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It Never Was Worthwhile
To kill without hate or hunger is a contradiction suffered by no other organism on earth than Man. Yet for thousands of years we've sacrificed our young to ideals most of them have no regard for, to protect their families from threats largely imagined by their leaders.
This collection of short stories by Jem Shaw (The Larks) and Malcolm Havard (Contrail and The Last Mountain) looks at the impact of a new, mechanised form of warfare on the people called on to fight. People with mundane, safe lives; bakers, draughtsmen and young ladies fresh from finishing school each make their attempt to adjust to the inconceivable.
Published in electronic form in August 2014, this collection will grow over the three months until November, when a full-sized paperback edition will be released. Buyers of the Kindle version should make sure that auto-update is set on their reading device in order to receive the extra stories at no extra charge.
This collection of short stories by Jem Shaw (The Larks) and Malcolm Havard (Contrail and The Last Mountain) looks at the impact of a new, mechanised form of warfare on the people called on to fight. People with mundane, safe lives; bakers, draughtsmen and young ladies fresh from finishing school each make their attempt to adjust to the inconceivable.
Published in electronic form in August 2014, this collection will grow over the three months until November, when a full-sized paperback edition will be released. Buyers of the Kindle version should make sure that auto-update is set on their reading device in order to receive the extra stories at no extra charge.
128 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 28, 2014
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10 people want to read
About the author
Malcolm Havard
35 books19 followersMalcolm started writing fiction around 10 years ago, self-publishing three novels through Amazon including a mountaineering thriller, The Last Mountain, which has had more than 10,000 downloads. He also has two books published by a small publisher, including a collection of WW1 stories which topped the Amazon anthology best-sellers list at Christmas 2014.
His short stories have done well in a number of competitions, including runner-up placings for those run by Henshaw Press and the Mere Literary Festival.
Having written in several genres early in his career, Malcolm has now settled into writing historical fiction.
This includes LMF, a WW2 novel set during the RAFs controversial night bombing campaign, Leviathan, a novella about a young, frightened pilot hunting Zeppelins in the night during WW1, The Neutral Zone, a collection of short stories, and Eleven Days, a novel set around the events of 'Bloody April'. 1917.
LATEST NEWS!
The long-awaited sequel to LMF, The Way Back, is published 15 March 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2015
A collection of short stories about WW1. Painful to read yet somehow strangely compelling. The Cuirasser of Verdun, The Sub-human, Ghoul - ones that stand out, but they are all heart-wrenching stories and worth reading.
December 13, 2014
Considering that the three subject matters for stories that I dislike most are space, cowboys and war, I didn't expect to read and enjoy a collection of stories centred around WW1, but read it I did and enjoy it I most certainly did too.
Each tale has a different voice, something difficult for most writers of collections to produce and Havard and Shaw achieve this with ease, no two stories are alike, the phrasing, the syntax the structure of each one differs from the previous one, so much so you'd be forgiven for thinking the collection was written by more than just two people.
If you're going to attempt something like this, then historical accuracy is paramount and this collection of stories that vary from comedic to heart-wrenching has it in spades, and despite these two men obviously having a great deal of knowledge, both technical and historical it never intrudes into the text and detracts for the tale.
The collection is well balanced between human interest stories and light drama, there's a smattering of comedy and some parts that will drive a lump into the throat there's even a distressing end to one story that'll make you shake your head and compose yourself before continuing onto the next one; but don't take my word for this, buy this collection and wait until you read the last twenty-seven words of, The Chivalry of the Air and you'll understand why I think this must be the most disturbing end to any short story, yet it sums up the horror of war in five lines of text.
There are some wonderful lines peppered throughout the anthology like: 'Major Wedgwood were a tall chap, fair haired, with a moustache you could hang clothes on.' And, 'When your life expectancy is measured in days or weeks you consume your life force quickly.'
The collection in no way glorifies war or makes moral judgements but what it did for me is two things, it re-evaluated the pointlessness of war and it brought home how important it is to keep these historical events in the social conciousness, for it is by keeping the memory alive that we hopefully will never make the same mistake again.
To conclude my favourite story in this astonishing collection was Ghoul, a tender tale of a boy and a man wounded beyond repair both mentally and physically. This collection would sit well with any of the compulsory set WW1 texts in British schools and I hope one day a teacher out there will use this as a basis for their WW1 literature studies.
Each tale has a different voice, something difficult for most writers of collections to produce and Havard and Shaw achieve this with ease, no two stories are alike, the phrasing, the syntax the structure of each one differs from the previous one, so much so you'd be forgiven for thinking the collection was written by more than just two people.
If you're going to attempt something like this, then historical accuracy is paramount and this collection of stories that vary from comedic to heart-wrenching has it in spades, and despite these two men obviously having a great deal of knowledge, both technical and historical it never intrudes into the text and detracts for the tale.
The collection is well balanced between human interest stories and light drama, there's a smattering of comedy and some parts that will drive a lump into the throat there's even a distressing end to one story that'll make you shake your head and compose yourself before continuing onto the next one; but don't take my word for this, buy this collection and wait until you read the last twenty-seven words of, The Chivalry of the Air and you'll understand why I think this must be the most disturbing end to any short story, yet it sums up the horror of war in five lines of text.
There are some wonderful lines peppered throughout the anthology like: 'Major Wedgwood were a tall chap, fair haired, with a moustache you could hang clothes on.' And, 'When your life expectancy is measured in days or weeks you consume your life force quickly.'
The collection in no way glorifies war or makes moral judgements but what it did for me is two things, it re-evaluated the pointlessness of war and it brought home how important it is to keep these historical events in the social conciousness, for it is by keeping the memory alive that we hopefully will never make the same mistake again.
To conclude my favourite story in this astonishing collection was Ghoul, a tender tale of a boy and a man wounded beyond repair both mentally and physically. This collection would sit well with any of the compulsory set WW1 texts in British schools and I hope one day a teacher out there will use this as a basis for their WW1 literature studies.
October 12, 2014
A cracking collection of WW1 short tales. Shaw and Havard approach the same tropes of WW1 fiction from very different angles. Contrasting and complimenting each other's vastly styles. An excellent read
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews