At one point, PHC was working on a novel, this was about the time he wrote "A Man Called Lion", but he was not that far along on the novel at that time. The only other book of his that was published that I know of was "Warrier", a biography about Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen. I read somewhere that he had left some work in progress, but that is about all I ever saw written about it. Just curious if anyone else knew about this?

His wife finished a book called "The Winds of Change" if I remember rightly. I'm not sure it's a novel.

The Winds of Havoc: A Memoir of Adventure and Destruction on the Dark Continent

PHC was working on this with Adelino Serras Pires, who is the subject, at the time of his death. If I'm not mistaken, Fiona Capstick and Pires have linked up romantically in the subsequent years.

Fiona married Adelino, and they live together near Pretoria in the home she shared with Peter.

Fiona finished "Warrior" after Peter died and then she wrote "The Winds of Havoc" several years later. It may have been a project Peter considered doing, but I don't think he ever actually worked on it.

She also wrote "The Diana Files," a book about the hunting feats of various women down through time.

Fiona is an extremely talented, multi-lingual, and highly creative lady, and is working on still another book.

Although she's not talking yet about its subject, I look forward to reading it.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by 450/400 Jeffrey's:
The Winds of Havoc: A Memoir of Adventure and Destruction on the Dark Continent

PHC was working on this with Adelino Serras Pires, who is the subject, at the time of his death. If I'm not mistaken, Fiona Capstick and Pires have linked up romantically in the subsequent years.

This may indeed be the novel he was working on. I thought as Bill Quimby did - that PHC never actually worked on "Winds of Havoc", but after rereading parts of the book, Fiona states that he conducted a series of interviews with Adelino in 1986 for the book they wished to write together, but PHC felt the time was not right to do the book. He may have planned at that time to make it a novel rather than a biography.

I spoke to both Fiona and Adelino in Las Vegas at the 2001 SCI convention when they were there selling the book. I asked her if Peter was also working on a novel, and she didn't seem to know anything about it, although PHC told me himself before he died that he was. He even told me the title he planned to give it. I plan to reread "Winds of Havoc" and see if it actually may be that novel.

RBHunt:

Believe me when I say there is a great difference between interviewing someone and actually writing and selling something. If Peter had written a single word of Winds of Havoc, Fiona would have said so in the book. She is not someone to take credit for someone else's work, especially Peter's.

As for Peter thinking about doing a novel, there probably is no author who hasn't considered writing one at some time in his life. Reviewers (I believe I was the first to do so) already were comparing him to Hemingway and Ruark, so it would be no surprise if he was thinking about writing novels as they had.

I suspect he would have told Fiona that he planned to turn his notes from interviewing Adelino into a novel, though.

Bill Quimby

quote:

Originally posted by billrquimby:

I suspect he would have told Fiona that he planned to turn his notes from interviewing Adelino into a novel, though.

Bill Quimby

Yes, one would certainly think so. I am reading "Winds of Havoc" again anyway, it's a darn good book!

Yes, Fiona did a great job on it.

What it doesn't say is that being held captive in Mozambique took a major toll on Adelino's health. He still has serious problems with his stomach today. What those three men endured cannot be adequately described.

As you'll read in it, I came within a few days of being trapped in Zaire with Adelino when the government suddenly changed its mind, refused to allow hunting to reopen, and moved to sieze the equipment in Adelino's hunting camp.

He and his men managed to get out with a 4x4 vehicle through Zambia. Everything else, including other vehicles and several .460 Weatherbys, remained behind.

I received a telegram warning me not to go to Zaire about six hours before I was scheduled to leave Tucson to fly to Brussels and hook up with a charter flight to Kinshasha and on to the camp.

I'd just taken over the reins at Safari magazine and it would have been my first trip to Africa. Adelino later said he had located a 100-pound elephant for me, and that his crew had been watching several very good bongos.

The resulting magazine article would have announced to the world that Zaire had reopened, was safe to hunt, and still offered good trophies.

it would have been one hell of a first safari. Instead, a few months later, I hunted buffalo, kudu, and sable in Zimbabwe's Matetsi and gemsbok and springbok near Kimberley in South Africa.

That was in 1983 or 1984, I think. Although I returned to Africa many, many times since then, I never again had an opportunity to hunt elephant or bongo.

Bill Quimby

The Diana Files is also a great read. Fiona very graciously signed my copy with an inscription for my wife as the wife of a hunter. It went a long way with my wife and I greatly appreciated the history of the book.
She also signed a copy of one of Mr. Capsticks' books with an inscription for me about hunting- very insightful as you can well imagine. While at Dallas I was also able to meet Mr. Pieres and enjoyed a moment with him while the book-signing for The Diana Files finished up.
I would also recommend Winds of Havoc as an historical record and very interesting read.
Frank