Andy Mcnab
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Welcome to the board of All-Things-Andy. :) It's a fun group and these guys have tons of info and insight about Andy and SAS-type stuff. I'm trying to read through all past posts 'cause I just joined in a week or so ago, and it's taking quite a bit of time. And I'm a pretty fast reader.
Anyway, it's great to hear from Finland. :)
See you around!
>>By Dare (Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003 00:35)
hello all,
i've been up all night now, reading through the forum, and getting a deeper insight into the topic(s). I've yet to check all the links to other pages due to the amount of stuff...
i did a quick search in local bookstores for DW and found out that
ISBN: 0-593-05026-6
ISBN: 1856865673
ISBN: 1856868486
ISBN: 0593050258
all of these will be shipped to finland by end 2003, meaning they're prolly all in english
i started wondering about AM fiction books, and whether the plotlines hold any sort of realism?
Does AM just have a good imagination, or are the stories allegoric in some way?
(there certainly was no shooting at any hotels in helsinki in dec.1999)
AM must also have performed quite meticulous 'recce' to get things right...
(wonder if finnish hotels would agree on letting strangers browse through their guestbooks for late 1999?)
re: about falkland vets early demises
Someone pointed out that "a needle mark can be overlooked, if not searched for". True, but who would carry this out?
some ppl that are equally/better trained than the SAS?
why? In IA, AM states that
"With our skills and knowledge we could bring down governments in months."
i'm prolly getting just a bit too paranoid here... i think i'll start lurking and reading the books.
>>By walla (Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003 11:54)
Good stuff, Walla! Thanks! Why on earth would you even think about going back to lurking? Paranoia can be fun if shared amongst friends... :o)
Following up on the ISBN's you found, the one that ends in "73" led to a neat site I've never seen before. The link below goes straight to AM (duh!), but you can look up other authors and books as well.
www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Andy_McNab.htm
The ISBN "58" seems to be the hardback UK version from Amazon, and "86" will be the audio (abridged I assume). Couldn't find the first ISBN, tho, do you have any more info on it? Maybe I overlooked it somewhere.
Lots and lots of realism in AM's books, some almost exact, some only based in general. Since you've only read Firewall so far, you've only seen a fifth (so far) of how much he does base in fact. While an incident like the kidnapping from the Helsinki hotel might not actually have taken place, I assume AM wrote the Valentin snatch based either on real events or "worst case scenarios" of a planned snatch. Moonlight Maze and Echelon are both real -- even the Sunday London Times article that Liv has Nick read is real (altho the date is not July 25) -- lots of interesting info available through google searches. Another thing, less fact-based but more likely AM recanting personal knowledge, was Tom's symptoms of hypothermia -- how similar to what Dinger probably experienced with Steve (Legs) Lane.
Sheesh! I'd better not get started. This is one of my favourite subjects -- I could go on for hours and pages speculating on all the little incidentals or things I've researched because AM mentioned them. It's almost like a trivia game with me, recognizing things in his fiction that tie back to real experiences he wrote about in his bios (excluding all the too-obvious AM/NS shared background stuff) or finding the facts which he has woven into his fiction. With only the proposed name "Dark Winter" for his new book, we figured out what the plot would involve long before Amazon had a synopsis and even before AM told more about it in his online chats, but then that's the beauty of him using real-life facts for his fiction!
>>By am-i-binned (Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003 17:28)
My gosh will it never end, just saw the UN hotel blast in Baghdad, happened a couple of hours ago. Don't these people (terrorists) ever want some peace and democracy...
And now to AM and LL : actually I jumped from RM to LL, so I've missed quite a bit in between. Just because it's so hard to find his books here in Tuscany, I found them while I was in Belgium, english version also, so happy meeeee.
Well yes AM is very descriptive, from what NS is doing to what he is seeiing. For instance take the countryside he sees in Panama, now either he's been there or he does a lot of research via the net or what else. It seems to me as if he travels through and videotapes everything as he passes through, so when he comes home (where ever that is) he just looks back at the video and starts writting what he's taped.
I haven't read LD yet but I allready know he sort of falls in love with Carrie, and then they break off aswell??
I think NS reflects quite a bit of AM's character, and surely he writes how he would act if he would be in certain situations. So I guess AM is the "DEMOLITION MAN" , or at least was when he was in the Sas. I think he's or was also a dangerous guy, I don't know but reading between the lines it just gives me that sort of impression, Idon't know if I'd trust him. Maybe I'm judging wrong here, so AM if you're reading this I apologise.
What else can i say about LL, well I read it in 2 days, wich isn't bad, a good sign , means I was glued to my chair.
Now I'm reading Land of fire by CR, but I'm back at work so I have little time to finish it. And I must say i'm enjoying it too. It's quite different to AM, written in the first person aswell. But the CR's character seems more even sometimes too secure of himself, not that NS isn't, but you can feel between the lines he's (NS) got some problems to solve, psychologically that is.
