Bøger af Antoine Vanner

"Antoine Vanner is the Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction" - Author and Nautical Historian Joan Druett. Britannia's Reach is the 5th novel in the Dawlish Chronicles series. It continues the story of the ambitious Royal Navy officer Nicholas Dawlish, last seen in Britannia's Wolf. It's November 1879 and on a broad river deep in the heart of South America, a flotilla of paddle steamers thrashes slowly upstream. It is laden with troops, horses and artillery, and intent on conquest and revenge. Ahead lies a commercial empire that was wrested from a British consortium in a bloody revolution. Now the investors are determined to recoup their losses and are funding a vicious war to do so. Nicholas Dawlish, on leave from the Royal Navy, is playing a leading role in the expedition. But as brutal land and river battles mark its progress upriver, and as both sides inflict and endure ever greater suffering, stalemate threatens. And Dawlish finds himself forced to make a terrible ethical choice if he is to return to Britain with some shreds of integrity remaining... Why this series? "I've enjoyed sea adventures since I was introduced to C.S. Forester's Hornblower books when I was a boy," says author Antoine Vanner, "and I've never tired since of stories of action and adventure. The Napoleonic era has however come to dominate the war and military genre but the century that followed it was one no less exciting, an added attraction being the arrival and adoption of so much new technology from the 1860s onward. My novels have as their backgrounds actual events of the international power-games of the period and Britannia's Reach is no exception."

This is the 6th volume of the Dawlish Chronicles naval fiction series - action and adventure set in the age of transition from sail to steam in the 19th Century. It's 1881 and the British Empire's power seems unchallengeable. But now a group of revolutionaries threaten that power's economic basis. Their weapon is the invention of a naïve genius, their sense of grievance is implacable and their leader is already proven in the crucible of war. Protected by powerful political and business interests, conventional British military or naval power cannot touch them. A daring act of piracy drags the ambitious British naval officer, Nicholas Dawlish, into this deadly maelstrom. Drawn in too is his wife Florence, for whom a glimpse of a half-forgotten face evokes memories of earlier tragedy. For both a nightmare lies ahead, made worse by a weakness Dawlish never suspected he had. Amid the wealth and squalor of America's Gilded Age, and on a fever-ridden island ruled by savage tyranny, and manipulated ruthlessly from London by the shadowy Admiral Topcliffe, Nicholas and Florence Dawlish must make very strange alliances if they are to survive - and prevail. Britannia's Shark continues not just Nicholas Dawlish's story but that of his courageous and resourceful wife Florence. He fell in love with her in Britannia's Wolf and he has risked social ostracism and career limitation by marrying her. Now, faced with challenges that threaten to overwhelm him, he is more dependent on her than on any other. Daring and initiative have already bought him rapid advancement in the Royal Navy and he has hungered for more - but can the price be too high, not just for himself but for Florence too? Britannia's Shark is more than a work of historical naval fiction or a tale of war and military conflict. Revolutionary forces that will ultimately destroy the comfortable assumptions of the late-nineteenth century are already stirring and a lethal new technology which will be crucial in both World Wars is being born. Key roles are played in this tale of action and adventure by two real-life characters. John Phillip Holland, is obsessed with creation of a functional submarine and is prepared to look anywhere for the funding to make his dream reality. And Adam Worth, alias Henry Raymond, real-life model of Sherlock Holmes' fictional adversary Professor Moriarity, is prepared to facilitate Dawlish's efforts, though at a surprising price. The Dawlish Chronicles move naval fiction forward from the Age of Fighting Sail to the new world of steam, breech-loaders and torpedoes As a boy in the late 1850s Nicholas Dawlish joined a navy still commanded by veterans of the Napoleonic Wars, men familiar with sails, carronades and broadsides. But now, in the early 1880s sail is yielding to steam, new technologies are creating new weapons and established international power-balances are shifting. Against the background of real historical events Dawlish has to confront challenges inconceivable to earlier generations of officers. From a review in Quarterdeck Magazine, March-April 2015 "This historical spy thriller reveals attempts by the insurgents to design, build and operate the first submersible craft in a deadly underwater campaign, which thwarts the Royal Navy's conventional capabilities....... pace is fast and furious, with plot twists and turns, as Dawlish tries to capture the prototype submarine and ... as the plot turns to Cuba, the submarine ends up on a bay on the coast of Cuba in the middle of an insurrection against Spain. The author's narrative of Yellow Fever and its affects are realistic and horrifying..." Nautical author and historian Joan Druett has described Antoine Vanner as 'The Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction."

