FRESH OFF THE PRESS

   'DAMNED GOOD SHOW'                                                  (reprint)

                  Top Flight 

   Many people believe RAF Bomber Command's war began with the Lancaster bomber.  Not so.  From day one of WW2, squadrons flying twin-engine Hampdens (the 'flying suitcase') and Wellingtons (the 'Wimpy') took off on operations  -  not so much to help win the war as not to lose it.

 

  "Here's what you get," The Guardian wrote of 'Damned Good Show',  "tough, taut prose that pulls you through the book like a steel cable... the acrid tang of veracity."  Off-duty, pilots fell in love like all other young men. Reviewing DGS, the Daily Express said: "although it is sparely told, it captures perfectly the excitement  and sadness of wartime romance...Flying is hard to write about,  but Robinson never loses his way, or his dry eye. A masterpiece." 

 

To read the reviews in full, click here.

 

HOW TO GET IT.  This reprint is in paperback format.

For buyers in the U.K. it costs £15, which includes first-class postage.  Make your cheque payable to:
Derek  Robinson and send it to him at:
                 Shapland House  
                 Somerset Street  
                 Kingsdown  
                 Bristol BS2 8LZ  
Remember to include your address, clearly written.         

                
 Or pay by PayPal                                                                   
For buyers outside the U.K., it costs £20, which includes airmail postage.  The best way to buy is by PayPal. 

   See Paying by PayPal panel  below.

  He's a heel, bless him. 

 Luis Cabrillo rides again in this "dashing tale of Nazis and Mafiosi", as The Observer called it. (To read the full review, click here.) 

 

In fact, Nazis and Mafiosi play second fiddle to the real dynamo in this story.  It's 1953, and Senator Joe McCarthy's witchhunt for Reds under beds is scaring America witless.

Cue Luis Cabrillo, ex-double agent, now con artist supreme. Dollars flow, hotly pursued by bullets. Luis doesn't know it, but FBI, MI5, KGB and CIA have him firmly in their sights. Not to mention Stevie, the only three-times married virgin in New York City.  This is a rich, fast and very black comedy. 

 

 

HOW TO GET IT 

 Don't call me.  Go online to

 http://www.cpibookdelivery.com/cgi-bin/home.cgi 

and enter Red Rag Blues in the search field (extreme top right); this brings up the book cover.  Click on Buy Now and follow the prompts. Have your credit card ready. 
 
               Price    Red Rag Blues costs £15 plus delivery charges.  These vary, depending on destination. Here's an indication:
 
 UK, by Royal Mail: £2.75
 European Union, inc.Ireland (airmail):  £4.95
 North America (airmail):  £6.95 
 Rest of the World:   £7.95   

             Problems?   Email me here or write to me at: Shapland House, Somerset Street, Kingsdown, Bristol BS2 8LZ

Times are hard, so I'm offering my RFC trilogy (War Story, Hornet's Sting, Goshawk Squadron) for the price of Hornet's Sting alone.  Pay me by sterling cheque or by PayPal - details below.  Hornet's Sting is hardback size, softback cover; the other two are pocketsize.  Three WW1 flying novels for 25 quid - just what you want for long winter nights!
Breaking News!   The cost of sending airmail packages has gone up again. For example, airmailing the RFC trilogy to the US now costs £15.  So  -  in future, orders from outside the UK will go surface mail.  If you want airmail, send me an
email here and we'll work out a deal.    

 
Silk and the Vulcan were made for each other. "Now see how she climbs," the instructor said.  He stood the Vulcan on its tail and they went up as if somebody up there was hauling them in, hand over fist.

Hornet’s Sting is now on sale

                         

 

 

Readers Write #8 December 09

 

            Rumblings in Cornwall, 

 

                      the Forgotten War, 

 

                               and three helpings of 'Cake'

 

 

 

I sense a smouldering impatience in Cornwall.  K.M.D. of St Ives writes to say how much he's enjoyed my previous books, especially the RFC/RAF trilogies.  'Damned Good Show' meant much to him because his father-in-law was in Bomber Command in WW2, got shot down in a Wellington, spent four years in Stalag Luft III, and then in the 1950s  instructed at RAF Finningley, a V-Bomber base.  Which is why K.M.D. particularly wanted to read 'Hullo Russia, Goodbye England'  -  it echoes much of his father-in-law's experience.   

But then he adds:  "I've been disappointed that there aren't more of your RAF books. After all, there's still a lot of WW2 left for Hornet Squadron after 'A Good Clean Fight', and there's also Korea, Suez etc."  

