|
|
|
|
FICTION
Historical research is both simulating and exciting, but it can be stressful too. The ever-present band of nit-pickers and a few notorious reviewers who are always eager to leap upon any small error with great glee while ignoring the mass of fresh and original material, because it makes better copy for them. When probing detailed and complex issues even a printing error can result in a tide of abuse. A review in FlyPast magazine of the Hercules book stated that it consisted of, "..the same old photographs..", even though two-thirds of those included were unique to the book itself and others were from private collections never released before; another critic, this time of the Aichi Val book, complained that all the years of reseach in Japan and the reams of fresh and original information gained by eyewitness interviews, were invalidated because there were two different times given for the sinking of a ship the tanker Pecos, and this despite the fact that a footnote had patiently and carefully explained that the Japanese and American records differed on this point! If reviewers cannot even properly read the books they review what can an author do. Finally, on one truly memorable occasion, I was even roundly taken to task by a fellow author reviewing my history of the Wild Swan, -the reason for his distaste, in his opinion I had done the job too well!
So, as an author, I tend to seek relaxation in fiction which is easier in that I can control the events rather than track them down and relate them as accurately as I can. Based on my knowledge of both destroyers and dive bombers and the men who manned them during World War II, the historical novel Rendezvous Skerki Bank was an attempt at a "war book" but with a factual background for a change, and was well received critically.
I had long been addicted to macabre and ghost stories when presented by such masters of the genre as M R James, L P Hartley, H G Wells or H P Lovecraft and I wrote a series of such tales early in my career. Many became favourites and were included in anthologies of such works which I edited for William Kimber in London, others appeared in magazines or other peoples anthologies down the years. The residue were collected under the title of a novella, Behind the Black Curtain in a very limited and restricted edition, which may yet see wider distribution as a Hardback collection.
| Fictional Books & Short Stories | |||
| Uninvited Guests | Behind the Black Curtain | The Haunted Sea | Haunted Shores |
| Undesirable Properties | The Phantom Coach | Short Stories | Rendezvous Skerki Bank |