Hi, I'm Mike Leaver... and welcome to my author website.
Here you'll find lots of information about my off-grid lifestyle, book-writing passion, how to buy my work, and interact (if you wish).
Lorry-Living Eccentric Adventurer In Snowdonia. . .
I'm a pensioner who lives off-grid with no modern conveniences in a self-converted, static truck in a small coastal town in North Wales. In just four years, I've written my two-part autobiography and first three saga novels – all on an old laptop largely by candlelight in my lorry!
A single, 72-year-old, vegetarian, I'm like Alan Bennett's London character The Lady in The Van – according to my publicist – a well-known eccentric around my adopted home in Snowdonia/Eryri, and throughout the UK, thanks to extensive media coverage. I enjoy outdoor adventure, table tennis, and chess.
Video Exclusive Of 'Abyss' Caving Adventure!
I'm incredibly proud but humbled to present this fun video https://youtu.be/CdbYZ5GDNHQ of me and a friend enjoying a local potholing (underground caving) adventure!
Potholing is one of my favourite outdoor adventure hobbies and I'm keen to encourage more people, especially of mature years, to try it!
In The Abyss, me and my book publicist Ian Spindley venture down and around an old mine working. This includes me crossing a narrow beam above a bottomless chasm!
Last year I bought a mini action camera to capture an exploration near Porthmadog, and a local film-maker Sid Stephenson of Films@No2 in Criccieth also shot footage to professionally edit/produce the video.
I feature potholing in my first lifestory 'Yeti Seeks Mate' and novel 'Nork From Nowhere.' In my second autobiography 'English, Solitaire, Cowboy, Cuckoo. . .' – successfully launched last autumn – I encourage average hill walkers on low budgets to explore less well-known outdoor locations, to take their own route safely to their destination, and maybe to try new activities such as potholing or sailing.
Promoting potholing, my 5 books (2 autobiographies and 3 saga novels), and Porthmadog Chess Club (which I co-founded last year) are just 3 of my 4 ambitious plans for 2025. The final one is finishing and, hopefully having published, my sixth book (another unusual fiction).
My Book Promotion Events In 2025!
One of my main ambitions this year - as well as hopefully publishing my 6th book - is to continue promoting and selling my existing 5 titles!
So, my agent/publicist Ian Spindley has already secured us 8 events, where readers - either new or existing - can meet me/us to discuss my unusual lifestyle and sample my 2 autobiographies and 3 saga novels.
Where possible, we prefer to hold 'in conversation with' events in which Ian and the audience ask me any questions they wish about my life, writing, and books - and I answer completely honestly!
Our confirmed promotional events calendar so far includes:
* In Conversation/Q&A at The Bookshop by the Sea in Aberystwyth on Sunday 23 February at 5pm.
* Meet The Author with Friends of Bangor Garth Pier as part of St David's Day celebrations on Saturday 1 March from 11am-7pm.
* In Conversation/Q&A at Castle Bookshop's secret garden in Ludlow on Friday 30 May at 6pm (hopefully followed by Hay Festival visit the next day?)
* Meet The Author at Tyddyn Mawr Tearoom Book & Craft Fair near Porthmadog; and at 3 various Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways special event weekends this summer/autumn.
* Indie Authors' Fair with Script Haven Books/Cafe in Worcester Guildhall on Saturday 4th October.
At each event I am naturally delighted to sell and personally dedicate/sign my The Book Guild published books, and sometimes offer a good discount if you buy more than one title!
If any other book shops, book clubs, libraries, or community groups etc would like to host an event, then please contact Ian via this site - as I live offgrid in a lorry with no modern communications whatsoever!
Pictured is me with my 2 companion autobiographies at a promotional event last year.
5-Star Review Of 'Cuckoo'!
Thanks ever so much to fellow author Andy Mullaney for enjoying my new book 'English, Solitaire, Cowboy, Cuckoo. . .' and giving it a 5-star review.
It means a great deal when anyone comments on my writing, but especially because Andy - an author, mentor, coach, public speaker, and cancer fighter from the West Midlands - is also an ambassador for our publisher Troubador Publishing / The Book Guild Ltd.
Andy says: “It’s one of a kind and that’s a fact. I guess it’s Mike's humility that draws me in, and the way that he tells his stories takes you with him to that point in time and that exact place.
Mike is one of the last great adventurers this country has produced – someone who takes on a challenge simply because it’s there, often without any plan, preparation, or thought for his own safety, recovery, or return. He embodies a certain eccentricity that is endearing and makes you want to cheer him on.
Mike has an encyclopedic recall of situations and encounters. The level of detail is incredible, and the vivid pictures he paints with his words are utterly absorbing.”
Full review on my Books page. . .