SHARPE'S STORM - Book review

Bernard Cornwell’s twenty-fourth Sharpe novel, Sharpe’s Storm is actually the nineteenth in chronological order, taking place in 1813, following after Honour and Regiment (both 1813) and before Siege (1814). It isn’t a disappointment.

Sharpe and his battalion are with Wellington’s troops in Southern France, faced with crossing the river Nive to confront Marshal Soult’s formidable force. It’s winter and there seems to be perpetual rain, and it’s cold. Sharpe is tasked with escorting a couple of naval men on a secret reconnoitring mission: one of whom is Rear-Admiral Sir Joel Chase, a man he knew years ago (see Sharpe’s Trafalgar). Sir Joel’s enthusiasm soon becomes tiresome to Sharpe’ and to make matters worse he is also hindered by the buffoon Sir Nathaniel Peacock.

As well as Wellington, on good form as usual, we meet again Sharpe’s devoted Three Aitches: Harper, Harris, and Hagman.

All the ingredients we’ve come to expect are here: a couple of skirmishes, a fraught bloody battle, wife Jane, and a brief romantic interlude, laced with humour and pathos.

Sharpe is aware that the end of this war approached and if he survived it he doubted if his services would be retained. He would be at a loss if he didn’t soldier. Fighting, that’s what he was best at. And yet again he proves the truth of that.

As ever, the author’s historical note is enlightening, revealing the real characters and the author’s strategies to shoehorn his heroes into historical events.

A satisfying entry into the canon.

Editorial comment (for the benefit of writers):

‘Quiet!’ Sharpe hissed back (p27). This is not a word that can be hissed... A couple more inapt instances crop up...

‘... firing blindly though the smoke towards the far ridge’ (p126). Of course this should be ‘through’. It’s a common oversight made by editors.

‘Your men call you Mister Sharpe, not “sir”...’ (p150) This in essence repeats an observation made on p49 in the company of Sir Nathaniel Peacock.

TARGET ANTARCTICA - Book review

Hammond Innes followed up his novel Isvik (1991) with this sequel, Target Antarctica, in 1993.

As usual, it’s a first person narrative, by Falklands War hero Ed Cruse, having just ignominiously left the RAF. After some shilly-shallying he’s given a job to fly a stranded C-130 Hercules aircraft off an Antarctic iceberg. The reasons are not made clear until near the end of the book. There is a subplot involving one of the interested parties, the tragic if exotic La Belle, which provides a depth of character lacking in a number of the others. Indeed, it is her past that provides the only real fraught conflict.

Ed Cruse is likeable – as are all his first-person protagonists; though I suspect he could be a danger on the roads: he drinks and drives! He had two Bloody Marys and then had a coffee and a couple of large brandies and drove through London in his Jag... (pp138-139)!

I’ve read and enjoyed several books by Innes and found this showed his strengths in putting the reader in the story with believable descriptions. Yet, sadly, it lacked something and I felt the ending was rushed.

If this is your first introduction to Innes and you found it unsatisfactory, do try some of his earlier novels before forsaking his work; you will be rewarded.

A PLACE CALLED FREEDOM - Book review

Ken Follett’s novel A Place Called Freedom was published in 1995 and is a fascinating dive into history. 

The prologue or whatever (it’s untitled) is a conceit that we could do without; it mentions an iron neck-collar worn by slaves: ‘This man is the property of Sir George Jamisson of Fife, AD 1767’.

The book is broken into three parts: Scotland, London, Virginia.

Mack McAsh is a young miner in Fife; a slave to the mine owner, Sir George. ‘Life was hard for miners, but it was harder for their wives’ (p116). Mack speaks up about the injustice he and his fellows endure and is brutally punished: ‘... you have to understand that they don’t feel pain as we do’ (p132).

Lizzie Hallim used to play with Mack when they were bairns, but now they are worlds apart. She is attractive, indeed. ‘I can get a husband whenever I like. The problem is finding one I can put up with for more than half an hour’ (p14). Her mother needs Lizzie to make a match that will save their property and land since her father has died leaving much debt. The obvious answer is Jay Jamisson, son of Sir George...

