paperback $19.54
Description
Peter de Vries, rugged and resourceful, is a rogue CIA agent, on the run from the Agency that is trying to kill him. While he is hiding out in a remote tropical island in the Philippines he gets involved in the salvage of a seventeenth century Spanish treasure ship. He meets a beautiful, elegant and refined English woman, an archeologist working at the wreck site. She is intrigued by the mystery surrounding de Vries and puzzled by his unexplained, detailed, knowledge concerning the Spanish galleon and events in the seventeenth century. Peter de Vries is posing as a scuba diver, but explodes into violent physical action on several occasions; in order to protect her, making her suspect there is much more to this other wise quiet man. How and why is he so skilled in deadly combat? How is it he knows so much about the history of the Spanish galleon lying on the bottom of the lagoon? A strong. Independent, feminist she is nevertheless powerfully drawn emotionally and sexually toward this enigmatic man, much against her better judgment and instincts!
The Manila Galleon will grip you from the outset, and will not let go until the final denouement!
by Bernard W. Rees ISBN13: 978-1-4134-1455-4 (Trade Paperback) ISBN: 1-4134-1455-9 (Trade Paperback) Pages: 396 Subject: FICTION / Thrillers Subject: FICTION / Suspense
AvailabilityPaperback prices reflect 15% discount off retailHardback prices reflect 10% discount off retail
Trade Paperback $19.54
Description
Peter de Vries, rugged and resourceful, is a rogue CIA agent, on the run from the Agency that is trying to kill him. While he is hiding out in a remote tropical island in the Philippines he gets involved in the salvage of a seventeenth century Spanish treasure ship. He meets a beautiful, elegant and refined English woman, an archeologist working at the wreck site. She is intrigued by the mystery surrounding de Vries and puzzled by his unexplained, detailed, knowledge concerning the Spanish galleon and events in the seventeenth century. Peter de Vries is posing as a scuba diver, but explodes into violent physical action on several occasions; in order to protect her, making her suspect there is much more to this other wise quiet man. How and why is he so skilled in deadly combat? How is it he knows so much about the history of the Spanish galleon lying on the bottom of the lagoon? A strong. Independent, feminist she is nevertheless powerfully drawn emotionally and sexually toward this enigmatic man, much against her better judgment and instincts!
The Manila Galleon will grip you from the outset, and will not let go until the final denouement!
