Justin Sheedy's Blog - Posts Tagged "spitfire"

Hello, Goodreaders!

I'm thrilled to be with you as part of the Goodreads community.

Please allow me to introduce you to my new book, “Nor the Years Condemn”, an historical fiction based on the stunning true story of how a breed of young men crossed the planet to fly and fight against Nazism - with a 1-in-3 chance of survival. The fact that these youths were the best and brightest of a generation will render the death of so many of them doubly heart-rending for the reader of my story, albeit that they gave their lives in so noble a cause.

I had my first book, “Goodbye Crackernight”, published at the end of 2009. This comic memoir of growing up in the 1970s Australia (when a child’s proudest possession was not a Playstation but a 2nd-hand bike) was so warmly received in this country that it earnt me a place at what is arguably Australia’s most prestigious annual literary event, the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival 2010.

As a child of the 70s, I grew up inspired by such timeless adventure stories as STAR WARS, only to discover in later life that the iconic ‘X-wing fighter’ low-flying attack on the ‘Death Star’ could well have been inspired by actual, true events from World War 2 history in which my own countrymen played a part. Sometimes history seems too fantastic to have been real. I’ve written “Nor the Years Condemn” to bring such history alive, to let readers feel it, breathe it, and know the integral role that young Australians played in that true history. Though numerically inferior to U.S. and British forces in combatting Nazism, these young Aussies not only came from the far side of the Earth to do so, but displayed a remarkable effectiveness in the task. But what qualities could have given rise to this reputation for excellence in combat?

Perhaps the ‘unconventional’ instinct and cynicism for authority famously central to the Australian national character. Maybe an innate toughness born of a harsh homeland. Or the necessary efficiency of a small nation in time of war. Was it, perhaps, due to a ‘young’ nation’s over-compensating eagerness to take a place on a World stage, to prove its membership of an Empire, albeit one already fading? Such questions are the stuff of “Nor the Years Condemn”.

“Nor the Years Condemn” is now available as an ebook at SMASHWORDS at http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/... where it is downloadable in all ebook formats including Kindle with a FREE 80+ page sample in most formats.

With in-the-cockpit-seat flying sequences that readers have described as cinematic, “Nor the Years Condemn” is also the story of mothers cursed to relinquish their wonderful sons to war, of first love, of strategic deception and betrayal, of brotherhood and once-in-a-lifetime friendship on a knife’s edge. Of how only the best and brightest of a generation were chosen to fly and fight against tyranny. It is a story of shining young men destined never to become old, and of those who do: the survivors condemned by the years, and to their memory of friends who remain forever young.

I very much look forward to hearing your thoughts on my new book and on the true history surrounding it.
Yours sincerely
Justin Sheedy

My new book, "Nor the Years Condemn" is now available in print-on-demand paperback format at Amazon. With great reviews, thankfully. See below... 1st from Michael High of Colorado Springs, USA.

NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN - FIVE STARS.

"Nor the Years Condemn": Where to start? The writing. Excellent. Everything flowed and, from the first chapter to the end, was fluid. Hints here and there as to what may happen in the future were freely dropped along the way. This kept me engrossed, kept me reading.

The story. Again, excellent. The history behind these young men (and women), the planes they used, the circumstances surrounding this time frame, et cetera - all well done. I thoroughly enjoyed the "story" of each character and how they interacted with each other. There were some shockers in there; war is hell, no? I also liked the hint of "espionage" involved.

"Nor the Years Condemn", to me, was a fantastic read. I can but recommend this book to others and impatiently await Justin's next work.

Mike High
Colorado Springs, CO

2nd Review from Martin Zitek of Sydney, Australia...

IN APPRECIATION OF "NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN"

"Nor the Years Condemn" recounts the horrors of war as seen by one elite and effective unit of WWII. The author puts us there, in that time, by depicting: language, description of locations, the attitudes of the people and the spirit of the nation that would see it prevail through its darkest period of history. The reader is shown in clear, flowing narrative how war can touch us all, from the other side of the world, to the heights of the clouds.

