The Bombers of Ballale Island

The tiny, jungle covered island of  Ballale, one of the northernmost islands in the Solomons chain, is completely uninhabited. I had been given two reasons for this; firstly, so I was told, nearby islanders believed the island to be haunted and, secondly, the island lacked a good supply of fresh water.
I had arrived on Ballale in search of the wrecks of Japanese WW 2 aircraft that I understood were to be found the jungle that covered the island. As the sound of my departing aircraft faded in the distance, I set out, with sketch map in hand, to find a Japanese bomber. The jungle, particularly along the sun-drenched edges of the rough landing field, was as dense as anything I had seen anywhere in the islands. It took me a good 15 minutes before I found what I was looking for.

Towering 15 feet off the ground, it reared up out of the green foliage like some giant prehistoric monster, its nose festooned and splotched with growths of ferns, moss and lichen. It was a Mitsubishi G4M1 'Betty' bomber, standing on its undercarriage, complete with a blazing red hinomaru or Japanese rising sun insignia clearly visible under its wing.

My book, Pacific War Ghosts, is available in paperback and on Amazon Kindle. Lavishly illustrated with over 120 photos, Pacific War Ghosts tells the story of my numerous travels to the battlefields of the South Pacific in search of war relics.

Good News for Deon Meyer's Fans!

Benny Griessel is back in a brand new thriller. And this time he, with the help of his Hawks colleagues Mbali Kaleni and Vaughn Cupido, has to take on the top police brass, Britain's MI6, South Africa's own State Security Agency - and the temptations of the bottle.

In the beautiful Franschhoek wine valley, at an exclusive guest house, three bodies are found, each with a very professional bullet through the head. A fourth guest is missing. And he just might be a very, very important man in the fight against terrorism.

South African crime writer par excellence Deon Meyer's latest book, 'Kobra' was released on November 1st - Goeie nuus vir die van ons wie Afrikaans kan lees - unfortunately English speaking readers will have to wait until July 2014 when the English version will be available

The Young Lions - My latest Novel

An African Adventure Story

“Hello Aunt Emma, I’m glad to be here too.” She was tall and beautiful, with a fine figure only barely concealed by a diaphanous nightdress and a carelessly open dressing gown. Her long dark auburn hair cascaded over her shoulders and her pale, attractive face, wide set eyes and full sensuous lips took his breath away. Robert could not help staring at her in frank amazement. He found it difficult to equate this alluring woman with the tall, awkward girl he vaguely remembered while a young boy at Fairlee Manor in Scotland.
* * *
Action, adventure and erotic entanglements loom large in young Robert Hamilton’s future as he seeks to make his fortune in the rough and tumble world of the Johannesburg goldfields in the closing years of the nineteenth century.
Robert’s business interests and adventures in the wilds of South Africa, bring him into close contact with the Boer peoples of the Transvaal Republic. As the threat of a British invasion looms large over the country, his support for the Boer cause finds him on the opposing side to his fellow uitlanders – foreigners. He is dismayed to discover that both of his brothers have enlisted in Canadian regiments to fight on the side of Britain in the Anglo-Boer War.

Robbery the Easy Way!

When I first heard of Will Ferguson's book 419, I was intrigued and looking forward to reading it. All-in-all, it didn't disappoint.

Anyone who has ever been online is sure to have received an email promising huge sums of money for helping move millions of dollars around the world - and not just from Nigeria. What is the world coming to when crooks have become so lazy that they can no longer be bothered to stick a gun in your ribs in some dark alley!

The Nigerian scams are so patently laughable that it's hard to believe anyone would fall for them. But, unfortunately, they do. As does Laura's father in the opening chapters of 419...

A highly recommended read.

Tracking a Black Rhino

While reading Deon Meyer’s excellent book ‘Trackers,’ I was reminded of my attempt, many years ago I might add, to photograph a black rhino in the wild.

While a friend and I were visiting the Ndumu game reserve in northern Zululand, we engaged the services of an elderly ranger to lead us, on foot, in search of our quarry. For close to three hours we followed what he assured us was the spoor of a black rhino. (We agreed that this was a black rhino because the bushes it had nibbled on were at waist height. The black rhino is a browser, unlike its more docile relative, the white rhino which is a grazer.) Eventually, it dawned on us that our ranger/guide, very wisely, had no intention of encountering a black rhino while unarmed and on foot!

The truth be told, he probably saved not only his life, but the lives of two inexperienced would be wildlife photographers.

The Birth of a Novel

It usually begins with a collection of notes, reflections, snippets gathered here and there and finally a few ideas committed to paper or electronic media.

Then, when one is ready to start, there are emails to check, some requiring replies, the font and spacing to be selected and, thank goodness, some facts that need to be checked first. Once all the delaying tactics have been applied and exhausted, the start is made. Half a page in, usually it starts to come together and, if you are lucky, it almost begins to write itself. Your characters, if well chosen, take over and start to direct the story.

Only now do you begin to understand why you write at all!