This is a time of unrest in the colonies, Boston boycotting all British import, and even giving up tea!  This problem may also affect the lucrative business of transporting and selling seven-year slaves – criminals sent from England to the New World: ‘130 or 140 convicts packed into the hold shoulder-to-shoulder like fish in a basket’ (p44).

Anxious to have his freedom, Mack escapes the mines and finds himself in London, where he falls foul of the law – thanks to the intervention of the Jamissons. He faces the Westminster magistrate, Sir John Fielding. ‘Fielding was blind, but that did not hinder him in his work’ (p249).

Follett has done his research – as he always does. There’s a passage concerning ‘the Blind Beak’ Fielding in The Fatal Shore: A History of the Transportation of Convicts to Australia 1787-1868) (published in 1986) by Robert Hughes. Fielding, half-brother of Henry, was ‘able to identify3,000 different malefactors by their voices alone’ (ibid p26). Due to the American War of Independence, no more convicts were sent to the Americas, so the prison hulks of Britain were overflowing; the government therefore had to resort to transporting felons to Australia instead of to Virginia.

However, this story occurs before the First Fleet to the antipodes, before 1776 in fact. Jay and George Jamisson are classic villains. The fate of Lizzie and Mack are inevitably entwined.

The 567 pages fly by to a satisfactory ending.

Editorial comment:

‘I think to myself’ (p3) – ‘I think’ is adequate!

‘he thought to himself’ (p214). Enough said...

THE FERGUSON RIFLE - Book review

Louis L’Amour’s novel The Ferguson Rifle was published in 1973 and my paperback copy is the fourth reprint (1982). And I’ve just got round to reading it!

It’s early 1800s and is narrated in the first person by Ronan Chantry who is travelling west after the sad demise of his wife and son in a cabin fire. He travels with ‘a good horse, a small pack, an excellent knife, and my Ferguson rifle... my constant companion since my childhood, all that remains of my past, that and a few precious books to stimulate my thoughts...’ (p1). The breech-loading rifle was presented to him by a Major Ferguson in 1780 which he'd made himself.  He had no idea where he was headed. ‘As long as one travels toward a promised land, the dream is there, to stop means to face the reality, and it is easier to dream than to realise the dream’ (p15).

Ronan is well-travelled, a professor of law and literature; he’d ‘studied at the Sorbonne and at Heidelberg and had taught history at Cambridge and William and Mary’ (p22). But he accepted that he had plenty to learn in the Old West from frontiersmen he encountered. ‘The mind that is geared to learning, that is endlessly curious, cannot cease from contemplating and comparing’ (p37).

He soon comes to realise that though he was a civilised man he now existed in an uncivilised world.

He joins a group of friendly frontiersmen who appreciate his skill with the rifle, notably in hunting but also in despatching renegade Indians! On their travels they meet up with a strong-willed woman, Lucinda Falvey, who is searching for some 200-year-old lost treasure. ‘... with winter coming on, the aspen had already turned to gold. The earth where we were to sleep was inches deep with the golden leaves... treasure enough for me’ (p118).

Like all his books, L’Amour puts the reader in the scene. ‘... I could see the moon. The sky was impossibly clear, bathing the forest below in misty golden light. Not the mist of cloud or dampness, but of moonlight among the trees. Behind me bulked the vastness of the mountains, below the steep hillside, the shimmering pool of the aspen...’ (p120).

And Lucinda’s treacherous uncle Rafen is on her trail, determined to wrest the treasure from her grasp.

A short, fast-paced book filled with interesting characters, a smattering of history – even the Knights of Malta! – and the usual western lore so familiar to readers of the author.

Recommended.

DRAGON TEETH - Book review

Michael Crichton’s novel Dragon Teeth was published in 2017, nine years after his death. There’s no indication as to whether the completed work was entirely by him or someone else contributed or finished it. 

