Tag Archives: fiction

Black Nothing – Sequel to Subject To Status.

10 Jun

E-Format – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007Q92ESY

Paperback –https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1790741319

Synopsis – Black Nothing.(Sequel to ‘Subject to Status’ Kindle ref B004JHYMOU) A murder at sea. A witness no one believes. A man trapped in a conspiracy that could destroy him. 1966, South China Sea. A Royal Navy sailor vanishes during the night watch. Officially, it’s ruled an accident. But one man swears he saw the truth — and it was murder. Decades later, that buried secret resurfaces when Thomas “Taffy” Underhill, a homeless drunk and former sailor, blurts out his story to the police. His testimony drags Leonard Joel, a quiet Welsh farmer with a hidden past in the Navy, into a nightmare of wrongful imprisonment, government cover-ups, and MI5 manipulation. Behind the prison walls, Joel struggles to survive while shadowy forces pull him deeper into a web of espionage, Cold War secrets, and covert missions stretching from Britain to Vietnam and Nepal. Caught between his love for Janey, the only woman who believes in him, and the ruthless demands of intelligence handlers, Joel must face the question: how far will a man go when his freedom, his family, and his very identity are on the line? Black Nothing 3 is a gritty British crime thriller that blends murder mystery, police procedural detail, and Cold War espionage into a tense, unflinching story of loyalty, betrayal, and survival. Fans of John le Carré, Ian Rankin, and Mick Herron will feel right at home.

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Subject To Status – Royal Navy coming of age novel.

31 May

E-Format – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004JHYMOU

Paperback – https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1790739144

A fictional novel set against the juxtaposed backgrounds of life on the lower deck of British aircraft carrier in the 1960’s and the emerging new age eco minded pot smoking hippy culture. The galvanizing catalyst is the UK defense establishment. At that time, ruthlessly creating people with no recorded identity to carry out their bidding. Deliberately targeting the vulnerable vacuum of the ‘flower power’ era. Ambitious ruthless patriotic ‘Civil Servants’ eagerly exceed the boundaries of state involvement. Using the police and the Criminal Justice System as a tool of coercion they create expendable people. Persons with no recorded identity who could be threatened and forced to carry out illegal government tasks under the shadow of their own unnoticed disappearance should they refuse. Leonard Flower Welham a young sailor drawn by the glamour and adventure of the Fleet Air Arm. Roaring powerful dangerous flying machines. Alien and foreign places and cultures. Grey unstoppable warships that policed the world’s oceans and offered a safe home. A voyage of discovery as he changed from a boy to a man. In the mid sixties he is drafted to join HMS Bulwark. The ship is undergoing a refit in Plymouth dockyard. He is confronted with its sheer magnitude and majestic presence. Climbing aboard up the steep gangway he enters a special world of smells, sensations, sights, sounds and the beginning of the trip of his life. Joel. Born in a damp Yurt in a green wet valley in Mid-Wales to a thin depressed hippy eternally searching for her own happiness. Her low self esteem restricting her to abusive relationships leading to her coerced insemination and a boy child. He was to grow to be the only thing of true value in her life. Joel spends his happy free childhood unfettered by the expectations of school and conventional society. Accepting his alternative life as nothing unusual he is taught by his own curiosity and associations with people who knew the answers to his questions and who could teach him what he needed to know. The lives of the two young men come together. Life becomes familiar and normal. Friendships develop, fun is shared and enjoyed. The eastern world is paraded before them to be dipped into and experienced whilst having the safety of a floating ‘England’ to run back to. All this time Joel cannot escape the lurking incredible officialdom. Their awful instruction and the dislike for himself and his own weak compliance.

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Black Nothing! The place you go when there’s nowhere else!

12 Mar

Joel is happily living with Janey on her farm in Mid-Wales when his unconventional past careers’ back into his life. His mother is on the verge of death when he’s arrested. Incarceration in prison exposes him to a new level of society, new people and new habits that drastically change his life. His quandary is when, and to whom should he disclose the circumstances of his predicament. He chooses badly and coupled with the untimely intervention of fate, remains in prison. Eventually he’s removed and given an illusion of freedom as Her Majesty’s Government makes him an offer he can’t refuse. His task sees him travel to Nepal and Vietnam. One location leading to the other as dilemmas multiply into a personal morass of conflicting feelings, emotions and necessities.The dry dust of Kathmandu reflected against the soaking humidity of the Mekong Delta. Extreme poverty reflected by wealth and privilege. Bizarre surreal experiences that take him to see sights few people have ever seen. Sadhu’s and burning bodies. High peaks. Snake swallowing drum majors at funeral ceremonies. It was as if death surrounded him. Experiences and new perceptions of life impacted strongly on him. Making his simplistic mission anything but! New people entered his life. All were not what he expected. His return home was hopeful, supported by his ‘payment’ Joel hopes for a conventional life. One more simple task in England and his life could resume its uneventful course. The green bleakness of the Marches comforts him as mundane normal people reappear in his life. The rattle of trains. The lilting Welsh voices ease him back home. Once home he finds again that nothing is simple as he descends into a whirlwind downward spiral triggered by awful events. Joel searches and ponders how anyone who is good can do so many bad things. Is there anyone he can truly rely on?

Available on Amazon Kindle

E-Format- https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007Q92ESY

Paperback-https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1790741319

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Subject to Status – A book by John Arthur Cooper

8 Mar

We all have a Status! Or do we?

A fictional novel set against the backgrounds of life on the lower deck of British aircraft carrier in the 1960’s and the emerging new age eco minded pot smoking hippy culture. The galvanizing catalyst is the UK defense establishment. At that time, ruthlessly creating people with no recorded identity to carry out their bidding. Deliberately targeting the vulnerable vacuum of the ‘flower power’ era. Ambitious ruthless patriotic ‘Civil Servants’ eagerly exceed the boundaries of state involvement. Using the police and the Criminal Justice System as a tool of coercion they create expendable people. Persons with no recorded identity who could be threatened and forced to carry out illegal government tasks under the shadow of their own unnoticed disappearance should they refuse. Leonard Flower Welham a young sailor drawn by the glamour and adventure of the Fleet Air Arm. Roaring powerful dangerous flying machines. Alien and foreign places and cultures. Grey unstoppable warships that policed the world’s oceans and offered a safe home. A voyage of discovery as he changed from a boy to a man. In the mid-sixties he is drafted to join HMS Bulwark. The ship is undergoing a refit in Plymouth dockyard. He is confronted with its sheer magnitude and majestic presence. Climbing aboard up the steep gangway he enters a special world of smells, sensations, sights, sounds and the beginning of the trip of his life. Joel. Born in a damp Yurt in a green wet valley in Mid-Wales to a thin depressed hippy eternally searching for her own happiness. Her low self-esteem restricting her to abusive relationships leading to her coerced insemination and a boy child. He was to grow to be the only thing of true value in her life. Joel spends his happy free childhood unfettered by the expectations of school and conventional society. Accepting his alternative life as nothing unusual he is taught by his own curiosity and associations with people who knew the answers to his questions and who could teach him what he needed to know. The lives of the two young men come together. Life becomes familiar and normal. Friendships develop, fun is shared and enjoyed. The eastern world is paraded before them to be dipped into and experienced whilst having the safety of a floating ‘England’ to run back to. All this time Joel cannot escape the lurking incredible officialdom. Their awful instruction and the dislike for himself and his own weak compliance.

Available on Amazon Kindle in E-format https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004JHYMOU

And Paperback –https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1790739144

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