Guest Post: Howard Sargent - The Forgotten War - Book Guild Publishing 2014

It would have been around 1972 when I was six or seven that, whilst visiting my auntie’s house I first spotted a book that intrigued me. It was called “Watership Down and had a picture of a rabbit on the cover. I “borrowed” it and spent the ensuing years reading and re-reading it so much the cover fell off. Then, about three years later my father, fed up with seeing this book constantly in my hand bought me a much larger book to replace it. Inevitably it was called “The Lord of the Rings” and I ended up reading and re-reading it until its cover too finally fell off. They were probably the two most formative books of my childhood so that when my sister, back in July 2011 challenged me to write something for her their influence was never far away. I tend to believe that, as individuals, we are influenced by everything we see or hear, consciously or otherwise but I would have to acknowledge other debts to the films “Dragonslayer” and the 1971 version of “Macbeth”. 

Both are rather flawed films but the former has the best pre (and maybe post) CGI dragon I have seen an cinema whilst the latter has bags of brooding atmosphere and castle courtyards full of mud and farm animals, all images I had in mind as I was writing. Finally I have to acknowledge a debt to the PC game “Dragon Age; Origins”, a great game in itself it gave the player the opportunity to start with one of several different types of backgrounds before entering the main quest line. It was this that gave me the idea of how to start my own attempt at a novel. What if, I thought, instead of having a single protagonist I had about three or four? If I were to create a world from scratch it would afford great opportunities to create something a little more multi layered than the conventional fantasy world. 

As for the over-arching concept I remembered watching sometime in the eighties a news report on the civil war in Mozambique. It was a war sponsored by apartheid South Africa, a war waged to destabilise a neighbour, one not driven by ideology or revolution, just a nasty little war barely regarded by most of the western world. So that gave me the title at least. Initially it was written as three separate stories with a fourth added later because there was one scene I wanted to include that would not have fitted in elsewhere. It was not until the book was actually finished that I went back and combined these stories and split them into chapters, it was not until about chapter 15 in the final book that I started writing it as one continuous novel. I tried to write at least a thousand words a day it taking me 3-4 weeks to complete a section of 30-40,000 words that I then emailed off to my sister. When I was stuck, I would leave it for a day or too, eventually the way forward would come to me, usually at 2 or 3 in the morning after a typically restless night. 

My record for a day was 10,000 words, a key chapter and one I wrote without letting up pretty much from dawn till dusk. And now it is finally in print. I have no great ambitions as a writer and genuinely would be happier if just 20 people read the book and enjoyed it rather than 20,000 read it with 19,990 hating it. It was fun to do and very fulfilling, which is probably the most important thing of all.   

Published by Book Guild Publishing to order your copy here: link http://www.bookguild.co.uk/the-forgotten-war-pr-1422.html

Also find him on Twitter: @howardjsargent 

Book Review: Mark King - Frenzy ( A Daniel Jones Story) -

                                         

I really liked the look of this book. In fact, so much so, that I highlighted it in my March book release post. It will therefore come as no surprise, as to how pleased I was, to get an email from Susan from the Book Publishing Guild asking if I would be interested to receive a copy for review. Therefore, many thanks Susan for getting it to me so quickly.

I don't know anything about this author, for example, I don't know whether this is his debut book or how many books are going to be in the series. I am presuming that there will be another one to come based on the ending/outcome of the book. At least, I am really hoping that there will be another one because I would love to see how the plot unfolds.

Bang. Bang. Bang. . . . The pages of the book gave a mighty shake from the power of the author's storytelling. Bang. Bang. Bang. . . . . Frenzy is a compelling dystopian novel that will wrap the readers up in a vivid and exciting adventure. Every page had me gripped in a vision of a new world order - aliens invading earth and life returning back three thousand years to the Dark Ages. 

Bang. Bang. Bang. The ground shook with such terrifying power that once again the soul of humanity would cry out in fear tonight. 

Daniel, the main character, stumbles on The Overseers barbaric secret. Unfortunately, they soon learn about his discovery. From then on his peaceful life is shattered forever. On the run, he leaves his family, friends and village behind. Accompanied by Gwendolyn, who has the charm of a snake and a bite that's twice as dangerous, and Mary, who is the only person left alive over forty. She's no good at fighting, but at least she can remember what life used to be like... and, maybe, just maybe, how to restore it.

The author has captured and produced an atmospheric dystopian vision. He has kept the storyline simple, but with just enough detail to let your imagination run wild. The story felt fresh and original. Although in parts, it was very emotional especially the further you travel down the path. The three main characters are particularly well written with just the right amount of dialogue to keep the focus on the adventure ahead. Some graphic action and a small slice of sci-fi gave the story a new dimension, which made it really memorable.

This story will feed the soul of the imagination. It is for those who love a good story - one that will unsettle you one minute and then play with your heart strings the next. It's a quest to save lives at any cost by avoiding the many enemies that cross their path. Family, friendships and past lives creates and interesting read - it will keep you on your toes until the very end. The only small problem is that it is far too short at only 226 pages and even then, some of these were taken up by a number of black and white illustrations. In my opinion, it needed to be 150 pages longer in order to really feed my appetite for this brilliant story. I'm really hoping for much more as part of another instalment. This story is really just starting the written journey. 

Please support this new author in town and also the smaller publisher company. You'll find that the hardback will look really nice on your bookshelves. If you do purchase a copy to read, then please leave a comment, as I love reading them. Bang. Bang. Bang. . . . Silence 

Book Guild Publishing, Published 28 March 2013 - ISBN 978 1 84624 877 1