It’s based on much historical fact. In 1875 eighteen-year-old William Johnson made a bet with a college friend to join the archaeological expedition of Professor O.C. Marsh in his quest for dinosaur bones. This was then considered a dubious endeavour at the time: ‘many prominent ministers and theologians explicitly denounced ungodly paleontological research’ (p28). Marsh was quite a character and ‘was a good friend of Red Cloud’ (p41). Inexplicably, Marsh abandoned Johnson in Cheyenne. Johnson then teams up with Marsh’s competitor, E.D. Cope and his team, among them a chap called George Morton. They head further west, into the Badlands and the Black Hills.

Johnson’s peregrinations are shown on a helpful map at the front. He encounters a number of famous characters, among them Wyatt Earp and Robert Louis Stevenson, as well as hostile Sioux who have recently sent General Custer to the Happy Hunting Ground.

Interspersed throughout the narrative are extracts from the journals of Marsh, Cope and Johnson.

While most of the characters are based on real people, Johnson is fictitious. The final third of the book is the most interesting, being almost entirely pure fiction, whereas the first two thirds seem slow as the story tends to stick to real events (though condensed from a number of years of historical reports).  This is not the only book about the fascinating ‘Bone Wars’ between Cope and Marsh which took place over a period of ten years. There are four pages of bibliography – books that Crichton consulted to get the flavour of the individuals, the period and the historic events leading up to the unearthing of Brontosaurus teeth – dragon teeth.

Writers are urged to ‘show’ not ‘tell’. Most of this book is ‘tell’ all the way, with authorial interjections about scientific theories, without any attempt to let the characters learn themselves.

An interesting treatment of the period. A quick read. 

THE GREEN ODYSSEY - Book review

Philip José Farmer’s 1957 debut novel The Green Odyssey is a classic space opera of the period. Astronaut Alan Green (‘Greed conquered more frontiers than curiosity’ (p74) is stranded on a primitive unknown planet and after some minor adventures ends up becoming a gigolo of a duchess and when he’s not busy with her he’s married to a beautiful slave woman, Amra. At court he learns about two other stranded astronauts at a distant city; his hope was that he could get them to take him off-planet. Guiltily he fretted about leaving his wife and two children (one of them being his).

He escapes, hiding on a ship. These vessels are on wheels and driven by sail-power across a vast plain of Xurdimur. His family have stowed away onboard too!

Getting to the city that holds the two astronauts prisoner isn’t easy; Green has to contend with mysterious floating islands, cannibals (‘these painted people were cannibals and made no bones about it’ (p84)) and pirates, the latter involving a battle on the plain reminiscent of two galleons at sea exchanging broadsides. It’s quite an odyssey.

Maybe the start is slow, but it soon livens up, and there’s humour along the way too; stick with it. It is possible that Farmer was attempting a pastiche of science fiction adventure of the period. Certainly he uses too many unpronounceable names (it’s as if he hit the typewriter keys at random):  Jugkaxtr and Zaxropatr (p9), Grizquetr (p20), Inzax and Anddonanarga (p21), iquogr and Zaceffucanquanr (p24), Booxotr (p69).

Farmer is quite inventive, however. This earthman ‘carried in his body a surgically implanted protoplasmic entity (Green dubbed it his Vigilante) which automatically analysed any invading microscopic organisms and/or viruses and manufactured antibodies to combat them. It lived in the space created by the removal of his appendix’ (p32) – an updated variant of the human white blood cells. Like cancerous white cells, however, ‘deprived of food, it would survive by living upon Green’s tissue. A Vigilante wasn’t all advantage; it had its dangers’ (p150).

‘Everywhere that space travelling Earthmen had gone, they had found that about every fourth inhabitable planet was populated by men of their species’ (p34) suggesting that mankind had seeded planets but in many instances had reverted to less technological cultures.

Green is sometimes overconfident and not beyond false modesty, but you can’t help but root for him.

