Oregon Road

Excerpted from Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Shifting Sands: 

I live on the beach. Here the sand shifts daily. We expect it. We watch it. The tide comes in; the tide goes out; the sand moves.

But I grew up in the Midwest. The land is firm there, solid. When someone builds a road it remains a recognizable road. Frigid winters and hot summers may buckle the pavement, but the road beneath remains something you can trust.

I love explaining Oregon road signs to Midwesterners. “Do you know what ‘sunken grade’ means?” I ask.

“No,” they say, looking at me distrustfully. After all, if they drove to my house, they saw several yellow signs warning about sunken grades.

“It means,” I say, “the road can fall away at any minute.”

The Midwesterners reel in shock. Roads are permanent, some say to me. That’s not possible, others say. You’re kidding! most of them exclaim. They look up the terminology, and learn that I’m right.

Roads out here, built on cliff faces, or over mountains, or on ground composed mostly of sandy soil, fall away on bright clear sunny days with no storms on the horizon. And no storms in the recent past. The ground slowly crumbles. The road sinks, or it doesn’t. But one day—preferably when no car is on it—the road will dissolve.

In fact, there are two stretches of highway near my hometown—one to the east, and one to the south—that the road crews have tried for decades to stabilize and cannot. Every time I cross one of those bits of road, the ground beneath me is different than the time before even if my crossings are only hours apart.

For fifty, maybe sixty years, certainly for the bulk of my lifetime as a writer, the publishing industry has been a Midwestern road. Occasionally a flood or a massive tornado will take out a section, but honestly, if a road disappears, that disappearance was something traumatic, an Act of God.

[T]he publishing industry has [become] an Oregon road.

(Read the rest at kriswrites.com.)

     I used to live on the California Coast. I commuted fifteen miles to work. One year, the rains came and stayed. And stayed. And stayed. One day the four-lane on which I drove to work slid down the mountainside. A span of half a mile disappeared and the rest became unstable.
     Years later, as I was driving the PCH to Eureka, I looked to my left at a spot where it looked like a Great White shark had taken a bite out of the road. Part of the southbound lane had washed out and fallen onto the beach a hundred feet below.
     I grew up in Texas. Traces of roads that had not been used in decades were still visible and often passable. The idea that a road could just disappear unsettled me. 
     But I got used to it.
     KKR's analogy hit me with great force because of my history. I feel in my bones that she is right:

The publishing industry has become an Oregon road.

     That's the way the world is. Get used to it.

eBook Review: A Short History of England

G K Chesterton, A Short History of England

Product Details

• File Size: 256 KB
• Print Length: 122 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1463722087
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0082X012E
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews) 
• Price: $0.00 (Only the Kindle version is free. All DTB versions cost money.)

1. Short review:  (Amazon rating: 4 out of 5 stars -- I like it.)

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  IMO if I get one new idea from a book I consider it a worthwhile read. A Short History of England met that criterion.
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Walk in the park. Sometimes informative, sometimes oblique.
Worth the download.

2.2. What I did not like: GKC assumed the reader to be well-versed in English history. Enough so that he used offhand references that hid the point he tried to make.

2.3. Who I think is the audience: English historians.

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  Yeah, if they are English historians.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book? Yes.

2.6. The plot in a nutshell.

     No plot. History and commentary.