The characters feel so real, we are sure they must have existed. The flying is portrayed so brilliantly, we feel an ace fighter pilot must have possessed Justin's head while he wrote this. The planes themselves become characters, even though mere machines, they became tools of victory and a symbol of ingenuity, technology and bloody determination. This is a testament to the research undertaken by the author and his wordsmithing we see as the end result.

We should count ourselves lucky today that the whole world has not since been embroiled in such a conflict and we hope it never will be again. Recounting the bravery of these men, and the staggering odds against their surviving, should make us never forget.
We will remember them.
Martin Zitek
Sydney, Australia.

Please do see the link to my new book, "Nor the Years Condemn" at its Amazon page.
http://www.amazon.com/Nor-Years-Conde...

This week I was radio-interviewed re my new book, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN.

Sydney’s Triple-H FM Presenter of ‘The Hubbub’, Philippa Bird, writes: “Justin has just released his second book, 'Nor the Years Condemn'. It is an amazing story of heroes, Spitfires and much much more, hear it directly from the author! You will be quite spellbound!”

CLICK FOLLOWING LINK TO MY BLOG AT CRACKERNIGHT.COM TO LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW...
http://crackernight.com/2012/04/19/ju...

My sincere thanks to Philippa Bird of Triple-H FM Sydney and What’s On Sydney. — Justin Sheedy.

NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN by Justin Sheedy is available now as a Print-on-Demand Paperback at AMAZON, also as an Ebook at SMASHWORDS and all major Ebook websites. The book has received excellent initial reader reviews, CLICK THE LINK...
http://crackernight.com/2012/01/17/gr...
Also great press coverage, CLICK THE LINK...
http://northern-district-times.wherei...

I’ve just had the following article written by me published in the NSW Writers’ Centre Members’ E-Newsletter. My huge thanks to Portia Lindsay of the NSWWC.

Member Story
THE POWER OF PERSEVERANCE.
by Justin Sheedy

Ow!

Any day now…

Ow!

If you bash your head against a wall long enough and hard enough, eventually you make a small hole in it. With a bit of luck, a hole in the wall too… Right now, I seem to be peering through the tiny hole I’ve made in a wall, on the other side of which lies the Bright and Shining World of Authorial Success. It’s a very small hole.

My name’s Justin Sheedy. My first book, Goodbye Crackernight (a portrait of growing up in 1970s Australia), was published at the end of 2009. Yes, it needed a NSW Writers’ Centre Mentorship Program manuscript assessment to transform it from good but unpublishable raw material into an actual decent read and, yes, I had to have a new brain fitted after the ordeal of the transformation but that was well worth it.

As I write this, I’m still a ‘new’ author, yet no longer a ‘brand-new’ one. And can now offer a nugget of advice to those still brand-new: There is one important thing about your first publisher. One thing. Their Distributor. Try it: Walk into a bookstore, say, “I’m from Mars and I’ve just written a book.” Bookstore manager will say, “Distributor?” You then tell them and start planning your first book launch. Brand new authors, say it with me: “Distributor. Dis-tributor…”

With my first book launched, I visited nearly every store in Sydney to which it had been distributed and secured media coverage for it in a string of local newspapers, also on community radio plus Regional ABC radio (all possible to secure without a paid PR Agent, just a metric s***load of phone calls, emails and leg-work). But then one morning I received a return phone call from a local newspaper. A nice lady said, “You don’t know me but I feel like I know you. Thank you for writing that book; I’m still laughing and crying.” After I’d regained consciousness she said she’d like to help me (insert heavenly choir sound effect here) get onto the program of the Byron Bay Writers’ Festival 2010. Which I did. And the Rest is…

…a continuum of hard work, knock-backs and general head-against-wall bashing.

My latest book is entitled Nor the Years Condemn. It’s an historical fiction based on the stunning true Australian story of how the best and brightest of a generation ironically picked one of the fastest ways to die in World War II. And won it. This book, too, only became the book it should be after a NSWWC Mentorship Program assessment. …And I had my second new brain fitted in as many years.