Sea adventures in the Victorian Era This is the 7th volume of the Dawlish Chronicles naval fiction series - action and adventure set in the age of transition from sail to steam in the later 19th Century. 1859: a terrified 13 year-old boy has survived the shredding of a flotilla by enemy gunfire, the first defeat suffered by the Royal Navy for four decades. Now he cowers in a muddy ditch, waiting for the signal that will launch a suicidal assault on Chinese fortifications. It is Nicholas Dawlish's blooding in combat and its memory will stay with him throughout his future career as a naval officer. 1882: now a captain, Dawlish is returning to China command of Britain's newest cruiser, HMS Leonidas. Her voyage to the Far East is to be a peaceful venture, a test of this innovative vessel's engines and boilers. It should bear no relation to that nightmare of failure in China that Dawlish remembers since boyhood and so there is no forewarning of the whirlwind of land and naval combat ahead. But soon after arrival in Hong Kong Dawlish is required to undertake a diplomatic mission in Korea. It seems no more than a formality but he finds a country racked by riot, treachery and massacre and the focus of merciless international ambitions. For a new balance of power is emerging in the Far East - Imperial China, weak and corrupt, is challenged by a rapidly modernising Japan, while Russia threatens both from the north. They all need to control Korea, frozen as it is in time and reluctant to emerge from centuries of isolation. British interests are at stake also and Dawlish finds himself a critical player in a complex political powder keg. He must take account of a weak Korean king and his shrewd queen, of murderous palace intrigue, of a powerbroker who seems more American than Chinese and a Japanese naval officer whom he will come to despise and admire in equal measure. And he will have no one to turn to for guidance. Britannia's Spartan sees Dawlish drawn into fierce naval combat but action ashore proves no less deadly. Daring and initiative have already brought him rapid advancement and he hungers for more. But is he at last out of his depth? Earlier volumes in this naval fiction series -have charted Dawlish's rise in the Royal Navy. As a boy in the late 1850s he has joined a navy still commanded by veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. But now, in the early 1880s sail is yielding to steam, new technologies are creating new weapons and established international power-balances are shifting. Against the background of real historical events, Dawlish has to confront challenges inconceivable to earlier generations of officers. Why the Dawlish Chronicles? "I've enjoyed sea adventure tales since I was introduced to C.S. Forester's Hornblower books when I was a boy," says author Antoine Vanner, "and I've never tired since of stories of action and adventure by land and by sea. The Napoleonic era has however come to the war and military genre but the century that followed it was one no less exciting, an added attraction being the arrival and adoption of so much new technology. I've reflected this in the Dawlish Chronicles and for this reason I'm pleased that nautical historian and author Joan Druett has described me as 'The Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction.' The novels have as their settings actual events of the international power-games of the period and real-life personalities usually play significant roles. Britannia's Spartan is no exception to this and Korea's beautiful, scheming and utterly ruthless Queen Min is central to the plot.

This is the 11th volume in the Dawlish Chronicles Series 1884: Florence Dawlish remains in Britain when her husband, Captain Nicholas Dawlish, leaves for service in the Sudan. She faces months of worry about him but she'll cope by immersing herself in welfare work for Royal Navy seamen's families at Portsmouth. It'll be a dull but worthy time . . .. . . until the suicide of a middle-aged widow whom Florence respects. Left wealthy by her husband, this lady died a pauper, beggared within a few months, how and by whom, is not known. The widow's legal executor isn't interested and the police have other concerns. Lacking close family, she'll be soon forgotten.But not by Florence. Someone was responsible and there must be retribution. And getting justice will demand impersonation, guile and courage.Florence doesn't hesitate to investigate blackmail and fraud in fashionable London. But a single wrong decision in circumstances far removed from that world plunges her into an ever-deepening morass, where loyalty to Britain and to seamen who served with her husband raises terrifying dilemmasOld friends support her but old allies who offer help may have different, and sinister, agendas. Higher stakes are involved than she had ever anticipated. In a time of shifting international alliances, in which not all the enemies she faces are British, she can be little more than a pawn. And pawns are often sacrificed . . .Britannia's Morass plays out against a backdrop of poverty and opulence, of courtroom drama and political assassination, of subterfuge, treachery and espionage. It runs in parallel with Britannia's Gamble, which details Florence's husband Nicholas's service in the Sudan. And the challenges she faces are no less deadly than his.This volume includes the bonus short story Britannia's Collector, which tells of Nicholas Dawlish's service as a young naval officer in a gunvessel operating off the coast of South America in 1866.Why The Dawlish Chronicles Series? "I've enjoyed historical naval fiction since I was introduced to C.S. Forester's Hornblower books when I was a boy," says author Antoine Vanner. "I've never tired since of stories of action and adventure by land and by sea. The Napoleonic era has however come to dominate the war and military fiction genre but the century that followed it was one no less exciting, an added attraction being the arrival and adoption of so much new technology. I've reflected this in the Dawlish Chronicles and for this reason I'm pleased that nautical author Joan Druett has described me as 'The Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction.' My novels have as their settings actual events of the international power-games of the period and real-life personalities often play significant roles."In many of the volumes of this series, Nicholas Dawlish's wife Florence (first met in Britannia's Wolf) plays a significant role. In two of them - Britannia's Amazon, and now Britannia's Morass - she is the main protagonist, acting independently of her absent husband. Clever, compassionate, courageous and fiercely loyal, she faces - and triumphs over - the suffocating social prejudices of the late Victorian era for having once been a servant. When faced with injustice or exploitation she is not prepared to stand aside and the battles she accepts are no less dangerous than her husband's.

