Andy Mcnab
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..."After two hours I was quite an expert on basques and suspenders"... He should know!!!
Lordy lordy his secret fetish showing, more and more...
Who was it said only the SBS like rubber (?), and the Paras into stringy bits, ha, ha...Don't you believe it, the SAS are up for legging it in lace if the going gets too tough in the interrogation block...
>>By buddy (Friday, 26 Sep 2003 21:03)
Uh-oh! My brain is in serious need of a tune-up or sumfink! Buddy, you've triggered another passage but I don't remember where, possibly IA, regarding the fine points of feminine disguise and selection of a lovely shade of lipstick... Anybody?
>>By am-i-binned (Friday, 26 Sep 2003 22:14)
Well well, dear andy andy, will have to reread all your books and this time read them between the lines. Seems like you're giving us all your "secrets" there, ah ah ah... Anyway every man has his "feminine" side, now don't they, so don't be ashamed, admit it!
>>By borisette (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 00:32)
Oh yes, I remember that too. He mentions the four week course in disguise, his "final" of dressing as a woman and finding the perfect shade of lipstick. And something about the instructor's shade not being quite right. :) It has to be B20 or one of the Nick books though, because I haven't read IA.
>>By Dare (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 00:51)
And check out the number list thingy! It doesn't even LIST all the page numbers!
Do we all need help, or what? :)
>>By Dare (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 00:54)
Maybe i should write a novel , about all the things that went wrong on all our patrols when i was in the army?Why do the british gloryfy all their defeats; Market Garden, Dunkirk etc Millionaire out of CTR that went pear shapped...
>>By Hedgie (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 02:11)
Hi,
well I'm new here and very into AM's books, esp the Nick Stone ones. But I say that only because there's so much more that can be written using fiction, and it's the writing style that grabs me b.t.w!
Didn't get round to reading all 81 (!) pages here, so pardon if this has been brought up and kicked round before - is the new Nick Stone book (Dark Winter) actually due out Nov 3rd this year? Saw it on Amazon but figured someone here might know more...
I love these books, I have to say I picked up one Chris Ryan book (thinking maybe SAS secretly stood for "Sh*t-hot Authoring Service") and I couldn't even get past page 20, the writing was awful and the dialogue - I've seen less wooden trees. In, of course, my opinion! Anyone know any other good authors in this area though?
What I like about "Andy's" writing (and is it true his real names Steven, read it in some debunk B20 book I flipped through?) is it's pacey, sharp, witty and straight to the point. And if anyone's seen that video he did, he talks like he writes, so even though Nick sometimes does some dubious stuff he's always really likeable and the author comes across that way too.
I reckon - in the nicest possible sense - Nick Stone is the new James Bond, I collect those Ian Fleming books and have a complete set in one edition (My name is Shanti941 and I am an anorak :-) ) and the way Fleming draws you in, makes you feel like you're getting into the world of the hero - well AM does that too, only the first party narrative puts it in a more pacy and contemporary league....
Finally, relieved to see what look like some other laydeez on here, started thinking I was the only girl in the world who'd rather read about making a hide in a bush than Bridget frickin'Jones and her calorie obsession! As a chick I'd never make it in the SAS (not that I'd probably want to either) so this is the closest I'm ever going to get.... but it'll certainly do!
Peace,
xS
>>By shanti941 (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 03:19)
Hello shanti941!
Welcome! Yes, there are lots of ladies here so you aren't alone. I agree with you about Andy's writing style. His humor and straightfoward manner are extremely accessible. His Nick Stone books are some of my favorite reads.
Haven't read any of the other SAS writers mentioned here.... yet. :) I also enjoy Ian Fleming's Bond, especially the book version. (I will admit that I like Bridget Jones too, though.)
Enjoy the board. It's good speed-reading practice, if you want to keep up with the prolific posters here! LOL
>>By Dare (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 03:43)
"I was sitting in the bush. cleaning the Iraqi's blood off the face of my Rolex Oyster Perpetual. It had seemed like an easy mission at first - but the Chardonnay had been vintage, I had ballsed up the take-down and now my chances of ever having another mini-break in the Gulf were blown.
Too late it hit me that the C-rations I'd put down my neck earlier exceeded my day's calories allowance by 217 k/cals, and I was deep in the shit.
Looking forwards to the weekend at Champneys M would allocate me when I returned, I dug my arse deeper into the sand dune, wondering if M was ever going to radio me (I'd done 1471 eight times but nothing) and waited for the sunrise...."
Yes - Nick, James and Bridget have been cloned, and the story will be continued if I can track down some veterinary grade meds....
Ta for the welcome, all the best!
xS
>>By shanti941 (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 04:06)
ROFL!
Omg, reading a Nick Stone mission is going to be loads of fun putting a Bridget/Bond spin to the action! *imagining Nick keeping track of the yards of clingwrap used, number of Mars bars eaten, and the number of alcoholic beverages he passes up in his mission reports ala Bridget Jones*
Not sure how to get "Jimmy" into the act yet. :)
>>By Dare (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 05:17)
Welcome Hedgie - sent you a reply/query Flork....
Hmm, you're right on the generalised Brit movie downers, but in battle/war cock-ups there's always the opportunity of overlords to see and avoid similar in future strategic operations....
Given that Dunkirk was a rescue mission for a small army of men seriously "out-gunned, out-tanked, out-planed", who were sent in to a war situation because Hitler invaded "Poland" it was no surprise then that the might of the Veermacht/Luftwaffe quickly gained superiority and drove the Brits/Canadians/Aussies/NewZealanders/S Africans back to the beaches...
Remember, the Americans had been talking peace with Hitler in all that time, and were only just beginning to see the light of "them" being next, that Hitler would go West when it suited him (READ Mein Camp). Jesus, the Americans were only willing to provide arms and equipment at great cost to the British Nation, which we were still repaying in the 80s/90s (hence Maggie sold off the family jewels ((mostly to Americans - power/steel/NSO, etc)) and created the boom/bust years)
During the WWII years not one American Captain/crewman sailed any one of the hundreds of "liberty ships" - they were supplied as unmanned, and the British Navy up until shortly after Dunkirk also protected the North Sea Convoys totally alone, and continued to do so for some years after!!! The Americans at the time were not allies as such, they were marketeers...
I wouldn't say any of the old black & white British movies about the Navy war years refer or reflect cock-ups!! Nor would I say films about the Battle of Britain could possibly be construed anything but a victory - not an American war plane in the sky at the time...I will say, though, that there were a "few " American flyers, mostly from the South (Confederate South) and a few from the Mid West who had strong family ties this side of the Pond and who volunteered of their own freewill to fly Spitfires.
The pity about movies is everyone tends to believe what they see, and when Hollywood bought up and closed down British film studios late 60s/early 70s, they also changed historical fact via Hollywood movies = British victories/successful missions suddenly became American triumphs with top American stars basking in fictional glory, their British counterparts given roles in which failure was paramount...
Oh, Shanti941, such a pity you couldn't come in and praise AM without slamming CR...I shall wholly disagree with you on CR's writing...It is not awful, the stories have immense depth, (never the same track), his dialogue isn't that much different than AM's. But, you do have to remember CR's not writing from one character viewpoint, ie; Nick Stone throughout, CR has expanded his viewpoint/vocabulary beyond AM by exploring other characters - sometimes first person perspective, sometimes third person perspective.
If I had the time I could trawl through the former postings and find three or four almost identical write-ups in twinned comparison to your first here, almost word for word...Oh, and Ian Fleming, ha, his wife was my mum's second cousin....What you see on screen now - James Bond - has nothing to do with Ian Fleming books...The family only receive royalties on original books/film scripts...The Bond name was purchased similarly to Nick Stone's by a major film studio, that is why I hoped AM had retained the name and had only sold rights to the books, but I fear otherwise...
>>By buddy (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 11:18)
Meant to say it's all in the small print and between the lines - the kind Enid Blyton weaned readers would miss in a Chris Ryan book...
A great read is Robert Ludlum's "The Janson Directive" Don't go for it if you want to read it in a day, it's a doorstop intellectual brief = absolutely fantastic read. I shall truly miss this writer on dark winter nights...
>>By buddy (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 11:38)
Ouch, Buddy...
A heads-up next time, please? Give us Yanks a chance to grab our flak jackets... ;o) Definitely agree on loss of Ludlam but he is much more of an acquired taste, difficult fare getting through his descriptive passages. I've not read TJD yet, though. My reading has been seriously rerouted/redirected this past year since stumbling upon B20...
Welcome, Hedgie...
May I ask what brings you to this board? Are you a reader of AM?
Welcome, Shanti941...
I'm at a handicap regarding Bridget Jones, but Ian Fleming... oh, we go back way more years than I care to realize! LOL! Nicely merged story!
Oooh, Dare...
Another author/character in common -- Ian Fleming/James Bond -- books only tho, they can keep all the bogus movies!
>>By am-i-binned (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 18:26)
Read Mein Kampf ??? I don't know Buddy, I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. I even think it's a 'forbidden' book over here.
"British victories/successful missions suddenly became American triumphs" Very coincidently U-571 (Enigma) is on Dutch tele tonight..
Good example..
Nick Stone as James Bond... I thought NS was all about NOT being James Bond.
Hi Hedgie and Shanti, nice to see you here.
