Local author returns with sequel to ‘Hit them with what you’ve got’
The writing process of Return to Orion proved to be much easier than the first book for the author, as all the research and groundwork was already done.
Dave Francis, a Parkrand resident, has released a sequel to Hit them with what you’ve got which is titled Return to Orion.
The first book was released in November 2014, and the sequel during December last year.
“With the first book I left the readers hanging on a thread, asking ‘what’s going to happen next?’,” said Francis, who has a degree in law.
Francis, who is still actively involved in the South African Legion of Military Veterans, was having dinner with Maj Gen Gert Opperman in 2011 when he shared his thoughts on wanting to write a book on the Angolan war.
“He (Opperman) told me to go for it and that I should do it, he’s going to check on me,” he said.
Francis got up one morning and did something similar to what author Jeffrey Archer did.
“I had a tin with pencils inside it and I just started writing,” he explained.
“I would then type it on the computer and my wife (Deborah) would patch it up.”
And so the first book slowly began to develop.
Francis told the Benoni City Times the books are fiction but have been adapted from true accounts of war. He explains how the Cubans outnumbered the SA forces and how they eventually ran out of ammunition.
According to Francis, Laubscher is one of his favourite characters in Return to Orion.
Francis said that he mostly gets his ideas early in the morning, at around 4am.
“It’s very funny because I’ll get inspiration for like two consecutive days – I’ll see someone at a shopping centre and think I have a part for that person in my book,” he said.
Most of the proceeds of the sale of the first book went to the South African Legion of Military Veterans, of which he is a past vice-president.
Francis, who feels he is getting into the groove of writing, wants to tackle a non-fiction book on relationships in the near future.
“I want to make relationships between people work because the divorce rate is shockingly high,” he said.
For more information or to purchase a copy, visit www. davidfrancisadvocate.co.za
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