The so-called ‘roaming islands’ (p73) are believed to be mythical – but Green and Amra soon find out that they are real – and to my mind reminded me of Philip Reeve’s Mortal Engines books (2001-2006) which feature mobile steampunk cities – and in a neat twist prove their salvation.

THE CHASE - Book review

Clive Cussler’s novel The Chase is the first in his Isaac Bell historical series. Published in 2007, it is mainly set in 1906. The prologue ‘The Ghost from the Past’ features an elderly Bell in 1950 as he witnesses the recovery of a railroad engine from a lake in Montana. The epilogue ‘Up from the Depths’ returns to this scene too. Certainly, the prologue does tend to provide us with a spoiler for the final stages of the adventure, which runs under the title of ‘The Chase Quickens’; the intermediate section is labelled ‘The Butcher Bandit’.

In January 1906, a solitary bank robber gets away not only with his loot but also with the cold-blooded murder of the bank staff. This wasn’t his first robbery, however; it happened to be the fifteenth successful robbery he had committed, actually killing thirty-eight men and women and two children (p18), and thus gaining the infamous sobriquet the Butcher Bandit.

The head of the Van Dorn Detective Agency commits his agent Isaac Bell to track down and apprehend the notorious bandit. Bell already has a solid reputation as a thief-taker: ‘... tracked down Big Foot Cussler...’ (p52). Bell is an engaging and attractive character.

Cussler not only name-drops himself. One of Bell’s new contacts in San Francisco is a young boy called Stuart Lauthner (p332); this is the name of Cussler’s biographer (though he misnames him on the next page as Warren,,,!)

Inevitably, being an enthusiast, Cussler knowledgeably writes about fast cars and trains of the period. He comes across the chief train dispatcher called Morton Gould; I don’t know why he’d want to use the composer’s name (1913-1996).

During his investigations Bell makes friends with a secretary called Marion and it seems romance might be in the air... There is also a fantastic cross-nation drive against the clock, an unfortunate death, and dollops of suspense and action too.

Cussler’s familiarity with the period shines through this fast-paced cat-and-mouse adventure, with two formidable villains and the startling backdrop of the tragic San Francisco earthquake, which is well described.

When the final page is turned, it’s nice to know that there are other adventures of Isaac Bell to enjoy! Next in the series: The Wrecker (2009). Like a number of other authors, such as Bernard Cornwell and C S Forrester, Cussler wrote his Bell books out of chronological order – in effect, filling in gaps in the hero’s earlier history. Chronologically, two later Bell books come before The Chase: The Striker (2013) and The Assassin (2015), covering the periods 1902-1912 and 1899-1908 respectively).

Editorial comment

Chapter 2 is dated September 15, 1906 and relates how Bell is tasked with tracking down the bandit. Unfortunately, it should be 1905. Since the denouement takes place in April, 1906!

‘The posse claimed there were no tracks leading out of town to follow’ (p112) – which seems odd. There must be plenty of tracks leading out of town – unless the road surface is metalled, of course. In which case, it would not be worthy of comment.

A number of full-page black-and-white illustrations have been inserted; but the artist doesn’t appear to be credited.

UNCOMMON DANGER - Book review

Eric Ambler’s second thriller Uncommon Danger was published in 1937 (though my Fontana paperback shows the copyright as 1941...). 

The story begins with a Prologue at a board meeting of the Pan-Eurasian Petroleum Company in London. There are concerns about the renewal of oil concessions in Roumania. Bessarabia has been a contested area between Russia and Roumania since the Great War, mainly due its vital oil fields. ‘The party’s policy is a familiar one – anti-Semitism, a corporate state, an alliance with Germany, and the “saving of Roumania from the Jewish and Communist menace”’ (p123). The company chairman has a solution – it involved recruiting a certain Colonel Robinson to set things straight. ‘It was the power of Business, not the deliberations of statesmen that shaped the destinies of nations’ (p87).

