the name of a new book by wilbur smith. most of the thing is about a young guy who becomes a ph in pre WWI kenya. while fiction it has a lot of actual stuff, & for those guys who have been over there a few times, much of it will ring a bell. best read i've had in quite awhile, lots of eles, buff & lion stuff

I enjoyed it - a real page turner. Obviously fiction but a good story non-the-less.

It was OK to about half way.

After that it became a bit silly for me.

I enjoyed it - but like Saeed thought that the ending was a bit corny...still better than most junk out there.

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
It was OK to about half way.

After that it became a bit silly for me.

I agree. I enjoyed it, but found the parts about trapping dirigibles with fishing nets and parachuting from them to be a bit on the fantasy side. But hey it's fiction and supposed to be an easy, relaxing and quick read.

It was a lightweight novel, and Wilbur must have used a ghost writer for parts of this book.

He mentions Cohibas being smoked before WWI; the brand was not created until 1968.

He also has the protagonist loading rounds into the magazine of his double rifle.

George

Noticed strange things in WS books once in a while, being that he does know Africa, and is a big game hunter - unlike so many wannabe writers.

Like the accurized, glass-bedded, Ethiopian warlord's.... AK47!

quote:

Originally posted by GeorgeS:


He also has the protagonist loading rounds into the magazine of his double rifle.

George

Damn, that's the first hunt report I've ever seen for one of those stupid bolt action double rifles! However come to think about it that is where that rifle belongs, in a fiction novel!
.........................

Anyone else notice he fired only 5 Kynochs with the H&H Royal, and found the convergence point at exactly 30 yards?

That is more unbelievable than getting the hot babe, a fortune in gold, and single handedly saving southern africa.

And you don't know how much people believe all this rubbish.

I have a man working for us for so many years, he is from Sri Lanka.

One day he looked at our hunt photos and told me they also hunt elephants in Sri Lanka.

A few minutes later he asked if we hunted dinosaurs.

"There aren't any dinosaurs I am afraid"
"Yes there are, I say them in the movies"

Wilber Smith books can be a "little" unbeliveable sometimes but I like reading them, They give me a little Africa "Fix" when I am not in a position to go bact at this time.

'Alto' instead of "Ato" for Ethiopian gentleman in one book, assegais in the hands of Maasai (Zulu stabbing spear), etc. Yet I read everything he's writing because no-one else today writes novels in the context of Africa, hunting and with so much action. He LOVES sex (too much detail for my taste) and seems to include females in his audience.

For fiction, I prefer Bunny Allen!

Guys,

It's a novel not a history book. Geez!!!

Mark

He has a lifetime admiration por P.J. Pretorius it seems (Shout to the Devil comes to mind)...at least this is not a mere copy of some previous work by Henry Rider Haggard or Mika Waltari. But I fear that the shadows of J.A. Hunter, Frederick Selous and Karen Dinesen plus Denys Finch-Hatton are a little shaken

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Guys,

It's a novel not a history book. Geez!!!

Mark

Mark,

I understand the concept of literary license, but these are errors of the most basic sort. If Smith expects that any knowledgeable people will read his books, he owes it to us not to make these sorts of blatant errors. It cheapens the reading experience.

George

quote:

Originally posted by MacD37:

quote:

Originally posted by GeorgeS:


He also has the protagonist loading rounds into the magazine of his double rifle.

George

Damn, that's the first hunt report I've ever seen for one of those stupid bolt action double rifles! However come to think about it that is where that rifle belongs, in a fiction novel!
.........................

The Impressive MacDuo37 .....

George,

I read for entertainment and I find Wilbur Smith to be entertaining most of the time. I don't read his books for tips on safari so if he exaggerates I don't give a tweedlydee. I honestly don't think that Wilbur Smith owes you or me anything. If you are offended by his writing and think it reflects badly on you why not write him a letter?

Regards,

Mark

quote:

Originally posted by Saeed:
It was OK to about half way.

After that it became a bit silly for me.

+1

When Wilbur tries to introduce romance into his novels.......he fails miserably

Let me see; Sex,a good fight, hunting, and Africa. Everything I need in a book

Mac,
Are you taking orders for the Macduo37? Can I get one without all the engraving and with a 4 shot mag?
kh

George and the rest of you guys, They call it historical fiction...

Mike

quote:

Originally posted by retreever:
George and the rest of you guys, They call it historical fiction...

Mike

Mike:

Historical fiction is my thinking that I remember where I left my hearing aid last night.

I'm just glad Wilbur is still alive. I'm currently rereading Shout at the Devil. He has had a long career. I can overlook errors for a good story. I forgive Capstick his truth stretching and flat lies in writing his exciting tales. He helped introduce me to Africa, and even though I was brought down to earth with more factual reading, I charitably take him as one who sees life bigger than most and he couldn't help himself.

George, you are 100% correct.

If an author can't get essential details right, he loses my respect, and immediately thereafter, my interest.

Smith's kind of error demonstrates ignorance, laziness and a lack of respect for the intelligence of the reader.

The fact that 98% of readers don't deserve that respect does not excuse the author, IMHO.

