FROM SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW American Embassy worker Conrad Prosser simply can’t catch a break in Fleming’s captivating novel. Despite his fluency in Arabic and impeccable record of gathering intelligence, he’s overlooked for promotion. Then he discovers he’s being followed. Perhaps his affair with the beautiful Rima (sister of a prospective agent) will help soothe his soul – although that, too, seems unlikely to last. The beauty in the story lies in Fleming’s description of the ways people carry on in the face of daily violence. Markets close during the violence, but open at the first sign of cease-fire. Nightlife continues to throb with people looking for a good time and a strong drink. Love blossoms and dies. Jobs are gained and lost. Fleming’s understanding of the way individuals carry on despite the turmoil seems genuine and spot on. Set in the mid-80’s Beirut, Dynamite Fishermen is an absolute stunner of a novel. It’s clear Fleming has done his research and it shows in the seamless dialogue and the ease at which he tackles the task of conveying the wartime ambiance. This is a must-read for history buffs – although I feel strongly everyone will enjoy the rapid pace and captivating suspense. Preston Fleming is a writer deserving of many accolades. FROM PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW In Dynamite Fishermen, set in Beirut in the early 1980's, Preston Fleming depicts heedless violence as a way of life from the perspective of an American intelligence officer. The story falls during a lull in the long running Lebanese civil war, a period plagued by almost daily car bombings, civilian shootings, artillery attacks and other mayhem. The complexities of the Arab-Israeli conflict and inter-Arab conflicts play out in small clashes throughout Beirut, making it a microcosm of the Middle East. Conrad Prosser is an American intelligence agent whose routine is to meet with his local contacts and glean whatever news will help to analyze the overlapping conflicts. His constant exposure to violence has left him with a fatalistic attitude because there is really nothing anybody can do in Beirut to be safe. Prosser's relationships with his sources are impersonal. His relationships with women are no better. Ultimately, he has no purpose except to survive and do his job, and the women in his life invariably become involved in some way with his work. As many details of this conflict continue to reverberate today, this intelligently written novel provides a compelling page-turner and a memorable story. PRODUCT DESCRIPTION Beirut, 1982. Conrad Prosser is a skilled Arabist, expert agent handler, prolific intelligence reporter, and a connoisseur of Beirut's underground nightlife. But, as his two-year tour at the U.S. Embassy nears its end, Prosser's intelligence career is in jeopardy because he has not recruited an agent while in Lebanon, a sine qua non requirement for promotion. Surveying his many contacts, Prosser selects an attractive Lebanese doctoral student and her idealistic brother as candidates for development. At the same time, he holds clandestine meetings by day and night with his string of Lebanese and Palestinian agents, pressing them to discover who is behind the latest wave of car bombings that has terrorized Muslim West Beirut. But when one of his agents supplies information used to capture a Syrian-backed bombing team, Prosser sets off a cycle of retaliation that threatens more than his career and cherished way of life. At first denying, then later concealing, apparent attempts on his life, Prosser sets out to save both his job and his skin, exploiting his agents, his best friend, a former lover, his new girlfriend and her enigmatic brother. In doing so, he puts their lives at risk and discovers too late the effect of his heedless actions. DYNAMITE FISHERMEN offers complex characters, fast-paced action, a vivid portrayal of human intelligence operations and the flavor of Beirut during its dark days of ciReview"Conrad Prosser, immersed in the civil disorder of early-'80s Beirut, employs whatever means are necessary to expose the organization behind a series of car bombings. The possibility of bloodshed at any moment keeps the story at an elevated level of suspense. Even the more languid moments move with a searing undertone. Uncertainty among the characters, coupled with relentless gunfire and explosions, make for an extraordinary novel, each page as eruptive as the city providing the setting." KIRKUS REVIEWS "Dynamite Fishermen is an absolute stunner of a novel. It's clear Fleming has done his research and it shows in the seamless dialogue and the ease at which he tackles the task of conveying the wartime ambiance. This is a must-read for history buffs - although I feel strongly everyone will enjoy the rapid pace and captivating suspense. Fleming is a writer deserving of many accolades." SAN FRANCISCO BOOK REVIEW "In Dynamite Fishermen, Preston Fleming depicts heedless violence as a way of life from the perspective of an American intelligence officer. The story falls during a lull in the long running Lebanese civil war, a period plagued by daily car bombings, civilian shootings, artillery attacks and other mayhem. As many details of this conflict continue to reverberate today, this intelligently written novel provides a compelling page-turner and a memorable story." PACIFIC BOOK REVIEW "An intelligence officer who has dodged making decisions and cleaning up his messes is forced to face the consequences, showing resourcefulness and decency...at last when he must. Fleming does know how to spin a yarn... his fiction has more verisimilitude than