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Peter Davies (Forum Member!)

PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 1:28 pm
by Matbow
Hi everyone,

As some of you may be aware, we have a published author amongst our midst - Peter Davies (his forum username is simply "Pete"). Pete's first book is called Scatterlings of Africa, I've taken the following information from his website:

"Scatterlings of Africa"

A "compelling, high-octane novel of racial, tribal and ideological conflict that will almost certainly draw criticism from the politically correct brigade," Scatterlings of Africa is a fast-paced thriller, set in Rhodesia's war against terror. Rhodesia became Zimbabwe in 1980.

It's December 1972 and Lieutenant Ron Cartwright is obsessed with defending his country against insurgents in a vicious civil war. Comrade 'Gumbarishumba' Gadziwa is equally determined to win the fight for Zimbabwe to be restored to his people. While abduction, intimidation, torture and worse are going on in the war zone, the cities, towns and many farms remain safe, idyllic havens where Ron's wife Angela and their young children live in relative comfort. But the stress of their separate lives is taking its toll, and the arrival of Angie's cousin Mark, who she hasn't seen since she was a child, adds fuel to an already tense situation. The tentacles of war spread, plots cross, and life will never be the same again...


Peter Davies

Born and raised in Africa, Peter Davies served as a territorial soldier in Rhodesia from 1963 to 1975. He saw action, and took part in captures and interrogation. This gave him insight into terrorist minds, many of which were successfully encouraged to 'turn' and fight alongside Rhodesia's soldiers against their former comrades.

Davies wrote his novel, Scatterlings of Africa, using his own recollections of how the war was fought, and how it affected Rhodesia and its people.


As you can see, it sounds like Pete's book could be of interest to Wilbur Smith fans, especially those who like the Ballantyne series. I'll hopefully be reading it in the next few weeks so I'll be sure to post a review here!

If you would like to ask Pete any questions about his book/himself then please ask away - I'm sure Pete would be more than happy to answer any questions!

I've added Scatterlings of Africa to our Amazon store. If you would like to purchase/get further details then click HERE.

More information is also available from Pete's own website: Pete Davies Books

Who's got the first question?!

Matt

PostPosted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 5:54 pm
by Nefer
When will the book be published in Canada? :mrgreen: I'm dying to read it!

Publication of "Scatterlings" in Canada

PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 4:04 am
by Pete
I'm hoping Scatterlings of Africa will be available through Amazon.com within a few weeks, and will keep this forum advise. Thanks for your interest, Pete

Scatterlings of Africa Availability

PostPosted: Sun Nov 26, 2006 11:17 am
by Pete
I'm pleased to report that Scatterlings of Africa is now available from both Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk. Pete

Review!

PostPosted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 4:04 pm
by Matbow
As you may remember from my post at the top of thread, I was hoping to read Pete's book - well I have and here's what I thought!

Before I get started I'd just like to say that this will be a 100% honest review, I'm not going to go OTT just because Pete is a forum member! Also please remember that I'm not a professional critic - my review is based on my enjoyment of the book alone, it's not a literary critique! I'm also going to make it a spoiler free as possible, so I won't specifically refer to the plot - suffice to say it's about a white soldier (and his family) fighting a war against "terror" in 1970's Rhodesia/Zimbabwe.

My first impression on receiving the book was that it "looks" good, nice and shiny with an interesting picture on the front (a map of the world)! The first few pages of the book give the reader a brief history lesson on Africa - it won't be anything new to Wilbur Smith fans but I think it adds a nice touch to the book, I always like books where I can learn something!

Getting into the actual novel, it starts at a very quick pace and introduces all the main characters quite quickly; although I did find myself getting a little bit confused as to who was who at times. The writing flowed nicely and had a good level of description, fully immersing me into the environment and time period. All the constituents of a good plot - action, suspense and a love story were present. I quickly reached the half way point - I was enjoying it a lot.

In the second half of the book the pace quickened and the action and romance elements intensified. From this point on I found it hard to put down, always a good thing! The sex scenes were written well; one of the clever (and most effective) things I picked up on was Pete's differing use of nouns when describing the "types" of sexual activity encountered, the result being different feeling conveyed to the reader.

The climax (and I'm not talking about the sex scenes anymore ;)) seemed to appear out of no-where. This isn't a negative comment as considering its nature I believe this was exactly the effect that Pete intended. From this point on the novel wrapped its self up quickly, with a nice summary at the end. The only thing that I found slightly frustrating was that it wasn't explicitly stated what the final outcome of the love story was - maybe this will be cleared up in Pete's next book?

Pete's writing style comes across as a fusion of Wilbur Smith and Chris Ryan; the love of Africa and it's people combined with the gritty reality of terrorism. The overriding feeling I got after reading Scatterlings is that this could be a true story...

If you haven't already realised - I really liked it. 4/5!

PostPosted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 5:02 pm
by Phils_jd
You have me convinced - I'll get it and read Thanks Matt

PostPosted: Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:46 pm
by Nefer
Thanks Matt!

Am waiting on my own copy, may be a while :)

Scatterlings of Africa

PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:49 am
by Pete
I'm glad you enjoyed it, Matt, andhank you for a very comprehensive and excellent review :D . I hope others will find Scatterlings a good read and would welcome any further comments and/or reviews. I will learn from them all. Pete

PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 1:32 pm
by John R
That was a really good review mat. It does sound interesting i must say!

PostPosted: Wed Jan 31, 2007 4:18 am
by Pete
Just a quick update to say that I'll be signing copies of Scatterlings of Africa at Methvens Bookstore in Worthing on Saturday 10th February. Also that I've been invited to join the Military Writers Society of America. I'm pleased to say that Amazon.com now have the book in stock (instead of people having to wait up to six weeks), but Amazon.co.uk keeps running out of stock. Fortunately, there are other suppliers on the Amazon.co.uk page who do have stocks.