Lost In Blogspace

Spandau Charlie

2012-01-28T12:58:00.003Z

My pitch at being the 21st Century's Alistair MacLean is now available on Kindle. Enjoy and please take time to review it. Many Thanks. Find it here

First e-book

2012-01-27T16:39:00.000Z

I've just uploaded a WW2 action/adventure novel entitled SPANDAU CHARLIE exclusively to Amazon's Kindle. Should be available any day for the cut-rate price of 99p. Download and enjoy.

Another year, another book!

2012-01-19T14:27:00.000Z

I've finished my latest book and, after some proofreading, it will be e-heading to my agent. And since the New Year has arrived, I'm already working up ideas for the next book - I believe I've created some great characters in this latest work who cannot be allowed to exist solely in one novel. Onwards!

Phew!

2011-11-18T15:11:00.000Z

Later today I will cross the 90 000 words mark on my next book. The denouement hurtles ever closer and then the revision can begin. I want to incorporate some of the aspects of the worst nightmare I've had in years in the next bit, as I want to terrify the hell out of everyone. No particular reason - I just think great visions shouldn't go to waste.

Tobin or not Tobin. That is the taxing question.

2011-10-03T16:12:00.000+01:00

For years I've been advocating a tax on financial transactions as a means to curb the excesses of the markets, one I will implement if I ever get to be Prime Minister, but as I'm not an economic expert, my voice has been drowned out by the likes of Angela Knight of the British Bankers Association saying such thoughts are A Bad Thing. Jump to today. I needed to transfer a large sum of money from a savings account in one bank, to a current account in another. They purposed to charge me £30 to do this electronically. I think this is not only extortionate, but pissing on my back and trying to tell me it is raining. But I did have an eureka moment. I now know why lampposts are spaced the distance they are from one another! Who was the genius who worked it out? Please tell me! It will look that much more aesthetically pleasing when we have a line of bankers swinging from them ...

Summer. Part 2 - The Revenge

2011-09-30T15:53:00.000+01:00

Over 50 000 words in on the latest book, new estimate of 145 000 in total. Coming back to writing SF after three books on WW2 has been a revelation and with the experience of narrowing down what works to drive the action, this book looks like it will read like a ride down some fast roads on a motorbike. (Guess what I have doing to enjoy the sun. Only a momentary slip, officer.)
This should be finished well in time for the economic implosion due to hit everyone's finances in the next twelve months. Either put your head between your legs and kiss that little baby goodbye, or find something useful for when you have to break into your local store. Good to see capitalism coping so well with the people who really don't care that they run the world ... bankers and rich bankers.

Work, work, work

2011-09-12T12:48:00.000+01:00

For those of you who are not tagged as my ‘friends’ on Facebook, here’s an update on my latest SF novel. I’m 30 000 words in, just over a seventh of the way done according to my outline, so the prospect of an humongous work that will need editing down to saleable size look entirely possible. Still, it’s better than coming up with new media slants on the events of 11th September, 2001. With all due respect to the grief the various siblings presumably suffered, who was the creative genius who came up with the idea for Twins of The Twin Towers? Did you punch the air, arsehole, when it popped into your sad little brain? I’m all for free speech, but a modicum of self-censorship can go a long way. For instance, if I wrote exactly what I think of people like you, I’d probably have MI5 knocking on the door for inciting a riot via the internet. (That’s the trouble with writing an action gothic SF book … conflict, conflict, conflict. It seeps out into real life. I’ll go and have a little lie down, now.)

British Double Standard Time

2011-08-17T15:48:00.000+01:00

If the punishment for exhorting others to meet up for a riot – at which no-one turns up, apart from the police – is four years in prison, how many years will Tony Blair get for exhorting MPs to vote to go to war on the basis of dodgy evidence? Oh, wait, this Great Britain, so Double Standard Time must be in place. No chance of populous retribution being speedily brought down upon his head, then.

If rioters are being given prison terms, because the situation demands it and an example needs to be set, then how many more MPs are going to join the yobs because they committed fraud when claiming expenses. Oh, silly me: Double Standard Time again, so no chance of populous indignation being translated into justice, then.

If the courts are going to sit through the night to ensure swift pronouncements on guilt or very guilty, should we not have had a few bankers in the dock by now, instead of letting them stick their fingers up at us and start claiming big bonuses again? Oh, Double Standard Time.

Another thing we suffer in Great Britain is Double Speak Time. While CCTV has enabled the police to catch these law-breakers, I remember being told that the reason we should have so many was the deterrent factor. Good to see that working out in practice.

What a riot!

