THE DIAMOND'S MINE

by Pete Needham
UK 2008

This is a quest for a diamond ring in the form of a sequence of humorous parodies linked to the works of Leonard Cohen. It started out as a short story which appeared in the Forum of Leonardcohenfiles in 2004 and which, over the years, grew into a short novel. It was written in response to a comment made by Paula, a fellow Cohenite, about the joys of Christmas. Over the subsequent years it evolved into a comic saga of small proportion. There are numerous references to the works of Leonard Cohen - some hidden, some cryptic, some plain obvious. Leonard himself becomes an integral part of this saga. As written, before the prologue, another way of describing it is: A trilogy (in nearly three parts), with apologies to: Scrooge, Goldilocks, Johnny Depp, Jonathan Livingstone Seagull,Snow White, The Snow Queen and Leonard Cohen .... but mainly Leonard Cohen.

About the Author: In 1971, at the age of seventeen, Pete Needham became a Cohenite. It happened overnight, with a few friends and some LPs. Songs of Love and Hate infiltrated the occasion. Later that year he swapped his home town of Matlock, in the Derbyshire Dales, for Coventry, where he trained to be a mathematics teacher. It was here that he also learned, in his own way, to play the guitar and sing the songs of Leonard Cohen. In 1973 he unleashed some of these songs onto an unexpecting audience at the college folk club, where he cremated Joan of Arc and drowned Suzanne. From 1974 onwards, Pete progressed in the world of education and continued to add to his repertoire of songs. His wife, Liz, and their two sons allowed him this self-indulgence of singing songs in an empty room. It wasn't until 1998 that he actually met other Cohenites at a gathering of fans in an old asylum in Lincoln. He took along his guitar and joined in the proceedings. 'Tonight will be Fine' was really fine. Other gatherings and meet-ups followed and, together with the advent of the internet, friendships around the world were forged. Pete and Liz moved back to Matlock where, in 2004, The Diamond's Mine was conceived. It began as a short story based on Paula, a fellow Cohenite, who made a chance, negative remark about Christmas. It then evolved into a comic saga of small proportion.

Author - Pete Needham
ISBN - 978-0-9525678-2-0
Publisher - Bannister Publications, Chesterfield
Published price - £7.99 (through Amazon or order through bookstore)
Author's price - cost price of £6.00 plus p+p: email peterneedham@hotmail.com