Marsh Posted June 14, 2005 Posted June 14, 2005 Marsh's Merkava book is now available in the the United States.183914[/snapback] Hi Ken,Did you get the Pm I sent you? cheersMarsh
Guest commander Posted July 2, 2005 Posted July 2, 2005 It seams that we are fortunate enough to have a number of authors/writers who post on Tanknet. This topic is a roll call for the literary minded among us. What have you written? What attracted you to the subject matter, how did you research it? What’s in the pipeline? What advice would you give to any other Tanknet members who are considering writing?39417[/snapback] Chieftain, Conqueror, FV430 and working on a Challenger 2 all subjects I have worked with dont give up when the publishers reject slips arrive.
Kenneth P. Katz Posted July 21, 2005 Posted July 21, 2005 My article on the B-52 Avionics Midlife Improvement program will appear under the title of "More Bang for the BUFF" in Combat Aircraft magazine, Volume 7, Number 2 (September 2005). It is based on research that I did when I visited my old squadron last year.
Ken Estes Posted July 27, 2005 Posted July 27, 2005 My article on the B-52 Avionics Midlife Improvement program will appear under the title of "More Bang for the BUFF" in Combat Aircraft magazine, Volume 7, Number 2 (September 2005). It is based on research that I did when I visited my old squadron last year.197754[/snapback] Ha! That's a baaad title, Ken! Cheers, Ken
Kenneth P. Katz Posted July 28, 2005 Posted July 28, 2005 The editor gets the credit for that one. I think that the title I submitted was B-52 Avionics Midlife Improvement Program. Yep, I'm an engineer by education. Can you tell? Ha! That's a baaad title, Ken! Cheers, Ken200247[/snapback]
acilius Posted September 10, 2005 Posted September 10, 2005 (edited) My last springs work is paying off in the form of my first book (sort of) getting published. I'm sort of celebrating it by announcing it to all the world. Its an introductory text on the Philosophy of Warfare. I helped professor of Management and Leadership Major Huhtinen (Of the Finnish National Defense College) get it together last spring. I fully recommend it to all finnish speakers although I must admit that it isn't all it could be. [pun intended] Bibliographical data: Huhtinen, Aki-Mauri & Aimonen, Tuomo (toim.) , Sanasota, Johdatus sodan ja sodanjohtamisen filosofiaan, Elan Vital, Lahti ja Johtamisen laitos, Maanpuolustuskorkeakoulu, Helsinki, 2005. ISBN:952-99577-0-X The book is on sale at Akateeminen Kirjakauppa, I have no idea of the price. :wink: Edited September 10, 2005 by acilius
298tyr Posted September 17, 2005 Posted September 17, 2005 Dear Chris Ive visted three Motorbooks has been mentionedFoyles isn't specialist miltary but its military book dept is as big as most book shops - not as good as it used to beBarbarossa Books in Maldon Essex - in the middle of nowhere! And theres one in Farnborough (whos name I can't recall) and Caliver books also in Essex ] There used to be a good shop in Doncaster, UK called Athena - haven't been there a while so I don't know if it's still open.
Jason Posted September 19, 2005 Posted September 19, 2005 The editor gets the credit for that one. I think that the title I submitted was B-52 Avionics Midlife Improvement Program. Yep, I'm an engineer by education. Can you tell? 200450[/snapback]Ken, that article was great. I've been doing research on the B-52 in preparation for building a 1/72 B-52H in current operational configuration and found your article helpful and informative. Placement of various antennae is always good information since model manufacturers have a tendency to miss some of the minor blade type antennae. Also, AMT's B-52H is in a more 1980's configuration and still includes the tail gun so will need lots of work to upgrade to current operational configuration. Do you have any good pictures of current B-52's from your trip that you might be able to email me? Pics showing minor external details (probes, pitot tubes and antennae) would be great.
