Book Updates & Other News
Book Updates
All the Gandt books coming in audio format. Just out is the audio version of The President's Pilot, richly narrated by novelist and audio producer Thomas Block. Already available in audio format are The Twilight Warriors and Intrepid, each produced by Random House to accompany the hardcover and ebook editions. Newly rendered in audio format are the novels With Hostile Intent, Acts of Vengeance, and Black Star. Also the classsic airline sagas, Skygods and China Clipper, all narrated by Thomas Block. Each is downloadable from Amazon.com, Audible.com, and the iTunes store (download the iTunes app) in modern 21st century format.
And speaking of SKYGODS… one happy outcome of the misbegotten ABC "Pan Am" series has been the renewed interest in Pan Am and the roaring 1960s. SKYGODS: THE FALL OF PAN AM is back in print in a gorgeous softcover edition, available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, as well as an e-book version in Kindle and Nook editions.
"Gandt has a way with words that will send the reader soaring."
–San Diego News Union
"Written in a wonderful bold style, with pathos, humor, tragedy, and gripping suspense, The Twilight Warriors captures the life and death struggle of sailors and airmen fighting the last great Pacific battle of World War II... A riveting masterpiece, a powerful tribute to all those sailors and pilots who went in harm's way. Five stars!"
– Stephen Coonts, bestselling author of Flight of the Intruder
"Gandt's writing is for fans of air racing and warships and lovers of extreme sports."
–Publisher's Weekly
"Gandt has an uncanny ability to integrate authentic real-life situations and conversations of both the American and the Japanese forces."
–Walter J. Boyne, bestselling author of The Wild Blue
"...a spell-binding account of men in war, scared, bloody, and brave beyond belief."
–Daytona News-Journal
Flash!
The Twilight Warriors has been named the winner of the Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Excellence in Naval Literature. See the link in the sidebar for the Press Release.
The Twilight Warriors is the saga of the pilots, Sailors, and Marines – and their Japanese adversaries – who fought the last and bloodiest sea/air engagement of WWII, the battle for Okinawa. Released by Broadway, a division of Random House, November, 2010. Click on the jacket cover to go to the Amazon.com order page.
Flash 2.0!
Random House reports that The Twilight Warriors is a History Book Club Main Selection and a Featured Alternate of the Book of the Month Club and the Military Book Club.
Meanwhile, the U. S. Naval Institute Press has republished Gandt's classic China Clipper: The Age of the Great Flying Boats. The new edition appeared in the fall of 2010, coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the China Clipper's historic trans-Pacific flight. The jacket features the famous painting by artist Dong Kingman of the China Clipper soaring westbound over the Golden Gate. Click on the jacket image to go directly to the Amazon.com catalogue page.
And in case you missed it... Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship., now out in softcover. Available wherever books are sold.
Now on Kindle, Nook, and all Kindle apps including iPad..
All the Gandt books, including the Maxwell novels, are on line as e-books from Amazon.com. Available NOW are THE TWILIGHT WARRIORS, INTREPID, SKYGODS, WITH HOSTILE INTENT, ACTS OF VENGEANCE, BLACK STAR, SHADOWS OF WAR, THE KILLING SKY, BLACK STAR RISING, and FLY LOW FLY FAST, BOGEYS AND BANDITS for download to your reader. Click on these titles (in red font) to be taken to the Amazon catalogue page. The remaining non-fiction work, SEASON OF STORMS (1981), is being updated and reformatted and will be on line in the next few weeks.
Morison Award Press Release
*** for immediate release ***
NEW YORK, N.Y., August 15, 2011—The New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States has announced today the winner of the 2011 Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature. Robert Gandt, author of The Twilight Warriors, will be honored by the Naval Order of the United States as the recipient of this year’s prestigious Morison Award.
The remaining four finalists for the RADM Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature (listed in alphabetical order, not by standing) each receive an Honorable Mention, and are highly commended for their books as outstanding contributions to naval literature. They are:
Robert Coram - Brute: The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine
Tim McGrath - John Barry: An American Hero
Kalee Thompson - Deadliest Sea
Gary Williams - Seal of Honor
The distinguished writing prize—past recipients include RADM Joseph F. Callo (John Paul Jones- Americas First Sea Warrior ); Edward L. Beach (Salt and Steel); Lieutenant General Victor H. Krulak (First to Fight); Dr. Norman Friedman (Sea Power as Strategy); James L. Nelson (George Washington's Secret Navy); James D. Hornfischer (Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors); James M. Scott (Attack on the USS Liberty); and, former Navy Secretary John F. Lehman (Command of the Seas & On Seas of Glory)—is given to an American author “who by his published writings has made a substantial contribution to the preservation of the history and traditions of the United States Sea Services – the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and U.S. Flag Merchant Marine.”