As for the rest, had a great holiday. Flying around to the caribbean sea, drinking some mohito or pina colada, doing some limbo dancing (wich almost broke my back), and then off to sweet chocolate and french fries Belgium, hot there aswell. <now I'm back home it's even hotter. Will it ever stop, I'll be calling the witches of the north, south, etc... to make it rain here.
Help, please send us some rain, it's ok for the grapes this sun, I mean we'll have a hell of a wine coming, but a couple of degrees less heat wouldn't damage anything, now would it.
>>By borisette (Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003 17:57)
Hi Walla, welcome to F Troop.
Am-I-Binned explained about the similarities between real events and those taking place in his fictional books.
I'd like to add something about Nick Stone that I thought was funny. Andy McNab was asked about similarities between himself and Nick Stone in a live-chat (March 17, 2003) this was his answer:
" Well all the good bits of Nick Stone are obviously me! And all the bad bits are a mixture of people I've known. And what I try to do with the incidents he gets involved in is take real life incidents that either I or people I know have been involved in, and take them out of their environment and put them into the book. So when something goes wrong in the book, it did go wrong in real life, and everything that went right is all the stuff that I done!"
Did send you some rain Borisette but it could have been intercepted (conspiracy theory)
;-)
Take care all,
>>By Lynn (Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003 21:17)
EET - Tue Aug 19 23:38:05 2003 - eastern european time
(zulu+2)
from the amount of detail in firewall, AM certainly has been to helsinki. The detail of the hotel, adjacent streets, back entrance/service ramp, lockers at train station, department store, distances to houses, and the ferry to estonia is described in such a way that SOMEONE must have done the recce.
i don't have the book here right now, but if i remember correctly the only thing out of place was the locker, which wasn't at the exact same location as in the book. Like i said, i don't have the book atm, if someone could send the locker no. i could do some 'ctr' with pictures of firewall locations. (hotel/railway station etc.)
>>By walla (Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003 22:38)
EET - Wed Aug 20 00:01:40 2003 - eastern european time
(zulu+2)
DARK WINTER
MCNAB A
Hinta: 16,50 €
ISBN: 0-593-05026-6
Ilmestymisaika: 2003
Kustantaja: BANTAM PRESS LTD
Painos:
Sivumäärä:
Sidosasu: NID
hinta=price
isbn=duh!
ilmestysaika=time of release
kustantaja=publisher
painos=print
sivumäärä=no. of pages
sidosasu=something to do with how the book is 'built'
>>By walla (Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003 23:01)
To Lynn,
Tell me if you've received AM's pic allright.
It's the only one you can see his eyes.
>>By borisette (Tuesday, 19 Aug 2003 23:41)
To Am-i-binned ;
Have you changed e-mail adress, I tried to send you the pic aswell but it sort of didn't arrive, says wrong adress.....?? well..if so, if you're interested in AM's blue eyes.. send me a message, ok?
(maybe I should get paid for this.....?)
anyway you can get it on the net, at least if you understand italian, cause they ask you a lot of questions, before showing you the interview.
>>By borisette (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 00:05)
Well I'm off to bed with CR,...... his book offcourse, what did you think...haaa
Don't think my hubby would agree with that, and speaking between us, CR ain't all that good looking now is he. Can't tell about AM now can we, the mistery man...who knows maybe he turns out to be a complete dissapointment in the end. (now was that with 2 esses or only 1).
And Walla, stop using this forum to send your criptated messages to the enemy, okay.
>>By borisette (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 00:17)
Hello borisette!
Oooh, a pic of AM? Can I get in on this? Blue eyes, hmmm.....
I do feel better knowing that there are others out there that think Nick is the bomb. :) I was feeling a bit weird mooning over a character in a book. Not that is hasn't happened before, just not so ....."WOW.... isn't he great?" ;)
>>By Dare (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 06:11)
check this site out :
http://www.bookbooters.com/b07789.asp
>>By borisette (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 13:24)
Hey Borisette, no I didn't get the picture, got lost with that rain I send you I guess ;o)
But it's ok since there's another picture available, at least it still is.. don't know for how long now I mention it on the board.
Don't know when it was taken but he looks rather angry at the photographer and giving him the finger so I doubt he was happy it was taken. Andyway.. at long as it;s still on the net, take a look at the unshaven face WITH eyes and all..
http://rutgerv.home.cern.ch/rutgerv/aap.jpg
Sorry Andy.. just couldn't let it unreveiled.
:o)
>>By Lynn (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 15:04)
sorry borisette. I've only been here a limited time...
who was the enemy again?
maybe if i could fool them by changing my nickname...
will be known as 'trident' from now on
>>By walla (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 15:08)
Lynn,
nice one...lol. I bet Andy will be happy with that one.
You should' ve received the pic by now I tried again this time clicking on the image. I send it even to myself on my other email adress, so you must have it by now. Now I can't open my mail box anymore, has AM anything to do with this, boycotting my email,.... I'm out of here before he catches me, at least I can outrun him, I hope, .....gulp.
>>By borisette (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 15:19)
Thanx Borisette.. it's absolutely great. Now I have to decide which picture I like best.. ;o)
No enemies for a while here Walla, it's great to learn some words from Finland. WHat is hello and goodbye?
>>By Lynn (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 15:22)
re: lynn learning finnish
hello is 'päivää' and goodbye is 'näkemiin'
the ä is pronounced a bit like the 'a' in 'rancid'
>>By trident (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 15:25)
Oh please don't take goodbye the wrong way !!!! As I read back you might think I was saying goodbye to you (learning to read through lurking devil's eyes).. Absolutely not, you're very welcome Walla. Just want to learn some more words..
>>By Lynn (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 15:26)
We crossposted Wally / Trident.. Päivää !
Happy to read you didn't think bad of my asking goodbye.
But how on earth am I going to pronounce that.. like
rancid ok.. but the rest????
Näkemiin!
>>By Lynn (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 15:29)
i thought the 'ä' was the only tricky part...
bare with me now, i'm not the greatest teacher in the world
starting with 'päivää'
p -> like in 'pudding'
ä -> like the a in 'rancid'
i -> like in 'ignore'
v -> like in 'victory'
ää -> like in twice the 'a' in 'rancid' =)
'näkemiin' is a bit easiert..
'näk' -> knack
'emi' -> like the company 'emi'
'iin' -> iin...
finnish is one of the hardest languages to learn, if you come over, speak english. You'll look less out of place than if you were to try speaking finnish. Remain grey.
-'firepower is one bullet that hits'
george s. patton
>>By trident (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 15:43)
Hey all,
You might not be able to hear me unless you have super human hearing but im speaking finnish yey!
>>By christina (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 20:21)
I get what you mean by 'hardest language to learn'
I'll practise tomorrow and try to avoid people with stait-jackets
cause it might look pretty weird :-[]
>>By Lynn (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 22:38)
it looks weird enough in finland, when everyone talks on their mobile phones via headsets... looks like people are three fries short of a happy meal when they're talking 'to themselves'
>>By trident (Wednesday, 20 Aug 2003 22:41)
Speaking of being "three fries short of a happy meal", I wonder how confusing cellphones with hands-free headsets have made it for recce ops. Not having a cellphone of my own, I have no idea if there's a problem with possible bleedover on the team's radios or other comm devices, but it sounds like a normal sort of techie charlie-foxtrot.
There's the team in position and getting ready to move in when their communications start to pick up ....
"Delta, you have control."
"Base, we have....", and signal fades in ...
"... so I told Rochelle to keep her d*** hands off my man.... and the rest of her skanky self!"
"Did you see the dinner napkin she was wearing, girlfriend? And where'd did she get that weave? Rugs-R-Us?"
"So I told Jamal he better go find hisself some other woman cause this brown sugar ain't puttin' up with none of that!"
:)
This doesn't even take into account trying to spot agents since EVERYBODY is talking to themselves nowadays. Of course, that works both ways and makes out guys harder to spot too.
"Base, I can't tell if this guy is our target or just calling for a pizza."
>>By Dare (Thursday, 21 Aug 2003 05:28)
'charlie-foxtrot'?
>>By trident (Thursday, 21 Aug 2003 08:02)
Nice one Dare! But I doubt it'll work that way. I hope it'll not work that way.. Anyone with more communication skills might be able to help us out here..??
>>By Lynn (Thursday, 21 Aug 2003 21:47)
Trident....Re: 'charlie-foxtrot'?
Military jargon for "cluster fu**". Something like "snafu" only worse. :)
Lynn.... Re: Comm skills.
Yeah, I have no idea how those things really work. I'm definitely a part of the rapidly diminishing group of those sans cellphone. What little I know about them could fit into a proverbial thimble. :)
My understanding is that they are one of the least secure ways to reach out and touch someone. Anyone and their brother could pick up signals on easy and inexpensive to buy scanning equipment. Don't know if it's still like that but ....
And of course, we can't forget that they're regular little homing devices too. :)
>>By Dare (Thursday, 21 Aug 2003 22:17)
Anybody knows what the article was about this january 2003 written in the Sun. About Vince Philips and the B20.
>>By borisette (Friday, 22 Aug 2003 19:28)
PC problems: have been offline for a while.
Borisette: a pic of Andy? Really? Can I have it too *puppy eyes*?
>>By Lethe (Friday, 22 Aug 2003 19:36)
still can't post on Dean Francis forum for some reason - so I'm here!!! Hope you're all well. I see scouse finally posted a pic of himself on flork!
>>By Apparently (Saturday, 23 Aug 2003 08:33)
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