2011-08-12T13:13:00.000+01:00

I try to treat people with the respect I'd like them to show me - which is why I have so little time for politicians. This attitude is apparently "anti-authoritarian." Gosh, I feel such a bad boy. My rough calculations seem to indicate that if stealing/looting water from Lidl to the value of £3.50 equates to 6 months in prison, then being a banker involved in causing the economic chaos that may have, in part, contributed to the riots, is equivalent to being strung up to a lamppost. Or have the courts missed their chance to work as quickly to provide summary justice for white-collar crime as they have done for the yobs/opportunists?

News of The World find Madeleine Mccan (and cure for cancer)

2011-07-07T10:35:00.000+01:00

My suggestion for the only headline that can save them.
I’m tempted to say more, but anyone who knows me will be aware of my feelings towards The Red Tops already and that expressing them here is a waste of my time. But if you’re interested, I’ll leave further details on my voicemail.

And so the task begins

2011-06-17T11:53:00.000+01:00

I've just begun writing my next book and it can, perhaps, be best described as an action gothic SF thriller. Prologue is finsihed and research for first chapter is underway. It begins in Victorian Europe ...

A New Horizon

2011-05-22T12:33:00.001+01:00

After the horror of discovering earlier in the year that I had performed
some kind of telepathic osmosis and came up with an outline for a SF novel
which replicated a book published a couple of years ago, I have re-grouped
and now have another. I like this one even more than the original! Now I
just have to write the blessed thing ...

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Another attempt at uploding from email

2011-05-14T18:58:00.001+01:00

Can I read this?

Just after test

2011-05-14T18:47:00.001+01:00

Can I read this?

Just an upload test

2011-05-14T10:19:00.001+01:00

If I can read this, I'll be happy ...

Suffolk Libraries

2011-04-04T12:46:00.002+01:00

To write good SF, you need an understanding of the past. Over thirty-five years ago, I borrowed a book from my local library – it was 1984. Orwell’s dystopian view of a totalitarian government so afraid of losing power that it began changing the language to prevent seditious thought of even being formulated seemed so relevant in the early Seventies. It still seems a worthwhile warning today, and sadly, I suspect it will still be necessary in thirty-five years time, but I hope that the children of our children will be able to borrow that book from their local library, free of charge. Keep protesting, but above all else, keep reading and keep learning. A people shouldn’t be afraid of its government, the government should be afraid of its people. Oh, I'm the one at the front with the beer-gut ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k__j90LsPwo&feature=player_embedded

Sarah Lund

2011-03-28T19:44:00.001+01:00

Oh, Sarah, what am I to do on Saturday nights, now that you are not there to bewitch me as you trawl Copenhagen for the culprit in The Killing? I am not the only one to have wondered about the resilience of your jumper (or even how it seems to have changed to your back-up number after your false incarceration), but I felt like I was the only one there at the beginning and, of course, I wasn’t: intelligent, uncompromising (to the viewer) and wonderful drama examining the extensive consequences of murder will always out. I await your next case with intrigue and knitting needles …

The Art of Zeitgeist

2011-03-21T16:15:00.002Z

Just imagine it: you’ve spent weeks playing around with ideas for a book and then, suddenly, the neurons click and these pieces of inspiration finally have the chance to slot together and fall into place. So, you begin to expand your plot – a narrative centred, say, on anthropomorphic creatures of the countryside: a mole, a water rat, a badger and a toad. And then you find out about Kenneth Grahame …
My writing life has been haunted by my ability to soak up the Zeitgeist without being consciously aware of it. I spent the last couple of months mulling over concepts about reality and thought I’d found a new spin on it. I won’t tell you who the author is that got there ahead of me – suffice to say it’s one I admire and the novel was one of only a few I hadn’t read of his. I know friends tell me that there’s nothing really new – only different interpretations – and that I’ll impose my style and voice on the narrative, but it really is bloody annoying to discover someone has already used your main ideas, together with subplots and themes.
Still, I’m a pretty dab hand with smoke and mirrors and I’m convinced I’ll uncover an even better story in there amongst the ideas. It’s just a shame I can’t enhance this innate ability to predict the lottery …

Indecision 2011

2011-02-20T15:30:00.003Z

If the Lib-Dem section of the collation government were serious about the forthcoming referendum on electoral reform, then instead of our usual little kiss in the box of our choice, they would insist on using the Alternate Vote (AV) system on the ballot paper and allow us to choose what method we desire to have to elect them. That, of course, would be the actions of people with some semblance of a backbone. To divert us from making this ironic observation however, they have been rather sly. Cunningly, they appear to have chosen the same date as the local elections, so that all of us poor saps who believed the Lib-Dems and voted for them, and who are intending to stomp to the polling stations to register our disgust, will also find ourselves presented with a watered-down version of one of the reasons we voted for a selection of those expenses-tainted buggers we call politicians in the first place. I predict indecision – and more stomping from the Polling Station.