Russian double-agent Borovansky has stolen Russian plans for a possible attack on Bessarabia, which, if made public, will generate anti-Russian feeling in Roumania and bring the Fascist Iron Guard to power who will then make an alliance with Nazi Germany. Incognito, Borovansky boards a train...

Meanwhile, Russian spies Andreas Zaleshoff and his sister Tamara are tipped off and commission a Spaniard, Ortega, to pursue Borovansky on the train, follow him to his hotel in Austria, and get the plans back.

Freelance journalist Desmond Kenton has had a bad run of luck gambling and boards the same train on his way to find a pal in Vienna who might supply him with funds. He meets a Mr Sachs. Kenton’s money troubles seem resolved when Mr Sachs asks him to deliver some papers across the Austrian border, paying handsomely – and then Kenton’s troubles begin!

An amateur hero out of his depth, Kenton discovers a dead body, is hunted as the murderer, and joins up with the two Russian spies in an attempt to obtain the incriminating plans/photos and clear his name.

In the process, Kenton is captured by Colonel Robinson (in actual fact assassin-for-hire Saridza). ‘You see, your business man desires the end, but dislikes the means... That is why Saridza is necessary... there is always dirty work to be done... and he and his kind are there to do it, with large fees in their pockets and the most evasive instructions imaginable’ (p121).

Boldly, Kenton tells Saridza, ‘It’s not just a struggle between Fascism and Communism, or between any other “-isms”. It’s between the free human spirit and the stupid, fumbling, brutish forces of the primeval swamp – and that, Colonel, means you and your kind’ (p84)

It’s a fast-paced adventure with Zaleshoff and his sister Tamara providing mystery and tension, while the villains are truly villainous.

Another excellent Fontana paperback cover

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD - Book review

 

Mary Johnston’s classic novel To Have and To Hold about love and intrigue in seventeenth century Virginia was published in 1899.

Beginning in 1621, it’s a first-person narrative by Captain Ralph Percy; his cousin is the Lord of Northumberland (which happens to be my home county, where I now live!)

Johnston’s prose is of its time, naturally, but easy to read, and her descriptions are excellent, such as that for preacher, Jeremy Sparrow, a giant of a man: ‘his face, which was of a cast most martial, flashed into a smile, like sunshine on a scarred cliff’ (p16). Another example: ‘Each twig had its row of diamonds, and the wet leaves we pushed aside spilled gems upon us. The horses set their hoofs daintily upon fern and moss and lush grass. In the purple distances deer stood at gaze, the air rang with innumerable bird notes, clear and sweet, squirrels chattered, bees hummed, and through the thick leafy roof of the forest the sun showered gold dust’ (p48).

A ship from England has brought a number of women for betrothal to boost the numbers in Jamestown; the usual purchase price is a quantity of tobacco, to pay for the passage. Ralph Percy is not particularly keen but finds himself defending the honour of one of the women and then determines to wed her there and then. Her name is Jocelyn. Impulse purchase, perhaps.

Later he learns that she is Lady Jocelyn Leigh and was a ward of the King. But when she learned she was to be betrothed to Lord Carnal, the sovereign’s favourite, she fled the Court and embarked on the ship destined for Jamestown, one among the many women.

Nearby are friendly Indians, including the Powhatans and the Paspaheghs. ‘The Indian listened; then said, in that voice that always made me think of some cold, still, bottomless pool lying black beneath overhanging rocks...’ (p123). Yet the friendship is strained...

Yet Lord Carnal soon arrives in the settlement, hell-bent on taking Jocelyn back to England with him. He is a man who gets what he wants, even if it means killing.

There is suspense – when Lord Carnal attempts to drug Ralph – and humour with the irrepressible Preacher Sparrow. Johnston is sympathetic to the Indians, too: ‘Why did you come? Long ago, when there were none but dark men from the Chesapeake to the hunting grounds beneath the sunset, we were happy. Why did you leave your own land, in strange black ships with sails like the piled-up clouds of summer? Was it not a good land? Were not your forests broad and green, your fields fruitful, your rivers deep and filled with fish? Ill gifts have you brought us, evil have you wrought us’ (p336). And there is fighting and action aplenty, and a piratical interlude as well. Betrayal, love, humour and honour – all are here. And some of the action actually occurred – a slice of history.