The remaining two percent should absolutely hold him to account.

I still prefer Bunny Allen for fiction. He was a far superior name dropper, wrote far better love scenes, and always rendered the rifles right.

The fact that he purported to write non-fiction is therefore forgivable, at least to me.

quote:

Originally posted by kevin henderson:
Mac,
Are you taking orders for the Macduo37? Can I get one without all the engraving and with a 4 shot mag?
kh

Kevin - even I'm not crazy enough to build something like that - well maybe I am. If you shoot an e-mail to Blaser I'm sure they'd build a "PH" version for you with a pair of detachable ten round mags - softs in the left solids in the right ... It's only money - go for it!!

I find I can forgive a lot of siliness in the rest of the story but when the rifle descriptions are wrong it spoils the book for me. I did email another writer who made numerous errors in factuality such as the martini clicking on empty and there were a few more besides and he replied that he had a rifle "expert" check his draft before it was published. I have just got Smith's Assegai so am prepared for the holywooding of much of the story....but it is in Africa and I can almost smell and hear and taste, so that will help me get through another week of dreaming to go.

Von Gruff.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
For fiction, I prefer Bunny Allen!

Man did you hit the nail on the head with that one!

.....

quote:

Originally posted by kevin henderson:
Mac,
Are you taking orders for the Macduo37? Can I get one without all the engraving and with a 4 shot mag?
kh

Yes you can get it with a removable 30 round magazine if you want, and we will throw in the tow-bar and wheels free, since you dan't want our beautiful engraveing! We also build a converted transmition jack on wheels for a portable rest for rifle so you can shoot it, without some onet the hold the barrels up for you! We leave nothing to chance for those who buy these fine MacDuo37 rifles. The plain PH model is really a bargain at only $700,000 USD

We only require half down and the rifle can be expected in about ten yrs!

You may contact me here on AR, the other information will be forwarded after I recieve the deposit!

quote:

rifle can be expected in about ten yrs!

Fairly standard for the industry ...

Is that the ambidextrous model with two bolt handles ... ??

Reading parts of that book is not different from watching a Hollywood movies, where a shooter screws a silencer at the end of a 357 magnum revolver.

Or that writer - forgot his name - who had a series of stories of a paid killer who uses the world's most powerful rifle, according to him, the Weatherby 460 Magnum.

He hits them in the head at several hundred yards, and shoots 4 shots in 2 seconds to boot!

It makes me feel so inadequate as far as shooting ability is.

Have just about finished the book and like a number of others, he could learn how to spell Jeffery corectly. He has the 470H&H with a broken stock where the coward runs from the wounded Buff yet it apears intact when the German faces the lions. That is too important for us gun guys to gloss over unless it too was wraped with a wet ele ear and fixed in camp.
The other point that those more experienced than I will notice is that the lion died instantly with the assegai through the heart. No bleed out time and no spine or brain hit but instant death.

Still, not to bad a yarn for the first half anyway.

Von Gruff.

I enjoyed the book, it was better than the Egypt series.

It and most of Wilbur's books are light reading.

Enjoyable, but light.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
For fiction, I prefer Bunny Allen!

I prefer Capstick!


***

Isn't it time someone uses the "Capstick defence", that Wilbur Smith's novels have done a lot for African safari hunting and encouraging many to go on their first safari.

After all they are both fiction writers.

Boy , you guys cn kill a good read faster than you can brain an elephant .... Thanks .

quote:

Boy , you guys cn kill a good read faster than you can brain an elephant .... Thanks .

PERFECT!

I love Wilbur Smith's stuff, have missed this one, but not for long. My favorite is "Sunbird". I do grate my teeth when there's an obvious flub on guns and/or animals--I keep thinking he should know better. But he probably does. Every writer needs good editors--but I doubt if there's a copy editor in his publishing house who is competent to do a "technical read." Go back and re-read "Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" by Hemingway. Papa states clearly that the .505 Gibbs generates x-thousand FEET PER SECOND OF ENERGY. Hemingway knew better, but he had a brain fart when he wrote that line--and none of his editors knew any better. When you re-read your own stuff your mind tends to read what you know it should say, not what is really there. I've had some doozies come out in print. Gotta run to the bookstore . . .
Cheers, C

I am about a third of the way through Assegai. I have also recently read Roosevelt's African Game Trails, and Selous's A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa. I find Smith's fiction true to the spirit of both Roosevelt and Selous's safaris, and immeasurably more entertaining than either of the original non-fiction accounts.

I am amazed that you guys get all bent out of shape over a few points of firearms minutiae, while ignoring the total cardboard cutouts his characters are. If you can get by all the heroic heros and the villanous villans, a slightly off-kilter firearms reference should be easy sledding.

IMHO Wilbur Smith is the best Africa adventure fiction writer at work today. He is in his mid 70s, and I for one am glad he is still wrtiting. Sure, he's no Hemingway, but then, who is?

Wooly ESS: Well said!!!! Amen. Hemingway, Ruark, and Capstick never even approached their 70s, and Wilbur Smith is still telling good stories. I am really glad this guy is still writing for us . . . and that people who are not "of us" are also reading his stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!