Based on true events, WTF is a novel of love, war, betrayal and retribution arising from the collision between the destroyer HMAS Voyager and aircraft carrier Melbourne. Eighty-two men died on a beautiful moonlit night in the summer of 1964. Jim Price only survived because of his mate Charlie but Charlie didn't make it. If someone saves your life you are under an obligation to them forever, so it's up to Jim to obtain justice for his mate. Was it just criminal negligence on the part of Voyager's captain, known throughout the Navy as Drunken Duncan, or did the rot go deeper? The suicide of Charlie's widow, Nola, worsens the tragedy and spreads the blame to areas unforeseen. A class action by the survivors against the Navy and the government seems like a good idea at the time but Jim finds obstructions in the path of justice. Jim falls in love with Nola's friend Jenny, whose brother, Paul, is threatened with conscription into the Army. Her mother, Shirley, founds an organisation called Save Our Sons campaigning against conscription and the Vietnam War. Jim commences officer training at about the time a Royal Commission into the disaster releases its findings, which are seen as a whitewash by Jim and his mates. What is justice? Jim wants to know. He joins several of his fellow survivors in a class action against the Navy and the Government but they encounter opposition from the authorities. On graduating from the naval college, Jim is posted to the Melbourne, deployed to Vietnam. He still experiences nightmares from his Voyager experience and his time in Vietnam is equally traumatic. He resigns from the Navy suffering from what we now call PTSD, although he doesn't know it. Only Jenny's love and forgiveness can rescue him from deep depression but when he enrolls at Sydney University he is thrust into the midst of student demonstrations. Paul lost his fight to stay out of the Army and was sent to Vietnam but is discharged medically unfit due to a drug addiction. Back in Sydney, he absconds from his rehab program and disappears. In search of him, Jenny volunteers as a counsellor at the Wayside Chapel providing support to addicts in King's Cross. Sydney has been invaded by American servicemen on R&R from Vietnam. Jenny's father, Richard, separated from Shirley, is a wealthy property developer. At Jenny's suggestion he employs Jim as skipper of his corporate cruiser, Alcyone, offering harbour cruises for American soldiers and others. One of her passengers, also an addict and a client of the Wayside Chapel, claims to have seen Jenny's brother. He exposes a CIA plot to smuggle heroin from Laos to the USA via Sydney. The CIA also plans to establish a bank in Sydney to launder their drug money and trade weapons throughout Asia and other parts of the world. A second whitewash Royal Commission into the sinking of Voyager and her alcoholic captain enrages Jim and his former shipmates. When Paul's corpse is found in a state of decay in an old house slated for demolition and development by Richard, it's the last straw for Jim. The ghastly discovery is enough to bring the family back together but Jim is even more determined to avenge his mate, and it's going to turn out badly for someone. Review by: Boris Seaweed on June 19, 2016: Thought-provoking and captivating book, written in smooth English and interspersed with Australian everyday spoken language, idioms and slang. Describing different sides of Australian life (the Navy, business, university life, Sydney city life, fashions, etc.) the author also delves into the recent history (Vietnam war and antiwar movement, politics, etc.). He also dares to weave into the plot and connect with the main character his version of mysterious disappearance of Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt on December 17, 1967. And it is also a charming love and family story. Personally I have read the book in one breath.
About the Author: I have been a sailor all my life including service in the Royal Australian Navy, which gave me the background for my novel Whisky Tango Foxtrot, and nowadays cruise in my yacht, Jabiru. I have sailed in tankers, tugs, container ships and semi-submersible oil rigs but my favorite job was skipper of a sail training ship. Herding cats is a snack compared to controlling a bunch of teenagers in their oats aboard a sailing ship, but it's rewarding. Character development is the aim of the sail training program so we take them out to sea, get them seasick, teach them how to pull on ropes, tie useless knots and sing sea shanties. We get them out of bed in the middle of the night to stand watch on deck and give them a certificate at the end of the voyage saying what great kids they are. I found time to do some writing, spent a while at Stanford University learning the craft, published a novel entitled Little Joe subtitled A Lusty Yarn of the Sea, which was a bit of a stretch on the publisher's part. I produced The Seaman's Handbook, a text book for marine students and sailed around the world to research my faction, A Singular Captain, based on Ferdinand Magellan's great voyage and the first circumnavigation of the world. My current work in progress is a non-fiction exploration of the mysteries of time.