Despite its age, To Have and To Hold this remarkable book of adventure is a page-turner and can rank up there with the novels of James Fennimore Cooper.

Johnston died in 1936, aged 65. The book has been adapted for film three times, most recently in 2014 featuring Aiden Turner.

THE LONELY SKIER - book review

 

The Lonely Skier was Hammond Innes’s tenth published novel (1947).

Neil Blair, the narrator, is recently demobbed, unemployed, married to Peggy, and penniless. He stumbles upon a job with an old Army comrade – writing a screenplay set in the Italian Dolomites. Though in fact the screenplay has been written already by his pal, Engles; what his friend wants is for Neil to ‘keep your eyes and ears open. I’m interested in the slittovia [sledge lift] and the hut, the people who are staying there, regular visitors, anything unusual that happens’ (p10). Apparently the rifugio [ski lodge] Col da Varda, near Cortina, and the slittovia were previously owned by a German War Criminal, who has since committed suicide. The place is up for sale: ‘an incredibly beautiful property, thoroughly equipped by brilliant German engineers, a small hotel with finer panoramic views than the Eagle’s Nest at Berchtesgaden’ (p40).

Neil is accompanied by photographer Joe Wesson. They are others stay at the refugio: a hot-tempered Italian Contessa Forelli, a racketeering pimp, Stefan Valdini, a Greek criminal, Karamikos, and the mysterious worldly Gilbert Mayne.

Neil is witness to the conflicting personalities of these characters in the claustrophobic situation and begins to realise that something is very wrong. Dangerous. Even deadly. And stemming from the recent inglorious past. Ultimately, he is pitted against someone who is determined to kill – and he is among those targeted!

As ever, Innes brings his descriptive powers to bear on the story. He underwent a skiing course in the Dolomites a while before writing the book. The narrative is swamped in verisimilitude; the reader is there. Naturally, as it’s a first-person story, we know he will survive. But others are in jeopardy, not least the likeable if clueless Wesson.

The book was made into a film titled Snowbound – ‘Another few hours and we’ll be snowbound up here’ (p99). Dated 1948, the film featured Robert Newton, Dennis Price, Stanley Holloway, Herbert Lom, and Zena Marshall, among others.

Oddly, throughout the book the spelling is ski-er, while the title is hyphen-less.

It’s not a true spoiler since it is mentioned in the back cover blurb: ‘It lies somewhere beneath the snow, high in the Dolomites, Nazi gold, tainted with the blood of murdered men’. The gold is in essence Hitchcock’s McGuffin. Some of the chapter headings come very close to being spoilers in themselves.

Talking of spoilers, in this Vintage copy there’s an introduction by Stella Rimington; don’t read this first, read the novel then the intro.

As covers go, it's okay, but I prefer the 1980s Fontana colourful renditions.

SHARPE'S COMMAND - Book review

Bernard Cornwell’s latest (2023) Sharpe adventure Sharpe’s Command places our hero at the battle of the Bridge at Almaraz, 1812 – as usual, based on historical events.

Major Sharpe is leading his Chosen Men, with sergeant Harper and the familiar other characters. They are behind enemy lines, intent on preventing the French from crossing the bridge to reinforce one of their forts which is soon to be under British siege.

Needless to say, he triumphs after a number of setbacks, this time aided by his wife Teresa and her guerrillas. Some of the impediments are due to betrayal by presumed allies, and others by the incompetence of British officers.

If you’ve watched any of the Sharpe TV films then you’ll be familiar with the characters and can even hear their voices as they speak from the page. If you haven’t, you’ll still enjoy an engaging and fascinating adventure sprinkled with knowledge about rifles, muskets and big guns! We meet again major Hogan who this time opines ‘A wise man once said that the best way to win a war is to do it without fighting’ (p210). He was doubtless quoting from Sun Tzu’s Strategy of War: ‘To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.’

