https://www.duncangregoryauthor.comRSS Feed for Duncan GregoryenSun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b452b93d-4998-4c2b-b361-7741836e9d55.pdfHeaven’s Above! is a gripping read: 13 short stories which at times connects to and expands on the narrative from the earlier publication Whittling our Niche: at other times they travel in alternative directions, exploring new and exhilarating horizons. Dream sequences bookend the compendium, but many of the tales in between are brought to the page as dreams of the author, carefully crafted, and given life. ..... READ MORESun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b452b93d-4998-4c2b-b361-7741836e9d55.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b452b93d-4998-4c2b-b361-7741836e9d55.pdfHeaven’s Above! is a gripping read: 13 short stories which at times connects to and expands on the narrative from the earlier publication Whittling our Niche: at other times they travel in alternative directions, exploring new and exhilarating horizons. Dream sequences bookend the compendium, but many of the tales in between are brought to the page as dreams of the author, carefully crafted, and given life. .... READ MORESun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b452b93d-4998-4c2b-b361-7741836e9d55.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/dfb4e319-7ef2-425c-920c-987779e5d2f5.pdfI knew they were serious when I saw the street light glinting off the knife blade! Four boys in rags. One grabbed my watch; another was at my back trying to snatch the pack. I wouldn’t be the first to succumb to the street kids of Nairobi, and not the last either. Suddenly a guard came bounding out of the shadows from a nearby bank, yelling and waving his truncheon: Batman to the rescue! The boys scattered. .... READ MORESun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/dfb4e319-7ef2-425c-920c-987779e5d2f5.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/dcb6a0f2-0447-4332-83d2-e3be42914e8c.pdfConsciously or subconsciously, we all evaluate our progress as we move from branch to branch on our Tree of Life. This notion encompasses everyone: front-runners who have reached the pinnacle of their chosen field; folk at the other extreme struggling with everyday matters at a local level. Are we happy with our trajectory? Do we need to change things to incorporate other elements? .... READ MORESun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/dcb6a0f2-0447-4332-83d2-e3be42914e8c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/dcb6a0f2-0447-4332-83d2-e3be42914e8c.pdfSun, 24 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/dcb6a0f2-0447-4332-83d2-e3be42914e8c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/8b854354-aba7-430b-b208-4815c80e48d5.pdfI was thrilled to read through my first book - WHITTLING OUR NICHE: from the Tree of Life - after it arrived by air from publisher Austin Macauley, in London. To see the beautiful magenta cover for the first time in book form, and then to open and skim through the lead pages: all very exciting! How does it look? How does it read? Are there obvious mistakes we didn’t pick up before printing? An adrenalin rush that I can only guess most writers get at that moment in time .... READ MOREMon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/8b854354-aba7-430b-b208-4815c80e48d5.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/20b6592b-5df4-4115-9424-c8cc52c2061f.pdfSo, what’s this WHITTLING our NICHE all about? Well, let’s just say that it applies to me, to you, to everyone, throughout our lives, from those early cries in the cradle, to our last stuttering steps. That’s why I highlight the term, the concept if you will, because it’s so important to each and every one of us joint inhabitants of planet Earth. Where does our niche comes from? What is it affected by? And how do we choose to carve and develop it? These are the most personal questions for us all to deal with. And of course, how we do this in a communal sense, alongside others, will have lasting significance for ourselves, our own and other species … and the planet .... READ MOREMon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/20b6592b-5df4-4115-9424-c8cc52c2061f.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b4da1795-ebbe-4fc4-86fe-f44f6c159ed6.pdf“I recall the exact moment. The birth certificate extract showed my unique quartet of Christian names. Strangely, the names next to MOTHER were a replica of the trio I recollected for my elder sister, 25 years my senior. Birthplace correct. Against FATHER was scrawled a single word: unknown. There, at the age of 26, I came to know I was a bastard!” .... READ MORESun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b4da1795-ebbe-4fc4-86fe-f44f6c159ed6.