 2.7. Other:
     As a scholarly history, A Short History of England is a success. As an accessible history for the masses, it is a failure. 
     As an American, I am ignorant of much of English history. I got this book to educate myself and relieve that ignorance. Sadly, it did not do so.
     GKC wrote A Short History of England more as a commentary on English history than as a chronicle. I did not know much English history when I began to read this work, and, after reading, I still do not know much English history. 
     Nevertheless, A Short History of England did meet my criterion as a worthwhile read. GKC articulated the idea that the English aristocracy of the 18th century opposed the two republics they came into contact with -- the American republic and the French republic. This is an interesting point. There were two other republics extant at the time -- the Swiss and the Venetian -- that England did not oppose, but I can see his point. I also see arguments against it.
     The English aristocracy of the 18th century was not so much one of titles as of landed gentry. William Pitt the Elder and William Pitt the Younger are the exemplars of this aristocracy. WP the Elder's position vis-a-vis the American colonies in revolt does not support GKC's thesis. I do not know enough about WP the Younger's position on the United States to draw any conclusions, but his position on France is clear. Is his position on France identical to his position on republics? I do not think so.
     GKC published A Short History of England in 1917 and concludes with an argument that the alliance with France is natural for the English and a call for Englishmen to support the alliance. The weight of history is against that notion. France was the enemy of England until the 20th century. German states were the allies of England until the 20th century (except Bavaria which, in truth, is not a German state).
     GKC made me think. IMO that makes the book worthwhile.
     YMMV.

2.8. Links: Gilbert Keith Chesterton

2.9. Buy the book: A Short History of England

eBook Review: The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

Robert Heinlein, The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

Product Details

• File Size: 257 KB
• Print Length: 130 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B008AL0EFW
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews) 
• Price: $4.75

1. Short review:  (Amazon rating: 3 out of 5 stars -- It's okay.)

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  Heinlein's name. The line level writing.
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Walk in the park trying to be a scary roller coaster.

2.2. What I did not like: The nebulous conclusion. The ludicrous cover.

2.3. Who I think is the audience: Serious RAH fans. Rod Serling's Night Gallery fans.

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  No. No blood, no violence, no foul language; but the story does not resolve its issues in a way that is satisfying to children. I think of it as Little Red Riding Hood had that story ended with "What big teeth you have."

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book? No, but on the basis of reading RAH's other works, I shall.

2.6. The plot in a nutshell (click here).

 2.7. Other:
     First, I am a big fan of RAH and his works. Big fan.
     I heard about The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag many years ago and searched for it without success. When I found it as an ebook on Amazon, I bought it immediately.
     The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag is a novella, not a novel (130 pages = 32,500 words). It is not science fiction; it is fantasy. Not even science fantasy like Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. If you ever read RAH's Magic, Inc., it is in that vein. RAH's version of fantasy. Dark and not promising.
     RAH published his beloved science fiction under his own name and pseudonyms. RAH published in second-tier markets under the pseudonym Lyle Monroe so as not to tarnish the brand of Robert A Heinlein. The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag is the only story he published under the pseudonym John Riverside. That he chose another one-off pseudonym for The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag should tell you something.
     RAH did the mechanics well even when the story was weak. The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag is a weak story with good mechanics.
     YMMV.

2.8. Links: The Heinlein Society

2.9. Buy the book: The Unpleasant Profession of Jonathan Hoag

The Greatest Movie Stunts

     These are the two movie stunts that I consider to be the greatest ever filmed.

     From It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,  Frank Tallman flies a Twin Beech through a billboard:

     Mr Tallman lost an engine flying this stunt. Pieces of the billboard stuck in the engine intake.
     Pilots appreciate the skill it took to put that plane precisely through that billboard.

     The other great stunt is The Descent from The Man from Snowy River.

     Horsemen appreciate just how amazing this stunt is.
     Tom Burlinson, the lead actor, performed this stunt. He had not ridden before making this film. If he had, likely he would not have done this stunt. He did not know enough to know how dangerous this was.

     Any stunts you admire? Please share them in the comments.

eBook Review: Origin

J A Konrath, Origin

Product Details

• File Size: 803 KB
• Print Length: 306 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: Joe Konrath (April 8, 2009)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B00264FT0Y
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars (450 customer reviews)
• Price: $3.99 (If I recall correctly, I downloaded my copy for free during a promotional event.)

1. Short review:  (Amazon rating: 4 out of 5 stars -- I like it.)

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  The premise and the pace. 
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Roller coaster.
Worth the money. 