And Double Summertime may be on its way, as the coalition considers putting our clocks forward one hour ahead of GMT and keeping BST. Luckily, this experiment will coincide with a drastic reduction of lollypop men and women as the cuts the coalition insisted on rushing in takes effect. Still, it will attract the tourists. Who wouldn’t want to watch texting kids negotiate heavy traffic? I mean, adults seem to find it difficult enough in a car-free zone as it is (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPpzj4PjNjU), so self-centred teenbots should provide far greater sport.

Best film seen this week: The Men Who Stare At Goats

Best guess celebratory death: Katie Price – silicon poisoning, caused when she attempts one dance manoeuvre too many.

A rose by any other name ...

2011-02-13T13:23:00.002Z

So, all that glistens is not gold, apparently. It would appear that, for some time now, the advertising industry has been ‘air-brushing’ photos of model’s faces to make us like/envy them more. At a guess, I’d say this practice has been going on since, oh, I don’t really know, but let’s say from 1839 onwards – after the first daguerreotype photograph of a person was taken in France. Whether attempts to have a sort of kite-mark system to indicate the degree of digital manipulation will succeed (rather like the Footage Shown Does Not Represent Actual Game Play from adverts for consol games), I doubt much progress will be made until after the tabloids are forced to stop printing pictures of young women with their ‘tits out for the lads.’ That campaign never seems to gain much traction (you’d think it was male-dominated world and equality an illusion, wouldn’t you?), so persuading women to vote with their purses and say, have a temporary, week-long, embargo on buying magazines until such publications stop/reduce displaying idealised versions of femininity, seems a bit of a pipe dream on my part. With young women killing themselves by shoving silicon into their bottoms in an effort to ‘look good’ (Claudia Seye Aderotimi); with anecdotal evidence that some believe they have to replicate on-line porn to ‘fit in’; and with the safety net of Botox for when they get over twenty-three, I suspect the rose-coloured tint of advertising aimed at them will be here for some time. Unfortunately.

Oh, there’s also been a revolution in Egypt, this week …

Sing-a-song of something

2011-02-07T13:30:00.002Z

You know how it is: you sell 50 million albums*, you get a Golden Globe for Best Original Song*, Rolling Stone rank you 58 in their 100 Greatest Singers of all Time*, then you get chosen to sing your national anthem just before your country’s most prestigious sporting event. You select a natty black number, which has no possibility of a ‘wardrobe malfunction’, there’s only an expected 100 million people or more going to watch, and the big screen has just shown President (ex) George Dub settling down to enjoy the game.

Now, what could you possibly do that might, initially, be missed by those not totally familiar with the traditions of your country? Flip the bird as you clasp the microphone? Pass wind in tune to the music? Fondle yourself? No, instead Christina Aguilera had brain-fade and sung (well, belted out actually) the wrong words of The Star Spangled Banner before this years Superbowl. I did notice a bit of hesitation at the time, but America’s national anthem is not top of my list of lyrics I must memorise (neither, it appears, is it for Christina), and the incident passed me by.

What she should have done – instead of pushing on regardless as any professional does – is have a Hollie Steel moment. You may remember the ten-year old got into a bit of a tears-before-bedtime episode (without the tears) on Britain’s Got Talent, and seeing a grown-up do likewise would have been that much more entertaining and probably would have earned her less flak. It could set a trend.

* Data from Wikipedia and any resemblance to the facts is entirely co-incidental.

This Sporting Life?

2011-01-31T12:17:00.001Z

So, Andy Gray and Richard Keys are private sexists, (now ex) public pundits and the world fractures in some typical tribal schism where one minority camp is uttering ‘get a life’ to the other, while their opponents in the real world reply: ‘smell the coffee’. You hear the usual chants from the usual quarters and for one set of supporters it seems as though it’s a question of who can shout the loudest or exhibit the most passion who will win. (Any allusion to how rival football crowds behave is entirely intended – perhaps we should settle the argument with a penalty shoot-out using a replica of Bernard Manning’s head.) It’s like some philosophical game we continually have to indulge in as we stagger towards the goal of equality, forever having to bat away at those who won’t concede the point and refuse to play by the rules. (Please insert other sporting metaphors as you see fit.) Private or public – sexist behaviour is just that. Now, blow the whistle and move on.

Of course, the pertinent point about this issue is that I just don’t give a fuck about football ...

Kill a banker?

