Behind The Scenes – scroll down to see all books!
Reseach for ‘Darkness Shall Cover You’ (aboard NRP Barracuda)
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The hull and bridge fin
Author at Periscope
Control Room
Controls
Galley
Periscope
Plotting Table 2
Sailors’ bunks
Torpedo firing computer
Torpedo Room
Torpedo Tube
Research for ‘Those Who Favour Fire’
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“‘Run for your lives,’ I roar, as they push past. As the last passenger scrambles down the carriage steps I turn my attention to the far end of the carriage. Bedouins are already elbowing their way into the carriage. Others jostle for position on the viewing platform outside.” Penn McGavell – Hejaz Railway (Picture – author on Hejaz carriage)
“Churchill plucked the cigar from his mouth and stared at the end. ‘Our ambassador reported the Turkish police popped by a few days ago to drop off our agent’s shoes. Claimed they’d turned up on the banks of the Golden Horn.’ ‘Deserter, my Lord?’ I asked. C cleared his throat. ‘Not quite. You see his feet were still inside.’” Penn McGavell – London
“Chunks of shrapnel fizz past my ears. I smell burning rubber, wood, paint, chemicals – and something I don’t recognise but suspect is flesh.” Penn McGavell – HMS Pegasus
“Occasionally we come across springs issuing forth sweet water that flows a few yards before disappearing back into the desert sand. If neither is available some will break away, riding into the hills seeking pools of rainwater. Despite this parched land we never run dry.” Penn McGavell – Wadi Rum (Photo by author)
“As our camels step forward a chorus of savage war cries rises behind us. The trailing force of nine-hundred surges. The message is simple: when we find the enemy we’re going rip their throats out.” Penn McGavell – Arabian Desert
“The train is travelling too fast to focus on. But I count off the sunlit gaps between the wagons. One, two … At the tail-end a red and white flag flaps wildly in the slipstream.” Penn McGavell – Arabian Desert (Photo by Author)
“Confined to the valley walls the approaching train sounds like a storm beating across a dry plain. After picking up momentum along the flat valley floor, it thunders past the cleft in the gebel.” Penn McGavell – Wadi Rum (Photo by author)
“Unless they could get help this would be their last day alive. Salar was in worse shape and would pass after sunset; she might make the small hours. She crawled on all fours to the hill’s crest where she collapsed onto her stomach and stared grimly into the valley below.” Fahada – Wadi Rum (Photo by author)
Research for ‘Bring Me Giants’
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“I don’t see the wave break behind my back. I hear it crash over the wheelhouse roof. Like a thundering locomotive, its leading edge hits me between the shoulders, driving me forward into the railing. And as the water surges past my head I screw my eyes shut, tighten my grip and let out a gut-wrenching roar.” Ram McGavell – The Argentum
“My shirt clings to my back as I crest the peak and pass the gravesite with its laager of large, round boulders. I continue east into the cool shadow cast over the lee side of the summit. It’s dead quiet. Even the breeze blowing against my cheeks arrives without a sound.” Ram McGavell – Rhodes Grave (Photo by author)
“Together they stare trance-like across the valley towards the granite whaleback on the far side. It’s a solid structure. Colossal. Shrugging the millennia off its giant shoulders as if to say, ‘I’ll still be here long after you mortals have finished warring.” Ram McGavell – Shumbashabe, Matopos Hills
“Every cave tells a story,’ Ram says, as I gaze at drawings left by long-vanished tribes. ‘And they’re everywhere.’ I take his hand in mine. ‘Let’s go home. I’ve something I must tell you.’ He lowers his eyes. I feel his spirits sink.” Clayre – Matopos Hills (Photo by author)
“As far as the eye can see lie serried ridges of granite hills. All different shapes and sizes. Silver, violet and streaked the colour of honey. Some low and flat, others high with sheer faces falling way to deep green valleys and tan-coloured plains. ‘Overwhelming, isn’t it?’” Ram McGavell – Malindidzimu (Photo by author)
“They arrived at sunset. Six in all, taking everyone by surprise. Even the dogs didn’t bark until they saw them emerge between the compound buildings. Like ghosts.” Hope – Shumbashabe (Photo by author)
“Beneath me the Chevrolet slowly rises out of the water. Like some beast in its death throes, it flips over onto its roof and is snatched by the current and carried away to be buried somewhere out there in the flooding madness of the Maleme River.” Ram McGavell – Matopos Hills (Photo by author)
Research for ‘Beneath A Bloodied Sun’
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“For a fraction of a second, a savage light floods the cabin etching the engineer’s silhouette into my vision.” Letterman McGavell – Puma Chopper over Angola (Photo by author)
“When he visited Red Square at night he considered the floodlit Russian Orthodox Cathedral the most enchanting sight in all of Moscow.” Ramaan – St Basil Cathedral (Photo of author)
“Intended as light trainers but turned into killers. Swift, precise and deadly against enemies caught on the ground.” Letterman McGavell – Impala Jets (Photo of author)
“Since the 1930s, 44 of Moscow’s underground stations had been transformed; a handful of them into architectural masterpieces adorned with sculptures, mosaics, chandeliers and paintings” Ramaan – Moscow underground (Photo by author)
“Ideal weather for counter-surveillance. No winter snow flurries. No sheets of rain or shifting fog. No second-guessing the identity of shadows or silhouettes. Ramaan – .Red Square (Photo by author)
“But his rise to power had stalled somewhere in the corridors of the Kremlin.” General Vasiliev – Moscow (Photo by author)
“A lone bomber could still get through. Especially one flying at treetop height.” The Komitet Angloyazychnoy Afriki – Moscow (Photo of author – Blackburn Buccaneer)
“To his left, the glass roof and spires of the GUM shopping centre.” Ramaan – Red Square (Photo by author)
“‘Nine-three-two is a Zenit 4MKM-type satellite. Orbit 93 by 222 miles. Inclination 65 degrees.’ ‘What does that mean? Never mind …We’ll be here all fucking night.’ ‘These are the images 932 retrieved after four passes.’ Vasiliev snatched the papers.” Sergeant Vladimir Koposky – Golitsyno-2, USSR
He’s a natural. Father would say, “gives himself to the water”. Studying the surface while his mind works the spaces below. His casting is fluid, without fuss. For him fishing is not just a challenge but an art. Regan Coleman – Dullstroom
