The Hammond Perception is a new novel published by OB Martin Reed and is now free as an e-book on Amazon until the 8th September!
The blurb reads:
We follow Thomas Hammond from shy, insecure and sexually confused schoolboy to become a centred young man who has learned the difference between sex and love, and is prepared to fight for whom, rather than what, he believes in.
December 1967, in an alternative world where a hidebound Britain maintains a fragile peace with Nazi-dominated Europe. Tommy doesn’t question his sheltered, repressed life until he meets Iona at the Sixth Form disco. She introduces him to a world of Left Bank intellectuals and left-wing philosophers. When the King suspends Parliament and appoints a venal crony as PM they become politically active, organising a schoolkids’ trade union. But as democracy collapses and fascists, Maoists and anarchists run wild, their relationship also hits the rocks. Around them, a cast of journalists and spies, students and politicians scheme, deceive and betray one another.
August 1968 finds Iona caught up in Red Guard fervour while Tommy drifts in a psychedelic haze, as the madness reaches its violent climax in Trafalgar Square.
“The Swinging Sixties on steroids, written by someone who was there!”
Martin writes of the book and of his time at BS:
I was at BS from 1961-68. I went on to study Mathematics at the University of East Anglia, then had a career as a lecturer. In retirement, I have been writing techno-thriller novels set around that time. My latest is “The Hammond Perception: Romance and Revolution in an Alternative 1968”. Much of it is set in a grammar school not unlike BS, and those of my age will recognise Jasper Dodds, Tom Bircher and others. It’s available on Amazon in e-book and paperback; use this link to reach your local Amazon page. In fact, the e-book will be free for three days: 6th to 8th September.
I’m very keen for feedback and reviews, so please download a copy!
