The Author
On top of his full-time job as a proofreader, Peter is involved in an overload of writing seven books to add to the four already completed, two of which are the first half of The Aleksander Quartet, a series of thrillers that runs from the Second World War to the present day. Boomslang will bring us into the apocalyptic mid-late 2020s and make it a quintet.
Green Remembered Hills – Travels Through Borneo’s Lost Paradise describes Peter’s overland trek across Borneo, while Girls, God, and Vodka describes life in contemporary Poland, and Blades – The SAS: The British Army’s Cutting Edge, and One for the Road respectively cover an alternative history of the SAS and a 21,000km solo motorcycle ride through 22 European countries.
1. Kindred Blood
“One day sooner or later this weapon will be in our hands and . . . it will be more terrible than anything that has gone before” - 1941 Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess tells MI6 how terrifyingly advanced Nazi Germany’s nuclear weapons programme already is.
In the very last days of the war, with the Fatherland being choked to death in a closing fist of steel, Hitler launches the most audacious scheme of the entire war: Operation Magi, a radiation attack on America’s defenceless West Coast.
Three U-boats are ordered to the Far East, each loaded with a deadly cargo of enriched uranium, which the Americans will stop at nothing to capture.
The first U-boat is sunk. The second captured, leaving the third somewhere in the vast Atlantic Ocean, still going, still capable of winning the war for Germany.
But for one man aboard this final submarine, Operation Magi means more than just winning the war. For renegade SS Major Paul Stadler, under secret orders of his own, it could be his first chance to finally meet the love of his life – his young Jewish-American son.
2. Exit Wound
‘This is real ‘Robert Ludlum meets Andy McNab’ territory, with a pulsing plotline that is both action-packed and intellectually provocative, as well as surprisingly sensitive in the way it deals with the way it deals with the world of elite soldiering’ - Penpress Reader’s Report for Exit Wound – sequel to Kindred Blood.
Britain’s secret intelligence headquarters GCHQ has discovered a connection between Britain and a Russian people-smuggling gang operating on the Polish-Belarussian border. He is a man codenamed Sweeper. And there’s a complication.
“You mean he’s a UK national?”
“Oh, it’s much worse than that, David. He’s ex-SAS. One of Hereford’s hooligans.”
When security consultant David Calvert is offered a priority new task, the good news is that it comes with a guaranteed $3 million cash fee. The bad news is that with all his operators tied up on the Circuit, he is one man short of the necessary four-man team. That leaves just one final option: his twin brother, ex-Special Forces Aleks.
But Aleksander, recently hit by a series of personal disasters, is off-radar, on a killer drinking spree and in suicidal freefall.
Plan A: Find Aleks and set him up as the fall guy in a trap which will kill three birds with one stone: get Sweeper for GCHQ, get David the fourth callsign he needs for the new assignment – and save his brother’s life.
Or sacrifice it.
Plan B: There is no Plan B
What did a professional manuscript reader say about Exit Wound?
I’ve read this with real pleasure. You do write very well, even brilliantly in places, with a level of authenticity that is almost breath-taking to read. The opening is very strong and atmospheric with a good sense of setting and I love the way you withhold information from the reader to pique our interest, you don’t spell things out for us, which is tantalising, tense and nicely controlled. Some of your writing is astonishingly vivid and insightful.
I thought this manuscript had many positive qualities. The opening conveys a strong sense of place and character. Some of your writing is very vivid, on occasion highly memorable, and sometimes even masterful. The depiction of firing the GPMG on the training range was the best depiction I have ever read of the awesome power of such a weapon. Firearms feature heavily in this genre, but one seldom comes across anything with the immediacy and impact of these descriptions. Reading this, one is transported into the moment and can almost smell the cordite for oneself. Fantastic stuff.
Knowing a little about your own background, I was not surprised that you would be able to convey a great deal of authenticity in this regard. I have seldom come across writing that so vividly depicts the brutality of war . . . its power is stark and real. I felt the same way about the SAS selection training sequences, which convey the fatigue and stress of the candidates very well indeed. That there is some extremely high quality in your prose is not in doubt.
Conclusion: You can write very well, even exceptionally well at times. I would also venture to say that you have here the makings of a very effective thriller, which with your personal SAS background – especially if you could get regimental names like Andy McNab to provide back-cover comments – could be highly marketable.
Artwork by Peter Whyte-Venables.
3. Team Spirit
Unity Under Fire: The Unbreakable Bond and Resilience of a Special Forces Brotherhood in Action
In ‘Team Spirit,’ fresh characters join the narrative, focusing on a US-UK mission to free a British scientist from an Iranian prison. Linked to ‘Kindred Blood,’ its fast-paced action promises an unputdownable read.
This book is in the very early stage with two chapters completed, and a complete and plausible plot.
Artwork by Peter Whyte-Venables.
4. Ultramarine
Ultramarine - a deep blue colour, derived from the export since ancient times of lapis lazulis, a semi-precious stone found predominantly in Afghanistan; from Medieval Latin ultramarinus, to describe a brilliant blue dye from 'beyond the sea'
‘Ultramarine‘, Peter’s enthralling work in progress, holds the potential of a true blockbuster. Drawing from real SAS figures, it showcases Peter’s exceptional dialogue and writing. Set around 2020, the plot follows David’s team as they venture into northern Afghanistan to sabotage a brand-new bridge constructed by China to facilitate the export of Afghanistan’s strategically vital precious earth elements.
A British literary agent based in Los Angeles told Peter during a two-hour phone call that the first two chapters of ‘Ultramarine‘, “blew me away”. This novel follows an original storyline, maintaining an unputdownable pace, as its characters and plot – based entirely on real Special Forces characters and bang-up-date real international events – take the real ‘Golden Road to Samarkand’.
