Jonathon Fletcher's Blog: Captain's Blog - Posts Tagged "wip"
The work in progress (WIP) blog tour...
I was nominated to take place in this blog tour by the magnificent Scarlett Flame, author of fabulously debauched fantasy erotica. She's a good Twitter friend @ScarlettFlame2 and you can find her WIP blog here...
http://t.co/elrJPvuFw2
My latest work in progress is the next episode in the Josiah Trenchard space navy series. It's called "Arkhangelsk". The name is Russian for "Arch Angel" and is a port that was the destination for Arctic supply convoys during World War II.
Rather than this blog being simply an advert for the book, I thought that I would write about my inspiration for this story. Each of my books deals with an adventure of the infamous "Fixer", Captain Trenchard and has a central storyline based on a single mission that he is sent on. That story is then wrapped around with a bigger story arc which weaves through the whole series. For Arkhangelsk I had the story arc worked out but no mission for the crew of the Might of Fortitude.
Struggling for ideas, I chanced upon a documentary on TV that was presented by the almost as infamous Jeremy Clarkson. The tale that he told of one particular doomed WWII Arctic convoy seemed to be a plot straight out of one of my books and so I decided to borrow several key events from the real life story to use as the basis for my novel. I won't go into the details here (spoilers) but if you are interested there is the documentary on Arctic Convoy PQ-17, presented by Jeremy Clarkson on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxFvo...
...and a detailed Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_P...
It is quite a story, all the more remarkable for the fact that it actually happened...
What inspired me and what I want to talk about here is bravery; not the comic book bravery that you would see in any Hollywood feature film, but the kind that is born out of necessity. In July 1942 the U.K. was preparing for invasion by the Nazi's from France. The Russians were fighting the Germans but were short of tanks and other military supplies. In order to keep the pressure on the German forces and hopefully stall the invasion, Winston Churchill agreed to send military supplies to Russia to aid their fight, this despite the fact that the Merchant Navy ships were desperately needed to bring food into the besieged British isles. Somebody had to brave the deadly Arctic waters, U-boats, torpedo bombers and the mighty German surface fleet.
After a series of mishaps, bad decisions and poor intelligence, the Merchant ships in convoy PQ-17 were abandoned to their fate in the ice by the heavily armed Royal Navy escort ships that had been protecting them. Left unprotected many were destroyed, easy prey for U-boats and German bombers. If any of the Merchant ships were to survive then someone had to take charge.
Step forwards RNVR T/Lt Leo Gradwell, commander of the HMS Ayrshire. He realised the desperate plight of the convoy. Many of the other Captains wanted to run and take their chances alone. Gradwell convinced a group of ships to stay together. The Ayrshire being little more than a cargo boat with no armaments, he defended those ships with what he had to hand, arranging tanks on the deck to act as turrets against incoming enemy aircraft and packing the nose of the Ayrshire with explosives with the intent to ram and destroy enemy ships.
With only a sextant and the "Times World Geographic Pocket Book" to aid him; after a series of close calls, Gradwell brought his small convoy of four ships home to port at Arkhangelsk. Without his bravery and leadership those vessels would have surely been destroyed. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery. Convoy PQ-17 lost twenty four of its thirty five Merchant ships to the icy depths of those Arctic waters. It was not until December 2012 that most of the brave survivors were honoured with their own medal, the Arctic Star military decoration, many posthumously.
True bravery comes from having to get the job done, no matter what you face. It is finding the fortitude to not turn away, even when times are darkest. It is reaching into yourself and finding the strength to carry on, even if that means you may die. The characters in my books are a pale imitation of the men who took their ships to Russia. I enjoyed writing my story, but always at the back of my mind were the sailors who lived it and the many who drowned in the freezing water. We owe them a great debt. I cannot say it any better than the words from "Ode of Remembrance" by Laurence Binyon...
"They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam."
Josiah Trenchard part six, Arkhangelsk will be published sometime in early summer, (hopefully June). The book is dedicated to the memory of those sailors lost at sea.
If you would like to be nominated for a WIP blog and keep the tour going, please get in touch.
My first nominee is author Line Norgaard Fallesen
- Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author...”
- Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
- Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Noangel_86
- Tsü:
http://tsu.co/LineFNielsen
Thank you.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jonathon-Flet...
http://www.amazon.com/Jonathon-Fletch...
http://t.co/elrJPvuFw2
My latest work in progress is the next episode in the Josiah Trenchard space navy series. It's called "Arkhangelsk". The name is Russian for "Arch Angel" and is a port that was the destination for Arctic supply convoys during World War II.
Rather than this blog being simply an advert for the book, I thought that I would write about my inspiration for this story. Each of my books deals with an adventure of the infamous "Fixer", Captain Trenchard and has a central storyline based on a single mission that he is sent on. That story is then wrapped around with a bigger story arc which weaves through the whole series. For Arkhangelsk I had the story arc worked out but no mission for the crew of the Might of Fortitude.
Struggling for ideas, I chanced upon a documentary on TV that was presented by the almost as infamous Jeremy Clarkson. The tale that he told of one particular doomed WWII Arctic convoy seemed to be a plot straight out of one of my books and so I decided to borrow several key events from the real life story to use as the basis for my novel. I won't go into the details here (spoilers) but if you are interested there is the documentary on Arctic Convoy PQ-17, presented by Jeremy Clarkson on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxFvo...
...and a detailed Wikipedia entry:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convoy_P...
It is quite a story, all the more remarkable for the fact that it actually happened...
What inspired me and what I want to talk about here is bravery; not the comic book bravery that you would see in any Hollywood feature film, but the kind that is born out of necessity. In July 1942 the U.K. was preparing for invasion by the Nazi's from France. The Russians were fighting the Germans but were short of tanks and other military supplies. In order to keep the pressure on the German forces and hopefully stall the invasion, Winston Churchill agreed to send military supplies to Russia to aid their fight, this despite the fact that the Merchant Navy ships were desperately needed to bring food into the besieged British isles. Somebody had to brave the deadly Arctic waters, U-boats, torpedo bombers and the mighty German surface fleet.
After a series of mishaps, bad decisions and poor intelligence, the Merchant ships in convoy PQ-17 were abandoned to their fate in the ice by the heavily armed Royal Navy escort ships that had been protecting them. Left unprotected many were destroyed, easy prey for U-boats and German bombers. If any of the Merchant ships were to survive then someone had to take charge.
Step forwards RNVR T/Lt Leo Gradwell, commander of the HMS Ayrshire. He realised the desperate plight of the convoy. Many of the other Captains wanted to run and take their chances alone. Gradwell convinced a group of ships to stay together. The Ayrshire being little more than a cargo boat with no armaments, he defended those ships with what he had to hand, arranging tanks on the deck to act as turrets against incoming enemy aircraft and packing the nose of the Ayrshire with explosives with the intent to ram and destroy enemy ships.
With only a sextant and the "Times World Geographic Pocket Book" to aid him; after a series of close calls, Gradwell brought his small convoy of four ships home to port at Arkhangelsk. Without his bravery and leadership those vessels would have surely been destroyed. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery. Convoy PQ-17 lost twenty four of its thirty five Merchant ships to the icy depths of those Arctic waters. It was not until December 2012 that most of the brave survivors were honoured with their own medal, the Arctic Star military decoration, many posthumously.
True bravery comes from having to get the job done, no matter what you face. It is finding the fortitude to not turn away, even when times are darkest. It is reaching into yourself and finding the strength to carry on, even if that means you may die. The characters in my books are a pale imitation of the men who took their ships to Russia. I enjoyed writing my story, but always at the back of my mind were the sailors who lived it and the many who drowned in the freezing water. We owe them a great debt. I cannot say it any better than the words from "Ode of Remembrance" by Laurence Binyon...
"They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning,
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam."
Josiah Trenchard part six, Arkhangelsk will be published sometime in early summer, (hopefully June). The book is dedicated to the memory of those sailors lost at sea.
If you would like to be nominated for a WIP blog and keep the tour going, please get in touch.
My first nominee is author Line Norgaard Fallesen
- Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author...”
- Goodreads:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show...
- Twitter:
https://twitter.com/Noangel_86
- Tsü:
http://tsu.co/LineFNielsen
Thank you.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Jonathon-Flet...
http://www.amazon.com/Jonathon-Fletch...
Captain's Blog
Random thoughts from a science fiction author...
- Jonathon Fletcher's profile
- 95 followers