many others in the genre." BOOKPLEASURES.COMFrom the AuthorI wrote Dynamite Fishermen and Bride of a Bygone War to clear my head after eleven years of government service in places like Beirut, Cairo, Tunis, Jeddah, and Amman. I had already decided to write novels at age fourteen, during my first year as a boarding student at Exeter. My English instructor, a World War II combat veteran, advised those of us who wanted to follow the path of Melville, Conrad and Hemingway to first go out and live some adventures so that we would have stories that people might want to read. My adventures started in the Middle East and continued in Washington, Europe, the Russian Far East, Maui, Utah, New York and Boston. Though my most recent novels are set far from Beirut in a future dystopian America, I intend to write more stories set in the Middle East before long. Views: 25
In 'The Man Who Wrote Detective Stories' an emissary from Scotland Yard visits Freddie Seston in Venice, who happens to have bumped in to an old school friend, now a QC. Freddie is the supposed secret author, under a pseudonym, of a string of novels. Now, a murder has been committed using the same methodology as in one of the books. The only problem is, that title has not yet been published .... In this, and three other stories within this volume, J.I.M. Stewart does not disappoint, writing with his usual clarity and wit, along with the mystery and surprise readers have become accustomed to through the titles published under the his own pseudonym of 'Michael Innes'. Views: 25
North Camp, a growing Hampshire village, has been briefly energised by the cessation of the Great War and the years of peace that followed. Now, however, with the beginning of the Second World War, the lives of the inhabitants are plunged once more into chaos.Tom Munday, carpenter of the village, is now seventy-two and grandfather to the children of his daughters Grace and Isabel. The stories of a new generation unravel as the girls move into womanhood, coping with family expectations and the budding of first loves, and as the young men are called to active duty, anxious to do their part in the fight.Those left behind on the home front must find ways to adapt to wartime challenges: the return of wounded soldiers, the loss of loved ones, and the arrival of newborns, child evacuees and prisoners of war. And meanwhile, amongst all the horror and adversity, love both illicit and conventional blossoms. A rich tale of strength, courage and romance, A Family’s... Views: 25
After the "Atlantis thing" the advanced beings: elves, dwarves and select humans, left Terra to live on idyllic Diluvia, leaving the primitive mass of humanity to develop on its own, free from the corrupting influences of the golden isles. Such were the terms of the Compact. A few dissidents stayed behind, to observe and meddle in small ways. The Diluvian councils assigned a handful of Justices to keep an eye on matters and occasionally, report back. Then, for the most part, Diluvia forgot about Terra. Unregulated, humanity on Terra burgeoned and developed. The thrashings of social change produced literature and music an orderly world could never create. Mozart and Shakespeare's works were imported and became mainstays of Diluvian culture. More from Diluvia visited Terra: to help, to hinder, or to cut loose and do things that, back home, would get their souls recycled. So what if a few Terrans got hurt or killed? It's not like there was any shortage. And all that turmoil produced great art. On Diluvia, a debate simmered. From the histories of many worlds it was clear Terra would self-destruct. Some thought Diluvians should work to prevent that end. Others were in favour of pushing Terra over the edge. And, of course, there were those who sought to wallow in the glorious chaos. On balance, it was decided to abide by the terms of the Compact... do nothing... and, perhaps, assign a few more Justices to keep outside influences in check. And, of course, send back items of interest. A feed from the new Terran Internet to the Diluvian Backbone made keeping informed so much easier. Then the Adornments of Glory were stolen, and taken to Terra. Their power, if tapped, could tear open the tightly-regulated portals between the planets. Overnight, the menace posed by Terra became clear. If the portals were opened, Diluvia could be swamped by Terran soldiers and squalor. Something would have to be done. But first, the Adornments must be returned. Who to trust? Anyone who'd ever had dealings with Terra was suspect. The factions bickered and babbled and finally came up with a compromise that made no one happy, least of all the ones chosen to undertake the quest. Views: 25
His was a name to be feared from the Mexican border to the Black Hills of Dakota. Now at Hatchett’s folly his search for two men, Peterson and Webb, was at an end...or was it? Views: 25
Some vows can never be broken. Persephone thought she could go back to her normal life after returning from the Underworld. She was wrong. The goddess Aphrodite is born among the waves with more charm than she can control. Zeus is stalking Persephone and her loved ones, and Thanatos is no longer content with Persephone's silence. He wants her soul. Views: 25
These stories, written in response to huge popular demand, give us classic Berry Pleydell – Yates' finest comic character – at the top of his form. The first story sees Berry capturing a German spy at a village cricket match in 1914, and things get more bizarre from then on. A self-consciously nostalgic work harking back to more decorous days consisting of tense plotting and high farce of the best kind. Views: 25