It would be unfair to go into details (spoilers) about the book. There’s historical fact, humour, bravery, and blood and gore. The usual ingredients for a fast-paced Sharpe read.

***

Like C S Forester with his hero Hornblower, Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe novels are not written in historical chronological order. Of his twenty-three Sharpe books, this is the fourteenth in chronological order, preceded by Sharpe’s Company and followed by Sharpe’s Sword. It’s not essential to read them in historical order, though it’s recommended as some main characters do die in the series (though it’s a good way to meet again some who later die, if that isn’t too confusing!)

Promotion by Rough Edges Press

 

£0.99/$0.99 e-book For 1 week only – starting on 6 September!

From Rough Edges Press

CATALYST

Amazon UK: http://tinyurl.com/58mmcryc

Amazon US:  http://tinyurl.com/3w6nbc5h

A fast-paced thriller with plenty of threats and sexy suspense…

A catalyst is a person who precipitates events. That’s Catherine Vibrissae. Orphan, chemist, model, and crusading cat.

Seeking revenge against Loup Dante, the Head of Ananke—and the man responsible for the takeover of her father’s company—Cat will stop at nothing to uncover his wicked agenda. A trained chemist and an accomplished climber, she is not averse to breaking and entering. So, when she crosses paths with an attorney for the bloodless organization and uncovers a mysterious product called Catananche, Cat risks injury and death to learn more.

Ranging from South England to the North-east, from Wales to Barcelona, Cat’s quest for vengeance is implacable. But will she be able to escape the clutches of an unexpected and whip-wielding enemy?

The first in the Cat’s Crusade series, Catalyst follows a strong female character with a thirst for action.

LAST CHANCE SALOON - Press Release

 

[#2 in the Bethesda Falls series - all self-contained stories!]

The Bethesda Falls stage is robbed and Ruth Monroe, the stage depot owner, is being coerced into selling up by local tycoon, Zachary Smith. Meanwhile, Daniel McAlister returns from gold prospecting to wed Virginia, the saloon’s wheel of fortune operator. Daniel hits a winning streak but is bushwhacked, his winnings stolen.

And newcomer to town, Horace Q. Marcy, seems to be playing a game close to his chest, too.

Virginia sees this romance with Daniel as her last chance of happiness and no matter what, she’s determined to stand by her man, ducking flying bullets if need be. Daniel and Virginia side with Ruth against Smith and his hired gunslingers.

Only a deadly showdown will end it, one way or another.

Amazon UK https://tinyurl.com/3sthcy8n

Amazon US https://tinyurl.com/aytn3cmu

***

The downhill swaying motion of the Bethesda coach dislodged Alfred Boddam and he fell forward, half-into the front boot, his arm crooked over the side-lantern, hand dangling and bashing against the flapping leather curtain.

‘What on earth’s happening?’ A passenger boldly peeled back the curtain and stared at Alfred’s limp hand. ‘Oh, dear Lord! Mr Boddam’s dead!’ he shrieked. ‘Nobody’s driving our coach!’

***

When Daniel McAlister entered The Gem saloon, Virginia Simone’s heart lurched against the fitted boned bodice of her red satin dress and she almost made a hash of triggering the concealed device under the roulette wheel.

Pulling her eyes away from the entrance with an effort, she turned back to her table and flicked the hidden lever to ensure that the House won. The ball bounced a few times and a couple of gamblers let out exclamations of surprise. But for Virginia it was no surprise at all. Yep, the House won when it mattered, when the stakes were high. She hated this part of her job, suckering the poor dupes just to line the pockets of owners Royce O’Keefe and Zachary Smith. Still your foolish pride, she told herself; it’s a job, and she was one of the best in the whole damned Dakota Territory.

***

Wading through the stream, Wolf Slayer came after him.