Announced today by William H Schmidt, Esq., Commander of the Naval Order’s New York Commandery, the award will be presented to Mr. Gandt in a ceremony at The Racquet & Tennis Club on Park Avenue, New York City on Monday, November 7, 2011. Tickets to the event must be purchased in advance and “walk-ins” will NOT be permitted. Those interested in attending may contact New York Commander William H Schmidt, Esq.
The prize is named for the late Rear Admiral Samuel Eliot Morison, a Harvard University history professor widely considered to be America’s most distinguished naval historian. The award is administered and presented by the New York Commandery of the Naval Order of the United States. The finalists and winner are selected by a distinguished committee of members of the New York Commandery. Books may be recommended for consideration by members of the Naval Order of the United States but must be nominated for Committee consideration by a Companion of the New York Commandery. There are detailed and stringent standards that must be met by the author and the work and the Committee follows set guidelines in considering the nominees.
The Naval Order of the United States, founded in 1890, prides itself on its many distinguished members, among them Admirals George Dewey, William Leahy, Ernest King, Chester Nimitz, William Halsey, Raymond Spruance, Arleigh Burke, James Crowe, and Elmo Zumwalt. Its purpose is “to encourage research and writing on naval and maritime subjects, preserve documents, portraits and other records of prominent figures, deeds and memories of our naval and maritime history.”
& OTHER NEWS
What's been going on...
Aug 23, 2012: Triathlon Glory! After several months intense training, Bob's first triathlon: Clermont, FL. Results: Finish middle of pack (including kids and less superbly conditioned adults); First in over-70 group (mainly due to being the only one in the group). Lesson: Old guys rule.
Feb 27, 2012: With radio host Marc Bernier, Bob is the featured speaker at the Embry Riddle Aeronautical University President's Series, broadcast live on WNDB 1150AM.
Jan 14, 2012: Bob is speaker and presenter at the F.R.E.S.H. book festival in the Daytona Beach Hilton.
Dec. 29, 2011: Bob is the guest commentator on "Fox and Friends" cable television on the subject of Pan Am and his book SKYGODS.
Nov 7, 2011: In a black tie ceremony in New York, Bob is presented the 2011 Morison Award by the Commander, New York Commandery, Naval Order of the United States.
Aug 15, 2011: The Naval Order of the United States, New York Commandery, selectsTHE TWILIGHT WARRIORS as the winner of the 2011 RADM Samuel Eliot Morison Award for Naval Literature.
May 19–31: Travel to Peru and Ecuador, checking out Inca history, visiting the magnificent Andean site of Machu Picchu, then spending five days aboard MV Santa Cruz in the Galapagos Islands.
April 21: Guest speaker at the Ormond Beach Kiwanis Club, presenting The Twilight Warriors and China Clipper.
March 13: Participate in the gala Author Fair sponsored by the Friends of the Ormond Beach Library.
February 17: Guest speaker at the meeting of the Florida Engineer Society, at Spruce Creek Country Club.
Dec. 8-12: Join the group of media and business invitees to Morocco at the Moussem de Tan Tan–a spectacular UNESCO event celebrating the cultural heritage of the nomadic North African tribes. Journey from Casablanca to Tan Tan in the northwest Sahara and back.
November 19-22: 75th anniversary celebration of the China Clipper's inaugural transpacific flight. Bob presents the reissued China Clipper, plus Skygods and The Twilight Warriors. On Sat., Nov. 20, he joins Sergei Sikorsky and Jon Krupnick at a China Clipper forum sponsored by the San Francisco Aeronautical Society.
November 3, 2010: Lecture and book signing at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Arts and Letters Series.
November 2, 2010: The Twilight Warriors goes on sale.
October 15, 2010: The new edition of China Clipper goes on sale.
October 8-10, 2009: Aboard Intrepid in New York for the reunion of VF-10/VBF-10, the subjects of The Twilight Warriors.
September 30, 2009: Deliver manuscript of The Twilight Warriors
October 29-31, 2008: Join the reunion of VF-10/VBF-10 – the WWII Corsair squadrons aboard Intrepid, and the focus of the newly contracted book for Broadway, The Twilight Warriors (working title).
October 6, 2008: The gala publication party for Intrepid at New York's Four Seasons restaurant.
September 30, 2008: Intrepid: The Epic Story of America's Most Legendary Warship, (with co-author Bill White, foreword by John McCain), released by Broadway, coinciding with the carrier's return to her berth in Manhattan as an air, sea, and space museum.
September 7-15: The Big One! Bob strides to the summit of Mt. Kilimanjaro, highest peak in Africa at 19,340 feet, conclusively proving that old guys still rule.
October 5, 2007: Bob is guest lecturer at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University, followed by a book signing.
September 8, 2007: Bob test flies N801RG, the newly constructed super-RV-8.
May 15, 2007: Book signing and talk, Trails Kiwanis Club, Ormond Beach, FL, at the Tomoka Oaks Country Club.
January 18-21, 2007: Fly aboard USS Harry Truman to observe flight ops off Virginia as guest of old pal Rear Adm. Bill Gortney.