2.2. What I did not like: The hanging ending. It cries for a sequel. And Dr Frank Belgium.

2.3. Who I think is the audience: Science fiction fans. Horror fans. Techno-thriller fans. 

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  Regarding language and sex, yes. Regarding the scenes of feeding and killing, no. Your call.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book? Yes.

2.6. The plot in a nutshell:

     Suppose the gov't found Satan unconscious and hid him away in an underground facility in New Mexico to study him. And he just woke up.

     Andrew 'Andy' Dennison, a linguist, is spirited away to Samhain -- a TOP SECRET facility in the New Mexico desert -- to aid a veterinarian, two scientists, a rabbi, a priest, and an army general study an alien being. The alien being looks like Satan: wings, hooves, all the stuff you expect from viewing the work of Hieronymous Bosch. But they call him Bub. Short for Beelzebub.
     All the people in the facility are brilliant at what they do. They are also flawed. So what happens?
     Satan tempts them.
     Satan gains his freedom from his cell. Kills the people in ways I had never imagined. Fights like a demon to escape Samhaim before the President nukes it.
     Andy, Sun (the veterinarian and now Andy's girlfriend), and Dr Frank Belgium escape. Bub drags his radiation-burned body to the surface, confronts them, and expires. Sort of. I mean, how do you kill the Devil?

 2.7. Other:
     First thing I gotta say is that I wanted Frank Belgium dead, and I was disappointed that he did not die horribly. Had Konrath killed him, I would have rated Origin five stars.
     Stuart Woods is a master of pacing. By line and by chapter, nobody does pacing better. I now believe that Konrath is his equal. The pacing of this work is fast enough that it kept me from thinking, "Hey, what about this?"
     I may be mistaken, but I recall Konrath wrote that he is an atheist. Thus, I was surprised at the heroism of the rabbi and the priest.
     Speaking of dead bodies, why is Satan commonly portrayed as an ugly monster? He was a fallen archangel, right? So he should be strikingly attractive, should he not?

     YMMV.

2.8. Links:  J A Konrath

2.9. Buy the book:  Origin

Movie Review: Jack Reacher

Jack Reacher

1. Short review: 

2. Long review:
2.1. What I liked: Tom Cruise's performance: 'He looked little and pissed-off.' (Kristine Kathryn Rusch)

2.2. What I did not like: The bad guys' motivation was not clear to me. Money? Geez, in this world, if you got money and want more, get a McDonald's franchise. Or a Starbucks.

2.3. Who I think is the audience: Everyone.

2.4. Is the movie appropriate for children to see? Yes, with a caveat. There is violence, but the personal violence is movie violence: gunshots with no spatter and no blood. However, there is a sniper shooting that is replayed several times. Your call.

2.5. On the basis of viewing this movie, will I pay to see the sequel? Yes, I will pay to see another Jack Reacher starring Tom Cruise.

2.6. Rating and the plot in a nutshell:

2.6.1. How I rate movies:
-- I want my money back.
-- Worth a rental, not more. 
-- Worth first-run theater price once. <-- Jack Reacher
-- I will pay first-run theater price to see it again. 

Running time: 130 minutes.

2.6.2. The plot in a nutshell:

     Mass sniper shooting in Pittsburg. Cops arrest suspect. Asked for a confession, the suspect writes 'GET JACK REACHER' on a tablet.
     Jack Reacher shows up. Investigates the incident for suspect's defense attorney. Uncovers nefarious plot. Kills all the bad guys. Leaves town.

