Camp Scoundrel - David Luddington

. .

Résumé :
When ex-SAS soldier, Michael Purdy, comes in front of the judge for hacking the bank account belonging to the Minister for Invalidity Benefits and wiping out his personal wealth, he braces himself for a prison sentence. What Michael doesn't expect, is to be put in charge of a group of offenders and sent to a remote location in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in Spain to teach them survival skills as part of their rehabilitation programme. But Michael knows nothing at all about survival skills. He was sort of in the SAS, yes, but his shining record on the Escape and Evasion courses was more a testament to his computer skills than his ability to catch wildlife and barbecue it over an impromptu fire. Basically, he was the SAS's techy nerd and only achieved that position as a result of a bet with a fellow hacker. Facing a stark choice between starvation or returning home to serve out their sentences, the group of offenders under Michael's supervision soon realise that the only way to survive is to use their own unique set of skills - the kind of skills that got them arrested in the first place.

Biographie:
In case you don't know, I write comedy. Gentle British comedy. Having grown up with P.G. Wodehouse, the Ealing Comedies and the Carry On movies I like to think I've captured the tone of traditional British Humour but brought it firmly into the... where are we now? No... not going to think about that.

I also write to a theme. I believe many of us have lost sight of who we are in our rush to ride the next big wave. But when that wave dumps us on the shores of 'Couldn't Care Less' then carries on without us, who are we then? Can I stand up on the beach in nothing but my... nothing and tell the world who I am, or do I need to preface it with Well, I used to be...

I used to be something big in the place where they needed people who were something big... for a while. Then they decided they didn't need people who were something big anymore and I become a nobody in a place where nobody cared anyway.

My stories deal with identity and the bewilderment we face when that identity is taken from us by a world that has suddenly decided it can cope perfectly well without bubble lamp repairmen or human telephone receptionists.

My stories concern real people who feel the world has become a slightly difficult place. A place where one used to know how to programme the video recorder or remove a roll of film from a camera without it exploding like a rasta's head in a hairdryer but now have to deal with isometric bandwidth widgity watsits on a daily basis before we can even put our MP3 in the toaster.

I am a believer in hope and second chances. I believe we all have a soulmate and that some lucky few are destined to find them. I believe that the truth is out there, in the number 42 and that HAL was just having a bad day. And I believe in butterscotch Angel Delight. Most of all I believe in butterscotch Angel Delight.

So, if you want a slice of old fashioned humour (Note to the colonists, humour has a letter U so please stop criticising my spelling) ... erm ... (that's criticising with an S not a Z by the way) oh (and it's a zed not a zee!) Anyway, good old fashioned humour with a heart and an understanding that our time here is precious.

However, if you're looking for cruel, biting satire then please buy my books anyway. You'll be terribly disappointed but I need the money.