Daniel got to one knee, withdrew his knife and splashed water at the oncoming Indian’s face. As the Sioux warrior was deflected for a moment, Daniel sprang.

He grasped hold of the wrist of the Indian’s knife-hand and twisted harshly but the blade didn’t drop. Wolf Slayer grabbed Daniel’s wrist and simultaneously brought up a knee, thrusting it into Daniel’s belly. Daniel gasped, falling backwards, yet he managed to hold onto the Indian’s wrist and Wolf Slayer fell on top of him. The man’s breath was foul, but he imagined his own wasn’t much better.

The underwater rocks were smooth but unforgiving hard against his back. Spluttering, stream-water lapping round his face, Daniel felt his strength ebbing as Wolf Slayer thrust a knee on his chest, pressing down hard. It wouldn’t take long before his rib-cage broke under the pressure. Wolf Slayer’s free hand was clamped around Daniel’s throat, trying to force his head under water.

Review:  “This is one good read... not a typical western – it has character, humour and storylines with enough questions in the plot to maintain interest from beginning to end. Strongly recommended.”

Previously published by Robert Hale 2008 - now re-published as a paperback!

ABSOLUTE HONOUR - Book review

 

C.C. Humphries’ third Jack Absolute novel, Absolute Honour, was published as a hardback and a paperback in 2006. To date, sadly, it is the last book of his adventures.

It’s April 1761 and Jack is in Rhode Island, about to board ship for England. He is instrumental in rescuing an Irish Grenadier, Red Hugh McClune from a mob, saving his life. Hugh is a rumbustious fellow, larger than life and seems a firm friend.  The voyage is not uneventful, whether its mutiny and attacks by the French to enliven their days.

Finally, ending up in Bath, Jack is smitten by Hugh’s beautiful cousin, Laetitia. Complications arise, however, part farce, part suspense, that get in the way of true love. In due course Jack finds himself employed as a spy in Rome, to infiltrate the Jacobites living and plotting there. But it doesn’t end here, for he is soon fighting the Spanish in the storming of Valencia de Alcántara…

There’s plenty of sailing ship lore, sword-fights, footpads, ambushes and betrayal to keep the pages turning. Readers of C.S. Forester and Bernard Cornwell will certainly appreciate these books.

A triumph and a worthy successor to Jack’s previous two outings.

See also WRITEALOT: THE BLOODING OF JACK ABSOLUTE - Book review (nik-writealot.blogspot.com)

and:

WRITEALOT: FFB - Jack Absolute - a new historical hero (nik-writealot.blogspot.com)

THE CALL – A novel that never was…

While on a school cruise ship MS Dunera around about 1963, I thought of a story idea: a young student hearing a call… and diving overboard to rescue the caller. He was considered lost at sea… but in fact survived and had many adventures…

From that evolved a series of drawings featuring the young man and a young woman he met – and continued having to rescue! Well, I was only fifteen! And I was clearly influenced by the books of Edgar Rice Burroughs. (See below for the drawings)

The Dunera was built in 1937 on the Clyde by Barclay Curle. Originally it was a troop ship then later was converted to a floating school by The British India Steam Navigation Co Ltd.

Dunera anchored off St Hellier, Jersey

The ship had dormitory accommodation for the pupils together with classrooms, lecture theatre/cinema, library and deck space for sports. There was also accommodation for teachers and independent travellers. As a floating school it first set sail from Greenock, Scotland on April, 12 1961 and completed fourteen more trips in that year.

While onboard we visited St Helier in Jersey (Channel Islands), Vigo in Spain, and Lisbon in Portugal.

The ship was scrapped in Spain in 1967.

Here are some drawings of adventures that were never written about.

 

 Deck sport on Dunera-1963

The Meeting-1964

This picture was put on the art class wall by the teacher for several weeks; 

he pointed out that all the wristwatches had the same time!

Split-second timing - April 1963

Is this a dagger I see before me? - April 1963

Desperate rescue attempt - May 1963

Precipitous rescue - April 1963

and finally...

Wings of Death - August 1964