The Amazon delivery saga continues. I'd paid in advance for 12 copies of Xaghra's Revenge to go to Bargate Bookshop, Gozo one of the Maltese islands in the Mediterranean; another 12 to Bookworm bookshop, Gozo and 10 to come here in Chester, UK - all back in April. 12 arrived at Bookworm but water damaged so Amazon promised a replacement. Meanwhile that shop wanted a further 12, so I ordered those too. All via the publisher at a generous author discount so I don't lose money when the bookshops send me 10 euros per copy. So far those shops have received no more copies. Amazon's KDP keep messing up the deliveries. They sent my 10 copies to Canada then said they cannot deliver any more to either Canada nor the Maltese islands nor Australia and a bunch of other places. They promised refunds but I said I need books not refunds. So publisher switched back to using Amazon's Createspace last week.
Result?
24 copies arrived this morning - here in Chester! Not the 10 copies I wanted for a talk in June, but possibly the 24 copies that are supposed to go to Gozo!

The publisher is going to try again to get Amazon to use tracking to find out what's gone wrong and how to put it right.
Good thing lives are not dependent on our books.

My other publisher uses POD via Lightning Source. A bit more expensive but so far 100% reliable.

I don't know. I took enough books to do a simple signing at the hotel in Malta that offered to host me seeing as I'd stayed there to do research and write Xaghra's Revenge over the last 12 years. No sooner had the hotel put up posters on their windows, entertainments board (haha) and on facebook than I received 4 more engagements. Me! Who'd rather be asleep under the desk in the lobby than meet too many people. I sold out. Good although it meant disappointing a few people who'd come to a bookshop to see me on Gozo. However, the owner has agreed to be a stockist so more will be there in a couple of weeks. I blogged the experience here https://geoffnelder.com/why-do-a-book-tour/ along with a link to the excerpt I read to a posh Salon group and to the good folk in the Gozo Central library.

A little optimising puzzle in my novel I’m working on.
Three people reach their boat on the left side of a river. They have a second boat on the other side. A fourth person has yet to arrive so they need to leave a boat for him on the left. What’s the shortest number of journeys across the river? (Counting a journey with two people in a boat each as one)
I make it 5.
Secondary question: should I give the solution in the story or leave it to interested readers to work it out?

I know I was only an occasional user of MWC, but I'd grown to love you guys and gals with your witty repartee and appreciative comments, so I popped back in and whoa. Thanks to Firefly for sending me a boomerang with this address on it. No doubt she's recaptured it and sending it off again.

For those who've been lucky enough not to encounter me:
Geoff Nelder, former teacher of Geography and IT, lives in England withing easy cycling distance of the Welsh mountains. I thought I could make money from my writing after some deluded readers said they adored my style, but while yes there's money coming in, it's not enough to keep me in puncture repair kits for my touring bicycle. However, being a bad-ass editor and a critical contest judge actually pays a decent amount of pocket money. Certainly more than the 80+ short stories and 10 books published so far.

Good to see you again.