[Frank Olynyk]

The new Grub Street catalog arrived a day or two ago, and I thought people would be interested in two new books that Chris Shores is involved in. The first is the complete rewrite, mostly by Yasuho Izawa, of Japanese Naval Air Force Fighter Units and Their Aces, 1932-1945. Dr. Izawa has performed a major review of the existing documentation, and Chris has edited the text, with additional notes from the Allied side. The book is scheduled to appear at a book launch at Duxford in May. This is not a reprint of the US Naval Institute edition of a number of years ago, but a brand new edition. It is listed as 480 pages. The Grub Street Army Units/Aces volume is 340 pages, and the original USNI edition of the Navy Aces/Units is 442 pages.

The second book is the long awaited update to Fighters Over the Desert. This will be a multi-volume series, to cover the entire Mediterranean Theater. The title is Mediterranean Air War, 1940-1945, Volume One: North Africa, June 1940 -- January 1942. The publisher is estimating the page count as 416 pages; I believe Chris told me that the manuscript is currently about 600 pages long. The book is scheduled for September. Chris considers it the best work he has done to date. Work on the next volume (number unknown) covering May 1943 to the end of October 1943, will start slowly, as both Chris and Grub Street want to see what the sales are like. Assuming everything goes ahead smoothly, the third book will probably be Volume 2, starting January 1942 with an undetermined stopping point.

I would also like to point out three other Grub Street books, two by Andy Saunders (Spitfire Mark I P9374, scheduled for September; and Finding The Fallen, scheduled for October); and one by Andy Bird (Coastal Dawn, seheduled for September).

Check the Grub Street webpage for other forthcoming releases.

Other than being the author of an out-of-print Grub Street book, I have no stake in any of these books.

Enjoy!

Frank.