A New Flashman Novel!! (1 Viewer)

[Louis Badolato]

For all fellow fans (in my case worshipper) of George MacDonald Fraser, take heed: there is a new Flashman novel: Flashman on the March. For those of you who are not yet familiar with Flashman, he is the ultimate Victorian antihero: an unscrupulous, cowardly, dishonest, lecherous rogue who finds himself the greatest British military hero of his time, through a series of luck (good and extremely bad), timing (again good and horrible) and great public relations. Inspired by the bully from "Tom Browns School Days" this (believe it or not) lovable villain finds himself in the center of virtually every military campaign of his time, with the answer to such questions as what actually launched the charge of the light brigade always being Flashman! For those of us who are also King & Country fans, Andy worked with the author's (who also wrote "Quartered Safe out Here", an excellent autobiographical account of his service in Slim's 14th [forgotten] Army during the Burma Campaign in WWII, and the MacAuslan Trilogy, an extremely funny loosely biographical account of his service as an officer in the Gordon Highlanders in North Africa immediately after the war) daughter in advertising, and actually had coffee with him on one occasion. Andy and I discussed Mr. Fraser and his works, both agreeing that he had a huge influence on our mutual love of military history. For me, his works are "desert island" books (i.e. if I had to choose one author's books to have if stranded on a desert island, for me it would be G.M.F. without question [even over our mutual muse Rudyard Kipling]). I just bought the book a few hours ago, and haven't even opened it yet, but I can't wait to see what mischief Harry Flashman gets into this time! These books are always impecably well researched and historically accurate, so if you want to catch up on your Victorian campaigns, without actually reading "Queen Victoria's Little Wars" or some of the other excellent historical works by Byron Farwell or his brethren, grab the Flashman books and hold on for the ride! Expect some sleepless nights (you just can't put them down!) and some new expenditures on toy soldiers from these obscure campaigns, but you will never regret the time or money spent on Flashman or MacAuslan, it just doesn't get any better than this!!

 

[DMNamiot]

They sound interesting. Have you read any of the Richard Sharpes series by Bernard Cornwell?

 

[Louis Badolato]

Read the whole series, until Cornwell started going back to before Sharpe was an officer, then ran out of steam. Tradition made two "Sharpe's Rifles" sets with the characters as depicted in the mini-series, including even that bastard Sergeant Hakeswell (the man who couldn't die). They are also among my favorites. But Flashman is way better. For my money the best historical fiction ever. And MacAuslan is hysterical! The three MacAuslan/Dand MacNeal novels (The General Danced at Dawn, MacAuslan in the Rough, and the Shiekh and the Dustbin) will keep you in stitches.

 

[Fubar]

Louis, I have the 1st Flashman Novel around here someplace. A friend loaned it to me a while back and I have not gotten around to reading it but he tells me they are great reading.

I have read most of Cornwells Sharpes series and enjoyed them very much.
His Warlord Chronicles are my favorite and I have read all 3 several times. Even built huge 25mm Late Roman/British and Saxon armies a few years back as I was very inspired.

I have been told Cornwell has done another series set during the Viking age which I should look for.Better find that Flashman book too!
He's supposed to be utterly crooked and lowdown and always comes out of horrid problems of his own making smelling like a rose!
image of some my Arthurian cav just for fun
FUBAR

 

[sceic2]

Way cool knights. Wish I could collect 'em all. Michael PS I agree with Louis, Flashman is one of my favorite book heros (along with Connan before Arnold got ahold of him).

 

[Louis Badolato]

I wrote up a nice reply on this thread, listing all the series of military historical fiction I have read, and asking for any others fellow forum members were aware of that I had missed, but either my computer or the forum website caused the post to crash. So here goes again:

In addition to Flashman and the Bernard Cornwell Sharpe series, I have also enjoyed reading C.S. Forester's Horatio Hornblower series, Patrick O'Brien's Captain Jack Aubrey/Steven Maturin series, both about the Napoleonic Era British Navy.

There is a series written by Allan Mallinson, a modern day British Cavalry Officer, about Matthew Hervey, a Napoleonic Era British Cavalry Officer. Its a bit dry, but Wellington and his fellow Napoleonic fans will doubtless find it fascinating.

Finally, there is a series by Raymond Saunders knocking off the idea of the Flashman series, in which he purports to edit the memoirs of a similarly lecherous and cowardly American military officer, Fenwick Travers, who rises from being a poor runaway enlisted man to officer by saving the life of a millionaire's neice, and then screws, cheats and steals his way through the Spanish American war, the Philipine Campaign, and the "liberation" of Panama (so we could build the Panama Canal). Its not nearly as good as Flashman, but merits a read.

Flashman and MacAuslan, however, stand head and shoulders over the rest. Happy reading!

 

[Louis Badolato]

I just finished the new Flashman, a thoroughly enjoyable romp through Napier's Abbysinian campaign against the mad King Theodore, who took and tortured several British and other european prisoners because Queen Victoria (read the British foreign office) failed to respond to a letter he wrote her. Napier, who with Sir Colin Campbell and Frederick Sleigh "Little Bobs" Roberts, was one of the rare competent Victorian Era generals, led a textbook campaign to defeat Theodore (who committed suicide) and rescue the prisoners with almost no casualties. It isn't mentioned in the book, but I believe I recall reading in Byron Farwell's "Queen Victoria's Little Wars" that Little Bobs was the quartermaster on the campaign, which would explain a lot about how well organized it was. So Flashman adds Abbysinia to the Afghan Disaster (Flashman) the Crimean War (Flashman at the Charge), Brooks' campaign against the pirates in Sarawak (Flashman's Lady), the true story behind the Prisoner of Zenda (Royal Flash), the pre-civil was campaign against slavery (Flash for Freedom), the Second Sikh War (Flashman and the Mountain of Light), the Taiping Rebellion and the burning of the Summer Palace (Flashman and the Dragon), the Indian Mutiny (Flashman in the Great Game), the American West (Flashman and the Redskins) and the Zulu War (Flashman and the Tiger). Throughout the books, there are mentions of his participation in the U.S. Civil War (on both sides) and in several other campaigns. I can't wait for another book!