2011-01-24T11:40:00.002Z

There’s an insult cliché which begins: please rearrange these words into a well-known sentence. Well, with regard to bankers and Barclays’ Bob Diamond’s assertion that ‘the time for remorse is over’ (it’s not remorse, Bob, it’s anger, and no, it isn’t time), please arrange these items into a possible strategy for satisfaction: banker, lamppost, rope. Now Sir John Vickers – due to report on the findings of The Independent Commission on Banking (set up by George Osboy (sic) last June) in September of this year – has hinted at suggestions of major reform. Well, bugger me – it takes a year to come to that conclusion and it’s only going to be advisory? Why isn’t the government doing something now to defend us from these money-addicted risk takers, instead of instituting immediate major cuts to reduce the deficit? Isn’t one of the things they’re supposed to do is protect our society from threats to it?

Meanwhile, the cuts start to bite. My local library (in a building which has been used for such for over one hundred years) is now scheduled for closure in the scramble to save money. We’re allowing lobotomies to be performed on ourselves and our children, sacrificing the beauty and benefit of knowledge that comes from books – and free books at that – in an over-eager bid to help offset a problem caused by bastards swaggering around in the complacent belief they are ‘too big to fail’. Well, when the councils begin switching off every other streetlight to reduce spending, I’d like to propose a use for the redundant ones. First you find a banker …

New Year, new ideas

2011-01-17T13:28:00.002Z

There has been a hiatus in my blog due to the fact that just before Christmas my PC became an ex-PC. So, now that things appear to be up and running again, it will interesting to see if I can fulfil a New Year resolution of regular updates and observations. (I can now also be contacted by email via my blog profile. I switched off the comments on the site as some sad morons who posted replies were just that: sad morons who didn’t have the courage to leave a name. At least this way they’ll have to put in more effort to vent their spleen … and leave a contact email in the process.)

The New Year has also ushered in a solidifying of an SF idea I had last year concerning simulated universes. I know there have been plenty of other books (and films) exploring the concept, but I feel as though I have a fresh, radical take on it that will make for an interesting (and action-based) narrative. Expect something like Blade Runner meets Kafka ...

The Art of Inspiration

2010-10-18T14:45:00.000+01:00

I now have a basic outline for my next book and I am sure I could make it an entertaining read, except … except that lurking in the corners of my subconscious is an even better idea. I know it is there, I can sense it. The trick is to find some way for it to emerge so I can use it. In some ways, I find this to be the most enjoyable part of writing – the seeking out of the best story. As always, I have to let myself just free-associate – surfing on the web helps – and I am beginning to zero in on it. All it will take is uncovering of some relatively unknown fact about Himmler or Goebbels and it will all slot into place. I have already discovered a couple of interesting titbits.

Note to potential authors: keep a writing pad and pen beside your bed – inspiration likes to taunt.

Writer's Block

2010-10-05T15:18:00.001+01:00

Hand on heart and any other assertion clichés you can care to name, I have never suffered from writer’s block – the blank page holds no fear for me. The main thing that will give me pause for thought however, is something that is difficult to pin down and may also, perhaps, be difficult to understand for those who are not regularly creative. What direction to take?

I have decided on my Big Idea – the concept that should attract the reader – and I have roughed out some ways this may be achieved, but who am I going to put in it to drive it along? My last two novels have had the zest that is the conflict between differing approaches to war by two of the protagonists, but I am drawn to creating someone new. This will mean different problems … or am I just avoiding the need to devise a fresh dynamic between two excellent characters?

I think all who known me know the answer to that.

I am also ducking the issue by taking a hatchet to an earlier novel – after the gap of twenty months or so I can see where it could be tightened up and added to. (I’m also trying to think of ways to retain some explicit sex scenes that get in the way of the plot.) It’s a labour of love, but someone’s got to do it.

9/11 and the truth

2010-09-27T19:47:00.001+01:00

The other evening I attended a talk about Goebbels and Spin-doctors. Though the speaker gave a prominent disclaimer about any comparison between the various contemporary Labour politicians he mentioned and the Nazi propaganda minister, it was tempting to point out that it was, perhaps, a little late. It’s rather like calling someone a miserable cretin of a parasite at a heated public meeting and immediately apologising unreservedly – the apology may appear fulsome, but the comment still lingers. That aside, the key questions that popped into my head were: how sceptical should the general public be of what our leaders (or anyone in authority) tells us, and isn’t it a sad reflection on the human condition that those who have control feel that the only way to continue in that position is to manipulate the truth?

Through my own experiences I know of one occasion when a D-Notice must have been invoked; an exhibit in the British Museum which distorts the truth of how the artefact was discovered; and can point to the editorial changes in a television programme, in which I took part, that were made to construct an untrue narrative that the director wished to portray.