2.7. Other:

     I saw this on pay-per-view. I liked it. 
     Kristine Kathryn Rusch noted that Jack Reacher found a poor reception among fans of the Lee Child books. Evidently they were upset because 5'8" Cruise was chosen to portray a 6'5" character.
     I have not read any of the Jack Reacher books, so I had no expectations about the man's size. But thinking about it, if the guy is 6'5" I expect him to be capable of handling himself in a brawl. At 5'8", it comes as a brutal surprise.
     There were three fistfights in the movie. In the first, Reacher took on five toughs and sent three to hospital. The last two escaped that fate by running away.
     Cruise brought the attitude of Reacher out on the screen. He looked bored by the prospect of a fight with five toughs. To get the fight started, he even said, "Look, it's getting late." When the fists flew, he savaged his opponents. No Marquess of Queensberry rules for him. He dealt each blow to stun or disable. Kudos to whomever choreographed that fight.
     The movie's bad press persuaded me to avoid it in the theaters. That's too bad. I enjoyed it.
     YMMV.

2.8. Links:
IMDb review
Rotten Tomatoes review

eBook Review: Retief!

Keith Laumer, Retief!

 

Product Details from Baen's Books

Published ?
SKU: 0671318578
Ebook Price: $4.00
Not Currently Available (As of 26 April 2013.)

1. Short review:  (Amazon rating: 5 out of 5 stars -- I love it.)

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  I am a fan of Jaime Retief. I think the Retief series was the best that Keith Laumer wrote. 
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Roller coasters, but old wooden ones. None of the new loopty-loop let's-get-inverted roller coasters. Still, good rides. 

2.2. What I did not like: Eric Flint's afterward. Eric Flint is not a fan of Retief. Said he liked KL's "In the Queue" better. I read "In the Queue". Once. I have read Retief! many times. This is the first time I read it in ebook form.

2.3. Who I think is the audience: Science fiction fans. KL fans.

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  Yes. No worries.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book? Yes.

2.6. The plot in a nutshell:

     There are many stories, so there are many plots. The headliner is "Diplomat at Arms", the first Retief story. Curiously, this is the story of the end of Retief's career with the Corps Diplomatique Terrestrienne, aka the CDT.

 2.7. Other:
     KL served in the US Air Force. After honorable service with the hardest-working branch of the military, for inexplicable reasons he chose to consort with liars and villains: he joined the Foreign Service.
     Jerry Pournelle wrote that, in training, KL had to lie on the ground while a tank trundled over him. Seems like a damned silly thing for an Air Force officer to do, but Jerry says that experience informed KL's Bolo series. Bolos were AI tanks with no human operators. Myself, I never cared much for the Bolos. How do you root for cold metal versus men? I dunno. For tank action I prefer David Drake's Hammer's Slammers. Men in iridium AFVs doing unto others hot, hard, and heavy 'cuz it's their job and they're good at it.
     Retief is my favorite of KL's series. Like Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat, each story -- "Diplomat at Arms" excepted --  is filled with droll humor.
     Eric Flint does not appreciate Retief and says so in the Afterward to this volume. Says he prefers KL's "In the Queue". I do not know Mr Flint, but based solely upon his stated preference here, I do not think he and I can be friends. If he would rather read "In the Queue" than "Diplomat at Arms", he is too twisted for my tastes. Why Baen's Books did not get someone who is a fan of Retief, anyone but Eric Flint, to write the Afterward beats me.
     Look. I love the Retief series. Retief! is the first volume of the collected stories among many. I read it many times and enjoyed each reading.
     YMMV.

2.8. Links:  There are entries in Wikipedia for Keith Laumer and Jaime Retief, but they are so bad that I refuse to link to them. An example of how bad they are, the entry for Jaime Retief consistently misspells his name. If you can't be bothered to get the name right, don't bother making the entry at all.  

2.9. Buy the book:  Retief! (Oops! Not currently available from Baen's Books. Big mistake on their part. Huge. Click the link anyway. Maybe by the time you try it they will have had a lucid moment and made it available. I mean, it was available. How hard is it to link to an ebook file? A link that used to be there?)
     HEY! You guys at Baen's Books. When will you make this right?

