(236 pages double-spaced A4 62,350 words)

This novel catalogues the erratic progress of a degenerate, self-obsessed young man towards the personal grail of a commercial pilots licence. Set in pre-Mandela South Africa in the late 70s when apartheid still held sway, the book catalogues a series of adventures and misadventures over a period of a couple of years.

Allen's main obsessions are getting high - planes or drugs, it doesn't matter - and sex. His shallow, casual attitude protects him from harm while friends crash and burn round about.

The book contains explicit descriptions of prolonged drink and drug fuelled debauchery, told in a convincing, almost documentary style. The setting offers a unique view of the strange and doomed culture that was apartheid, and an unexpected perspective of contemporary white Africa unfolds. The novel is presented as a collection of fifteen separate yet linked episodes, set in Johannesburg, the Transvaal, Amsterdam and Botswana. A brief synopsis is given below, chapter by chapter. Clicking on the chapter headings will take you to that chapter on line - but you will require a password for chapters 2-15. Please e-mail the author if you would like the password.

BORN AGAIN

Allen begins the long trek towards his Commercial Pilots Licence selling encyclopaedias to gullible Afrikaaners in the Joburg suburbs. A drugs versus religion episode which seems to show that the drugs have more staying power. First appearance of the night bomber dream/fantasy.


IMMORALITY

Allen falls in love with Jaqueline - who happens to be black. After joyous scenes of non-stop sex - including one in a small aircraft - the immorality squad pay a night visit. Jaquelin'e life is ruined and Allen feels sorry for himself.


AGRO-CULTURAL

A pure flying story - out on the veldt with a crazy young Afrikaans crop sprayer.


RAIN

Sex with a stranger in a Johannesburg bar while tripping on LSD. A short, pointless and graphic episode.


RAW DEAL

A trip to the Transkei on speed to score dagga results in two illuminating encounters with South Africa's finest - and we learn why an Opel Kadett is the drug runner's hire car of choice. The subsequent consequence of this saga is the death of one of Allen's mates.


WRATH

In which we meet Allen's psychotic friend Andy and Allen survives ripping off a speed dealer. The usual obligatory sex and drugs - life on the edge in Jo'burg.

 FAME

The call-up (for military service) can be a lot riskier than drugs. This is the strange story of Berty Ball and what the South African army did to him.


GOOD FRIDAY

A chance reunion with Jaqueline results in some spontaneous group sex that seems pointless even to Allen.


THE PRICE OF REVENGE

A chance encounter gets Allen into dealing Coke. He gets involved with the big boys and paranoia sets in. Allen becomes an accomplice to Perry's murder of Robin's killer.


OF MICE AND WOMEN

It's the day before Allen sits the exams for his Commercial Pilots Licence. Another chance encounter in a cinema leads to weird sex with a very strange girl who keeps white mice.


INDIAN BUMMER

More nonsense with the dangerous Perry. A chance encounter with a Doberman means Allen can't ride the getaway bike, and Andy is killed in the resulting fiasco.


R.I.P. OFF

Allen goes on a bizarre one-man wake for Andy, keeping a five year old promise. It begins with drink, and progresses through coke and LSD to yet another meaningless sexual encounter. The second chapter to end in a graveyard.


BAILING OUT

Unable to terminate a life-threatening ether binge, Allen is hauled out of Jo'burg on the back of Mark's bike. After one last ether session they wake up to find they have camped on the central reservation of a motorway just outside Pretoria. They head for Botswana and salvation, surviving attacks by night fighters and hyenas. Allen eventually arrives in Maun ready to get his licence and start flying.


BLANK CANVAS

One last bender before settling down….A long-anticipated trip to Amsterdam degenerates into yet another chaos ride on acid. A wild trip, meticulously catalogued, results in the realisation that nothing has the power to touch Allen - nothing has any lasting effect and everything is the same.


SWAMP THING

Back to reality - a job, flying tourists and hunters round the Okavango Delta. Life in Botswana in the twilight zone between the indigenous population and the relics of colonialism. Some wonderful descriptions of bush flying interspersed with - of course - sex and drugs, but toned down at last to what seems to be a survivable level - or is it? The very last paragraph gives the lie.

(Allen Grove is a nom-de-plume. The author is currently employed as a commercial pilot in the UK. See Author for more details)