Anthony Holt News & Views

As I sit here at my computer, I am listening to Storm Eunice raging outside, alternately screaming and wailing, and gusting up to Severe Storm Force Eleven, even in my relatively sheltered garden.   Local schools have been closed, trees are coming down, and even the...

8th February 2022 So after all the problems, tank-traps, foul-ups, and computer glitches along the way, my book 'HMS ARCHER' is finally available in paper-back and kindle format.   I have even managed to obtain some 'author copies', from Amazon who managed to get them...

When I started to write HMS Archer, I wanted to achieve four things.   I needed to present a book that developed a comprehensive story but would remain easy to read.   When I am reading books for my own entertainment, I am often put off by having to launch into a...

After completing my first two books I decided to experiment with writing short stories.   As I looked back from the conclusion of my second career, I realised that, through no effort or fault on my own part, interesting things seemed to happen to me or around me.   I...

The germ of an idea started when the news media was full of stories of hijacked ships with crews and valuable cargoes held for heavy ransoms.   The hijackings were done by impoverished Somali fishermen, but it was the remote fat-cats who walked away with the spoils. ...

When I wrote and published 'Harry's Revenge' I gave a few copies to friends to gauge reaction from readers.   One response bothered me,   When I asked what he thought of the book, one of my friends responded with a rather curt 'too much detail'.   I thought about this...

I decided to begin writing 'HMS Archer' because, as an amateur maritime historian, I wanted to investigate a period of maritime history which seems to have been largely ignored, certainly on this side of the Atlantic.   If the subject of the 1812 war is mentioned,...

The story of HMS Archer is set in an important but almost forgotten period in the history of Britain and the United States.   It begins in 1811 when Britain was still involved in a bitter war with Napoleonic France, a war which had been going on for many years. ...

Trevor was walking around by torchlight, though the street lights of Piccadilly also spilled some light into the front rooms, making Trevor’s torch almost unnecessary.   He approached from the adjacent corridor, passing through the small, elegant Cambridge Room and...

“Good evening!” said the Colonel. Cheerily. I looked up and put down my pen.  “Good evening Colonel,” I replied, “how can I help?” “Oh, not so formal; never mind the Colonel,” he said, followed by, or so I thought, “Not a real rank anyhow, not the same as you, y’...