Smithy Abroad

Book excerpt: Between 1904 and 1918, Wallace collected tales about life in the British Army and the escapades and adventures of the troops. These led him to create the eponymous character, ‘Smithy.’ The second book in the series ‘Smithy Abroad’ sees the eponymous soldier and his two mates, Nobby Clark and Spud Murphy, trying to scheme, connive, and bluff their way out of anything resembling hard graft. However, their plans have a tendency to backfire... A light-hearted and sometimes zany read for fans of humorous historical fiction. Smithy series Initially published in the Daily Mail, the ́Smithy ́ series features a bunch of short stories about the everyday life of the soldiers in the British military. Born in London, Edgar Wallace (1875 – 1932) was an English writer so prolific, that his publisher claimed that he was responsible for a quarter of all books sold in England. Leaving school at the age of 12, Wallace made his first steps into the literary world by selling newspapers on the corner of Fleet Street. He worked as a war correspondent after joining the army at age 21, which honed his writing abilities. This led to the creation of his first book, ‘The Four Just Men.’ Wallace is best remembered as the co-creator of ‘King Kong,’ which has been adapted for film 12 times (most notably directed by ‘Lord of the Rings’ director, Peter Jackson, and starring Jack Black and Naomi Watts). However, he leaves behind an extensive body of work, including stories such as ‘The Crimson Circle’ and ‘The Flying Squad.’