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdf“I recall the exact moment. The birth certificate extract showed my unique quartet of Christian names. Strangely, the names next to MOTHER were a replica of the trio I recollected for my elder sister, 25 years my senior. Birthplace correct. Against FATHER was scrawled a single word: unknown. There, at the age of 26, I came to know I was a bastard!” .... READ MORESun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfIt was a remarkable feeling: that inner warm glow when I saw my first book in print - holding it, reading it – in many ways similar to turning the pages and finding my column in the latest edition of the local newspaper; or from years gone by, that first sight of the quarterly magazine I once produced for schools in Australia. But a 270-page book was a step above all that: a different intensity .... READ MORESun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfIt was a remarkable feeling: that inner warm glow when I saw my first book in print - holding it, reading it – in many ways similar to turning the pages and finding my column in the latest edition of the local newspaper; or from years gone by, that first sight of the quarterly magazine I once produced for schools in Australia. But a 270-page book was a step above all that: a different intensity. On a personal level, it was particularly invigorating, as I was coming to this, my fourth career, as a somewhat elderly author. But also, because I really loved my newfound vocation. I was In My Element; two hours composing felt like 10 minutes. I just wished I’d come to this point 40 years earlier. But then of course, I would not have had the experience of life, to inform and embolden my writing: a CATCH-22 I guess .... READ MORESun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfSun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfIt was a remarkable feeling: that inner warm glow when I saw my first book in print - holding it, reading it – in many ways similar to turning the pages and finding my column in the latest edition of the local newspaper; or from years gone by, that first sight of the quarterly magazine I once produced for schools in Australia. But a 270-page book was a step above all that: a different intensity. On a personal level, it was particularly invigorating, as I was coming to this, my fourth career, as a somewhat elderly author. But also, because I really loved my newfound vocation. I was In My Element; two hours composing felt like 10 minutes. I just wished I’d come to this point 40 years earlier. But then of course, I would not have had the experience of life, to inform and embolden my writing: a CATCH-22 I guess .... READ MORESun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfIt was a remarkable feeling: that inner warm glow when I saw my first book in print - holding it, reading it – in many ways similar to turning the pages and finding my column in the latest edition of the local newspaper; or from years gone by, that first sight of the quarterly magazine I once produced for schools in Australia. But a 270-page book was a step above all that: a different intensity. On a personal level, it was particularly invigorating, as I was coming to this, my fourth career, as a somewhat elderly author. But also, because I really loved my newfound vocation. I was In My Element; two hours composing felt like 10 minutes. I just wished I’d come to this point 40 years earlier. But then of course, I would not have had the experience of life, to inform and embolden my writing: a CATCH-22 I guess. Strangely, in 2020, the Coronavirus pandemic was my starting point. I’d written before, but when Covid hit, I locked myself away in the back-blocks of Shanzu, on the tropical coast of Kenya, and got serious. I was no IT expert, but the meagre skills I did possess enabled me to develop a basic website, which was used in-the-main as a safe place to store files (which grew and grew to a total of 250 articles). Then I happened to meet a local newspaper’s editor, which led to and many of those articles being refined for two monthly columns: Sustainable Change, and Travelling Light. During that period of writing the newspaper columns, and somewhat in parallel, I began to piece together the book - Whittling our Niche: from the tree of life - much of which was also drawn from the myriad of website articles. If you go to the online site today, you can ferret out various pieces from the book, but fragmented in form, less cohesive and less refined than the completed text. The book recounts a range of experiences over time, including a number of death-defying near fatalities, which I now