Life

Well, today my dad was made redundant. So I guess that's the end of a bit of an era. He's been working at the same place for ages, twenty odd years I think at least. Certainly as long as I can remember. But they've decided they don't want him any more after messing him about for a bit over the past few months. I'm not entirely sure what to think. It's weird. Both my parents are going to be at home now, cos my mum's still not working after being ill. Over a year since she was diagnosed with cancer, but she's definitely getting better. Pray about it, please.

I've run into a road block with regard to publishing. Again. Gonna cost twenty-five dollars to post my book from America to England. Which is ridiculous, and pretty much prohibitively expensive for anybody wanting to buy it. Looking at various options. In the mean time, I'm going to try and get published in the People's Friend magazine, and I'm half way through a short story for that. Plus have a couple more ideas for 'nice' short stories that could go that way too. Hopefully. Am also going to try and find an agent so I can get my book published properly.

On a more cheerful note, college is still good. Hard work, but good fun. Exams coming up soon, but also study leave coming up soon. And it's quite interesting.

Wyatt's Hurricane

Three cheers for the amazingness of Desmond Bagley everyone!

I reviewed Juggernaut a little while back, in which he made what seemed a rather boring thing (a rather large lorry travelling cross-country as a matter of fact) incredibly exciting. Well, given that, I was absolutely fascinated to see what he would make of something so full of potential excitement and drama as a hurricane. And I was in no way at all disappointed.

A hurricane in itself is a pretty good start for a thriller. But Desmond Bagley didn't bother to stop there. Oh no, and why should he? When you add in a military base of the Americans sat right in the path of the storm, the commander of which doesn't particularly want to listen to what his senior adviser Wyatt is telling him (which pretty much flies in the face of 'theory' although it is mentioned that this is pretty pointless), civil war in the country is on the verge of breaking out, and Wyatt is struggling with matters of the heart involving a woman he thought he'd never see again. The technical detail of the book is absolutely astounding. Either Desmond Bagley is a major expert on hurricanes, or he became one to write this book.

The civil war erupts, Wyatt gets captured, all sorts of exciting stuff happens. But I don't particularly want to spoil the book, so I'll stop at that. Suffice to say that it is an incredible piece of writing and firmly convinces me that Desmond Bagley is one of the best thriller writers of all time. Strongly recommend to everyone. Read it!!!

SE5/5a Aces of World War 1

Another Osprey book. Boy you're probably getting fed up of me reveiwing them. Especially because, as per usual, it was very well and professionally written, incorperated the diary extracts that were used well, gave lots of information about what happened to the pilots after the war, and had plenty of pictures to break up what could be a somewhat tedious book otherwise. Also, the books are kept down to pretty short, manageable sizes, despite the vast amount of detail they give. Given how long it's taking me to read another history book at the moment (will review when I eventually finish it), that's definitely a bonus.

One of the things that surprised me about this was the number of pilots who went on to fight again in WW2. I always just assumed it'd only be a handful, and I guess it probably was, but a lot of the pilots who survived the war did, it seems (amongst pilots of SE5/5a's at any rate) go on to fight with the RAF again.

Very interesting, but a bit of an anorak book I have to admit. So if you don't have a particular interest in aircraft or the first world war, I wouldn't really recommend it. If you do, however, it's worth getting hold of a copy. Although I do think they're quite expensive so I get them from the library.

Hawke

I've still not finished with all the books I read over the Easter holiday...

Anyway, Hawke was a very well-written book. It was a thriller, but it's a bit difficult to classify it beyond that. Ocean based, which is always interesting (Dirk Pitt, Douglas Reeman). Quite exciting. I'm definitely going to try and get hold of the next book in the series, although it seemed like there should be a couple of prequels. Don't get me wrong, it was understandable enough, but the main character seemed to have a fascinating and rather well developed back story, which is usually an indicator of a previous book in the series, but it seems that Hawke is the first.

I enjoyed it thoroughly, struggled to put it down for sure. Hope you enjoy it too.

St George's Day

Well, I figured since it was St George's Day on Thursday I'd be patriotic and wear red. It seems to me that everybody forgets St George's Day (although that was definitely less so the case this year) in favour of St Patrick's, despite the fact that St George is our patron saint while St Patrick is Ireland's! Ridiculous! Unfortunately, my attempt at patriotism had a bit of a problem. The only red t-shirt I have kinda says 'United States of America'. Oops...