>>By Lynn (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 21:37)
Mein Kampf ??? : Yeah, Lynn, can quite understand why it would be classed a banned book in the Netherlands...
Agree with you on subject matter: Nick Stone as James Bond?!! NS is as about as far removed from JB as a stick of celery is to a noodle...That said, the author of NS novels would easily pass himself off as the suave character created by Ian Fleming (original character), meaning AM is not as rough-edged as he makes himself out to be...
>>By buddy (Saturday, 27 Sep 2003 23:28)
Uhm... sorry, please forgive if my (Yank?) ignorance is showing, but I'm curious about Mein Kampf being banned. Is it selectively banned in Europe depending on the country (e.g., banned in Holland but not in UK or Sweden)?
Hmmm... So is Nick Stone to James Bond as the picture is to Dorian Grey? Or is it the other way 'round? ;o)
>>By am-i-binned (Sunday, 28 Sep 2003 14:31)
Well I don't know if "Mein Kampf" is forbidden in some european countries, I've seen it in Belgium and here in Italy too. Never read it though, remember talking about it in history lessons when I was in college so that's all I know.
And as for NS and JB, as buddy says there is quite a difference. Don't know if AM could pass as JB , first of all for the looks, we don't even know how the hell this man looks like. And as for the JB movies well those actors weren't all that bad from Sean Connery to Brosnan... As for his undercover skills, well how do we know, according to the NS books a lot of Ops went wrong, not even his fault seems "fate" is just haunting him.
Just finished reading "Firewall", and really enjoyed it. Felt a bit sorry for Tom though, bad luck for that guy. Liked the ending with the Democrat returning, oooops for NS. Found the lipstick bit too, AM just hated doing the waxing, well then who doesn't, and he didn't have to do the bikini waxing either. He should try that one, :D.
Will have to go and see an eyespecialist, with all this reading, studying and work, my eye-sight is getting worse, (maybe it's the "age" problem).YUK!
>>By borisette (Sunday, 28 Sep 2003 16:13)
RE Mein Kampf - banned...
Like any book that was banned (years ago) ways and means of obtaining said book existed, but with the Internet at our fingertips anything banned is easily accessible!!
[ Several links snipped. Linking to these sites might be illegal in germany. Even Google hides these from german users. ]
Anyone intrigued by Hitler's mind set (insanity/genius depending on viewpoint/outlook) the best way to explore has to be his own book...
Re NStone/JBond - Celery Vs noodle - both are soft when cooked but one needs sauce to render it palatable, and when dry one has a flavoursome snappy bite...
Guess the celery stick has the pic in the attic...
>>By buddy (Sunday, 28 Sep 2003 16:16)
Who forgot to put a dime in the slot? The lights of gone out on Dean Francis' UK site...
>>By buddy (Sunday, 28 Sep 2003 16:26)
Oh dear, how did that "when" and "of" slip past in last two posts- must slow down on keyboard...
Borisette, speak for yourself on not knowing what AM looks likes...As for his failings - not always his own doing - not everyone can be born under the right moon phase...Then again, if you take his monetary success into account, maybe it's better to fail in the grit and grind world and look to the glitz and fake dirt of fiction....
>>By buddy (Sunday, 28 Sep 2003 16:34)
Hi,
Buddy - I'm confused - Enid Blyton? What are you on about..... as I mentioned, I haven't read most of the archives of this board - however I think discussions relating AM's books to CR's are perfectly valid, as they both write stories about similar topics and have similar backgrounds in the SAS. As I wrote, my take on CR is MY opinion.
"If I had the time I could trawl through the former postings and find three or four almost identical write-ups in twinned comparison to your first here, almost word for word..." Cool! :-) I've always suspected I am so great they cloned me... be a waste not to.
James Bond was fairly groundbreaking, in that it was written by someone with some military background, and the depth and detail provided made the action engaging. The likeable character of the hero, as with Nick Stone, made the books very popular. Saying "AM is the new Ian Fleming" is reasonable as they both create readable thrillers, about agents and with a lot of detail, and I stand by it.
The Bond films are crap and I am Judy Geeson's cousin, so
there! :-)
xS
>>By shanti941 (Sunday, 28 Sep 2003 20:01)
Huh! AM pictures - ace!! thank you AIB!!! too much moustache action there - but some of them are cool!
have to work - but am seeing my 'source' today so I am going to find out more to report back....
>>By Pomplemous (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 09:38)
Just two quick comments.
1 Who is Judy Geeson?
2 Buddy reading between the lines is easy, but do you interpret it correctly?
>>By Bethan (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 10:01)
Oh Enid Blyton.. sigh.. pure nostalgia. Loved it in my young years.. which were not so long ago of course (haha)... I was gonna say...
no.. never mind...