5. Boomslang
Boomslang: a dangerous situation or an explosive or impactful event.
‘Boomslang,’ the anticipated fifth instalment of the Aleksander series, began in 2018 and is currently in early development as Peter keeps a close eye on developments in Ukraine. Again, the emphasis with both characters and plot is on realism and credibility.
6. Green Remembered Hills
Two men set off into the wilderness in a bid to escape civilisation – only to meet it coming the other way . . .
The first time I went to Borneo was with the SAS, when I was medivacced to a hospital, where the medic connected an IV needle in my arm to a garden hose and went off for his weekend’s leave. That should have been enough to put me off the jungle for life.
It didn’t.
So when, a year later, Chris Finch Hatton declared himself restless, I saw an opportunity for revenge. I decided that I was going to cross the entire island of Borneo, from coast to coast, just to spite Her Majesty’s Special Air Service. And CFH was going to come with me.
There was just one problem. Snakes. On the jungle floor there were ground snakes and tree snakes, the rivers contained water snakes, and in the air there were flying snakes.
I am not keen on snakes.
Or other creepy-crawlies, discomfort, danger, or the unknown.
Two months later, I finally began to realise where I went wrong in my application to join the SAS: ticking the YES box next to the question Are you tough enough?
7. Still Waters
Written purely for the benefit of his son, ‘Still Waters’ is the first of Peter’s two-part autobiography, tracing his life from birth in Africa until age 30, detailing his Special Air Service tenure, a two-man trans-Borneo trek and a memorable hike through the untouched treasure that is still Transylvania.
8. Run Deep
An extension to 'Still Waters' taking Peter up to when he arrived in Poland in 2009.
9. Girls, God and Vodka
This exploration of life in Poland blends Peter's perspectives with insights from around 20 non-Poles, featuring an introduction, two chapters, and six interviews already completed.
10. One for the Road
If you think that adventure is dangerous, try routine. It is lethal - Paulo Coelho.
One day in 2006, I woke to find that a small patch of my lower lip had turned a numb white. I visited three doctors, and they all peered at it and adopted serious expressions without saying why. I consulted Dr Google, who said, “Cancer. With the amount you drink – and don’t forget you used to smoke – you’re going to die. Soon.”
Well, if I was going to die soon, the only sensible thing to do was to fulfil a long-held dream, which was to motorcycle from New York to Los Angeles on a Harley Davidson. Two obstacles presented themselves more depressingly than the cancer diagnosis: that I had no Harley Davidson and no money.
Plan B was to buy a second-hand BMW and, since I was clearly going to die soon anyway, get Messrs Visa and Barclaycard to pay for me to ride round Europe instead. The 20-year old 1000cc RT I chose, despite having a staggering 184,000 miles on the clock, seemed sound enough, and for the rest, well, I would just last as long as I could.
I spent six months saving enough to cover the mortgage while I was away, and planned a route that would, starting in April 2006, take in 27 countries, starting in Poland and ending in France, encompassing Norway’s Polar Nord Kapp and Greece’s 40C heat wave on the way.
I had no particular aims or sights to see or distance to cover. I would just follow my front wheel and see where it took me. It took me further and showed me more than I had hoped for.
What interested me in the meantime was that every single man I told of the trip said how much he envied me and how much he wished he could do the same. Since the journey would not likely take more than five months (it took 15 weeks), a proportion of the men’s wives would certainly say, “Fine. You go. But my turn next year, okay? And you look after the kids while I’m gone.” Moneywise, all the builders I worked with – I was a builder then, you see – had cars worth far more than the ancient bike I’d just bought.
There are two punchlines to this story: one is that I discovered that Germans have a sense of humour after all, and the second is that – and you’d need a sense of tumour to find this funny – when I got home, within a fortnight my doctor called and said that Britain’s top oncologist was visiting my local hospital (literally across the road from my house) the next day and would I like him to examine my suspected cancerous lip?
I duly went along. He spent twenty seconds examining me, and said, “Leukoprakia. Harmless. Gone in a week.”
It was. Leaving me with a more than $10,000 credit card debt.
No worries. No regrets. Job done. Whether I die tomorrow or live until I’m 100, I lived a dream.
11. Blades
Inside the SAS – the British Army’s Cutting Edge.
Blades – the name commonly used by the SAS about themselves (they were originally described as ‘thinking bayonets’) – takes a fresh look at this regiment, providing a concise history from conception in 1941 to action in Syria in 2018, interspersed with personal experiences and interviews with past members of both ex-Regular and Reserve members. The new angle to this is that as well as presenting its exceptional achievements the book does not shy away from admitting to the Regiment’s mistakes, of which there have been a surprising number, both serious and amusing. I still have contacts with ex members, so clearing up misconceptions will be a winning aspect of the book.*
Despite all the publicity and books written about them, widespread ignorance of the true nature of these men and their work remains. For seven years I served with the SAS Reserves, and I was medically withdrawn a week from the end of the three-month Regular process, so I know what it’s like to pass and fail.
As one of the two moderators on the SAS Facebook site, I can confirm that worldwide interest in the Regiment remains absolutely huge – in the last two years membership has risen from 2500 to 11,000. (Serving SAS: none. Past SAS: probably fewer than 50: but those 50 will want their voices heard)
They are not supermen, simply military perfectionists of above-average intelligence; misfits who happen to fit together.
* The soldier who played such a public role in evacuating more than 70 civilians from the hotel/shopping centre in Nairobi in January 2019 was a senior sergeant from B Sqn, 22SAS; he was not a trooper, or an officer, or attached to 23SAS, or a member of the SBS. Nor was he awarded the Victoria Cross.
Artwork by Peter Whyte-Venables.
