Mastodawn

George MacDonald Fraser (1925–2008) – author, historian, journalist, screenwriter – was born #OTD, 2 April, 1925

“His dedication to strongly researched stories, built firmly on a bedrock of historical fact, but always with an eye to the humour of a situation, was the core of what appealed to me”

Historical novelist Michael Jecks discusses MacDonald Fraser’s writing for the Royal Literary Fund

@bookstodon

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https://www.rlf.org.uk/showcase/not-a-serious-writer/

#Scottish #literature #historicalfiction

Not A Serious Writer

Novelist Michael Jecks investigates the historical realism of George MacDonald Fraser. Harry Flashman is a fictional character borrowed from a novel who purports to be telling the truth about real, historical events – an illusion supported by George MacDonald Fraser’s well-researched footnotes. Michael Jecks locates the realism at the heart of a series of historical novels masquerading as thrillers.

Royal Literary Fund

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Assoc for Scottish Literature 2d ago

@bookstodon

“QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE… provides insight into what it takes an individual to survive, both (with luck) physically &, more importantly, ethically”

—retired Australian Army officer Jason Thomas on George MacDonald Fraser’s memoir of the WW2 Burma campaign

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https://warroom.armywarcollege.edu/special-series/dusty-shelves/quartered-safe/

#Scottish #literature #history #memoir #war #WW2 #Burma #warmemoir

ON GOOD PENMANSHIP: QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE (DUSTY SHELVES)

It's been a while but the DUSTY SHELVES series is back with a new look at an older book. WAR ROOM welcomes Jason Thomas as he reviews Quartered Safe Out Here by George MacDonald Fraser. An intriguing look at the oft forgotten China Burma India Theater of World War II, MacDonald Fraser is a skilled author that relays the experiences of the men of The Border Regiment through his personal history as an infantryman in the Burma Campaign. Jason pulls out the book's lessons of unit cohesion, integrity, ethics and resilience that are timeless and useful to any military leader and deems Quartered Safe Out Here worthy of a dust off.

War Room - U.S. Army War College

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Assoc for Scottish Literature 2d ago

@bookstodon

“…war is not a matter of maps with red and blue arrows and oblongs, but of weary, thirsty men with sore feet and aching shoulders wondering where they are…”

—George MacDonald Fraser, QUARTERED SAFE OUT HERE: A recollection of the War in Burma

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#Scottish #literature #history #memoir #war #warmemoir #WW2 #Burma

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Assoc for Scottish Literature 2d ago

@bookstodon

“At one moment when President Richard Nixon was taking part in his inauguration ceremony, he appeared flanked by Lyndon Johnson & Billy Graham… it was one of those historical coincidences which send a little shudder through the mind”

—George MacDonald Fraser, THE STEEL BONNETS: The Story of the Anglo-Scottish Border Reivers (1971)

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#Scottish #literature #history #Borders #reivers

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Assoc for Scottish Literature 2d ago

@bookstodon

“Gordon of Achruach was at feud with Campbell of Kentallan, who hired certain Gregora, landless men, who took the Gordon unawares while he was hunting in the Mamore…”

—from “The Gordon Women” by George MacDonald Fraser – one of his “McAuslan” stories – in THE SHEIKH & THE DUSTBIN (1988)

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#Scottish #literature #history #folklore #clan #Macgregor #Gordon #Campbell