Turkey Street by Jack Scott

Turkey Street by Jack Scott

Six months into their Turkish affair, Jack and Liam, a gay couple from London, took lodgings in the oldest ward of Bodrum Town. If they wanted to shy away from the curtain-twitchers, they couldn't have chosen a worse position. Their terrace overlooked Turkey Street like the balcony of Buckingham Palace and the middle-aged infidels stuck out like a couple of drunks at a temperance meeting. Against all the odds, the boys from the Smoke were welcomed into the fold by a feisty mix of eccentric locals and a select group of trailblazing expats, irresistible ladies with racy pasts and plucky presents. Hop aboard Jack's rainbow gulet as he navigates the choppy waters of a town on the march and a national resurgence not seen since Suleiman the Magnificent was at the gates of Vienna. Grab your deckchair for a whirlwind tour of love and duty, passion and betrayal, broken hearts and broken bones, dirty politics and the dawn of a new Ottoman era.

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.