Flashman is back in novels

Bob Brightwell of Henlow writes stories inspired by George MacDonald Fraser’s popular Flashman series.

He has now given up his lengthy career in corporate communications to take on the challenge of working as a full time author.

Bob said: “I have just published my third novel and while Amazon advise that the average lifetime earnings of a self published author are in the region of $500 I have already sold 15,000 books; approximately half in the UK and half in the US.”

The original Flashman novels followed the adult career of Harry Flashman.

Flashman was the bully from Tom Brown’s School Days, a Victorian novel by Thomas Hughes.

As with Fraser’s original Flashman novels, Bob’s fictional characters meet with real people from the time.

All three of Bob’s novels centre on the imaginary character, Thomas Flashman. Living during the Napoleonic Wars and into the early 19th century, Thomas Flashman is intended to be the original Flashman’s uncle.

Bob said: “As with the original series my books involve a fictional character engaging with real historical events.

“The first book is set around the extraordinary early career of Thomas Cochrane, one of the Royal Navy’s finest commanders. The second is set during the Mahratta wars in India and the third in the Peninsular War in Spain.

“My central character is a rogue and a scoundrel like his fictional nephew but the characters are not exactly the same as they lived in different times.

“In my books I try to bring to life some of the less well known but astonishing characters of the time such as and the Loyal Lusitanian Legion who with a few hundred men stopped a French marshal and his army in its tracks.”

The series is set to continue with another three books already planned.