Tenacity Naval Toasts blog tour - 'A Bloody War or a Sickly Season' by James Law

Today marks the final stop on the Tenacity Naval Toasts Blog Tour. Tenacity is published in paperback by Headline TODAY (21 April 2016). And I'm delighted to welcome James Law to my blog talking about 'A Bloody War or a Sickly Season'.

I may have mentioned 'once or twice' that I LOVE this book - and that I'm REALLY looking forward to James' next one. I even visited the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Portsmouth soon after I finished reading Tenacity and told everyone on the tour that they should buy the book. At the time, we were in an enclosed space and no one couldn't escape easily - so I reckoned this was the ideal opportunity to do some book promotion.

A Bloody War or a Sickly Season

by James Law

If you’ve followed my blog tour at all, you’ll know that at mess dinners in the Royal Navy, immediately after the Loyal Toast of ‘The Queen’, the youngest officer present will normally offer the traditional drinking toast of that day.

‘A Bloody War or a Sickly Season’ refers to the will for a good old dust up to thin the ranks, or a spell of illness and associated deaths, to allow for quicker promotion and advancement through the ranks. I like this toast because it’s so damn honest! It’s also one of the toasts that actually appears in the book, thought it's misused, said to Dan as 'A bloody whore with a sickly lesion'.

Unfortunately, this is just one of the instances when Dan is subjected to a frightening situation, but the toast holds true in its intent – the speaker is wishing harm upon Dan to his own ends, but Dan’s unlikely to step aside easily and today, Tenacity finally sets sail, so you can find out exactly how far the other sailors will go to stop her…

About James Law

James joined the Royal Navy in 1993 as an apprentice and went on to serve for twenty years, the majority spent in the Submarine Service. He rose through the ranks, taking a commission as an engineering officer in 2001, and serving as a Senior Engineer and Nuclear Reactor Plant Supervisor, where his responsibilities ranged from the safety and operation of the submarine’s nuclear power plant to hydraulic plants, fridges and toilets; it was the latter of these tasks that brought the majority of any pressure.

His final years in service were spent training future submariners in the role of Senior Lecturer in Nuclear Reactor Engineering, where he lectured and mentored future submarine operators of all ranks and rates.

Having written short stories and novels throughout his naval career, James completed an MA in Creative Writing at Portsmouth University shortly before leaving the navy in 2013, completing his debut novel, Tenacity, shortly afterwards.

James lives in Hampshire with his wife, Elaine, and two children. He spends what spare time he has riding his bike around the South Downs and travelling to Edinburgh to watch Scotland play rugby at Murrayfield stadium.

Readers can find out more about James on his website and Facebook page and follow James on Twitter - @JSLawBooks 

Tenacity
By J.S. Law
Published by Headline ( 21 April 2016)
ISBN: 978-1472227911

Publisher's description

Suicide must be investigated.
Especially when a Royal Navy sailor kills himself on a nuclear submarine, only days after his wife's brutal murder.
Now Lieutenant Danielle Lewis, the Navy's finest Special Branch investigator, must interrogate the tight-knit, male crew of HMS Tenacity to determine if there's a link.
Isolated, and standing alone in the face of extreme hostility, Dan soon realises that she may have to choose between the truth and her own survival.
Justice must be served, but with a possible killer on board the pressure is rising and her time is running out...

Read my review here.

And click here to visit the website of the Royal Navy Submarine Museum in Portsmouth - in case you want to experience the claustrophobic setting for yourself.