OT: The Whale Has Wings

[DSwain]

I wondered if anyone had read this? It's a three volume work: The Whale Has Wings. It's a series of alternate histories, based around the premise of the Royal Navy having greater control over aviation in the 1930s. This is volume 3, in which a far stronger RN takes on the IJN around Malaya/Singapore.

I've just bought volumes 2 and 3 on Kindle (volume 1 unavailable) - cheap as chips, will see how they pan out. From early looks, seem to be interesting.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Whale-Has-W ... +has+wings

[AW1Steve]

I've enjoyed book 1 & 2 immensely! I'm eagerly awaiting volume 3. I bought them in the Kindle format , but may buy them in hardcover/soft cover format. Have you Tried Amazon UK?

[Terminus]

I just bought volume 3 in Kindle format. It's really, really badly written.

Somebody should slap the author on the back of the head, and tell him to stick to one tense.

[AW1Steve]

That's the problem with modern publishing....no one has ever heard of a "proof reader". Big firms do a poor job, don't get me started on "self-published!". [:(]

Say T , I've always thought you'd make the worlds best proof reader. If I ever write a book, can I hire you? [:)]

[Mac Linehan]

Gents -

Just bought all three for my kindle.

T- I can handle bad proofing if the story is good; am hoping that is the case in this instance.

Mac

[Terminus]

Eh, the story is kinda middling, but it's submerged in a swamp of non-existant editing. He even loses tracks of what ships are sunk when; one Japanese cruiser gets sunk twice in Volume 3.

[John 3rd]

Then it is like RL history with Tokyo Rose declaring the Houston sunk multiple times!

[Terminus]

Can't really take that seriously, either.

[CT Grognard]

How many times did the Japanese in real life report the USS Enterprise as being sunk?

Resulted in her being nicknamed the Grey Ghost...

[Mac Linehan]

T-

A few of my kindle books have received, periodically, an updated version. I do hope that "Whale" might be edited and corrected, this is a potential advantage with ebooks.

Mac

[DSwain]

Yes, I must agree with the crit here; the books, though entertaining, are pretty poorly written. A proof reader would have caught the multiple errors in grammar and punctuation. A pretty cliched style as well. All that said, though, it's a great idea for a 'what-if' history. It's lovely to read of the RN/FAA taking out the stick to give Johnny Jap a damned good thrashing.

[AW1Steve]

I'm a quarter through. Yes, it could use a good editor. But these days , even books from major publishers can claim that flaw. I found all three to be imaginative , end thoroughly fun "mind candy". Scholarly works? Not hardly. But fun. Take them for what they are. They are not Gibbon's, they are not Morrison. They are not even Turtledove. But for a cheap , what if? time killer? I've had worst. And truthfully , I've enjoyed them. Even if they do credit the Prince of Whales with 15" guns. Even Tom Clancy once credited the Iowa class with 8". [:D]

[Terminus]

It's really bad. And "others don't do it either" is no excuse for it.

There might be an interesting story underneath, but I just don't care about it when it's covered in shite.