The Satan Bug

We were away in the caravan and by this point I'd run out of Biggles books to read. So I turned to an Alaistar MacLean I picked up, although I later realised I already had a copy of it unread at home. Still. The blurb on the back of this one was so totally different that I couldn't tell it was the same book until I was well over half way through. The blurb on the older version completely minimises how fascinating this book was.

The Satan Bug is an absolutely gripping thriller. The main character is fascinating, and as it's narrated from first person, you only get the occaisional hint of his actual physical description etc and his relation of his past. Wow he's an interesting guy. I know Alaistar MacLean never went in for serieses in a big way--the only one being the two books The Guns of Navorone and Force 10 from Naverone--but this one would totally work well as a series. Intrigue, plot, deadly biological weapons in fragile glass tubes, and nothing is what it seems. And I mean nothing. This really demonstrates just how much of a craftsman MacLean was, there are twists and turns everywhere, culminating in a dramatic final showdown in an unsteady helicopter that leaves you fearing for the safety of every person in London and, ultimately, the whole world. It's an incredible book and I strongly recommend it to anybody who wants to read a decent thriller which is actually within the realms of possibility and plausibility (unlike many others...).

Spitfire Parade

Yes, it's another Biggles book. As you can maybe tell, I had a bit of a phase of reading them. However, I'm determined to write about every book I read, and therefore I'm sticking this up here. So.

This one wasn't amazing. Oh, it's a good book, sure enough, but most of the plot revolves around small chapter long incidents, which are almost entirely rewrites of bits from the earlier Biggles books The Camels are Coming and I think Biggles in France is the other one they've been taken from. They've been rewritten to introduce the new squadron Biggles finds himself being given, so in that respect they're quite nice as a bit of an insight into the new personalities that rapidly show up. However, I would much prefer it if they were actually original stories rather than simply rewrites with a few names changed and the types of aircraft altered. It's worth reading if you haven't read the WWI books and intend to read the WWII part of the series instead, but to be honest, if you've read the earlier ones there isn't a whole lot of point in going out of your way to read this one. If you've not read any of them, it's as good an introduction as any of the others.

Biggles and the Missing Millionaire

Yes, another Biggles book. About what happens when a supposed millionaire disappears. The plot/reason for the millionaire's disappearance, is rather far-fetched I have to admit. Leaving with the intent of forming a revolutionary army? However, the action itself was well written, and I enjoyed the story as a whole. After all, something doesn't have to be particularly believable to be interesting, does it?

Holiday

Hmm, well, I've been so busy writing about books that I've read I haven't actually written about my real life. Oops. That was the whole point of me starting this blog, so I'd keep a diary. Instead, I've been rabitting on about what I've read and what I've been writing...

Anyway. We went away in the caravan to stay in this site near Bolton Abbey. Very pretty. Right out in the sticks, but they were pretty sticks. Didn't do a whole lot cos mum kept getting tired and we had to stop. Although I did find loads and loads and loads of bookshops. And also bought myself two videos, which is kinda weird for me cos I don't normally watch TV/films. Prefer reading. But I love Top Gun. Don't know why it's a fifteen, maybe the version I saw on TV was dumbed down a bit or something. Anyhow, I've based a story off it, which just shows how much I loved that film. The other one's an adaptation of The Hunt For Red October. Since it's a pretty decent book, I figure I'll give the film a chance too.

Easter was fun. Went to church in the morning, said happy Easter to everyone, ate eggs. Um, not a whole lot else. Not on Easter Sunday at any rate. My life sounds really boring. It's not, honest.

Biggles Combined Operation

Another Biggles. I had a bit of a Biggles session, as you'll notice when I manage to finish writing reviews of all the books I read over the Easter holidays. This one's about drugs, and how Biggles teams up with an American guy to help stop the narcotics trade. They end up chasing the suppliers around the globe. Not the absolute best example of the Biggles books, but still worth reading. Nice ending.

Biggles in the Gobi

I love Biggles books. And I was able to find one on the car boot quite recently. A very good book, well written. Really enjoyed it. Admittedly, it didn't take me long to read, but that doesn't really matter. It was a good one to read at any rate. And very dramatic. Perhaps more than they usually are even.