Kenneth P. Katz Posted September 20, 2005 Posted September 20, 2005 Glad you liked it. Ken, that article was great. I've been doing research on the B-52 in preparation for building a 1/72 B-52H in current operational configuration and found your article helpful and informative. Placement of various antennae is always good information since model manufacturers have a tendency to miss some of the minor blade type antennae. Also, AMT's B-52H is in a more 1980's configuration and still includes the tail gun so will need lots of work to upgrade to current operational configuration. Do you have any good pictures of current B-52's from your trip that you might be able to email me? Pics showing minor external details (probes, pitot tubes and antennae) would be great.224170[/snapback]
X-Files Posted October 4, 2005 Posted October 4, 2005 Any opinions on this site's offerings, most by Rod McCoy?http://www.quikmaneuvers.com/
Robert Robinson Posted October 12, 2005 Posted October 12, 2005 It seams that we are fortunate enough to have a number of authors/writers who post on Tanknet. This topic is a roll call for the literary minded among us. What have you written? What attracted you to the subject matter, how did you research it? What’s in the pipeline? What advice would you give to any other Tanknet members who are considering writing?39417[/snapback]I am two thirds of the way through ‘Unconventional Weapons’ The term ‘conventional weapons’ is normally used to cover those tools of war that are not included in nuclear, chemical or biological arsenals. However these latter agents of mass destruction are not usually referred to as ‘unconventional weapons’ This book seeks to examine those weapons that whilst not being nuclear, chemical or biological fell outside the mainstream of the military technology of their day. In some cases these represent examples of manifestations of older technologies lingering on or being reintroduced long after the bulk of equipment of this nature has been assigned to the museum. Other instances cover inventions introduced ahead of their time, in some cases these eventually did develop into conventional weapons. Sometimes unorthodox weaponry represents the response to circumstances where ‘ desperate situations require desperate measures’. Unconventional weapons can sometimes be a highly specialised reaction to an unusual challenge, niche weaponry. Alas simple human stupidity or craziness may also be the progenitor of the unorthodox. Unconventional is not necessarily synonymous with ineffective. Some unconventional weapons have been spectacularly successful, albeit often only for short periods or in very specific (and unusual) circumstances. Some have been spectacular only in the failure. Research – over the years I have built up a fairly substantial personal library of material in the form of books and other material (e.g. specialist magazines etc). I have made wide use of the Internet with mixed results – there is a lot of tedious duplication out there and military equivalents of the urban myth. Not to be approached with an uncritical mind. I have also had a varied career as a principal consultant with international management consultants, this has taken me to many countries (over 40) and I have met many interesting people (including some quite nasty types) some of whom have supplied useful info. Advice - Use logic on everything. There is a lot of generally accepted wisdom contained in many well established sources that is in fact internally inconsistent. Question question and question.
FlyingCanOpener Posted October 16, 2005 Posted October 16, 2005 Ken, that article was great. I've been doing research on the B-52 in preparation for building a 1/72 B-52H in current operational configuration and found your article helpful and informative. Placement of various antennae is always good information since model manufacturers have a tendency to miss some of the minor blade type antennae. Also, AMT's B-52H is in a more 1980's configuration and still includes the tail gun so will need lots of work to upgrade to current operational configuration. Do you have any good pictures of current B-52's from your trip that you might be able to email me? Pics showing minor external details (probes, pitot tubes and antennae) would be great.224170[/snapback] Seconding Jason's sentiments on your article. Didn't know what to expect when I saw how long it was in terms of detail, but you did a good job of getting the info in. I expected nothing less from a TankNetter...
Basajaun Posted December 1, 2005 Posted December 1, 2005 (edited) Hi!! Not really sure if what I do is enough to get the title of an "author" of anything. I am a tank-fanatic (well, in this forum that's something obvious, really), a backpacker and an amateur photographer (Not a bad one, I would like to think). Mixing that all up, I got a enormous collection of Tank pictures taken in the best tank museums in Europe. They are not a book, but they will make a a great book if they were in print. So that's my "artwork" a big series of Tank pictures. Edited December 1, 2005 by Basajaun
FirstOfFoot Posted January 6, 2006 Posted January 6, 2006 Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but congratulations to BillB for making the book review section of "Soldier" magazine for his history of the Paras... http://www.soldiermagazine.co.uk/mag/books.htm
FlyingCanOpener Posted January 7, 2006 Posted January 7, 2006 Not sure if this has been mentioned already, but congratulations to BillB for making the book review section of "Soldier" magazine for his history of the Paras... http://www.soldiermagazine.co.uk/mag/books.htm267068[/snapback] Agreed! Man Bill, didn't know you wrote some other books! My Wish List on Amazon got longer...