     CAVEAT EMPTOR: The Amazon listing for Retief! is "The Yllian Way", a single Retief short story. It is not the full first collection. 03 November 2013.

eBook Review: Assignment in Eternity

Robert Heinlein, Assignment in Eternity

Product Details from Baen's Books

Published 7/1/2012

SKU:
9781451637854B
Ebook Price: $8.99 

1. Short review:  (Amazon rating: 4 out of 5 stars -- I like it.)

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  "Jerry Was a Man" and the Afterward by David Drake. "Jerry Was a Man" is a 5-star story. 
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Both. Four stories are collected in this volume. Some coasters, some walks.

2.2. What I did not like: Sad to say, I have never liked "Lost Legacy". Read it years ago and forgot it. Reading it again, I remembered why I forgot it.

2.3. Who I think is the audience: Science fiction fans. RAH fans.

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  Yes. No worries.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book? Yes.

2.6. The plot in a nutshell:

     There are four stories in Assignment in Eternity: "Gulf", "Elsewhen", "Lost Legacy", and "Jerry Was a Man". David Drake's Afterward tells us where these stories were first published and how they came to be published.
     "Jerry Was a Man" is the reason I bought the book. This story alone is worth the book's price.
     Jerry was a 'worker', the product of gene engineering from chimpanzee stock. Billionairess Martha van Vogel found him in a pen of 'retired' workers at Workers, Inc., and took a liking to him. When she discovered that Jerry and his cohort were to be terminated because they were no longer economically viable, she raised a fuss and called her stockbroker (by cell phone) to direct him to purchase controlling interest in the corporation's stock. To smooth things over, Workers, Inc., made her a present of Jerry.
     Mrs van Vogel found her attempt to gain control of Workers, Inc., blocked. She sought another way to prevent Workers, Inc., from terminating retired anthropoids. What she found was lawyers. They have Jerry sue Workers, Inc.
     The key questions in the case are two:  1) What is a man? and 2) Is Jerry a man?
     The problem with the story is that the title gives away the ending. But it is still a great story.
     Why is it a great story?
     I have my view of science fiction. My view is that nobody writes about the future. We write about matters of today using the lens of science fiction to magnify some specific concern.
     "Jerry Was a Man" was published in 1947. When RAH wrote the story, blacks were segregated by law. RAH was making a point about racial injustice. If a gene-engineered chimpanzee was a man, was a black human being anything less?

 2.7. Other:
     FYI Rod Walker, the hero of Tunnel in the Sky, was black. No less an authority than Virginia Heinlein, RAH's wife, said so.
     Johnny Rico, the hero of Starship Troopers, was Filipino.
     RAH believed in the equality of men before it was fashionable. He believed that a man is not defined by the color of his skin but, rather, by the quality of his acts.

2.8. Links:  The Heinlein Society 

2.9. Buy the book:  Assignment in Eternity

eBook Review: Spitfires, Thunderbolts, and Warm Beer

Philip D Caine, Spitfires, Thunderbolts, and Warm Beer: An American Fighter Pilot Over Europe

Product Details

• File Size: 4211 KB 
• Print Length: 231 pages 
• Publisher: Potomac Books Inc.; 1st edition (February 28, 1995) 
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc. 
• Language: English 
• ASIN: B004NNUV72 
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled 
• X-Ray: Not Enabled 
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars (28 customer reviews) 
• Price: $9.16

1. Short review:  (Amazon rating: 4 out of 5 stars -- I like it.)

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  Well written. Caine crafted an excellent book from Gover's letters, war diary, and interviews.
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Roller coaster.

2.2. What I did not like: I wanted a table of Gover's missions and kills, but maybe that is asking too much.

2.3. Who I think is the audience: Air combat buffs. History buffs.

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read?  Yes. No worries.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book? Yes.