Biggles and his team of pilots get sent out to the Gobi desert to rescue a bunch of missionaries who got stranded in China and are likely to get beaten up. I like the fact that in this one Algy and Ginger actually get the chance to play a major part. Rather exciting plot, lots of calamities arising. Especially for Algy and Ginger. Really recommend the Biggles books. They're not exactly challenging reads, but they're good fun, interesting, give you an insight into what it's like to fly. This one was, to my mind, one of the better ones.

Consent to Kill

I don't know whether I've reviewed this one before. If I haven't, it's very, very good. Mitch Rapp, Vince Flynn's hero, is a tough, fierce main character you can rely on for an exciting read. But he appears to be mellowing. He's married, he wants to have kids, he's realising he can't stay in the field forever, especially when his job is going after terrorists and killing them. But he's made a heck of a lot of enemies over the years, as you can imagine, and one of them is determined to do something about it. A bounty is placed on Mitch's head, and his world explodes. Literally.

An incredibly exciting book, even when you're reading it for the second or third time. I'm very grateful to the guy on the market who first introduced me to Vince Flynn since he didn't have the book I was looking for. I'd strongly recommend the series, but I'd also recommend you read it in order. I didn't, unfortunately, and it kinda spoilt a few exciting things in the earlier books. The first one's Transfer of Power, I've probably reviewed it somewhere. Fantastic book. All of them. This one is one of my favourites of the series though. Especially love the ending, very sensitive and believable, and also totally in character. Not what you're expecting, but the right ending for the book.

Pegasus Bridge

I had this great idea the other day. I thought ok, I'm wide awake, can't be bothered lying here doing nothing any longer, I'll read a book and if I read something non-fiction then I'll actually be able to put it down without reading too late. So I picked up Pegasus Bridge by Stephen E Ambrose. Bad move. I couldn't put it down, stayed up until I'd read it all the way through. Very exciting, very well written, and very, very interesting subject matter.

When I went to France a few years ago, I actually went to Pegasus Bridge and the museum there, and it was incredible to read the story behind it. Oh, I know, I got the story from the museum, but this book was so good and so well researched and everything that it was incredible.

Basically, it was about the glider-borne assault on Pegasus Bridge, which had to capture two bridges from the Germans intact. Parachuting wasn't an option, as the parachutists would end up scattered all over the place and wouldn't be able to gather in time to stop the Germans blowing up the bridge. Incredibly interesting story, a real must read, even if you don't care about history. It's worth reading for purely excitement value as a piece of fiction, if you're not fussed about the actuality behind the story. Really recommend this one, especially especially if you happen to have an interest in WWII, but even if you don't.

Bristol F2 Fighter Aces of World War I

Yeh, I'm an aeroplane geek. You get over it :D.

Very interesting. A little bit hard to digest all at once, because there was a lot of information. What really did surprise me was how many pictures there were of the aircraft etc. I've always seemed to think that there weren't so many pictures of WWI aircraft floating around out there. This book proved me otherwise.

I liked the fact that it gave information about what happened to the people after the War and where they ended up.

I have to add, that although I enjoyed it a lot, if you're not interested in planes, please don't bother to read it. It's about aircraft. It's very academic and well written and detailed, but if you don't care about it, you really won't enjoy it one little bit.

Meiktilla 1945

This book is in the Osprey Campaign series. I mentioned before when I read another that it was rather confusing. I think now that that was due more to the nature of the battle it was describing than due to poor writing. Also, the problem I had working out which side was which was negated in this book as the Japanese units were written in italics since they'd been translated.

It was very interesting, all about the battle for Burma during WWII. I enjoyed it. However, it does perhaps require a little bit of background knowledge (think it would've helped me get more out of it). It's interesting if you're interested (hope that makes sense). However, if you really don't care what the Japanese and the British/Americans did in Burma during WWII, don't bother reading it.

Writing Update

Yeh, I've not done this for a while. Anyway, here goes. What I've been working on recently.

Red's story (no other title as yet). Writing it in first person, which I'm finding both weird and incredibly fun. He's a very fun character to write from. He likes explosives, fighting, and practical jokes. Not a whole lot like me, it has to be said, but it's good fun. Has turned out rather more interesting than I initially expected, and also rather different. And I actually had a semblance of a plan!

