Turkey: The Raw Guide

by Jack Scott

Have you ever wondered what it’s really like to pitch your tent in a foreign field, particularly a Muslim one? Guidebooks and travelogues only go so far. To get a real feel, you need to ask someone who’s been there, done that and bought all the fake t-shirts. When Jack Scott and his Civil Partner, Liam, moved to Turkey nothing could prepare them for what was to come – heatstroke, frostbite, biblical floods, Byzantine red tape, lazy censorship, blackouts, bugs from Hell, rancid drains, lunatic drivers, dirty politics, spring-loaded waiters, jaw-dropping sunsets, kindness, generosity and acceptance. They stumbled upon what Jack infamously described as the mad, the bad, the sad and the glad. Jack decided to write it all down in a blog for all the world to ignore. He called it Perking the Pansies. Against the odds and quite by surprise, Perking the Pansies grew into the most successful blog of its kind in Turkey, attracting a loyal following, the attention of the Turkish national press and hatched an Amazon number One best-selling book.

Now that Jack and Liam's sweeping Anatolian adventures are behind them, Jack is publishing the best of the blog as a two volume e-book. The uncensored director's cut includes previously unpublished material and some solid home-spun practical advice about living the dream. Visas, tax, banking, working, customs, healthcare, schools for the ankle biters - all the boring stuff is in there. Jack likes to be functional as well as decorative.

246 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 6, 2012

About the author

Jack Scott was born on a British army base in Canterbury, England in 1960 and spent part of his childhood in Malaysia as a ‘forces brat’. A fondness for men in uniforms quickly developed. At the age of eighteen and determined to dodge further education, Jack became a shop boy on Chelsea’s trendy King’s Road: ‘Days on the tills and nights on the tiles were the best probation for a young gay man about town.’ After two carefree years, Jack swapped sales for security and got a sensible job in local government with a pension attached. By his late forties, passionately dissatisfied with suburban life and middle management, he and his husband Liam abandoned the sanctuary of liberal London for an uncertain future in Turkey.

In 2010, Jack started an irreverent narrative about his new life and Perking the Pansies, the blog quickly became one of the most popular English language blogs in Turkey. Within a year, Jack had been featured in the Turkish National Press, had published numerous essays and articles in expat and travel magazines and contributed to the Huffington Post Union of Bloggers. As the blog developed a head of steam, a growing worldwide audience clamoured for a book. Jack duly obliged and his hilarious (well, he thinks so) memoir, Perking the Pansies hit the streets at Christmas 2011.

The book became a critically acclaimed, award winning best seller and its success has opened out a whole new career for Jack as an author. Jack and Liam decided to end their Anatolian adventure and paddle back to Britain on the evening tide. They currently live in Norwich, a surprising cathedral city in eastern England.

Jack's often nostalgic for his encounters with the hopeless, the hapless and, yes, the happy go lucky. They gave him an unexpected tale to tell. Act Two, Turkey Street Jack and Liam move to Bodrum, was published in May 2015 by Springtime Books

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very funny and I loved the author's ability to laugh at some of the trivial problems that one may experience if living in Turkey. Some of these problems might be a bit much for foreigners. However after reading this book, I am ready for a year or two on the Turkish Coast! Good read for anyone considering going to Turkey who seeks an insider's perspective.