By 2011, now being able to ring Australia’s major publishing houses and say the magic words, ‘published author’, I was able to get past reception at all of them and onto their commissioning editors. Each of whom said Nor the Years Condemn sounded great, ‘Please send it in’, and proceeded to reject it one after the other over the course of 2011. By the end of the year, however, having attended a Byron Bay Writers’ Festival E-Publishing info seminar subtitled ‘Bypassing the Gatekeeper’, I published Nor the Years Condemn as an ebook, then in January this year as a print-on-demand paperback at Amazon.

Soon after publication, reader reviews started coming in. Though such reviews have only been made possible by an international awareness of the book which I’ve built up through almost daily Facebook and blogging activity – I launched Crackernight.com in 2009. Plus I’m currently building on early gains made: The media contacts I secured cold in 2009 are now warm! Recent local press headlines for Nor the Years Condemn have included ‘A Must-Read’ and, poignantly, ‘The Fight for Survival’. One paper labels me ‘In Demand’. Two more Sydney local papers have already conducted their interviews and photo-shoots with me, two more with coverage promised.

If anyone from the major newspapers or ABC Sydney happens to be reading this, I have no PR Agent, only a story to which Australian readers as well as from the USA, UK, Philippines and Sweden are already demanding a sequel. Maybe you’d like to have a look at it. (?)

An Australian Publisher has yet to pick up Nor the Years Condemn though in the meantime I’ve just been invited to the Gloucester Writers’ Festival 2012 on the strength of it. This being the first time in the whole of my publishing experience that anyone has approached me from scratch, I asked the Festival Director what led her to me. Her answer? ‘Google.’

Yet back to work must I.

Ow!

Any day now…

Ow!

The above article by Justin Sheedy published by THE NEW SOUTH WALES WRITERS’ CENTRE…
“Justin Sheedy is a Sydney-based author attracting local and international interest. For more information on Justin, his books, or articles and reviews about his work please visit his blog.”

Reader feedback on the above article. (Writes Portia Lindsay of the NSW Writers’ Centre: “I just wanted to pass on some lovely feedback from one of the readers.”) “Hi there! I found Justin’s story absolutely spot on – honest, inspirational and simply wonderful! Kindly pass my comment on. May you fly, Justin! Ayshe”.
My massive thank you to Ayshe, NSW Writers’ Centre member.
JUSTIN SHEEDY – April 2012
http://crackernight.com/2012/04/21/th...

A REMINDER OF YOUNG SACRIFICE
Meticulous Research Gives Novel Solid Local Roots
By Eleanor Pearson, The North Shore Times, Anzac Day Edition, Wednesday 25 April 2012
Picture by Danny Aarons

DURING World War II Justin Sheedy’s paternal grandmother organised a volunteer typing pool at the RAAF’s Bradfield Park training school in Lindfield. The typing pool were members of her Roseville tennis club. “Bradfield Park was the key training ground in NSW,” Sheedy said. The author has just written his first novel Nor the Years Condemn and some of the scenes are placed at Bradfield Park where he has drawn from his family’s real-life experiences. His paternal grandfather was the station master at Roseville during the 1940s, and witnessed many of the young men leaving the north shore to go to war. Sheedy’s father was born in 1932 and later became captain and dux of Christian Brothers, Chatswood. According to Sheedy, he was just the sort of young man who would have been snapped up by the RAAF had he been born a decade earlier. In his book, Sheedy tells the story of the young Australian World War II pilots sent to fight Nazism. “It’s about the shining young men who were destined never to become old and those who do are condemned by the years to the memory of friends who never got to grow old.” Mr Sheedy, 43, described the main character, Daniel Quinn, as the type of person he once aspired to be. Quinn is a Killara resident, who went to St Aloysius College, Milson Point, was a star rugby player and a law student, who initially trained to be a pilot at Bradfield Park. The title is from the ode of remembrance, but for Mr Sheedy it was particularly poignant in the context of the survival odds of these young pilots. Like the Gallipoli legend, Mr Sheedy said the novel (based on historical events) was about Australian mateship in the face of terrible odds. “It’s an iconic Australian story, but unlike Gallipoli many Australians are relatively unaware of it,” Mr Sheedy said. “It’s not one of Gallipoli-type defeat, but of victory at a tragic cost.” In the genre of faction, he wanted to take his readers on a journey, and have them imagine what it was like to be in the cockpit of a fighter. “I could have written non-fiction, but instead of reading about history, I wanted my readers to be living and breathing history.” Mr Sheedy researched and talked to veterans for about a decade before publishing the book. Nor the Years Condemn is available from print-on-demand paperback at Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Nor-Years-Conde...
or as an e-book from Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/...
My sincere thanks to Eleanor Pearson of The North Shore Times
– Justin Sheedy, ANZAC Day 2012.
http://crackernight.com/2012/04/25/an...