Don't have to read Mein K. to know what's in it. I don't know about other countries in Europe but years ago, if I RR it wasn't allowed to have a copy, don't really know how that worked. But indeed Internet will be a good source so I guess ' banning' something is impossible today.
I've never read Ian Fleming, only know the movies and that Bond is - fortunately - not at all like Nick Stone. That's (for the newbies) so scary now Hollywood got the rights to the books and character.
It's very much desirable they don't turn him into a new Bond but when money talks... Still... no news on C4 the Movie.
You like the pictures Pommetje?????? Good heavens why????
I mean... what's there to like??? (hahaha)
>>By Lynn (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 10:24)
Bethan: for a Brit not to know the famous 60s undressers (movie starlets) one being Judy Geeson, Charlotte Rampling, and the actress from the Railway Children, (what was her name, then their was the dark sultry beauty (couldn't act) from the Hammer Horror days and ended up in the American soap South Beach (think that was its name - wooden plot acting by all) Judy Geeson appeared in many films as a supporting actress (even in Murder She Wrote) the series doing the rounds on Tele for ever and a day at the moment...Pretty little cute blonde...
But do I interpret it correctly? Do my best backed up with psychology degree...Hey, Freud didn't get it right every time and other psychologists/psychiatrists constantly disagreed with him...
Sorry shanti941: take umbrage if you will...You said you thought CR was a crap writer and I chose to differ...What made you think the Enid Blyton comment was a reflection on your introduction?...However, we were in agreement on the Bond films being crap!!
As for Ian Fleming: he purposefully over exagerated all his storylines as a means of escapism from the reality of boring intelligence gathering, meaningless operations, and took a few risks that nearly wrecked his intelligence career, as in his introduction of Aleister Crowley to the intelligence network on a consultancy basis...Aleister Crowley known to be a grand master of the black occult, which in turn fascinated Fleming, inclusive Voodoo techniques. If you don't know about Aleister Crowley look him up...
AM's fiction is far more realistic, he hasn't yet, (I hope) dabbled in Voodoo...Then again, maybe he's got lots of little dolls with pins stuck in them or singed on the BBQ...
>>By buddy (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 10:46)
Hey Lynn, nostalgia, I agree!!!
Enid Blyton was every school kids dream writer because she broke the code of everything we were being taught as correct English:
Isn't - Is not; don't - do not; can't - cannot etc...
Wow, I can remember many a roasting for homework with clipped/abbreviated wording...And, can remember our English master almost pulling out his hair in frustrated rage - damning Blyton as a plague influence!!!
>>By buddy (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 10:57)
I'm afraid I'm a little ignorant of 60s actresses and to make it worse I've not heard of the rest of them you mentioned either. Maybe I'd know her face (tend to be rubbish with names). I am very very glad to find other people that hate James Bond too I am very proud to say I have never sat through an entire JB film.
I'm glad that we now have books coming out written in more colloquial (as you can tell spelling is not my strong point!) english. It is more likely to get people picking up a book instead of switching on the tele. There are times when I just read and the words go in one eye and out of the other and I don't think about it. But when you re-read something you get all the subtleties you missed the first time.
As for CR fiction shanti914 which books did you read? His first few were a lot weaker. Pick up the Watchman. It's one of the best books I've read (rivals AM!)
>>By Bethan (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 11:57)
Buddy
Re: Then again, maybe he's got lots of little dolls with pins stuck in them or singed on the BBQ...
I certainly hope you don't (do not) suggest those dolls are representing us??? haha. (Ex-wifes? Ex-whatevers?)
Enid Blyton: don't know about the language cause I read those books in Dutch. But I always saw the charm of boarding-school fun since boarding-schools are very rare in Holland. But perhaps BEING in boarding-school isn't as fun as reading about it.... now where have I said that before.. haha (much funnier reading about cling-film)
:o) Lynn
>>By Lynn (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 12:08)
Do you know, I can't remember the boarding school bits in the Secret Five - I remember the village life angle or was that in the books I weaned my girls on: Blackberry Farm etc...
You see, Enid Blyton books were not for little girls like me: I was weaned on Arthur Ransome's Swallows & Amazons & Swallowdale, and the classics (Jane Austen, the Brontes, and Robert L. Stevenson) I had to sneakily buy Secret Five books with pocket money and hide the damn things, but it wasn't long before I was raiding the adult library (inhouse) of Agatha Christie and disguised (brown-wrapped) D.H. Lawrence, hee hee ((((((sniggers)))))) and fell in love with Nelson's counterpart, the fictional ?????...His name, the love of my early teen years gone in a flash of aged memory blank...
>>By buddy (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 12:26)
Hornblower!!!!
>>By buddy (Monday, 29 Sep 2003 12:27)
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