Malcolm Havard
Author
My latest novels
I have recently released two novels, one set in WW2, the other in the closing months of WW1.
The first out was The Way Back the sequel to LMF. Readers will find out what happened to Dag after he'd been disgraced and demoted. Will he survive the experience of everyone thinking him to be a coward? Is there any way back?
The second is Three Brothers, the first book in a trilogy that take the characters from 1910 to the 1940s. Three Brothers is a work of historical fiction set during WW1, a story of family rivalry and jealousy complicated by a love triangle where world events pit the protagonists against each other.Growing up in Argentina, cousins Felix and Ted’s world is disrupted by the arrival of Maxine (Max). An accident that Ted blames Felix for sees Ted sent to school in the US. War in 1914 increases Ted’s isolation; when the US declares war in 1917, Felix flees to his father’s homeland, Germany whilst Ted volunteers in Canada.By late 1918, the cousins are both serving pilots on opposite sides of the lines. Max, a Swiss national, uses her work for the Red Cross to keep in touch with both. In a relationship with Ted, Max persuades Felix, who loves her, to pass information through her to Ted to aid his survival. The military on both sides know there has been a leak, both boys are suspects and Max must flee to Switzerland, unable to prevent a final showdown between the two cousins.
Both novels are available through Amazon.Three Brothers:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B093SS61Y2https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093SS61Y2The Way Back:https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08XBPGPC2https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08XBPGPC2
Other historical fiction
For the last five years I've been working on on a new novel. It's not been continuous, I've put it aside to move onto other things but always return to it because it's something that I think is important and I want to do it justice. It's called ELEVEN DAYS.
Eleven Days
In April 1917 the average lifespan of a British pilot posted to the Western Front is measured in days.
Eddie Grenville is 19, young, keen, idealistic. He hero worships his brother Percy, follows him into the RFC.
Then he finds that Percy has committed a war crime...
Eleven Days looks at how war changes people. Set against the events of Bloody April, it drops the reader into the most dangerous part of the first global war.
LEVIATHAN
It's a foul night in late October 1916.
You're alone, in the cockpit of a frail, unreliable biplane, chasing a Leviathan in the darkness. A Zeppelin, somewhere out there in the night, sent to attack your country.
You're cold, frightened, with nothing but your own thoughts and memories for company.
And you're 20 years old.
The Neutral Zone
You're a young woman in love.
He's everything you could ask. He's thoughtful, quiet, gentle, considerate.
But It's 1915.
You're a patriotic Belgian.
Your country is occupied.
And he's a German officer.
The Neutral Zone and Other Stories is a collection of short fiction by Malcolm Havard that looks at how the Great War impacted ordinary people. A father who has lost his only son; a soldier celebrating Christmas in the trenches not knowing he's in the sights of a sniper; a mutilated ex-servicemen who befriends a young boy, these are stories that will touch you and make you think - and be glad that you weren't caught up in the conflict and its aftermath.Older Published books - All available on Amazon
Novels
The Last Mountain
A bit of a marmite book - my main character, Mel, is a bit...er... difficult. Stick with it though.
The Last Mountain is a thriller that tells the story of how ambition and selfishness can lead to disaster.
What readers say:
'Five Stars: A fantastic book that kept me turning pages from start to finish!! Absolutely loved it....did not want it to end.'
'Wow....what a gripping read!! 5 stars'
' Simply brilliant, a shining triumph of a book.....one of the best climbing fiction stories ever. Plot, characters and writing all top notch, the perfect page turner. Be warned though; it’s a dark harrowing read. Very highly recommended.'
'A real page turner. Brilliantly written, not a dull moment and full of powerful imagery, just don't read this if you're off climbing!'
LMF
Although set in WW2, this is not a war book. It's a book about ordinary people who have to do extraordinary things. The LMF of the title stands for Lack of Moral Fibre - a weapon that the RAF used to keep crews pushed to the edge of endurance going. It was essentially a finding of cowardice.
LMF is a work of historical fiction set against one of Britain’s most controversial campaigns, the RAF night bomber offensive. Its central characters are a pilot suffering combat fatigue and desperate to complete the last mission of his tour so he can rest and recover, his navigator, a Quaker struggling to reconcile his beliefs with the morality of his task, and an Australian engineer whose wife is dying of cancer.The novel covers a 24 hour period in January 1944, exploring the events of a mission through the eyes of a single crew of seven men.A recent review:A Riveting Read.....Picked this book on a whim, found it a compulsive read and finished it in a couple of days. The vivid, almost real-time account of the terrors of a raid to Germany was detailed, harrowing and felt very real. What it must have taken to fly time and again is unimaginable but this book gave a glimpse into minds of 7 men and what they experienced. And a good story to boot. I will definitely look out for further books by this author.
The First Book of Gabriel
One of the great things about creative writing is the ability to play. Some books are hard work to write, Gabby never was. It was just an excuse to have fun and write something to make me - and hopefully others - laugh.
Gabby is a lazy, borderline incompetent, junior employee. He is also an Angel. Yes, he's Angel Gabriel. However, he is perhaps not the Angel Gabriel as portrayed elsewhere.
Gabby is a Celestial, the traditional creators of the universe. He works for the Celestial Authority’s Department of Intervention in Anthropology, the body responsible for the management of the created worlds.
The Celestials’ – and Gabby’s – universe is changing. The Celestials have a rival, the Universal Union of Planets (the UU), an association of the created worlds that has grown to dominate life across many galaxies. This has brought a whole new set of regulations that Gabby has to abide by. More pressingly though, after an overambitious expansion of the Union, the universe has run out of money. In this new Age of Austerity, the Celestials find they can no longer create in their old-fashioned, expensive way (although why is beyond Gabby). A new way must be found.
This new way is the much-hyped Celestial/Private Partnership (CPP). Trialled as a pathfinder project to develop the Earth in a cheaper, more cost effective way, the idea is to bring the best that the private sector can offer in ideas and methods. A competition is held for Project Earth with the idea of rolling out the solution across the rest of the universe as the prize for the winning team.
What could possibly go wrong?Short story collections
Take a look and enjoy!
Hurricane Season
This series of fiction and nonfiction pieces is a little bit of an indulgence. It is, in many ways, both a love letter from a fan and my own small contribution to righting a wrong. It is centred full square on a machine, the Hawker Hurricane.
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