23 June 2014

Spitfires Over Malta - now direct from author

Paul Lovell achieved two things when he released his self-published update of the wartime classic Spitfires Over Malta.  Firstly, he brought an historically valuable book, written by an Australian and New Zealander who flew in the defence of Malta, back to the spotlight and in front of several new generations of readers.  Breathing new life into old books, particularly those written by aircrew during the war, by preserving the original text (their voice) but adding contextual research, appendices and further research is a favourite subject of mine.  The story feels more complete, more commemorative, if done well ... and Paul has done SOM so very well.  

That brings me to the second point.  The book includes so much extra information, and photographs, in addition to the original, slim 1940s edition, that it is now more than 370 pages long.  Paul, as editor, but really the third author of course, matched the quality of his research with the quality of the books production.  SOM is a paperback but is printed on the highest quality paper stock.  This means it is heavy!  Coupled with the superb cover, this literally makes for a weighty and beautiful book in the hand or on the shelf.  The entire package is the equivalent of a Siren's call.  I very much doubt there would be any WW2 aircrew enthusiast who, budget aside, would pass up adding SOM to their library.

The book continues to sell well and has been featured favourably in several historic aviation magazines around the world.  The main selling point online is currently Amazon but due to privacy issues Paul has been unable to reply to postage enquiries made by those outside of the UK.  He is, of course, keen to speak with anyone, anywhere in the world, interested in purchasing the SOM as he knows they will fall  in love with the book just as he did when he found an original edition at a car boot sale several years ago (the purchase that started this odyssey).

Paul's details are below.  I also have his postal address so please enquire if you would like to send him more traditional correspondence!  For convenience, I have include my email below as well.

Paul Lovell - plovell.24ATbtinternet.com (replace the "AT" with @ of course)
Andy Wright - aircrewbooksATiinet.net.au

Spitfires Over Malta, the most stunning aircrew paperback to be produced in the past couple of years, is available direct from Paul for 15.99 GBP plus postage worldwide.