I've read and enjoyed a lot of Dahl's work over the years, especially his bizarre/creepy/funny/dark short stories (one example here), but I hadn't realized that he also wrote stories about combat flying during WWII, based on some of his own experiences. I found this trade paperback at a local Barnes and Noble, and have already dived in; the first story addresses the way in which a burned-out fighter pilot copes with fear...

Fascinating collection, often very moving, with some touches of humor and some very thought-provoking bits as well. Among those that struck me as most memorable:

"Death of an Old Old Man" puts us inside the head of a pilot who's terrified even as he goes into battle, and takes us through his last fight.

"An African Story" is more along the lines of Dahl's tales-of-the-unexpected, in which an old man narrates a story of murder and revenge.

"A Piece of Cake" is a chilling account of a pilot who suffers horrible injuries, but who doesn't want to realize just how bad it is; it's told from his point of view, and the reader too easily imagines all the things he isn't saying.

"They Shall Not Grow Old" is an odd one (odder than usual), an account of a pilot whose plane goes missing for two days, and who's presumed dead - until he flies back to base convinced that he's only been away for a couple of hours...

I enjoyed all the tales in the book, some of them making me feel as though I were in the cockpit of a fighter, exhilarated and ready; others as though I were in the head of a terrified and lost soul.

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

This was a sort of Veterans Day preview release - Nashua's Veterans Day parade will be held tomorrow morning, and I have another book or two I plan to release then, but I left this one today with a newspaper item about tomorrow's events tucked inside. The book's on the bench in Constitution Square at the junction of Main and Prospect, near the medical center; hope the finder enjoys it!