Mask (again, no proper title as yet). I started writing this ages ago, wanted to continue with it a bit. I quite like the story idea, it's the kind of thing I'd definitely read, but I'm struggling to write it.

The other story I've just started working on, I can't reveal the working title for. It kinda gives away what I think will be the main thrust of the plot. And even if it isn't the main thrust, it's a rather large part of the story. And a major revelation. Suffice to say, it's in my angel series (which needs a proper name, but never mind that for now), it's a story I've been trying to write for a while, and I now have a rather more promising beginning than anything that I've done before for this. Although I felt rather optimistic about all of those at the time. We shall see. I really want to finish this one.

Winged Fire. Want to get this one ready for actual publishing. But it's being stubborn and difficult and I'm not really getting anywhere. Never mind. I'll keep chipping away at it. And I already have the plot down. Although I've made some major alterations. Very major alterations. I think it's a lot more exciting with these new bits though. And more fun.

That's about it really, apart from assorted other bits that haven't really got far.

Nutmeg Angel

Soon, very soon, this book will be available via Amazon. Here's the blurb. I'm dead excited!!!

Angels. Fluffy little things with a harp, right? And demons. Big, scary monsters with red horns. Not quite. Nutmeg is much more likely to be found gun in hand, fighting fiercely, than sat learning heavenly music. And though Nutmeg would agree that demons are big, she's less than convinced about the scary, like the other members of the force. A good thing, when they're tasked with defending us humans from the demons less than pleasant intentions.

B-17s Over Berlin

This is a very interesting book, made up of first hand accounts of people involved with the 95th Bomber Group during WWII.

The accounts are very well organised, mostly in a chronological order. What I found really surprising was the number of people who were taken prisoner, and who evaded being taken prisoner, after being shot down and parachuting out. I also didn't realise that there were ten people in a B-17. They must've been massive! It was really very interesting to read.

However, I would've preferred fewer longer contributions, as it was difficult to get a sense of the people involved, only of the details in a few separate incidents. Also, at three hundred ish pages, it's rather long for a collection of accounts ranging from a paragraph or so up to about three pages in length. Quite disjointed feeling at times, especially as there would sometimes be two or three people involved in telling the same account...

All the same, it was an interesting book, although I recommend you read it a bit at a time to avoid it getting too repetitious and confusing. I have to admit I'm not a great fan of short stories in the first place--I prefer to read something a bit longer and with a bit more substance (as you may have noticed given that I have a tendency to read books with 700odd pages...).

Golden Budha

This is the first book in the Oregon Files. It had a few too many intercontextual references for my liking. Kept mentioning suchabody or suchabody else as being like this or that, and as I didn't have a clue who the other people were, it was kinda annoying, as you can imagine. I've only read the Dirk Pitt books Clive Cussler's written before, and they're pretty great. I think I prefer the Dirk Pitt ones.

There were a few too many characters and most of them were not developed at all well. The action was pretty good, but confusing at times. The ending was also a little idealistic. One plus point was that the women were not just included for the men to seduce and to trick the men, as is often the case in the Dirk Pitt books (the first one was written thirty odd years back, so it's hardly surprising, it just gets a bit annoying).

On the whole, it wasn't terrible, but it wasn't knock your socks off brilliant. I won't be going out my way to hunt for the other books in the series, but I might get them out the library eventually. While I'd highly recommend the Dirk Pitt series, this one doesn't get my vote. It's about average, which basically means don't bother to my mind, although it's not so terrible you feel you've completely wasted your time and you refuse to finish reading it.

Fresh Manna by the Youth!

I've just realised I never wrote about the service we did the day after Encounter! My youth group took the whole service (although admittedly we pinched Buster to drum and Dave to play base). Good fun. I think it went better than last time even. I was certainly more relaxed playing my clarinet, partially cos I'd done it before. Apparently you couldn't actually hear me very well, but never mind. It went well. The drama was fun. Hopefully we'll do it again soon, it's quite exciting to take over church for a week :D.

Air War Flanders - 1918

Another non-fiction, but not an Osprey one. By Robert Jackson. Very interesting, very well written. Lot of pictures, which was interesting to see the sort of thing they were flying around in. One really surprised me, it showed this absolutely massive biplane, I'm not kidding you could've stood one and a half people in the gap between the two wings and laid out three or four in a row on each wing. Enourmous!