Isn’t it interesting how we say we seek the truth, yet readily accept the lies? I, for one, do not believe in the great conspiracies about 9/11, but I wouldn’t be surprised if, in the future, it were to come to light that someone in the Bush administration knew an attack was imminent and did nothing about it, nor if were found that United Airlines Flight 93 had been shot down, rather that as a result of any action by the passengers. I could handle that truth. But if it is, then it will be long time coming before it will surface.

Which leads onto my next book …

Once again, I am going to give a flavour of my thought processes as I go from idea, to outline, to first draft, and the first consideration is this: how much of a message about the importance of Truth do I want to include? Too much Message gets in the way of a good story, so the problem will be how to conceal it. (The irony of this is not lost on me, in fact, it will give the novel extra layers.) The story will include Goebbels and I am tempted to make it a false narrative … indeed, having just written that, I have decided that that is what I shall do: I shall construct a history. If the bastards can mislead us about why we go to war these days, then I sure as hell can do the same with fiction.

Watch this space …

Apropos of nothing: I discovered another golf-ball in my garden today. This makes the third(?) in three years. I do not live near a golf course. Either someone has devised a wonderful psychological practical joke, or someone’s back garden golfing practice is not up to par.

Sorry.

First response

2010-09-03T14:54:00.001+01:00

JJ, my agent, has got back to me after his first read-through of my latest endeavour, and says he was engrossed throughout. This is what is known in the trade as ‘good news’. While I await his input on a small number of editorial decisions, I have been busy coming up with an idea for the next novel that he can add to the package he’ll be sending out to prospective publishers. I would like to tell you what the working title is, but I’m afraid someone might steal it … and it is too bloody good to take the risk!

But watch this space and I will develop it on-line as per the previous tome.

New Book

2010-07-22T18:28:00.001+01:00

Today I emailed my latest book to my agent.

Watch this space ….

Frist draft completed!

2010-06-11T14:07:00.001+01:00

It has taken some months, but the first draft of my latest book is finished. This one has is taking longer than most to complete because of the amount of research I have undertaken (I still have some slight revision to do), but the first read-through appears to show that a couple of big gambles I have taken with the narrative work better than I could have hoped for. This is a crackerjack of a book.

Fighting to get it right

2010-05-12T15:44:00.001+01:00

The last few weeks have proved to be interesting to say the least. I have been writing such an action-packed piece of work that I realised any reader would become exhausted trying to keep up and that it needed passages to offer mental relief from the relentless stress. By one of those odd coincidences that writers love to feed on, I was reading a graphic novel which germinated an idea that would solve the problem. It is taking me longer than I first envisaged completing this book, but the depth these new additions are making are adding to the overall effect.

The only bugger now is trying to write when the sun is out …

Spring writing

2010-04-13T12:39:00.001+01:00

It has now officially become difficult to write: the sun is out and the motorbike is demanding to be ridden. I am over three-quarters of the way through my next book, handling characters who are negotiating a sort of Luc Besson action thriller and who are hurtling towards a higher octane climax. And just to complicate things, I am already having ideas about another – a SF thriller – and am considering alternating between the two genres.

And now to the bike and the sunny weather …

Draft Chapter Seven

2010-03-09T13:32:00.001Z

Majors Lovelow and McKinley are on an operation to kill a German officer: Oberstleutnant Schmidt-Meyer. They discover that he now has in his possession a new cipher machine. Now read on:-

Schmidt-Meyer tests the device and is delighted to find that it works. The message he decodes reveals details of the Allied operation PLUTO – pipelines being laid across The Channel to supply fuel for the Normandy invasion. As a chemist, he knows there are ways to emulsify the petrol if he could gain access to the pipe. He could change the course of the war

Schmidt-Meyer walks over to the window and looks up at the sky. The plan he has just announced is feasible. He knows he should rush back to Berlin with this wondrous piece of equipment so that other plans might be envisaged from the information the cipher might provide, but he is also aware that action can be taken now. If it wasn’t for the fact that Montgomery’s plans in and around Falaise had fallen into his hands, he might had done his duty and reported back to his superiors.

He looks down at the flimsy and remembers the details of the experiments he had conducted when playing around with ideas to cripple the enemy.

Schmidt-Meyer hears that whistle again from that wonderful time before the war and dives into the pool to advance towards his future.

“How far is Brest from here?” he says. And then pauses again. “Never mind, Verner. Get Yohann back in here. I need him to get me in touch with General Ramcke. He’s the commander there, now.”

He turns to Clark.

“I’d like to borrow your Lysander. Where exactly did you leave it?”

