{"product_id":"9781905723041","title":"Strength Through Koi - They Saved Hitler's Koi And Other Stories","description":"\"For years I have augmented my income by working as a 'hac\u0026amp;kgrave; writer, penning throwaway articles for anyone who will pay me. Regularly, I would get the bus into Exeter City Centre, and sneak into W.H.Smiths and peruse the magazines for sale, and make a surreptitious list of any new publications whom I could approach to buy an article from me.\u003cp\u003eOne day in the late winter, I was doing just this when I found a copy of a magazine called Koi Carp. With my tongue firmly in cheek, I telephoned them, and asked whether they would be interested in an article - or even a series of articles - about the fortean aspects of their hobby. Much to my surprise and gratification they accepted, and so I started work on my first article.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eI had been so used to working for fly-by-night publications, that I had stopped taking a long-term view of my writing work. I was lucky if a series I wrote lasted three issues, so the fact that I knew next to nothing about the fortean aspect of koi carp-keeping didn't really matter. However, on this occasion, I was hoist by my own petard, as the series carried on for nearly two years! After six or seven issues, I bit the bullet, and started to employ the old journalistic adage that one should never let the truth get in the way of a good story.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSome of the stories that follow are true. Some are mostly true, others have a germ of truth, and even the ones that I made up are based on true events. I think my proudest moment as a journalist came after the publication of \"They Saved Hitler's Koi\", when Simon Wolstencroft, an old friend of mine, and then editor of a sister-magazine to the one for which I was working, sent me the following email.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e1. How did you think you would get away with having this printed?\u003cbr\u003e2. How did you get away with it?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor goodness sake, don't read these stories looking for any firm insights into the history and culture of koi keeping, but I hope that they may give you some little amusement, because that was the spirit in which they were written.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"cfz","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47051503337712,"sku":"9781905723041","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9781905723041_p0.jpg?v=1763615284","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781905723041","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}