Clash of Kings

Clash of Kings is a new historical Viking adventure novel from the pen of author Peter Wilks.

It is the eight book that he has published with Matador, but trhe difference is that unlike his other novels, this one is not aimed at thew younger audience.

This novel is a drama filled exciting adventure novel set during the times when Viking warriors were the terror of Western Europe.

The novel opens on the morning of 8th June, 793AD. From the mist a whole fleet of Viking longships are powerfully moving toward the famed religious community on the island of Lindisfarne. 

The Viking warriors beach their ships and with swords and battle axes tightly gripped, ready for action. they run toward the monastery, smash their way in and leave a trail of blood and destruction as they murder the defenceless monks, destroy buildings and altars, steal the holly treasures and enslave those they do not kill or capture and remove them in chains.

Who was behind this attack? Jarl Magnusson, otherwise known as the Red Plague.

However, whilst he was organising acts of plunder to help him create a powerful empire, he had failed to notice that other Vikings are also looking for plunder and the glory of building an empire.

One of these is a fellow Viking nobleman called Sigvald Foeslayer who is jealous of the Red Plague's successes and who coverts what he owns, including his massive fleet of longships. 

The Red Plague has underestimated how dangerous Foeslayer is to his fleet, his Norwegian territories and his own family.

Eventually he identifies the challenge that Foesleyer presents him with and he decides to take action against him.

But is he too late? Can he defeat his rival's allies? Can he kill Foeslayer? Or will Foeslayer be victorious in this blood soaked novel about rivalry between Viking clan chiefs?

The book is based on detailed research on what it was really like to be a Viking and it is very well written and exciting adventure novel.

The good news is that it is the first in a series of Viking chronicles from Peter Wilks.

It is published by Matador at £8.99.

What Non-League club AFC Liverpool is all about.

Spider Zero Seven

Spider Zero Seven is Mike Borlace's own very personal memoirs of life as a combat helicopter pilor with the Rhodesian Defence Force during that country's civil war during the 1970s.

Although small, the RDF was a highly professional army and, as he points out, helicopters played a very important role in the operations of the RDF whilst fighting against Communist backed guerrilla forces such as those of Robert Mugabe.

An experienced helicopter pilot with training from the RAF and the Royal Navy, Mike was an operational commando helicopter pilot and special forces soldier.

In 1974 he was recruited to join the Rhodesian Air Force and although he was initially expected to pilot Hawker Hunter planes, his experience as a combat helicopter pilot saw him moved over to 7 (Helicopter) Squadron which was becoming very heavily enmeshed in the war against terrorists, meaning they were desperate for trained helicopter pilots.

He served with  the squadron for exactly 1,096 days, of which a total of 793 were on active combat missions.

327 of these days was as the pilot of helicopter gunships, and a fireforce commander. During which he had 149 enemy contacts. He also undertook many casualty evacuations (casevacs) and also nearly 100 operations involving the Rhodesian SAS, the Selous Scouts and the Rhodesian Light Infantry Commandos on cross-border raids.

He was shot down five times and received wounds twice and was presented with the Silver Cross.

After he left the Rhodesian Air Force in 1978 he joined the crack and top secret Selous Scouts special forces unit.

After being kidnapped whilst working as an undercover operative in Zambia he was subjected to such a brutal regime of torture that the High Court of Zambia was 'horrified' by what he had undergone, so released him, only for the government to immediately re-arrest him.

Eventually he was released and deported to London.

In 1982 he began a new career as a private military adviser to various Western-backed allies, globally. Some of the enemies he helped deal with, such as the Sierra Leone Revolutionary United Front, were committing unspeakable atrocities against children and civilians.

The book is written in a warm and humorous tone, but it pulls no punches whatsoever and is one heck of an action-packed, exciting read.

It really does belong on the bookshelf of any self-respecting student of military history.

It is published by Matador at £12.99.

Far Far the Mountain Peak a Bumpy Journey

Far Far the Mountain Peak a Bumpy Journey is a new novel from Arthur Clifford. Long time readers of this review emporium will recall Arthur's previous novel Far Far the Mountain Peak which introduced us to John Denby.

We left John as he was coming to terms with his adolescence in the 1980s.

We pick up John's story when John is now attending a private school. Like many people John has struggles with life. He is mystified, to coin a phrase, by his sexuality and this, in part, might be a reason why he seems to have problems with his relationships.

John's desperate to be accepted by his circle of friends, but he seems to sense that he needs to keep some sort of distance from them, for fear of exposing his true inner self to them.

He fears, justifiably or not, you must decide, that some of the people who he should be able to rely on for support might not, after all, always have his best interests at heart.

John's life is, as usual, a little bit too interesting for his own good and after an incident takes place that unsettles him, he decides to set off on a big adventure.

Because this, he feels, will help him make something of his life, help him to become more self aware and more knowledgeable about the big, wide world and also himself.

But, of course, this is all a backdrop, of a sort, for his beloved mountaineering.

This is, of course, only a little further along the long and winding mountain path that is John's life. Let's stick around for the rest of the journey!

It's published by The Book Guild at £8.99.