look back to with a degree of disbelief. But in addition, much of the book revolves around travel, often relating to work, but sometimes purely to unadulterated pleasure. For example, from Australia there are numerous tales of airborne exploits: rural escapades with the pilot on my knee, then alongside another aviator - my boss - who suddenly tells me: “You take over, I feel like a nap.” “Hello! What the hell does that mean?” My initial muted response. But my ever-extending lifespan includes many ups and downs. Those sky-high adventures ended with vivid memories of our six-seater plane in free-fall, heading towards shark-infested seas. More local examples include a high-speed car crash near Kericho, then quite recently, coming face-to-face with Al-Shabaab in Westgate. To even the score, excursions into the education world of India, plus a variety of accounts from Europe and South-East Asia, can re-emerge as extraordinarily happy times. I vividly remember a 15-year-old schoolgirl, in the orange-suited robes of a famous freedom fighter, confronting me, the supposed colonial ruler, on the podium; and still feel a lump in my throat if I recall her 4,000 schoolmates that day, in the multi-coloured attire of the Telugu community, standing in unison to sing their national anthem. “Who is that girl?”, I asked the principal, sitting alongside me. “Oh, that’s Jaya, our head girl. Would you like to meet her?” The narrative abounds with many such accounts, as I traverse a meandering path across four continents, spread over five decades, and encompassing three careers. Coursing to some degree under the surface, I search for some meaning. Some reason for those near-fatalities; and indeed, whether our stories are worth telling at all, considering our miniscule time as an itinerant in this enormous universe. With that in mind, I end the text with a perceptive quote from the late Christopher Hitchens - a long-admired writer - who said shortly before his death: ‘The written word will remain, that’s true; but it won’t be much comfort to me’. WHITTLING OUR NICHE from the tree of life. Available in paperback from the publisher Austin Macauley, Amazon, or as an e-Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d178bfa2-471f-4d72-a0d0-4edcede57b8c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/38780b5c-bd8f-46da-b4fe-63d7cb17462c.pdfSun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/38780b5c-bd8f-46da-b4fe-63d7cb17462c.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d21a0fa5-f462-4757-aa81-2a342cf16145.pdfConsciously or subconsciously, we all evaluate our progress as we move from branch to branch on our Tree of Life. This notion encompasses everyone: front-runners who have reached the pinnacle of their chosen field; folk at the other extreme struggling with everyday matters at a local level. Are we happy with our trajectory? Do we need to change things .... READ MORESun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d21a0fa5-f462-4757-aa81-2a342cf16145.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/e4886a08-79f9-403c-8f65-a8106b9864e8.pdfEach and every example of human existence - a diversity of being cooked together in a melting pot of nature and nurture - delivers a unique result: a remarkable blueprint which cannot be duplicated. From our first tottering steps to those last doddery stumbles, we carve a matchless track, outlining our brief presence on this blue-green orb .... READ MORESun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/e4886a08-79f9-403c-8f65-a8106b9864e8.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/e4886a08-79f9-403c-8f65-a8106b9864e8.pdfSun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/e4886a08-79f9-403c-8f65-a8106b9864e8.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b834ed0f-59b4-43cf-85c5-148bc84f2d73.pdfIt could be true for most people that later life is grounded on childhood experience. At seven, George enjoyed the country lanes of sometimes sunny Cornwall, ambling back and forth each day, between high hedgerows, to a tiny village school about a mile from home. He was excited by the world around him .... READ MORESun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b834ed0f-59b4-43cf-85c5-148bc84f2d73.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/8545317d-ffbb-4be4-b6f3-cc5e242a8149.pdfConsciously or subconsciously, we all evaluate our progress as we move from branch to branch on our tree of life. This notion encompasses everyone: front-runners who have reached the pinnacle of their chosen field; folk at the other extreme struggling with everyday matters at a local level. Are we happy with our trajectory? Do we need to change things to incorporate other elements? .... READ MOREThu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/8545317d-ffbb-4be4-b6f3-cc5e242a8149.