My first venture into the world of self-publishing was when I released Northern Light: A Treasury of Short Stories about Northern England, its History, Heritage and People. I have published this as a paperback using POD service provided by Blurb: http://www.blurb.co.uk/b/5556688-northern-light
It can also be downloaded for Kindle at: amazon.co.uk/Northern-Light-Treasury-St ... 00N47LC76/

Please check out my photography and other books at: http://www.howardmbeck.co.uk

---

Northern England is known for many things — some of them serious, others a little wacky — the Rhubarb Triangle, and Eccles \cakes, the Devil’s Arrows, monkey hangers, the curious Burning Bartley ceremony and screaming skull. There are places called Crackpot, Booze, No Place, Sexton, Bug Thorpe, Friar’s Goose, Foggy Furze and Giggles wick. It is home to the very odd sports of knur and spell, Cumberland wrestling and ferret legging; and is the birthplace of Guido (Guy) Fawkes, Mr Foggitt, the Brontës, Freddie Trueman, Stan Laurel, the Clitheroe Kid, the Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and James Cook.
In Northern Light there is a message, and that message is that the north of England, embracing the counties of Lancashire and Yorkshire — the so-called Roses Counties — Durham, Northumberland and the old counties of Westmorland and Cumberland that today comprise Cumbria, is a very diverse region embracing widely contrasting topography. It has some of the most picturesque and dramatic countryside in Britain, peopled by folk whose character has been forged on the anvil of this northern landscape: lives that are firmly rooted in their Viking and Celtic past, watered by a weather system governed by proximity to the Atlantic.
Northern Light is a collection of short stories by the author, each a snapshot of life, culture, customs, humour, tradition and history in the land of flat caps and black puddings. Ay, and ducks that fly back’ards to keep the muck out of their eyes. Of necessity it is a subjective, a very eclectic gathering of tales and events shaped and influenced by the mountains and dales, the vales and forests, villages, towns, cities and seaside fishing ports, and of course the Northerners themselves. Furthermore, I would hazard there is not a history anywhere more colourful, more endearing or more fascinating. And so there you have it, the North in a nutshell.