What happens when a Vietnam War pilot puts pen to paper on retirement? Imagine what a young Royal Australian Air Force C130 pilot would, and could, get up to in 1970’s Vietnam. Think of the late Robin Williams in “Good Morning Vietnam” and mix in a lot of Mel Gibson and Robert Downey Jnr. in “Air America”, and you soon realise why, when Marman put pen to paper the result was “The McAlister Line”. Be prepared to be taken back to a time in our planet’s turbulent history when young men were once again thrust into a conflict created by individuals and governments with conflicting ideologies and politics.
Like young men everywhere, when put into extraordinary and unnatural circumstances, their adventures and escapades, will always turn out to be extraordinary and sometimes altogether unbelievable. Are these simply fragments of myth and legend passed down the generations in the pilots mess - or did they really happen? - for there is always an element of truth in any myth and legend.
The result is a page-turning action and adventure series of novels for those enraptured by the Action and Adventure genre but also an excellent action series for Young Adults. Based on the real life escapades of pilots during the Vietnam war, Marman has also drawn on the myths and legends of pilots which lingered and endured starting with The Great War through WWII, with more action and adventure during the Korean and Vietnam wars ending with McAlister’s Spark where an astronomical event triggers a 21st C. conflict of a different kind. Here Marman manages to combine futuristic action and adventure resulting in a heady mix of Miller and McCausland’s “Mad Max” and Schute’s “On the Beach”.
The 7 books in the McAlister Line are:
ISBN TITLE
9781910882726 McAlister and the Great War
9781909302037 McAlisters Way
9781909302280 McAlisters Hoard
9781909302471 McAlisters Siege
9781909302846 McAlisters Allegiance
9781909302211 McAlisters Spark
9781909302945 McAlister's Trail
The prequel to the series is “McAlister and the Great War” which sees Danny McAlister’s ancestor, Callan McAlister go off to the Great War (WWI) as part of the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) as an infantry man. He too has adventures and narrow escapes even before he gets to Gallipoli, now indelibly stamped on the ANZAC psyche. Wounded and evacuated to recuperate in Ireland, he becomes embroiled in the Easter Revolution before being declared fit and returned to duty. Assigned to the Western front, he relishes the chance to join the fledgling Royal Flying Corps (RFC), forerunner to the RAF, if only to leave the disease-ridden trenches behind. More action and adventure follows when he is shot down behind enemy lines but manages to evade capture. But what of his relationship with the aristocratic nurse, Ivy Brown. Do they stand a chance or will the war and Ivy’s parents destroy what they have before it has a chance to develop into something serious and meaningful?
The series skips to the 1950’s and sees Danny McAlister escaping the harsh discipline of a draconian Australian boarding school and he goes on the run through Queensland and the Northern Territories. He crosses the Gulf of Carpentaria and makes it to South East Asia. He then has terrifying adventures in the region’s tropical jungles but teams up with “Mad Monty” who teaches him to fly. With pilots in short supply, Danny and Monty are quickly sucked in to flying for CAT airlines, commonly referred to as the most shot-at airline in the world, flying missions that even Mel Gibson’s Air America wouldn’t dare tackle. The beautiful student doctor Angela Holyman joins Danny and Monty as they plunge headlong into a non-stop, breathtaking odyssey centred in South East Asia but which eventually spreads across five continents. They land in one desperate scrape after another leading to all three close friends making heart-breaking decisions which ultimately define their true allegiances.
The trio were in South East Asia when the 17th Parallel was established, as the provisional military demarcation line between North and South Vietnam, by the Geneva Accords of 1954, with the communists to the North. By May the unforgiving Siege of Dien Bien Phu was over and South Vietnam was overrun with spies and agents from the CIA, MI6, France’s SDECE and other secret service types from the West, but also Russia’s KGB, China’s MSS and North Vietnamese TCV infiltrators. All sides were vying to fill the power vacuum created by the French who were by then starting to pull out of Indochina.
We invite you to join our erstwhile trio as they have encounters with pirates, coming under fire and being wounded whilst flying casevacs, to uncovering the details of a long-lost secret and discovering a hoard of treasure, crossing paths and swords with the arch villain Frenchy Duval, also on the hunt for the stolen cache.
Then experience the final desperate dash across a war-torn city to secure a seat on one of the last flights out of Saigon in it’s now famous fall during 1975. But it is impossible to list all the scrapes, escapades, and achievements in just this paragraph. So, you’ll have to read the books to experience them first hand.
The final book in the McAlsiter Line, set back in Australia, McAlister’s Spark is a meeting and fusion of Schute’s “On the Beach” and “Mad Max” and brings the series into the 21st C. When planet Earth wanders into the path of a meteor shower, in an instant the developed world is plunged into anarchy through the loss of all electronic and electrical communications. Can Zach McAlister, Karen Davenport and Mike Farrow survive as they’re thrust into a feral and deadly new order?
Not only must they come to terms with their Stone Age environment and the use of only Medieval technology, but they must also face the terror of marauding tribal gangs, whose only method of survival is violence and conquest. Will they be able to forge a future for themselves and their descendants? This question can only be answered through their courage, determination and friendship. But, is that enough?
Once again readers are given a diet of non-stop Action and adventure which will keep you turning the pages. The whole series is a thrilling and entertaining read for lovers of the Action and Adventure genre as well as teenagers and young adults.
As a bonus we have included McAlister’s Trail, which takes the reader further back in time to when the USA was being settled by the Europeans. Join Lieutenant Sam McAlister, a distant relative of the Australian McAlisters, as he is tasked with trailing and capturing two escaped convicts, charged with Murder, across the Southwest USA, Mexico and California, resulting in more Once again more action and adventure from the pen of Richard Marman.
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McAlister’s Line Reader Reviews from YAbookscentral.com
...with pirates and secrets set amongst the northern tropics, you're in for a delightful read. It has a really good sense of place and from the voice to the detail it's a very fast moving action story that will leave you wanting more.
The McAlister Line Series is a fast paced, page turning read, the kind of read where you lose track of time. Absolutely enveloping and Highly Recommend!!
2012 Australian CYA Writing Competition Judges:
‘...Masterfully handled and quite eloquent...Wonderful.’
‘I like this book [McAlister’s Way] ... it covers issues that need to be addressed.’
Amazon.com reviews:
‘Waiting for the sequel…….’ ‘McAlister’s Spark is a fast-paced, action-riddled amazing read you will struggle to put down.’ ‘A great action read for teenagers and great graphics ... a great literary effort... ’
If you read only one book set against WWI during its centenary anniversary, make it McAlister and the Great War. This novel, ranging across a truly global canvas, explores many fascinating and thrilling historical incidents that occurred during the tragic conflict.
A very good and well researched read. I enjoyed McAlister and the Great War very much. Sqn. Ldr. (ret) Mark ‘Cowboy’ Wilcox Chief Pilot & CEO Fubilan Air Transport, PNG