I will continue to post extracts of the rest of this work, but I’m afraid I can’t let you know much more than than I have already. It would only spoil the fun …. J

Draft Chapter Six

2010-02-02T13:44:00.000Z

James and McKinley have orders to kill Oberstleutnant Schmidt-Meyer. The German is interrogating a British officer who has with him a unique coding machine. Now read on:-

The fighting in the orchard intensifies. McKinley provides some measure of protection when he explodes a white phosphorous grenade nearby. Within moments of this, another troop of Germans arrive. They mistake James and McKinley for comrades and set up a machine gun position to defend against the patrol of Allied troops. As their own forces begin firing mortars at them, James realises he has to adopt a different mentality.

James says goodbye to the man he is when not in combat. To stand any chance of survival, he needs to change. And fast. Unlike living with the few seconds of adrenalin rush that comes with an accident – where a person’s body can react to sudden noise and terror by loosening the bladder and bowels – he has to overcome that natural response and switch off, become desensitised, blot it out.

He has to become a dead man.

And he doesn’t like it. Because each time he finds it a little more difficult to return to that man he is in everyday life. And soon, James knows, it will be impossible.

Yet, McKinley, not flinching like James to the unexpected event, seems able to slot into that role with ease. James can’t decide if he feels envy or hate. Or remorse.

Even McKinley must have people who love him.

The next mortar lands less than twelve feet away, just as James laughs to himself at the unlikely possibility of anyone even liking his fellow officer. The rise in air pressure is so great that, to James, it feels as if he has had his stomach pushed in by a torrent of water and the sensation in his ears is of having been clouted with a cupped hand – a technique he has found useful in unarmed combat. Again his body reacts as though a surge of electricity has flowed through his nerves – every muscle tenses as if suffering cramp and then tingles like pins-and-needles. The shrapnel misses him, but he doesn’t know how.

We’re going to be shredded.

As the smoke stings his eyes, James marvels at the fact that he is still alive, and has suffered no great wounds, and knows they have to make a decision about which direction to travel and make it now.

But which one?

Draft Chapter Five

2010-01-26T12:42:00.001Z

The Story so far:-

Majors Lovelow and McKinley have orders to kill Oberstleutnant Stein Schmidt-Meyer – an experienced interrogator who has as his prisoner, Lieutenant Edward Clark. The British officer has detailed information of Churchill’s whereabouts during today’s invasion of the South of France. Now read on:-

Schmidt-Meyer discusses the Allied need for a deep water port with Hauptman Koch and how war is changing, becoming obscured by men with other motives. He then accuses Clark of being a spy and opens the case Clark had with him.

He takes out an olive-coloured object, the size and shape of a lunchbox, from the attaché case. Placing it on the table, he flips up a lid to reveal a number of knurled rotors on one side, six wheels along the front inscribed with letters of the alphabet, and a jack socket on the other side.

“A variation on your M two-hundred-and-nine portable coding machine,” he says. “But with an electrical input. Interesting.”

He runs a finger over the wheels, then takes out his Luger sidearm and lays it alongside the machine.

“This device looks special. Is this what this code book is for?”

Schmidt-Meyer removes a small manila notebook from his jacket and holds it up in front of Clark.

“We found it on the floor of the Lysander aircraft you came here in. The one we captured intact three kilometres from where you were taken prisoner. It is something to do with you, isn’t it?” He pauses. “You are the future that I fear, aren’t you? Well, today, you should fear me.”

Draft Chapter Four (The Climax)

2010-01-13T12:29:00.001Z

The story so far:-

Majors Lovelow and McKinley are on an urgent mission. After coming under heavy fire on landing, they know it has already been compromised.

Now read on:-

Their commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Hayward-Watts, orders them to kill a German: Oberstleutnant Stein Schmidt-Meyer. The reason is that the experienced interrogator has a British officer – Lieutenant Edward Clark – prisoner. This man has details of today’s invasion of the South of France and which ship Churchill will be on.

As they weave between the trees towards the other side of the orchard, James knows that at some time, he and McKinley are going to have to reassess the situation and Hayward’s original plan. That is, if they can survive long enough. He spots five white bee-hives ranged along the edge to the adjacent field.

“Cover,” he says. “To your right.”

McKinley veers towards them and dives to the ground behind the nearest one. By the time James joins him – sliding to the ground in much the same way as an American baseball player might seek first base – his comrade is lying prone in amongst the grass, his weapon aimed at the pursing troops.

James brings his own weapon to bear on the Germans and finds they have fanned out. And after comparing one of them to Dopey, James starts ascribing the names of the other six dwarves to the men bearing down on them without even thinking about it.

The man to his extreme left, the one with glasses, James sees as Doc. The German next to him – red in the face – is Grumpy.

Or should that be Bashful?

James changes his mind. The men on their left flank – reacting to McKinley firing at them by throwing themselves to the ground, as well – are Doc and Bashful. The next – directly ahead and bizarrely smiling – is Happy.

