Congratulations to D. R. Bailey, whose exciting wartime thriller, Tides of Change, is out now!
Tides of Change is the fifth book in the Spitfire Mavericks Thrillers series: action-packed aviation adventures set during the second world war and featuring a team of vigilante pilots.
December, 1941
After a tense encounter with attacking Focke-Wulfs, Flying Officer Angus Mackennelly returns to base to find Squadron Leader Bentley announcing the bombing of Pearl Harbor.
US forces are being drafted in as war is declared on Japan and an American airbase is to be established next to the RAF Banley base used by the Maverick Squadron.
Angus is promoted to Flight Lieutenant and is given orders to lead a squadron escorting the American bombers on short-range missions until they have their own escort fighters.
But after the US bombers have landed, the Germans stage an attack on the airbase and rumours start to circulate that there may be an enemy spy on base.
As Angus and the Mavericks prepare for more intense air battles over Europe, suspicion between the team grows.
Is there a spy? Are they only targeting the Americans?
And can Maverick Squadron prepare their new allies for the realities of war…?
Congratulations to Patrick Larsimont, whose thrilling wartime adventure, The Lightning and the Few, is published today!
The Lightning and the Few is the first book in the Jox McNabb Aviation Thrillers series: action-packed, authentic historical adventures following a RAF pilot during the second world war.
Scotland, 1939
When Jox McNabb is expelled from school he is forced to look to his future.
Inspired by the sight of a Hurricane flying over him, he becomes determined to join the RAF.
And after basic training, Jox is posted to RAF Montrose with the growing group of other recruits he has met along the way.
Battling the bleak Scottish elements and finding themselves immediately thrown in at the deep end, the lads struggle to keep up with the training.
Many are deemed unfit for service, and after tragedy strikes, Jox questions if he’s got what it takes.
Can Jox earn his wings to face Blitzkrieg and defend his country in its hour of need? Does he have the courage and skill to become one of The Few? Will he beat the odds to survive his first battle?
Congratulations to Justin Fox, whose thrilling wartime adventure, The Wolf Hunt, is out now! The Wolf Hunt is the second book in the Jack Pembroke Naval Thriller series.
1941
Lieutenant Jack Pembroke has found a new home and new love at the Cape, but it will all hang in the balance with the arrival of the enemy in South African waters.
With the Mediterranean all but closed to maritime traffic, and Rommel’s forces rampaging through North Africa, this sea route is vital to supplying the Allied forces in Egypt.
But German U-boats have been sent by Admiral Donitz from their bases on the west coast of France to cripple the convoy route.
Jack is put in command of a small anti-submarine flotilla in the Royal Navy base of Simon’s Town, South Africa.
But he has very little time to train his officers and men, and prepare his ships, for the arrival of the Nazi wolf packs.
With the Cape under attack, Jack has to escort a vital convoy from Cape Town to Durban.
But with the enemy U-boats lying in wait in the storm-ravaged waters, he’ll be luck to make it out alive…
In this blog series, Sapere Books spotlights authors whose books have gone out of print and whose work we are republishing, in an effort to revive the most vibrant and engaging voices of the past. This month, we are delighted to share a guest blog written by Gary and Nigel Davison, in memory of their father, Geoffrey. Geoffrey Davison is the author of the Stephen Fletcher Espionage Thrillers.
Our abiding memory of our father is of him sitting back in his reclining red leather chair in his study, deep in thought and invariably with a glass of red wine to hand and to the sound of Perry Como or similar. Although he wrote all his books in longhand, we both seem to remember him most frequently ‘plotting’ rather than actually writing. To Geoffrey, the plot — the twists and turns of a good story — was the thing and he was never happier than when devising his storyline.
Born and living most of his life in or around Newcastle upon Tyne, Geoffrey always aspired to write, and it was no coincidence that he moved from his commercial practice as a quantity surveyor to lecturing at Newcastle upon Tyne Polytechnic, where he rose to Head of Department and where the extended holidays in the 1970s and 80s provided the ideal uninterrupted opportunity for his writing.
First published at the age of 40 with The Spy Who Swapped Shoes — a title which seems to typify the espionage genre in which Geoffrey began his writing career in the 60s with his Cold War hero Stephen Fletcher — he went on to publish twelve books. All would fall firmly within the thriller category, set against backgrounds ranging from Cold War espionage to World War Two (with titles such as The Honourable Assassins set within Valkyrie plot), the French Foreign Legion (with titles such as The Bloody Legionnaires) and international politics (his later work, such as The Malaysian Conspiracy). All also gave him the opportunity to follow his other great passion of travelling. Frequently accompanied by his friend, an amateur artist named Newton, and with the support of Northern Arts, he would set off to Berlin, other Eastern European cities, the South of France and later to the far East in the name of research whilst always still finding time for the odd period of relaxation and ‘character spotting’.
We remember the excitement as a box of new books would be delivered and opened, checking the covers and dedications, looking at the reference to the growing back catalogue, and the thrill of seeing them in foreign languages. But most of all we both remember the surprise and indeed the pride each us felt on the many occasions that we reminded ourselves that we had just read something written upstairs with a glass of red wine to hand and to the music of Perry Como, and that ‘the old man’ had just thrown in a plot twist that we never saw coming.
Click here to order The Spy Who Swapped Shoes
Click here to find out more about the Stephen Fletcher Espionage Thrillers
