Ernest K. Gann putte inspiratie uit zijn uitgebreide reizen en avonturen, zowel als vlieger als als zeeman. Deze ervaringen vormden zijn literaire werk, dat vaak thema's als moed, lot en de menselijke geest tegen de elementen verkent. Zijn schrijfstijl kenmerkt zich door meeslepende verhalen en gedetailleerde beschrijvingen van lucht- en maritieme scènes, waardoor de lezer in de actie wordt ondergedompeld. Gann verweefde meesterlijk zijn persoonlijke ervaringen met fictieve verhalen, en creëerde zo boeiende werken die de avontuurlijke geest vieren.
"This book is an episodic log of some of the more memorable of (the author's) nearly 10,000 hours aloft in peace and in war. It is also an attempt to define by example his belief in the phenomenon of luck-- that the pattern of anyone's fate is only partly contrived by the individual".--The New Yorker.
Song of the Sirens is Ernest K. Gann's story of the ships he has sailed and owned; of his years as master of a commercial fishing vessel, of ocean crossings and of storms and emergencies encountered at sea. schovat popis
When cocaine claims the life of his eldest son, Montana cattle rancher Lee Rogers runs for Congress and wages an all-out war on drugs, but at the height of his campaign, he mysteriously disappears
Set against the harsh backdrop of northern Canada during World War II, the story follows the crew of the Corsair, an Army Air Transport Command plane that makes an emergency landing due to severe icing. As they face extreme cold and isolation, the pilot Dooley becomes their leader in the struggle for survival. A rescue operation is initiated, highlighting themes of bravery and camaraderie in dire circumstances. The novel's gripping narrative also inspired a 1953 film featuring John Wayne.
The four MacDonald brothers were born to fly. Right after World War I they took to stunt flying at county fairs, barnstorming their way around the U.S.A., selling joy rides and confounding the populace with an assortment of highly skilled aerobatics in the unlikely aircraft of the time. They graduated to a steadier way of making a living, but the dangers were just as acute - if not more so. For now they had a contract to deliver he mails, and this had to be done on time, in all kinds of weather, under all kinds of conditions. But neither the conditions nor the tragedies they inevitably suffered would stop them.
