The subtitle of the Osprey book SOE Agent is Churchill’s Secret Warriors; text by Terry Crowdy, colour illustrations by Steve Noon. This is number 133 in the Warrior series of Osprey books. There are 62 information-packed pages with many contemporary photographs.

‘Nazi control on the continent was like a virus, intent on infiltrating every level of human existence and perverting it for its own satisfaction’ (p5).  Britain's Minister of Economic Warfare, Hugh Dalton was convinced a new organisation should be created to infiltrate Europe and the ‘new weapons of war would be agitation, strikes, random acts of terror, propaganda and assassination’ – effectively, ‘no holds barred’ (p5).

As early as September 1938 MI6 set up D Section (Sabotage) and the British General Staff formed a research section GS(R) to investigate the possibilities of guerrilla warfare; in May the following year this became Military Intelligence (Research). September 1939 Britain and France declared war on Germany after Hitler invaded Poland.

The book covers the recruitment of SOE agents, their training, and some of their missions, Lysander pickup, coding of messages, and their weapons and types of radio. It is a little treasure-trove for students and writers of that period. Certainly, having recently read Ken Follett’s Jackdaws, I could recognise many salient facts that he used in his narrative.

Related titles in the series are French Resistance Fighter and Resistance Warfare 1940-45; and in the Elite series: Office of Strategic Services (OSS) 1942-45.

It begins in May 1860, eleven months before the Civil War started. The story is from the viewpoint of eighteen-year-old Gabriele Cannon. The Cannons own a vast Louisiana plantation and a couple hundred slaves. She has an older brother Tom. Gabriele’s widowed father Oliver would like to free his slaves but state laws forbid it. Both Tom and Gabriele have been brought up with their aunt Mat’s slave girl Veronique; the latter is an accomplished dressmaker and earns money with her skill, though her earnings go to the aunt!

The novel is well written, with often lyrical descriptions, and captures the hopes and fears of the young Gabriele. Debus exhibits an understanding of the environment and all the people, the free and the enslaved.

‘And then she felt herself lifted as her mount left the earth, and for one moment in time, as the mare ran through air, the rider’s whole-body became light, buoyant, filled with a sense of union with the day, with the animal beneath her, with the world that bounded the life of Gabriele Cannon’ (p9).

While catching crayfish in the creek she observes a passenger on the deck of an approaching steam packet boat. This scene is artfully evoked by the cover painting by the artist David Bergen. Shortly afterwards, she is introduced to the passenger she had spotted: Alex St Cyr, an old friend of Tom’s, and Alex’s northern cousin, Jordan Scott.

Inevitably, both Alex and Jordan are attracted to Gabriele. Jordan’s family owns a lucrative shipping business. There is discussion concerning the lack of freedom of slaves to which Tom is sympathetic, while those who work on Scott ships are free men. Tom argues: ‘Legally (your seamen) are free. No one can actually sell them – but they are bought over and over again. Bought for low wages and given scandalous living quarters – not only in ships, but in factories all over the north’ (p93). It’s all very amicable, they agree to differ. Jordan intends to improve the lot of his workforce, but history interferes with his intentions.

Throughout, Gabriele is sympathetic to the plight of the slaves, even though compared to many plantations they are ‘treated well’.

Gabriele’s father is away a lot, involved in the politics, hoping to find compromise, but to no avail. His unexpected death means Gabriele must go into mourning dress.

Come April 1861, the die is cast – and very many will die as a result. Tom was drilling the home guard, as the military had moved north to combat the Yankees: ‘Spring sunshine, still pale and soft in late April, bathed the marchers with an almost veiled light, delicately gilding the long barrels of their rifles, staining their faces with the faint wash of gold’ (p223).

The fighting is virtually all reported: by newspapers or by witnesses who are usually fleeing. Terrible though the battles were, it is mainly only the results Gabriele sees: the wounded by the score.

Alex does not don the Confederate uniform, but becomes a blockade runner, his ship eluding the northerners. Jordan is fighting on the northern side. Tom too was away, fighting for the Confederacy. Gabriele and Aunt Mat coped, running the plantation.

When she finally relinquishes her mourning clothes, Gabriele appraises herself. She is older, and possibly wiser. The colour of her face ‘seemed fresher now, as though the heavy black of her mourning clothes had laid a film of grey over her skin that had now been removed’ (p235). She had ‘grown up’.

She had begun to realise that ‘The hardest battles are not with things outside ourselves, but with those within that work to make us lesser beings than we truly are’ (p247).

At 433 pages, this surprisingly was not a slow read. Interest was maintained throughout, with the reader wanting to know the fate of all of the finely drawn characters. In the mix: the disappearance of Veronique; a secret that Aunt Mat harboured; and the bonds of friendship that even war could not break, despite the friends being on different warring sides.