2.6. The plot in a nutshell:

     There is no plot, but it feels like there is. The tension rises steadily until LeRoy Gover returns home on leave in 1944.
     LG learned to fly during the Great Depression. When he signed up for the Selective Service, he realized that without two years of college he would be shunted to the infantry when drafted. He searched for and found a way to become a fighter pilot: join the RAF.
     The RAF concocted an oath sort of like the one the French Foreign Legion used so that American volunteers would not lose their citizenship. Before he swore the oath, LG took 'refresher training' on AT6s in Bakersfield. Not every student in his class passed. He did.
     Most American volunteers were used as instructors in Canada. LG was slated to become a fighter pilot.
     LG sailed to England by way of Canada. He joined his Operational Training Unit in Wales. After he finished his training, he cycled back to instruct the next class. Then he joined 66 Squadron in early 1942. When he joined, 66 Squadron flew the Spitfire Mk V. 
     The only American in the squadron, LG flew the full range of fighter missions: bomber escort, convoy patrol, and fighter sweeps -- the British term for ground attack. The day of the Dieppe Raid, 19 August 1942, 66 Squadron flew top cover for the ill-fated Canadians. (Why did the British high command always throw away commonwealth forces in ill-conceived adventures like Gallipoli and Dieppe?) LG flew three missions over Dieppe that day. On the first mission, the whole squadron flew. On the second mission, there were only five planes in the squadron that could fly. On the third mission, the squadron consisted of three aircraft; only LG returned from that mission, his Spitfire riddled with bullet holes.
     LG received orders posting him to 133 Squadron the next day. 133 was an Eagle Squadron; that is, its pilots were all American. LG spent a month with them before the US Army Air Force absorbed the Eagle Squadrons.
     LG went from a Flying Officer in the RAF to Second Lieutenant in the USAAF. He still flew Spits but with a star instead of a roundel.

LeRoy Gover flew a Spitfire with these markings from late September 1942 to January 1943.

     The USAAF primary fighter mission -- bomber escort -- differed from that of the RAF, and the Spitfire was ill-suited to the mission. In January 1943 LG traded his Spit for a Jug, a razorback P47. (In the book's cover photo he is seen about to enter his P47.) LG was promoted captain about the same time and became a flight leader. USAAF regs said a pilot had to have 50 hours in a type before flying combat, so LG did not fly another mission through enemy skies until 10 March 1943.
     The day before Christmas 1943, LG's squadron commander told him he was being sent home on leave. Due to SNAFUs with his leave orders, LG did not leave England until March 1944. He spent the rest of the war commanding a fighter lead-in squadron in Florida.

 2.7. Other:
     Along with stories of Spits and Jugs, LG gives much print to the free time he spent in London drinking. Thus, the warm beer in the title.
     LG transferred to the USAAF for the insurance ($10,000 in the USAAF; 0 in the RAF) and the pay. His pay increased from $58 a month in the RAF to $300 a month in the USAAF. As a second louie.
     The book contains 31 photos. One that impressed me was the photo of LG's OTU class. 30 members of the class were marked with Xs and 7 with Os. X denoted someone who was killed in the war. O denoted someone who had crashed and was unfit to fly. Six in the class survived the war still flying. You got that? 30 dead out of 43 and another seven too broken up to fly again. And grunts complain us flyboys have it easy. Hmmph.
     LG retired from the Air Force a full bird colonel in 1962. Flew charters to Mexico and Canada after that.
     There is much more in this book, but I won't spoil it for you. Read it for yourself. It is excellent.
     One last thing: I was surprised to find the tension rose in this memoir as if it were a novel. I felt relief when LG was ordered home on leave.
     Okay, one more last thing: LG got 4 kills with the RAF and 2 with the USAAF. The USAAF did not count his RAF kills and the RAF did not track his USAAF kills, so by the official records he is not an ace.
     Okay, okay, one last last thing: Members of the Eagle Squadrons -- USAAF pilots who had flown with the RAF -- in addition to their USAAF wings got to wear their RAF wings over their right breast pocket. How cool is that?
     LG died two and half years after this book was first published. His obituary (third from the top) differs from the book on details. I think the book is right and the obit is wrong.
     The author, BGen Philip D. Caine, USAF (Ret.), did an excellent job with this book. It is the best third-person account I have read. He was no slouch either. Look him up.