Veteran Film, TV and Theatre Writer & Performer, Tim Bean, who ordered my latest book Nor the Years Condemn from AMAZON, recently penned the following Review of the book…

WOULD MAKE A VERY GOOD MOVIE.

“NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN, by Justin Sheedy, is an engrossing war novel set amid Britain’s fighter squadrons during WWII. In 1939, Daniel Quinn, 20, Sydney University 1ST XV Rugby star, applies to join the RAAF almost on a whim. It’s a whim which will have him flying a Spitfire over Nazi Germany with a one in three chance of survival. Told mostly from Daniel’s viewpoint, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN details the misfortunes of war experienced by a generation of young pilots, the best of the best, most of whom will die young. Daniel faces his first flight, first kill, first love, first loss and first meeting with a young colleague old before his time. It’s a tense, well told story, gripping, from prologue to epilogue. (To those readers in the habit of skipping prologues, a word of advice: Don’t skip this one.) Justin Sheedy’s no-nonsense style of writing fits perfectly with his subject matter. The detailed research is obvious, yet there are no glaring information dumps. Instead, the exposition is so well integrated that it becomes part of the drama. In all, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN is a very good read which, incidentally, would also make a very good movie.”
http://crackernight.com/2012/06/04/la...

My huge thanks to Tim Bean. Please see Tim’s veritably iconic contribution to Australian Film, TV, Theatre and Cultural Scene HERE. http://www.timbeanproductions.com/

Tim’s incomparable insight recently provided me, as the author and cover-designer of the book, with a true ‘light-bulb-going-on’ moment re a potential improvement to the back cover of Nor the Years Condemn . Tim’s suggestion has resulted in an enrichment of the all-important experience for the bookstore browser of the book in being ‘drawn into’ the Key Character of the book, an experience richly promised by the front cover and which has now been made a reality, and to wide public approval.

JUSTIN SHEEDY, May 2012.
Nor the Years Condemn available at AMAZON at the link below, also at DYMOCKS, GEORGE ST, SYDNEY, also DYMOCKS CHATSWOOD, MACQUARIE CENTRE and NORTH SYDNEY Stores.
http://www.dymocks.com.au/ProductDeta...
http://www.amazon.com/Nor-Years-Conde...

Veteran Film, TV and Theatre Writer & Performer, Tim Bean, who ordered Justin Sheedy’s latest book Nor the Years Condemn from AMAZON, has just penned the following Review of the book…

WOULD MAKE A VERY GOOD MOVIE.

“NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN, by Justin Sheedy, is an engrossing war novel set amid Britain’s fighter squadrons during WWII. In 1939, Daniel Quinn, 20, Sydney University 1ST XV Rugby star, applies to join the RAAF almost on a whim. It’s a whim which will have him flying a Spitfire over Nazi Germany with a one in three chance of survival. Told mostly from Daniel’s viewpoint, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN details the misfortunes of war experienced by a generation of young pilots, the best of the best, most of whom will die young. Daniel faces his first flight, first kill, first love, first loss and first meeting with a young colleague old before his time. It’s a tense, well told story, gripping, from prologue to epilogue. (To those readers in the habit of skipping prologues, a word of advice: Don’t skip this one.) Justin Sheedy’s no-nonsense style of writing fits perfectly with his subject matter. The detailed research is obvious, yet there are no glaring information dumps. Instead, the exposition is so well integrated that it becomes part of the drama. In all, NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN is a very good read which, incidentally, would also make a very good movie.”


