Santa's New Helpers - Book Launch

There's lots of excitement in the Hoppe household tonight, because tomorrow will be the fulfillment of a dream of many years, when my first childrens' book arrives.

Santa's New Helpers is the first in the series Tales from the Waterhole. It is a fun story about how Santa, with help from a very unexpected source, was able to continue delivering the toys when his reindeer dropped from the sky, in the South African bush, too exhausted to carry on.

The book is full of the most delightful drawings done by Theresa Hardman, local artist and architect.



You are welcome to join us at the official launch is on Wednesday, 23 November 2016. See details below.

Santa's New Helpers - Coming Soon

Santa's New Helpers will be giving Christmas a decidedly African feel this year. It will be on the shelves of selected book shops and padstalle, by the end of November.

It's a fun book, with wonderful drawings and will be available in three of our official eleven languages.

Alternatively keep an eye on the El Gecko Publishing website, where you can order on line.

Skywatch Friday - roaring through the skies

I've been in the blogging wilderness for a while but I'm back.

Sadly the Port Elizabeth airshow has been cancelled this year, but I still have unpublished from the last one. The gloomy day combined with the smoke trails make a dramatic backdrop for the fly-by by the Mango Airlines Boeing 737 800 and the Silver Falcons team, in their Pilatus PC-7 Turbo-Trainers.

Visit the Skywatch site for more photos taken by enthusiastic sky watchers from around the world. 

Santa's New Helpers - soon to be published

It's finally happened!

After having written a number of children's books over many, many years, the first one is about to be published, through El Gecko Publishing, the new indie kid on the block. 

Santa's New Helpers is book 1 in the collaborative new series, Tales from the Waterhole, by me (Max Hoppe - author) and Theresa Hardman (illustrator). 

Over the past two years, I have discovered that books don't just happen. Writing them is one thing, but getting them published into the market is another. This one has exceeded my wildest expectations, with input from a very able and enthusiastic team.

Theresa's illustrations are brilliant, and capture the essence of the story with great style. They have added the wow factor to the book..........

The layout has been done with artistic flair by Sue Hoppe, who spent many hours poring over her computer screen, until she got it just right.

The book will also be available in three languages. Mignonne van Heerden brought her enthusiasm to the team, when she said it should not only be published in English, and translated it into Afrikaans. Soon afterwards, Mpumi Buyana stepped in and did the IsiXhosa translation.

The book should be ready for release in about the second last week of November 2016.

A taste of forthcoming attractions

Back cover - English version

Time to shake off the dust

After being in the cyber wilderness for just over a year, it is time to shake the dust off  The Max Files and breathe new life into my blog.

Much has been happening with me and Suzi over the past few years as we have travelled about South Africa and abroad and in-between launched our indie publishing business. We found that trying to get our books published by the main stream publishers was never going to be a proposition, so we took the plunge and dived headlong into publishing our first book. From there the business has taken on a life of its own.

Our first hard copy books:

• It all began with "The Climax Collection, the Secret Life of Windmills" a quirky but naughty coffee table book that looks at what they get up to when we are not looking. The books is filled with pictures of windmills taken on our travels, with captions to insure that you will never look at these iconic South African landmarks the same again. We are now into the third print run.

• This was followed by "Travels troubles with Koos". Written by Sue, it is a fun look at our travels around South Africa in my quirky and unreliable 4x4. The book is entertaining but at the same time provides great photos, details of interesting places and how to get there.

• We then decided to launch the Climax Collection 2. Another fun coffee table book that takes a look at what music windmills listen to when we are not around. 

• Currently at the printers and to be launched before Christmas is, "Santa's New Helpers". It is the first children's books from the series of African stories, "Tales from the Waterhole" that I've written. The book has been superbly illustrated by Port Elizabeth artist Theresa Hardman and promises to be a winner.

Visit the El Gecko Publishing website for more information about these books and other products.