It detailed all the various aspects of the war in the air, including the bombing raids. Some links to how it developed into WWII, but not too many which was nice. I was amazed when I saw it in the library, since it's almost impossible to find books that deal solely with WWI aircraft and pilots. Very interesting indeed. Well written, lots of interesting details about the pilots and the battles that took place, without coming across as dull and boring and repetitious.

Something I did notice was that while there seemed to be more pictures of German aircraft, there was less about the German effort in general, although the French and Americans did get mention. There was stuff about Manfred von Richtofen of course, but it was interesting to see how many people did score very highly along with him. I'm not saying there was nothing about the German side of things, but there was certainly less. Still, a very interesting book. I think you could find it interesting even if you know nothing about the subject to start with. Not quite as story-like as some history books I've read, it gave some info about tactics and so on as well as just telling the details of various dogfights, but still incredibly fascinating. Having said that, I'm a bit of an aeroplane geek and especially interested in the WWI ones... Still, very pleased I found it.

Only one thing annoyed me, and it was hardly the book's fault. There was a page missing! Really irritating, it looked like it would've been quite an interesting page too. Looks a bit like someone actually cut the page out. How can you do that to a book?! Especially a library book. Be nice to books! They're nice to you.

The mysteries of to do lists

I wrote myself a to do list yesterday. Got most of what I wanted to do done. However, there is a slight mystery involved. It says I need to do B.S.C. I have absolutely no idea what that stands for. Hmm... Never mind. I did some revision, some reading, went to book club, tidied various things, but I don't know what this B.S.C. thing is supposed to be. Oh well. If anyone has any ideas...?

Suffering from Cheerfulness: The Best Bits from the Wipers Times

Surprisingly amusing, this book contains extracts from the Wipers Times and its successors, a newspaper printed by British soldiers in France during WWI, using a printer they 'acquired' from people who didn't look like they wanted it any more.

Interesting how upbeat it remained for the most part. Quite amusing at times, but there were serious parts. Well worth reading, it kinda gives the lie to the idea that the only poetry to come from the First World War was very gloomy, depressing, and anti-war. It's never particularly pro-war, it has to be said, but interesting to read.

It's a very interesting book. Apparently the full collection is available, but I have to admit I was dipping in and out of it. Could be quite difficult to read all as one. Good for light relief between lessons, which sounds very odd when you consider the context in which it was written, but also true. Having said that, I suspect that one of its main purposes was to entertain the troops and poke fun at military life to make it more bearable.

My only complaint is that the glossary at the front wasn't all that comprehensive, and there were a few terms I didn't quite understand and which weren't listed in the abbreviations and nicknames list. Still, it's worth reading.

And I believe this is my 100th book review. Yay!

Productive Morning

Ok, so I've hardly done anything on my to do list. However, I have tidied my bedroom floor, which really needed doing as I was starting to struggle to get to my desk, had to pick my way through stacks of folders and paper and whatever. I've organised my English Lit folder, which took a while, and sorted out my English Language one more thoroughly. I've tidied out my wool box, which is an absolute mess and I never use anything in it any more. And I tidied the bit under my desk. So I'm feeling quite proud of myself. Didn't find any ten pound notes unfortunately, but I did find plenty of random pictures and some bits of story.

The Immortals

Well, if I was disappointed by The Unit, I certainly was not disappointed by The Immortals by Paul Stewart and Chris Riddle. I'd been worried the Edge Chronicles books would turn out to be kinda dull and boring now that I was a bit older than when I first read them, that the new one wouldn't be amazingly interesting, that I'd feel patronised or whatever, as some new children/teenage books in series I've liked for a while have turned out not so great. The total opposite.

It was a truly phenomenal piece of writing. It looks big, I know, and maybe it is kinda big, but it's fantastic. And there are pictures. Not as in childish picture book type pictures, but as in worthwhile diagrams of various cities, craft, etc, and illustrations of the characters and creatures which enhance the text itself. If you haven't read the rest of the Edge Chronicles books, it doesn't really matter. I haven't read them for a while, and it made perfect sense to me. Having said that, it does link in to the other books. And it solves various mysteries of what happened to the different people at the ends of their stories.