(Pictured, Author Justin Sheedy in Sydney's North Shore Times)

My huge thanks to Tim Bean. Please see Tim’s veritably iconic contribution to Australian Film, TV, Theatre and Cultural Scene at the link below.
http://www.timbeanproductions.com/
Tim’s incomparable insight recently provided me, as the author and cover-designer of the book, with a true ‘light-bulb-going-on’ moment re a potential improvement to the back cover of Nor the Years Condemn. Tim’s suggestion has resulted in an enrichment of the all-important experience for the bookstore browser of the book in being ‘drawn into’ the Key Character of the book, an experience richly promised by the front cover and which has now been made a reality, and to wide public approval.

Nor the Years Condemn is available as a Print-on-Demand Paperback at AMAZON, as an Ebook at SMASHWORDS and now at DYMOCKS BOOKSTORES.

JUSTIN SHEEDY, May 2012.
http://crackernight.com/2012/06/04/la...
NEW BACK COVER FOR NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN

Another lovely Review of Nor the Years Condemn , this time by Stephanie Speakman of the USA, who purchased the book from AMAZON, where she gives the book a 5 STAR Rating…

WAR TORN SKIES

Justin Sheedy convincingly paints Sydney and London from a fighter pilot’s perspective. The story jinks like a Spitfire in Focke-Wulf’s crosshairs. An airman’s story and a love story, Nor the Years Condemn captures the essence of a time when life expectancies were short, when young men and women made the most from the moments they had as they gave their all to save the world they knew. Mateship was an unspoken assumption, and understatement a common denominator. Sheedy is totally at home in 1943; he knows the aircraft and their idiosyncrasies, the spirited thoroughbred of a Supermarine Spitfire, the unforgiving war horse of a Typhoon that could kill a pilot as easily as the enemy. He evokes blitzed London, its atmosphere of rubble, unexploded bombs, and dive-in-the-wall pubs contrasting sharply to the Sydney his protagonist, Daniel Quinn, left behind, brought to mind through family letters. An historically correct, beautifully crafted novel, Nor the Years Condemn leaves me anticipating Justin Sheedy’s next work. 5 Stars!

My most profound thanks to Stephanie Speakman.
Justin Sheedy, June 2012

Nor the Years Condemn NOW AVAILABLE AT DYMOCKS!


http://crackernight.com/2012/06/17/5-...

Hear Kathy Mexted, Australian pilot, media presenter, journalist and mother, offer her heartfelt “Mother’s” response to my latest book, Nor the Years Condemn , on our recent podcast interview on the Plane Crazy Downunder Show hosted by pilot Steve Visscher. Click the following link to listen to the full interview podcast, Plane Crazy episode entitled “Moments in Time”.
http://crackernight.com/2012/07/08/po...

It was a thoroughly enjoyable conversation between the three of us, where Kathy portrays her quite emotional response to the book which she recently reviewed for Australian Pilot Magazine. Click the following link for her full review of Nor the Years Condemn .
http://crackernight.com/2012/06/18/an...
As the author of this story, an historical fiction based on the stunning true Australian story of how the best & brightest of a generation ironically picked one of the fastest ways to die of World War II – flying Spitfires against Nazi Germany, it’s particularly rewarding for me to hear the brilliant way in which someone like Kathy has engaged with the story. Kathy calls it “a gripping read which she just couldn’t put down”, going into full detail of how, as a mother, she so personally related to the book: Not only is Nor the Years Condemn a story of gripping World War II air combat, it’s also a tragic portrait of the fact that for every shining young man exceptional enough to fly a Spitfire there was a mother cursed to let him go. So it was an amazing coincidence that Kathy’s own son applied to join the modern-day Royal Australian Air Force at exact time she was reading the book.

In addition to this lovely response to the book from Kathy, as well as from many other female readers, it’s also a massive relief for me to hear, as testified to in the interview, that Kathy’s husband – a Qantas Pilot and World War II history buff – also fully engaged with the book and gave it his thorough ‘thumbs up’ from his particular ‘expert’ point of view.

So my most sincere thanks to Kathy Mexted, Steve Visscher and all at Plane Crazy Downunder for having me on their show.

Nor the Years Condemn is currently available at DYMOCKS, George St Sydney (see the link)...
http://www.dymocks.com.au/ProductDeta...
Also as a print-on-demand paperback at AMAZON, and as an ebook at SMASHWORDS.

Justin Sheedy, July 2012.