Well, I wish I could oblige. The money would be nice. I see other writers who, year after year, produce a succession of novels that play variations on the same tune, and a small voice inside me says: Why don't you do that?  Dick Francis writes a horse-racing novel a year. His fans love him.  Write an RAF novel a year and your fans will love you.  Why not? And a loud voice inside me says: Because you'll be bored rigid. Even the great Conan Doyle grew to loath Sherlock Holmes and tried to kill him off.  His fans wouldn't wear it and Doyle went back to grinding out more variations on a tune that must have made him want to throttle someone. If not Holmes, then Watson.  Or Inspector Lestrade. Or Mrs Hudson..  Or, ideally, the whole gang.  

I'm not in the grinding-out business. I write novels because I find an idea that strikes me as different, even surprising. I try to write a story that I enjoy  -  something fresh and unusual, maybe something that upsets what most people think they already know. Every novel is a gamble. I like risk.  So I can't do what K.M.D. of St Ives suggests,  which is to put Hornet Squadron into Suez or Korea simply because those wars happened.  I need an idea as well, a hook to hang the story on.  

One of the hooks I found, and used in 'Damned Good Show', is the forgotten war waged by Bomber Command from  the outbreak of war to 1941/2.  Say 'Bomber Command' to most people and they think of Lancasters flattening German cities.  But the Lancs weren't much seen on ops until mid-1942,  and not in large numbers until 1943.  Take the Thousand-Bomber Raid on Cologne on 30th May 1942;  only 73 Lancs took part in that, as compared with 79 Hampdens,  131 Halifaxes and 602 Wellingtons  (plus others). In fact, Bomber Command's first operation was on the very day that war was declared, 3rd September 1939.  During the next couple of years, the Command learned how (and how not) to take the battle to the enemy homeland. 

So I was very pleased to hear from someone who was there at the start. Lawrence Wheatley in Bude, Cornwall. He qualified as an Air Observer (soon to be renamed Navigator) in summer 1939,  and joined 'B' Flight of 144 Squadron. The squadron  flew Hampdens, a compact twin-engine bomber that plays a big part in 'Damned Good Show'.  Lawrence suffered from chronic air-sickness and was grounded by the medics, which almost certainly saved his life, because on 29 September 1939 'B' Flight was searching for targets north of Heligoland and ran into German fighters. All five Hampdens were shot down. Soon people were calling it the 'Phoney War'.  It was real enough for the RAF.  Throughout WW2, Bomber Command losses were heavy. Of the 48 men who completed Lawrence's Air Observer course, 28 died in action or in flying accidents.  

Lawrence said he's enjoying D.G.S., "though slightly disappointed" that it's centred on the officers "and little is said about the Sergeants' Mess where the majority of the crew would live."  It's a fair point.  My problem was numbers.  I told the story through the pilots, who were usually officers.  That involved a dozen (or more) characters. If I had included the Sergeants' Mess too, it would have doubled the cast. That would be more than I, or most readers, could handle.

Meanwhile, my other flying stories have been prompting some mail. Bob in Ottery St. Mary flew Canberras and Buccaneers (both types were capable of carrying nuclear weapons) and he writes: "I don't know how you do it, but the atmosphere and the characters on the squadrons I've served on are often reflected in your books."  Steve in Nottingham, having just read 'Hullo Russia, Goodbye England', says: "The flying descriptions  -  absolutely brilliant. I presume you leaned on some former pilots to get that right."  Well, I certainly had my stuff doublechecked for accuracy, but in essence it all came out of what's left of my mind.  Chris in the Borders "liked HRGE immensely. You have a way with character dialogue that, in my opinion, is second to none....Also the story had me from the start; these are characters that I may not necessarily care about, but I revel in their ups and downs, and ultimately they mostly win me over by the end;  including Luis Cabrillo from 'The Eldorado Network' trilogy..."  (It's actually a quartet, with the new book 'Operation Bamboozle', which Chris bought.) Jonathan in Basingstoke is now on his third copy of 'Piece of Cake', having worn out the other two: "Still an old favourite that I revisit every few years....and it has the rare gift of giving something different every time." While Susan of Colchester bought HRGE and 'Hornet's Sting' as a Christmas gift for her husband, "a devotee of your writing"; and when Richard in Kent got his copy of 'Operation Bamboozle', he was "really chuffed to have a shelf full of your produce."   And I'm chuffed too. 

Thanks to everyone who wrote.

             Derek Robinson                          Previous Readers Write 

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