Tony Williams Posted January 22, 2006 Posted January 22, 2006 I have posted all the reviews (to date) on my alternate WW2 novel The Foresight War on my website here: HERE Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
Kit Hildreth Posted March 6, 2006 Posted March 6, 2006 Absolutely! Very few writers go back to do original research (it's enormously time-consuming), they just look at a well-respected source and assume that it's correct. This is particularly obvious when a mistake is made. For example, I think it was probably William Green who first stated that late-model Bf 109s had MG 151 cowling guns. No they didn't, they couldn't possibly fit - it was almost certainly a typo for MG 131 - but you still find this being repeated! Incidentally, the standard academic joke is that copying from one person is plagiarism, copying from several is scholarship. Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and Discussion forum39450[/snapback]It was indeed! I still have my nearly 50year old copy of FFOT2ndWW as irrefutable proof ! I DO like that joke by the way... ncidentally there is one much pilloried "Historian"(In the PC sense of the term of course) who never used anything but the Horses Mouth as his sources and is now serving a 3 year gaol sentence in Austria for daring to not only arrive at the wrong conclusions, but commit those to print. He then tried to wiggle out of it by "reading" somebody elses' diaries thereby returning to the correct conclusion. To no avail. Still, at least they aren't burning his books just yet: but they are becoming hard to find. I well remember my Dad's apoplexy after his reading the Hatchet Job on Bomber Command about the "war crime" of Dresden! Fortunately, my Dad wasn't a judge...shock, horror, The Economist has just come to his defense - or at least the right to express himself. It really makes one wonder if what the Nazis were trying to do with their book-burning isn't being repeated, but in a more palatable form...
Kit Hildreth Posted March 7, 2006 Posted March 7, 2006 Agreed! Man Bill, didn't know you wrote some other books! My Wish List on Amazon got longer... 267278[/snapback]Well! My websearch skills need a complete chassis-up overhaul; couldn't find it. BUT did anyone check-out the Chall 2 kitted out with a Jerry 120mil smoothbore...VERRY INTERRESTIN'! Must say "Soldier" has changed a wee bit since the last issue, I read WAYYY back in '67...thanks FCO
Kenneth P. Katz Posted March 31, 2006 Posted March 31, 2006 Combat Aircraft magazine has published another article written by me in Vol. 7, No. 6. The subject is NASA's new B-52H mothership. I had actually submitted a substantially longer article, with some detailed photographic coverage of the interior and exterior of the aircraft, but the editors published a shorter one page "Air Intel Special Report". I think they did a nice job of editing my piece to fit the space that was available.
Tony Williams Posted May 16, 2006 Posted May 16, 2006 I have posted all the reviews (to date) on my alternate WW2 novel The Foresight War on my website here: HEREI have now updated the reviews page in the light of a flurry of new reviews: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk/TFWreviews.htm Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
Doug97 Posted June 20, 2006 Posted June 20, 2006 (edited) Is it just me, or is there something decidedly odd about the first post in this thread? BTW Tony, I've read your novel and I thought it was great. I've always thought that a scenario in which the entire British Isles were sent back to an alternate 1944, where the US stays out of the war and Hitler never attacks Russia, would be interesting. Would we be able to beat Hitler on our own? Edited June 20, 2006 by Doug97
Tony Williams Posted June 21, 2006 Posted June 21, 2006 Thanks Doug, I'm glad you enjoyed the book. The problem that our current-day armed forces would face if thrown back to 1944 is that our equipment would allow us to thrash any Axis forces we came up against - until the limited supply of missiles and ammo ran out, when we would be helpless (assuing that we wouldn't want to drop nukes on Germany). The best case would be to bluff: to put on a such a frightening display of technological firepower that the Nazis surrendered. As a last resort, a 'demonstration' of a small A-bomb somewhere relatively innocuous might do the trick (perhaps the unfortunate island of Heligoland...) Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
Doug97 Posted June 21, 2006 Posted June 21, 2006 (edited) What if we bided our time while we ramped up war production? Easier said that done, I know, giving that any materials we buy from the US are going to be 1940s-level technology, but we'd easily prevent Hitler from invading Britain and the battle for the Atlantic would be won in days, keeping the sealanes open. I do think immediate resort to nukes would be a possibility ... it would be an interesting political fight between the irrational fear of all things nuclear that exists in the UK today vs. the fear of ruining the economy with war production and people choosing to be deprived of their SUVs, Playstations and chocolate ;-) Anyhoo, back to the thread topic ... How did you get started on your first book? Did the risk of spending a lot of time and energy on it but never finding a publisher worry you? Also, what made you turn your hand to fiction? Was it more difficult than non-fiction? What kind of help did your editor give you? Edited June 21, 2006 by Doug97