The world of the Edge Chronicles is incredibly well constructed. It's not a nicey nicey world where everything's just about perfect. Nor is it a world of clear black and white. It's the tale of a world starting to come to terms with industrialisation, trying to balance that with the preservation of the deepwoods, of scholars with an interest in what lies over the Edge cliff, and of a young boy thrust from his home in the mines where he works as a lamplighter, keeping the constant twilight glow set that is needed in order to mine the phranx-crystals that their world relies on. A very well-created place indeed, with a myriad of creatures and cultures. It lacks the simplicity found in many children's fantasy books, with all hte speices being well-developed. The characters too are well-rounded, crafted into heroes that you can relate too.

All in all, a book that surprised me with how good it was. Oh, sure, I prefer the more delicate craft from the Second Age of Flight to the larger craft they now have, but it's a bit like the way I prefer to read about the old biplanes than more modern fighter jets. A nice ending, optimistic, but not so much so that it seems corny. Leaves it open nicely for a sequel that I hope is not too long in coming.

The Unit: Seek and Destroy

You may have noticed that I give out very few bad reviews. There's a reason for that. I tend not to finish books that don't interest me, as I have a limited amount of time available to read. However, it's rare that a book shows as much promise for a good read as this and turns out quite so disappointing. I've not finished it, but I thought I'd write a bit of a review anyway, just to warn those of you out there who have similar tastes to me.

It looked very very interesting, like the sort of fast-paced escapist action I'm fond of at the moment. I managed about fifty pages, before I came to the conclusion that those words on the front cover which so often spell 'poorly written badly developed novel contained within these pages' were completely true in this case. 'Based on the hit CBS series created by David Mamet' it says. I have read one good adaptation of a movie into a book. The first Star Wars book. Now you're going to tell me taht it was a book first. Well, I've never seen the film, and that book was well enough written that it made me think that it might very well be the case. Fantastic book.

Anyway. It's about The Unit, a highly secret group in the US Military. Not entirely original I'm sure you'll agree, but an idea with potential. The blurb sounded very exciting. A bunch of businessmen using merceneries to take over the Congo, and the Unit their only opposition. Unfortunately, the writing is mediocre, with some parts of military terminology over explained, with others left dangling with no explanation that I really don't understand. I know what a SOP is (standard operating procedure), but what on earth is an OA, an ACOG, TA or an SOI? The pages are littered with these and other similar expressions. The author also appears to have fallen into the trap of leaving no dialogue without an explaining tag line, something I admit I used to do, but have since realised is often unnecessary. There's also a little too much telling and not enough showing with regard to personalities of the characters, all of them getting lumped in at once. The writing was, I'm afraid, rather dull. Which is fine in a romance or whatever, but in an action book, you expect action. Like I said, I think the plot itself sounds rather exciting and it could very well get interesting. But there's an equal chance it won't get much more interesting, or that the interestingness will be spoilt by the mediocre writing, and I'm not prepared to spend a fair bit of time reading something that's not all that good when there's much better things to read and my time is limited. Maybe I'll have another bash at it. I'm kinda talking myself into it. I feel a bit mean reviewing it without actually having finished it.

To be fair on the book, it isn't the first I've started and put down from complete lack of interest in the writing style. And it's certainly not as bad as James Patterson's (or someone writing under his name at any rate)'s new series for teenagers: The Dangerous Days of Daniel X. The title itself sounds rather dodgy in how interesting it could be. I managed two pages, two whole pages, before the terrible and unrealistic narrative voice of a supposed kid got too much to stand and I was forced to abandon it with much disappointment. I'd been hoping for something as good as the Maximum Ride trilogy (the fourth book does not count, haven't got hold of the fifth yet, but I'm hoping it's better though it would be hard not to improve on the fourth one). I was sadly disappointed.

Anyway, that's kinda just so you know I don't love absolutely every book I read and that my glowing reviews are merited. And kinda because I'm really quite disappointed in this book.

Home early

Yay! No tutor today, so I got to come home proper early. Well, I left after maths finished at 1:15. Really good, since I don't normally get any time off at all. Reorganised my English Language folder and am now feeling rather productive. Should probably reorganise my English Lit folder, and do something about the horror that has become my maths work--it's in no order whatsoever and I'm not kidding, it's horrendously badly organised. Will also do a bit of history reading I think. Although just now, I feel like having a bit of fun and doing some writing.