Perking the Pansies by Jack Scott

Perking the Pansies by Jack Scott

Jack and Liam, fed up with kiss-my-arse bosses and nose-to-nipple commutes, quit their jobs and move to a small town in Turkey. Join the culture-curious gay couple on their bumpy rite of passage in a Muslim country. Meet the oddballs, VOMITs, vetpats, emigreys, semigreys, debauched waiters and middle England miseries. When bigotry and ignorance emerge from the crude underbelly of Turkey's expat life, Jack and Liam waver. Determined to stay the course, the happy hedonistas hitch up their skirts, move to the heart of liberal Bodrum and fall in love with their intoxicating foster land. Enter Jack's irreverent world for a right royal dose of misery and joy, bigotry and enlightenment, betrayal and loyalty, friendship, love, earthquakes, birth, adoption and a senseless murder. Perking the Pansies will make you laugh out loud one minute and sob into your crumpled tissue the next.

Jack Scott was born in 1960 on a British army post in Canterbury, England, and spent most of his youth as a 'forces brat' in Malaysia. He rapidly acquired a passion for guys in uniforms. He became a shop boy on London's famous King's Road at the age of eighteen, determined to avoid further education: 'Days on the tills and nights on the tiles were the best probation for a young gay man about town.' Jack switched from sales to security and earned a good job with a pension after two carefree years. He and his husband left the safety of liberal London for an uncertain future in Turkey in their late forties, deeply disillusioned with suburban life and middle management. Jack began writing an irreverent account of his new life in 2010, and Perking the Pansies quickly became one of Turkey's most popular English-language blogs.

He'd been featured in the Turkish national press, had multiple essays and pieces published in expat and travel journals, and had contributed to the Huffington Post Union of Bloggers all within a year. As the blog grew in popularity, a rising worldwide audience demanded a book. 'Perking the Pansies, Jack and Liam Go to Turkey,' Jack's funny (well, he thinks so) memoir, was published in 2011. Jack's critically acclaimed debut novel was nominated for two Rainbow Book Awards, was named to the Polari First Book Prize shortlist, and was featured in Time Out.

Jack's debut novel's critical acclaim ushered in a new era in his life. He is presently a self-employed writer and author. In 2012, Jack and Liam called it a day in Anatolia and paddled back to the UK on the ebb tide. They now reside in Norwich, an unexpected cathedral city in eastern England.

To tie up all the loose ends and bring their Anatolian trip to a crashing finish, Jack published the sequel 'Turkey Street, Jack and Liam move to Bodrum' in 2015.