On the right, the one reacting to the pollen is Sneezy.

The craggy-faced, tired-looking older man: Sleepy.

Grumpy makes up the last of the German troops. He obliges James by swearing loudly as he strikes a tree with his shoulder while seeking cover.

James opens fire on him before the man can recover. The German’s body slumps into the long grass. In the next instant, a number of bullets strike the bee-hive, ripping it open, exposing drawers of honey and releasing numerous bees.

“Behind us,” says McKinley.

When James jerks his head around to look, he believes he can discern kaki uniforms. He cannot understand how the men have come to be so far behind enemy lines and supposes that his and McKinley’s mission is not the only operation detailed for this area today.

Either that or they’re lost.

“It’s our own lads, dear boy,” he says. “Seems every bugger West of Hitler’s Sigfried Line wants us dead today.”

The bees swarm out.

Happy Christmas

2009-12-23T12:01:00.001Z

... And a peaceful New Year.

In 2010 I intend to increase the number of webpage tips about writing and the business side of publishing and to add to the Flash Fiction. I will also be keeping you updated on the progress of my latest book.

Have a great time!

Draft Chapter Four

2009-12-08T12:08:00.003Z

Majors James Lovelow and Rex McKinley are in peril: their mission has been compromised. While they deal with an attack from German soldiers, Oberstleutnant Stein Schmidt-Meyer arrives at Château De Vimer to interrogate Lieutenant Edward Clark. It seems the British officer has important information. Now read on …

As James and McKinley fight a running battle in an orchard, James recalls the mission outlines. Lieutenant Clark is privileged to the details of the invasion on the South of France due to be launched today. Not only that, he knows which vessel the Prime minister, Winston Churchill, will be viewing the operation from. Allied High Command knows that Oberstleutnant Stein Schmidt-Meyer will succeed in getting to the truth. James and McKinley have been tasked to the kill the German and rescue Clark.

How many now?

Before his last mission, he knew he had killed at least thirty-two men in this war – all soldiers in uniform. On that operation – when he first had the misfortune to meet and try to command the ruthless Major McKinley VC – he had added to the total when he shot a sniper and his spotter, and held a soldier as McKinley thrust a dagger up and into the man’s chest and heart. But for all his own calm efficiency, even James had been caught up in the carnage and mayhem McKinley and his squad instigated. Hell, he had even been forced to kill a war-dog – a brute of an Alsatian – with his bare hands.

And here he is again.

Doing his job.

The professional assassin removing obstacles to his task.

That’s what Hayward-Watts called me, wasn’t it, dear boy? One of His Majesty’s killers for the duration? By Appointment, the commander had added. But then, Big C doesn’t have to bloody well live with the guilt at having just killed Dopy, does he?

“Yes,” said Hayward-Watts. “I believe it would be safe to say the only higher authority you need, Lovelow, is from God.”

“I think he’s too busy,” James said.

New Developments

2009-11-30T12:44:00.004Z

I am currently still making changes to my website and so some of these ramblings will be tests done to satisfy myself about the appearance and functionality of the various pieces.

As, indeed, is this one. Normal service will be resumed shortly.

Moving Forward

2009-11-27T19:12:00.001Z

I had to call a hiatus to the latest novel to concentrate on a new, and prestigious, short story competition. I decided to take a chapter from an earlier novel and re-write from the POV of the other protagonist. I also included an updated version of one of my flash fiction stories. I’m extremely happy with the result as, not only do I think the story is good, but it is an allegory on Britain and America’s involvement in Iraq. Normal service will be resumed next week.

As can be seen – if you have come here via my website – I am radically redesigning it so as to make easier for me to up-load future changes and to give you, the reader, something new to come back too on a regular basis.

Draft Chapter Two (and Three!)

2009-10-27T11:46:00.003Z

The story so far …

Majors James Lovelow and Rex McKinley are being towed in an experimental twin-boom glider to their mission LZ. As they come into land, the Germans open fire, killing the pilots in the port section. The aircraft dives towards the ground. Now read on …

James takes over, but discovers the control column is partially jammed. With McKinley’s help they just manage to level off. The aircraft lands and smashes into an orchard, the port fuselage – transporting the rest of the squad – strikes the trunk of a tree and is demolished. The starboard section also suffers tremendous damage. Struggling free from the wreckage, James’ first concern is for the other men – McKinley’s is their equipment. Just as James discovers that the other soldiers are indeed dead and McKinley produces salvaged ammunition, German soldiers open fire on them.

“They’re coming at us from prepared positions,” says McKinley. “The bastard’s were waiting for us!”

