May 2016

It has been a quiet month for news of recent and upcoming fiction releases although there are some non-fiction releases.

Brief information is given below with links to the full website articles.

This month articles have appeared about the following books:

Non-Fiction

Angus Konstam & Roger Michael Kean are releasing a paperback version of Pirates: Predators of the Seas. Originally published in hardcover in 2007, it is available for pre-order and will be released in May 2016, on the 17th in the US and on the 19th in the UK.

Each month I provide a short bio of one of the authors on the site. This month we will look at Percy F. Westerman

Percy Francis Westerman (1876 - 1959) was a prolific author of children's literature, many of his books adventures with military themes.

He was born in Portsmouth, England and educated at Portsmouth Grammar School, before taking up a clerical appointment at Portsmouth Dockyard. He married Florence Wager, of Portsmouth, in 1900. Always keen sailors, they spent part of their honeymoon sailing in the Solent. Their son, John F.C. Westerman, born in 1901, also wrote adventure books for boys.

At the age of 70 he was reluctantly forced by a fall to leave his houseboat for dry land, but he continued writing apace. He died at the age of 82, and his last book, Mistaken Identity was published posthumously in 1959.

His writing career allegedly began with a sixpence bet made with his wife that he could write a better story than the one he was reading to his son, who was at the time ill with chickenpox. His first book for boys, 'A Lad of Grit', was published in 1908. In the same year, Baden-Powell founded the Scouting movement, which strongly influenced many of Westerman's books - he was a particularly keen supporter of the Sea Scouts. He published a further three books in 1911, which were so successful that he gave up his Admiralty appointment that year to become a full-time author. He lived on board a houseboat - a converted Thames barge - on the River Frome at Wareham in Dorset, where he wrote the majority of his books.

During the First World War he was initially employed on coastal duties by the Royal Navy, but in 1918 he was commissioned, like W. E. Johns, in the Royal Flying Corps, as an instructor of navigation. During the Second World War he commanded a company of the Dorset Home Guard. He wrote to Blackie of his service in the two wars that "neither appointment seriously interfered with my literary output."

During the 1930s Westerman was voted the most popular author of stories for boys. His books sold over one and a half million copies in his lifetime and he published over 170 books, with 12 different firms.

Whilst the majority of his nautical books are set during WWI & WWII some are Age of Sail works.

First editions or first paperback releases this month

Non-Fiction

In Pursuit of the Essex: Heroism and Hubris on the High Seas in the War of 1812 by Ben Hughes (Hardcover - US)

It is due for release on 15 May 2016

Pirates: Predators of the Seas by Angus Konstam & Roger Michael Kean (Paperback - Worldwide)

It is due for release on 19 May 2016

David Hayes reviews Dockyard Dog by Lyle Garford

Read the Review

David Hayes reviews Roland: Of Pirates and Patriots by Timothy Freriks

Read the Review

This year sees the centenary of the Battle of Jutland and for those interested an excellent resource for both the battle itself and planned commemoration events can be found at jutland1916.com

To mark this anniversary Nicolas Jellicoe, the grandson of one of the admirals, has a new book out in hardcover, Jutland: The Unfinished Battle. It is now available in the UK and will be released in the US on 15 May 2016.

Out last year the first book in The Nisbet Chronicles: "In which we follow Lord Nelson’s (real-life) stepson through his (not very real) adventures. Think of it as Flashman goes to sea". Nisbet and Trafalgar by Sid Smith

Do you enjoy reading the books? If so why not chat about them in the forum at: historicnavalfiction.net

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