Manna from Heaven and other Stories: True stories of fraud, intrigue, mystery, and conspiracy, from 45 years in the world of international business and finance.

Christopher Spencer

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I have written these stories because they are substantially true and I want to share them with others. They arise from my 45 years of experience in the world of international business and finance. Where I have thought necessary, I have altered the names of my characters, but they are real people who may recognise themselves. If they do and they are troubled by this, then I can only apologise to them. In some cases I have changed the facts to protect them. I have not changed the names of places or the circumstances. In one case, I have not identified the country involved because the Head of State, who I met several times, is still in charge.

Although I retired for a couple of years, I am now back working again and I find that this work keeps my mind active and supple. I separate out this work, where people know me by my real name, from my humble attempts at story-telling. That is why I use the nom de plume of Christopher Spencer. Somehow I seem to have produced an unusual “genre;" a series of auto-biographical episodes rather than an autobiography. They represent different periods of my life and, within each episode, I may move from the present to the past and even to the future. But that is the nature of my story-telling and I am hampered by the fact that my stories are all true. I have also used the Novelette format, longer than a short story, but not as long as a Novella or a Novel. I did this because it seemed to suit both my writing style and my content.

I admit that I have taken certain literary licence with the sequence of events to, I hope, provide a more interesting story for my readers. These days, we in the West seem to live in a largely cosy world which, increasingly, is divorced from reality. My belief is that modern technology can often hinder real progress and decision making; in the end I believe in people and their ability to interact and work together for a common aim. Technology can divide people, rather than allowing them to sort out their real problems face-to-face. In many parts of the world, progress based on the standard of living for ordinary people has been very slow and, in some tragic cases, any progress has been destroyed by civil war and continuing social collapse and terrorism.

My main character, Edwards, is myself. He shows certain aspects of my character and disposition. He is lazy and likes the comforts of life. He likes high living, when he can get it. He is sociable, but hates crowds. But he is capable of hard work, especially with other people, when needed. He has an ability to fit in, especially with foreigners. He can quickly understand a situation, but he also is, at times, a day-dreamer and is always nostalgic. The past always seems more attractive to him, compared with the present.