Of all the enemies that our hero has shrunk away from, there was one he feared above them all. By his own admission they gave him nightmares into his dotage. It was not the French, the Spanish, the Americans or the Mexicans. It was not even the more exotic adversaries such as the Iroquois, Mahratta or Zulus. While they could all make his guts churn anxiously, the foe that really put him off his lunch were the Ashanti. "You could not see them coming," he complained. "They were well armed, fought with cunning and immense savagery and above all, there were bloody thousands of the bastards." This…mehr
Of all the enemies that our hero has shrunk away from, there was one he feared above them all. By his own admission they gave him nightmares into his dotage. It was not the French, the Spanish, the Americans or the Mexicans. It was not even the more exotic adversaries such as the Iroquois, Mahratta or Zulus. While they could all make his guts churn anxiously, the foe that really put him off his lunch were the Ashanti. "You could not see them coming," he complained. "They were well armed, fought with cunning and immense savagery and above all, there were bloody thousands of the bastards." This eighth packet in the Thomas Flashman memoirs details his misadventures on the Gold Coast in Africa. It was a time when the British lion discovered that instead of being the king of the jungle, it was in fact a crumb on the lip of a far more ferocious beast. Our 'hero' is at the heart of this revelation after he is shipwrecked on that hostile shore. While waiting for passage home, he is soon embroiled in the plans of a naïve British governor who has hopelessly underestimated his foe. When he is not impersonating a missionary or chasing the local women, Flashman finds himself being trapped by enemy armies, risking execution and the worst kind of 'dismemberment, ' not to mention escaping prisons, spies, snakes, water horses (hippopotamus) and crocodiles. It is another rip-roaring Thomas Flashman adventure, which tells the true story of an extraordinary time in Africa that is now almost entirely forgotten.Hinweis: Dieser Artikel kann nur an eine deutsche Lieferadresse ausgeliefert werden.
I am a firm believer in the maxim that history is stranger than fiction. There are countless times when I have come across a character or incident that has been so hard to believe, that I have had to search out other sources for confirmation. Thomas Cochrane, who features in my first and seventh books is one of those, his real-life adventures seem ridiculously far-fetched for a fictional character. The Begum of Samru from my second book is another: a fifteen-year-old nautch dancer who gained the confidence of an army, had a man literally kill himself over her and who led her soldiers with skill and courage, before becoming something of a catholic saint.
History is full of amazing stories. In my books I try to do my bit to tell some of them. When I thought of a vehicle to do so, the Flashman series from George MacDonald Fraser came to mind. The concept of a fictional character witnessing and participating in real historical events, while not unique, has rarely been done better. I therefore decided to create an earlier, Napoleonic era, generation of the family.
My Thomas Flashman character is not exactly the same as Fraser's Harry Flashman. They both have the uncanny knack of finding themselves in the hotspots of their time. They have an eye for the ladies and self-preservation. Yet Thomas is not quite the spiteful bully his nephew became, although he does learn to serve a vicious revenge on those who serve him ill.
The new 'Assignment' series, featuring war correspondent Thomas Harrison, introduces a fresh new character for adventures a generation later, starting in 1870. His employment ensures that he is at the heart of the action, although his goal of being an impartial observer is invariably thwarted.
In both series I aim to make the books as historically accurate as possible. My fictional central character is woven into real events, so that he is fully engaged in the action, but is not allowed to alter the ultimate outcome. He is also not allowed to replace a known historical figure. But where the person is unknown or events are unexplained, he can provide the explanation. In short, I am trying to provide real history in the form of a ripping yarn!
For more information, check out my website, www.robertbrightwell.com
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