James opens fire – causing the first wave of enemy soldiers to crouch down as they run – and believes that McKinley is thinking along the same lines as he is, but doesn’t like the implications.

“We’ve been set up, dear boy?” he says, already convinced of the answer.

“Like fish in a barrel,” says McKinley, also sending a burst of bullets in the direction of the enemy troops.

He glances across at James.

“Someone has talked,” he says. “Someone meant for us to die here.”

Tune in next week – … but wait! There’s more this week!

Oberstleutnant Stein Schmidt-Meyer, along with Hauptman Verner Koch, arrives at the Château de Vimer – currently being used as a hospital for civilians and wounded soldiers. He has been expected. Hurriedly shown into an office, he finds a British soldier. There is an attaché case amid the surgical instruments on the desk.

“Good morning,” says Schmidt-Meyer in English. “I hope you slept well. Or did you not sleep last night? Too busy with other things?”

He picks up a sharp-looking instrument and gingerly rotates in his fingers.

“Any idea?” he says. “Or should I ask the good doctor?”

The British soldier doesn’t answer.

Schmidt-Meyer places the surgical blade back on the table with the others. He adjusts its position so that it is exactly the same as he found it. He then stares at the other man.

“Well, Lieutenant Edward Clark,” he says. “I believe we are to spend some time together. And I am in a hurry.”

Who are Stein Schmidt-Meyer and Clark? What connection do they have with Lovelow and McKinley’s mission? Tune in next week for another thrilling instalment!

New Chapters

2009-10-20T13:46:00.001+01:00

I have decided to move away from using this blog as a day-to-day update (find me on Facebook) and to provide a précis of each new first draft chapter(s) of my current work – uploaded every Tuesday afternoon. Enjoy. The story so far ….

August 1944. Early morning. Majors James Lovelow and Rex McKinley of the British army are in an experimental twin-boom glider being hauled to their LZ somewhere East of Falaise, France. They are both dressed in field uniforms of officers of the Waffen SS and carry German MP44 assault rifles. The glider is being piloted from the adjoining port section, which also carries the other six members of the squad. As the aircraft is buffeted by the horrendous slipstream of their tug aeroplane, the airframe protests at the excessive speed they are doing. They have to make their landing point before dawn and James is suffering from terrible claustrophobia – the mechanical noises only serve to increase his anxiety. McKinley – an arch rival – seems to be totally calm. They are released and begin a rapid descent. As they start their final landing approach, German troops open fire.

A high-pitched from noise outside startles him.

Alarmed that the glider is finally succumbing to the rigours of the flight to their destination, James looks back up. The short streaks of bright yellow light that suddenly emanate from somewhere on the ground first seem to be moving slowly, then they appear to accelerate and lengthen as they career past the cockpit.

Tracer!

Just as the realisation impinges upon his consciousness, bullets strike the port nosecone, fuselage and wing. Pieces of wood fly off in a welter of shards and splinters. The canopy shatters and explodes off from its hinges. Berry jerks back in his seat as his face is blown asunder and Fielding slumps forward.

The glider pitches down at an extremely steep angle and hurtles towards the ground. It a few seconds they will die.

Tune in next week for another thrilling instalment!

Find my flash-fiction at http://www.ww2flash1000.blogspot.com/

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The Frist Chapter

2009-10-02T14:45:00.002+01:00

I have begun writing on my next and am well into the first chapter. What I find exciting is simply the process of invention itself – after putting in the years of work, the crafting of the story has become easier and I can concentrate on the process of making each word count and enjoy the creating. It’s a fantastic feeling. Oh, and the first three sentences?

He can’t breathe.

And then the noise comes again.

Being buried alive must sound like this.

Ideas and images

2009-09-08T15:36:00.001+01:00

I’ve finished the first draft of the outline to the next book. During the course of this week, I’ll beef it up and inject even more pace, and then start writing – some of the scenes are already forming in my head … bliss.

Another WW2 flash fiction story has been added to my new blog-site I’m using to publish shorts. It’s at http://www.ww2flash1000.blogspot.com/

The outline unfolds

2009-09-02T13:27:00.000+01:00

I’m beginning the first phase of the next book: the outline. This is where everything is up for grabs and I get to fantasize whatever I damn well please. It’s like being a Greek god, but without the grapes …

News from the writing front

2009-08-22T10:06:00.001+01:00

I had a useful meeting with my agent this week – we discussed various ways to push forward. JJ was extremely keen on my latest proposal and agrees with an editor’s view of me as the ‘Alistair MacLean of the 21^st centaury’.

Its nice to have some validation …. J

A New Beginning

2009-08-15T12:41:00.001+01:00

This Blog will be returning to its original purpose of comment and information about my writing. As it’s a new broom, I have deleted all previous entries.