This historical saga is a fair and readable rendering of a young woman’s situation in a period fraught with complex issues, distress, privation and danger.

In these febrile times it is unlikely that Debus would find a publisher for this heartfelt honest book. I note that it doesn’t have any reviews on Amazon; and it doesn’t fare too well on Goodreads – averaging 3.5 stars. I’d give it four stars for the quality of the writing and the author’s sympathetic immersion in a past time.

Book One of The Sundering Chronicles by Mark Iles (2021) is an excellent speculative fiction novel. It begins as if it’s sci-fi but evolves into a cross-genre conflation of fantasy, sci-fi and horror. Most definitely horror.

It begins on the ill-fated planet of Halloween where space troopers are combating the planet’s inhabitants. Steff Philips is with his members of the flight wing enjoying a meal when it all goes wrong, horribly wrong. Steff retreats to his room – but he isn’t safe there. ‘A rotting hand, with ribbons of flesh hanging from exposed bone, reached up from underneath his bed and snatched at his ankle.” The stuff of nightmares. 

However, Steff isn’t the hero of this novel. That’s Seethan Bodell, a space fleet commander. When he’s not on duty and working overtime at the base, he lives in the boarding house of Mrs Maskill, a lady who has become his adoptive mother. Seethan is coping well even though he occasionally suffers from PTSD brought on by previous conflicts where he has lost men. Guilt is never far from the surface. But he employs his coping strategies to defeat the darkness.

Because the humans felt forced to retaliate with devastating effect, Halloween became a wasteland and the indigenous inhabitants – nicknamed the Spooks – escaped to form a massive fleet capable of attacking Earth in dreadful reprisal. And they seem unbeatable. Onboard one of the Earth space carriers is Admiral Woodward – a nod by Iles to Sandy Woodward who was the British task force commander in the Falklands War. 

Yet there is one slim chance for humanity. Seethan is tasked with embarking on the mission that would alter history and even right the wrongs of the past in one fell swoop. He is accompanied by the fetching android Rose who was built in Bradbury City on Mars. ‘Her hair’s like spun gold, and her skin’s… well, porcelain. She has these wonderful deep-green eyes, ones you could drown in…’ (p95) Androids are not particularly liked by many humans; people feel threatened, despite the Asimov Laws of Robotics. Seethan’s is not one of those; he’s in love with Rose.

A rather distasteful suitor of Mrs Maskill is Alan. Seethan doesn’t like him: ‘he smells like Portsmouth Harbour when the tide’s gone out.’ There are plenty of humorous asides, but they’re never there merely for jokey effect. 

Up to this point it is clear that Iles had experience in the armed forces and he clearly evokes the dangers and sheer horror of war, and the psychological damage suffered by many combatants.

Sadly, the event that Seethan triggers is not what had been planned. Instead, the result is the Sundering. ‘The Sundering left Earth’s reality torn.’ (p172) 

Then, Iles really gets inventive. What had been a space military scenario is transformed into a quest for the sake of love, with a colourful environment, fascinating characters and beasts, and an overshadowing threat.

There are a good number of fine descriptions. I particularly liked ‘a shower of brilliant sparks to scatter like panicked fairies.’ (p116) And a saying from Seethan’s mother, which has resonance even today: ‘Don’t look back, you’re not going that way.’ (p137) And: Dragonflies as long as Seethan’s arms buzzed about like military drones as they snatched the butterflies in mid-air.’ (p174) 

Did I mention horror? Yes, I did: ‘The thing … sat into the chair, it creaked as he sat back… one foot slowly tapping against the bare wooden floor. With each tap, small things fell to the floor and squirmed, wriggling their way towards the bed…’ (p125) Iles can do horror, sci-fi wonder, compassion, poignancy and full-blooded action.

No spoilers here, but there is a neat twist or two at the end, which several players did not see coming. While never preachy, the book says something about nature, conservation, aspects of love and hubris, as well as survival. 

Although it’s Book One, Gardens of Earth tells a complete story, so the reader is not left hanging.

Excellent stuff!

Mort Künstler – The Godfather of Pulp Fiction Illustrators

Edited by Robert Deis & Wyatt Doyle

My daughter bought this for me for Christmas.

There are 110 pages; the first ten comprise illustrated text – reminiscences by Mort about how he got into the illustrating business. For many years he’d turn out three covers and two interior illos for men’s adventure magazines. He also worked for other publishers at the same time, ‘twelve-hour days, fifteen-hour days, sometimes seven days a week.’

The remaining pages are full colour full page paintings full of action from magazines between 1952 and 1972. He also produced lots of film posters for adventure films such as The Poseidon Adventure and The Hindenburg, as well as advertising promotions and then broke into historical paintings for The National Geographic.

He relates that the word 'künstler' means ‘artist’ in German.

If you appreciate art, this book is an excellent addition to your collection.