Start the Dawlish Chronicles series with this earliestNaval adventure in the Victorian Era1864 - Political folly has brought war upon Denmark. Lacking allies, the country is invaded by the forces of military superpowers Prussia and Austria. Cut off from the main Danish Army, and refusing to use the word 'retreat', a resolute commander withdraws northwards. Harried by Austrian cavalry, his forces plod through snow, sleet and mud, their determination not to be defeated increasing with each weary step . . .Across the Atlantic, civil war rages. It is fought not solely on American soil but also on the world's oceans, as Confederate commerce raiders ravage Union merchant shipping as far away as the East Indies. And now a new raider, a powerful modern ironclad, is nearing completion in a British shipyard. But funds are lacking to pay for her armament and the Union government is pressing Britain to prevent her sailing . . .Denmark is not wholly without sympathizers however. Britain's heir to the throne is married to a Danish princess. With his covert backing, British volunteers are ready to fight for the Danes. And the Confederacy is willing to lease the new raider for two months if she can be armed and supplied as payment, although the Union government is determined to see her sunk . . .Just returned from Royal Navy service in the West Indies, the young Nicholas Dawlish is induced to volunteer and is plunged into the horrors of a siege, shore-bombardment, raiding and battle in the cold North Sea - notwithstanding divided loyalties . . .In other books of the Dawlish Chronicles series, Dawlish is met as an experienced and resourceful officer, but in 1864 he is still an innocent. But he will need to learn fast . . .This is the eighth volume of the Dawlish Chronicles historical naval fiction series - action and adventure set in the age of transition from sail to steam in the later decades of the 19th Century. It can be enjoyed as part of the series or as a standalone story. Britannia's Innocent is more than a naval thriller, or a tale of war and military conflict, for it tells of the earlier years of Nicholas Dawlish, a Royal Navy officer who is more familiar with steam, breech-loaders and torpedoes than with sails, carronades and broadsides.Other volumes in this naval fiction series - Britannia's Wolf, Britannia's Reach, Britannia's Shark, Britannia's Spartan, Britannia's Amazon, Britannia's Mission and Britannia's Gamble, chart Dawlish's rise in the Royal Navy. As a boy in the late 1850s he joined a service still commanded by veterans of the Napoleonic Wars. But sail is yielding to steam, new technologies are creating new weapons and established international power-balances are shifting. Against the background of real historical events Dawlish has to confront challenges inconceivable to earlier generations of officers.Why this series?"I've enjoyed sea adventures since I was introduced to C.S. Forester's Hornblower books when I was a boy," says author Antoine Vanner. "I've never tired since of stories of action and adventure by land and by sea. The Napoleonic era has however come to dominate the war and military fiction genre but the century that followed it was one no less exciting, an added attraction being the arrival and adoption of so much new technology. I've reflected this in the Dawlish Chronicles and for this reason I'm pleased that nautical author Joan Druett has described me as 'The Tom Clancy of historical naval fiction.' My novels have as their settings actual events of the international power-games of the period and real-life personalities usually play significant roles. Britannia's Innocent is no exception, for a key role is played the Confederate agent James Bulloch - classed by the Union State Department as "The most dangerous man in Europe".