Déjà vu McGrew and his Tank Crew

Sergeant McGrew is a rough-cut man from Belfast. His crew are everything to him. New recruits are regarded with superstition. There are reasons why. Four of the five-man crew, have been with the tank commander for over four years. McGrew and his surviving troopers have witnessed many traumatic events, including the tragic deaths of various friends along the bloody journey through World War II. From North Africa, Italy and finally Northern Europe. It is now early February 1945. A few days prior to the Reichswald Forest Campaign. They have a new recruit and once again the superstitious feelings of dread and loss begin to grow in McGrew and his seasoned trooper’s minds. Are the veterans going to witness another recruit perish before the finishing line of a costly war? Or will the likeable young trooper make it?

A Modern Day Fairy Tale.

Why did the late Mr. Ballantyne continuously speak of such radiance caused by the presence of strange little fairy folk? Why did no one believe him? https://amzn.to/3fj5BOe #Supernatural #Fairy #Mythical #LegendaryCreature #Pixie #Sprite #Horror #Thriller

Artist (Peter Moran) impression of HMS Thunder Child from War of the Worlds.

Artist (Peter Moran) impression of Thunder Child.

How the aging ship of HMS Thunder Child may have looked from the science fiction novel of H.G. Wells' War of the Worlds.

It was a great adventure fantasizing about such a ship and I would imagine it was splendid fun designing the interior along the lines of the Devastation class ship built-in 1871 with a sister ship named HMS Thunderer to follow.

This interior design was done by the book's cover artist Peter Moran. I love the detail of this and it does make for a very atmospheric feel. It sat very low in the water and there is a small ram to the front, below the waterline.

You will notice, in the image, that the revolving turret still has its short stubby muzzle loading guns. In history, muzzleloaders were obsolete in the Royal Navy by the time of 1898, when the alien invasion story is roughly set.

On a whim, I took unashamed liberty to still have one ship using muzzleloaders for this science fiction pastiche story. I think I did this because the Devastation class sister ship HMS Thunderer had a terrible accident using the muzzle loading guns in 1879 during a gunnery exercise. Plus the ship's names are similar.

Because of this accident, the admiralty ended all muzzleloaders, and ships were converted to longer barrelled breech loaders.

As this is a science fiction story and with an emphasis on the fiction aspect, I wanted to use a poetic license and bend the rules for the 'make-believe' HMS Thunder Child - our Martian fighting fictional ship.

I know there is a hoard of HMS Polyphemus fans out there. I've often had comments on such. I appreciate them, but I have chosen to indulge in the Devastation presentation with a small ram. Therefore, for all Polyphemus fans, fair play to you all, but I like the older idea of this fictitious almost like a Devastation class ship.

Peter Moran undertook a great project of presenting the ship's interior. I love this image. I hope you good people do too. 😃👍

#WarOfTheWorlds #sciencefiction #readers #scifiart #scifihorror #scifi #scifibooks Grinning faceThumbs up

The Last Days of...

1. Thunder Child https://buff.ly/2NkEbbQ

2. The Fighting Machine https://buff.ly/2MNil1N

3. Purgatory https://buff.ly/2Lkls0B