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Today’s Wednesday feature book is one that led to a recent expedition to Muschu Island and the discovery of the remains of four of the
commandos lost in a Second World War raid: Guns of Muschu

by Don Dennis.

book led to a recent
expedition to Muschu Island and the discovery of the remains of four of the
commandos lost in the raid

 Elevator pitch:

11 April 1945, eight Australian Z Special
commandos landed on Japanese-held Muschu Island, off the coast of New Guinea.
Their mission, to confirm the location of two concealed naval guns commanding
the approaches to Wewak Harbour.

Nine days later, on the New Guinea mainland, the only survivor staggered back
through the Japanese lines to safety…

This is the remarkable, true story of that survivor.

Teaser Excerpt

Attack
on Wewak
Beneath the aircraft the ground unravelled like a green conveyor,
the hills giving way to the neat squares of palm plantations near the coast.
Sighting a road, Smith checked his course, then saw the harbor ahead and lined
up on a row of warehouses. There was no sign of the freighter mentioned in the
briefing – it had probably left the harbor before dawn. The dock area was
stacked with cargo, a line of trucks suddenly breaking ranks as warning of the
approaching aircraft sounded.
Smith held the Beaufort steady and aimed at the cargo stacks.
Howling low over the dock, he heard the navigator call “bombs gone” and felt
the aircraft lurch as the load fell clear. Behind him the dorsal gunner’s twin
303s were hammering away and in the nose the navigator joined in with his .50
calibre, the stench of cordite filling the cockpit. Banking further right to
track along another line of warehouses, he sensed rather than heard the impact
of the bombs behind them. Flicking off the gun safety, he pressed the yoke fire
button and opened up with the two wing mounted fifty calibre machine guns.
Using tracer to aim he marched the rounds into the waterfront buildings before
banking left over the port and swinging into a wide turn that took them out to
sea.
It was then that they were hit…
——
Buy on Amazon.
—-

If you’re an author and would like your book excerpt featured,
drop me an introductory mail with a link to your book at  atozstories
at gmail dot com. I’m now accepting submissions for features in January.
Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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8 Comments

  • Brave story.. is there a movie on this book?

  • Donna Hole says:

    Yes; I could love this book.

    …..dhole

  • Interesting read..:-)

  • Don Dennis says:

    Thanks everyone. I published this through an Australian publisher in 2006. Recently it was converted to e-book by the publisher and after 7 years has now been optioned for a movie for a considerable sum.

    I've been writing for over 30 years and had many published before and also received significant advances – not blowing my own trumpet here, because the lesson is, for the first 10 years, things were very lean as I had to concentrate on raising a family.

    If I can give advice to anyone, it's LEARN THE CRAFT OF WRITING…very few first timers know how to write…they only think they do.

    BE PERSISTENT. Keep trying. Learn to take failure. How many races did top athletes lose before they won their first race?

    DON'T THROW ANYTHING AWAY! Archive everything you write, even if it's rejected or now if you self pub, it flops. You never know when you'll be writing and realise you need a scene, and you wrote a similar one, ages ago. Copy cut and paste is a very useful WP function.

    Sometimes all your ships come in at once. A week ago another book of mine about the Vietnam War was film optioned.

    So good writing and good luck and thank you for your comments.

    Don Dennis

  • klahanie says:

    Hi Damyanti,

    This book seems an intriguing read. I shall duly share this on the various social networks.

    Thank you for this.

    Gary

  • Hey., Damyanti,
    This book sounds like a fascinating read.

  • Kelly Steel says:

    Sounds like an awesome story.

  • That teaser catches your attention and has rich description.