Tony Williams Posted June 21, 2006 Posted June 21, 2006 What if we bided our time while we ramped up war production? Easier said that done, I know, giving that any materials we buy from the US are going to be 1940s-level technology, but we'd easily prevent Hitler from invading Britain and the battle for the Atlantic would be won in days, keeping the sealanes open.I think we would soon realise the interconnectedness of the modern world - we not only import many of our raw materials but also processed materials (some of them way beyond 1940s technology) and components. To have to recreate all of that from scratch would, I suspect, be a gigantic task which would take years of effort. I do think immediate resort to nukes would be a possibility ... it would be an interesting political fight between the irrational fear of all things nuclear that exists in the UK today vs. the fear of ruining the economy with war production and people choosing to be deprived of their SUVs, Playstations and chocolate ;-)No worries about the first two - in 1944 the Far East wasn't making any SUVs and Playstations to import... Anyhoo, back to the thread topic ... How did you get started on your first book? Did the risk of spending a lot of time and energy on it but never finding a publisher worry you? Also, what made you turn your hand to fiction? Was it more difficult than non-fiction? What kind of help did your editor give you?I first started many years ago by writing articles on guns and ammunition (in parallel with my cartridge collecting interest) for magazines like the late lamented 'Guns Review International', 'Warship World' and 'Military Illustrated' (BTW, I strongly recommend this as a way of getting into writing before you think about writing a book - it will demonstrate whether or not your work is saleable, and also whether you enjoy it enough to put in the major chunk of time required to write a book). The first book I started writing was 'The Foresight War', which I did simply because when reading about WW2 I kept thinking "I wonder what would have happened if they'd done this instead?" and "If only they knew what we know now - they could have handled things so much better." I kept wanting to write all these thoughts down, but couldn't think of any kind of format or audience. Eventually the idea of putting this into the form of an alternate history novel occurred to me, so I got started in 1998. I was really only writing for my own satisfaction, with the vague hope that I might get it published. The easy bit of the writing was the military tech which I pretty well knew off by heart - but researching people, places and events was hard work and I built up a huge stack of reference books by my desk. I did take a pride in getting it right, though - most readers will not care, but the weather just before, during and after my 'alternative' 1943 D-day is historically accurate; I first studied the moon phases to work out on which days the tides were suitable for the invasion, then visited a library and trawled through microfilms of newpapers of that date to read their weather reports from the Channel. However, I'd got about 75% of the way through the novel when I reached an impasse - I wasn't sure where to take the story next and had no idea how it was going to end - and I became diverted by a project to write a book about heavy MGs, automatic cannon and their ammunition (which became 'Rapid Fire'). The stimulus for this was that I had got to know the late Custodian of the MoD Pattern Room, which I frequently visited. It was stuffed full of these weapons (and written material about them) but nowhere could I find a single reference which contained the sort of information which I wanted to know. So I realised that I was in a very good position to write such a book myself, and got to work. It took about two years of effort, and I finished it before I started to look for a publisher (I found one at the fourth attempt, and it appeared in 2000). 'Rapid Fire' is still the book I'm most proud of, because there really wasn't (and still isn't) anything else covering the same field apart from Chinn's monumental work which, although very detailed in some respects, is frankly very patchy, with lots of errors and omissions. Anyway I then did a bit more work on The Foresight War and got it about 85% finished when I bought via mail-order a new book on aircraft guns, a particular interest of mine. I found it so awful that I thought ""I could do better than this by sitting down and writing without references for a couple of days" (if you want a laugh, I wrote a review of it, still posted here: http://www.j-aircraft.org/bkreview/dispreview.php?revnumb=19 ). So I got in touch with Emmanuel Gustin, who I'd never met but communicated with on this subject, and proposed a joint project. I knew about the guns and ammunition, he was the expert on aircraft and their gun installations, so we put a proposal to my publishers which was accepted (incidentally, Emmanuel lives in Belgium and we've still only managed to meet once!). Another couple of years hard work followed, during which our 'book' grew to a trilogy, eventually emerging as the 'Flying Guns' series in 2003/4 (somewhat interrupted when my publishers went bust - but the ones who bought the remnants of their business wanted to carry on with the project). At this point I realised that the 60th anniversary of the end of WW2 was emerging, after which interest in the subject seemed likely to decline, so if I was ever going to finish 'The Foresight War' I'd better get a move on. I made a concerted effort and finished it in 2004. Then the fun began when I started looking for a publisher. My usual firm, The Crowood Press, don't deal with fiction so I had to start from scratch. I soon realised a couple of hard truths about fiction publishing. The first one is that publishers are so swamped with manuscripts from aspiring authors that most of them don't bother to look at them unless they're sent to them by literary agents who they trust. So it's better to get a literary agent. The next discovery is that most literary agents are so swamped etc that they don't bother to look at them either, unless they are from established novelists or people who are well known (like footballers or politicians...). After several attempts I was getting nowhere (all aspiring novelists should be aware that the first of J K Rowling's 'Harry Potter' books was rejected by about thirty publishers...), so I ran out of patience and decided to look into publishing the book myself. I soon discovered the 'vanity publishers' who will charge you a five-figure sum for printing 500 copies of a glossily-produced hardback which they dump on your doorstep and then leave you to it...That wasn't what I wanted so I located Authors on Line, who offer a menu of services to authors, including editing, book layout and cover design. They charge for this, but also get the book an ISBN number, advertise it on their website and (crucially) get it put on amazon.com and amazon.co.uk. From their website, you can buy it as an e-book for downloading, and for the hard copies they work on a Print on Demand system, which means that books are only printed as they are ordered. The advantages of this are that you have absolute control over what is published, the whole process is much faster (it took about two months from when I first approached them) and you get a bigger slice of the income from sales. The book also remains permanently available, at the cost of a small annual fee. The downside, apart from having to pay (or invest as I see it) up-front, is that you have to do the marketing yourself and the book won't be found by casual browsers in bookshops - it has to be ordered. Given that book sales are increasingly happening on-line, that is less of a problem than it was. I can't claim to have made money on it yet, but sales are still doing well and I'm frankly not that bothered - I don't primarily write to make money, there are much easier ways of doing that (like getting a job as a cleaner - it pays better per hour!). I get a lot of satisfaction from seeing my work in print and discussing it with readers. Anyway, I had been having some discussions with Max Popenker of the guns.ru site, and suggested to him that with my knowledge of the ammo and his of guns, we could put together a book on military rifles - which duly appeared in 2004 as 'Assault Rifle' (it is very easy to get book proposals published once your publisher has realised that you can deliver). Max lives in Russia and we've not yet met - collaborative working has been transformed by the internet! I'm now most of the way through my second novel (not on a military subject, just one of those half-waking dreams that I couldn't stop thinking about) and after edited a book for Max on handguns (now with the publishers) we have now started one on machine guns, and I am working on a book on naval guns (in both cases, contracts have been signed). I have never had any help from editors, and what I've written has been published as I wrote it, apart from the odd word here and there. I am fortunate in that I have been trained to write and I enjoy it - and in my day job I frequently had to write clear, logical reports for a critical audience. So writing non-fiction comes naturally to me. Fiction is a rather diferent process, less predictable because your characters tend to get lives of their own and head in directions you didn't expect. I find it fun, though. I should perhaps add that I took early retirement from my day job last year so I could spend more time writing and editing (I am Co-editor of Jane's Ammunition Handbook, responsible for small arms, cannon and mortar ammo, and also editor of The Cartridge Researcher, the monthly bulletin of the European Cartridge Research Association). I'm enjoying myself enormously although I have piles of work to do and weekends have disappeared - unless I actually arrange with my long-suffering wife to do something else, every day is a working day. The difference is that I'm working at home, as and when I like, on things which really interest me. I hope to carry on writing for a long time! Tony Williams: Military gun and ammunition website and discussion forum
Doug97 Posted June 21, 2006 Posted June 21, 2006 Ah, that's why I found your book on Amazon but didn't see it in shops! I really love their 'You might also be interested in ...' system, never know what you might find next. But you've got to tell me what your next novel is about ... and when will it be ready? You mentioned you'd been trained in writing. Was that journalism, or literature, or something else, if you don't mind me asking?
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