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/100ddcba-5d42-4503-bce4-0a515824877a.pdfEach and every example of human existence - a diversity of being, cooked up in a melting pot of nature and nurture - delivers a unique result: a remarkable blueprint which cannot be duplicated. From our first tottering steps to those last doddery stumbles, we carve a matchless track that outlines our actuality on this blue orb. ... READ MOREThu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/100ddcba-5d42-4503-bce4-0a515824877a.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/100ddcba-5d42-4503-bce4-0a515824877a.pdfThu, 14 May 2026 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/100ddcba-5d42-4503-bce4-0a515824877a.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/1bc42ed2-a188-4acf-9197-fbac08fdadef.pdfSun, 15 Sep 2024 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/1bc42ed2-a188-4acf-9197-fbac08fdadef.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/192d71d5-ded5-4f18-8da8-61a8e06e8084.pdf“Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz? The throaty tones of Janice Joplin rang out loud and clear, lamenting her plight in the materialistic world of ‘60s America. Joplin died in a sea of drugs and alcohol, soon after recording the Mercedes prayer for posterity. ln truth, the song was a wild cry for help, against the excesses of those times.Sun, 14 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/192d71d5-ded5-4f18-8da8-61a8e06e8084.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/023a2dd2-0148-4dc8-8627-2e4c65ebe373.pdfMy daughter is a ‘digital nomad’! When I first heard this, I imagined her plodding across the desert with a laptop perched on the hump of the lead camel, guiding the caravan to the next oasis. She had enjoyed Kenya on a couple of visits, at one stage spending a day in a Samburu manyatta, but this was taking things a bit too far.Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/023a2dd2-0148-4dc8-8627-2e4c65ebe373.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d7ad2896-12a0-4385-a546-021ddc618bd9.pdfAn article in Madafu’s March issue caught my eye: ‘Africa’s Biggest Challenge’. The author Karim Kone spoke of theft and dishonesty in Burkina Faso, as a clear example of a wider malaise that violated a beloved Africa. For me, the article immediately brought to mind similar experiences here in Kenya. .... (read more)Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/d7ad2896-12a0-4385-a546-021ddc618bd9.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b172039b-ccea-4098-8192-16be1eb200ce.pdfEmma was born six weeks premature on 31st December 2019. By the time she’d reached her due-by-date in February 2020 the corona virus was rampant. She witnessed a world in turmoil; some places handled things better than others. She also noted that a focus on the pandemic meant other issues, such as climate change, were neglected. .... (read more)Tue, 04 Jul 2023 00:00:00 +0100https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/b172039b-ccea-4098-8192-16be1eb200ce.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/4d3c659b-9870-42a2-adcd-9effcf33fe18.pdfLeaning on his bedroom doorframe, I blurted out the truth: “John, you’ve always known me as your uncle, but in reality I’m your brother,” thus laying bare the astounding news that we had emerged from the same womb! Unceremoniously, he muttered a few dismissive syllables, and went back to sleep.Thu, 17 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/4d3c659b-9870-42a2-adcd-9effcf33fe18.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/aa4f6710-5f78-492e-a137-fd4ef8e843d9.pdfSo there was I: the unknowing subject of deception, a decade on from emigration to the antipodes - mid-twenties gent, wavy locks, gangster moustache, burgundy flares - at the dining table nonchalantly slicing open a slim white envelope. Little did I realise the contents were to change my life irrevocably. ....Tue, 15 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/aa4f6710-5f78-492e-a137-fd4ef8e843d9.pdfhttps://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/96fc464e-51dd-40c1-a9ec-49cf8e2569bc.pdfWay back in 2015 – before Trump, Brexit, Covid or Ukraine - the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) replaced the somewhat underwhelming Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The revised set of targets focuses on a similar overall plan to improve quality of life for all, but with a more focused agenda. .... (read more)Sat, 12 Nov 2022 00:00:00 +0000https://media.journoportfolio.com/users/98251/uploads/96fc464e-51dd-40c1-a9ec-49cf8e2569bc.pdf