2.8. Links: 

LeRoy Gover with the 4th Fighter Group (Note: Despite the roundel on the Spitfire, the information on this page covers only LG's time in the USAAF.)
Philip D. Caine 

2.9. Buy the book:  Spitfires, Thunderbolts, and Warm Beer 

eBook Review: Winged Victory

Victor M Yeates, Winged Victory

Product Details

• File Size: 813 KB
• Print Length: 465 pages
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005FA3W8C
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Not Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 
• Price: $8.99 

1. Short review:    (Amazon rating: 2 out of 5 stars -- I dislike it.)

2. Long review:

2.1. What I liked:  The accounts of combat flying. The book gave a perspective on Sopwith Dolphins that I had not seen before.
Roller-coaster or walk-in-the-park? Sometimes a roller coaster. Mostly a tedious afternoon listening to your great aunt rant about how terrible things are.

2.2. What I did not like: Yeates incessant rants against war, against its causes, and about how afraid he is. If you have ever seen Howard Hughes's Hell's Angels, you know it is 10 minutes of flying action prefaced by 2 hours of woe-is-me. Yeates does that same trick three times over.

2.3. Who I think is the audience: Air combat buffs. History buffs. Masochists.

2.4. Is the book appropriate for children to read? No. Nothing profane or obscene or lurid, but the main character spends his nights drinking himself into stupor.

2.5. On the basis of reading this book, will I buy the author's next book? No. Yeates wrote only this one book, but had he written another, I would not buy it.

2.6. The plot in a nutshell:

     There is no plot. Instead the book presents interminable rants from its hero -- Tom Crundall -- on the causes of war and their solution, the terrors of ground strafing, and Crundall's nightly drinking binges punctuated with commas of aerial combat.

2.7. Other:
     Victor Maslin Yeates began Winged Victory in 1933 when he was hospitalized for tuberculosis. He died the following year, the year Winged Victory was published. I want to believe it provided some money for his widow and children.
     VMY titled the work "Wingless Victor", but his publisher changed the title.
     I have read reports that RAF pilots in the Second World War read Winged Victory to discover better aerial combat tactics. If you compare Crundall's notes on the Sopwith Camel and the Sopwith Dolphin, you learn that it is better to be high and fast than low and slow. This is something the RAF fighter pilots did not learn in fighter school? Why did they not read von Richtofen's Der rote Kampfflieger or McCudden's Flying Fury or even Grinnell-Milne's Wind in the Wires? Any one of those books would give a pilot more information about flying combat and staying alive at it than Winged Victory.
     I refrained from blogging until I finished Winged Victory so that it would follow No Parachute in order. On reflection, that was a mistake.
     I am fond of First World War aviation history. It is rare for a book on that subject to get a negative review from me. VMY managed to do so.
     When VMY's alter ego Tom Crundall is in the air, the passages work; that is, they entertain and enlighten. But most of the time Crundall is on the ground agonizing about flying combat, scared witless, or blind drunk. He is an unattractive figure. I wanted him to get shot down to end my pain reading his rants.
    
     VMY flew with 46 Squadron, the same squadron as Arthur Gould Lee who wrote No Parachute.

     VMY crafted characters from his squadron mates. Tom Crundall was VMY but single; VMY was married when he went to war. The character Mac was obviously Donald MacLaren. I could not find a real-life figure for Williamson, Crundall's flight leader and tent-mate. VMY mentioned Debenham by name.  

     As of this writing, Amazon lists three reviews for Winged Victory: one five-star, one three-star, and one one-star. The five-star review is mostly about Henry Williamson, the man who wrote the forward for this edition. I doubt the reviewer, Terry Atwood, read the book at all.

     This book wasted my time. I recommend you read No Parachute instead. You will get the same message with more force and without the tedious whining of Victor Maslin Yeates.
     YMMV.


2.8. Links:  Victor Maslin Yeates

2.9. Buy the book:  Winged Victory