Frank Dassen will launch his new novel "FLY FREE" today at Borders Bookshop from 6pm - 7pm. He will talk about the book, answer questions, as well as sign copies of the novel. 

  Frank, who flies commercial airliners for Singapore Airlines when he is not wielding a pen, has a style reminiscent of Robert Conrad.

  ‘Fly Free’ paints a complex and disturbing picture of contemporary Africa. The tragedy and horror so stereotypical of so many African countries are here fully explored with a passion fuelled by Dassen’s obvious twin loves: flying and Africa herself.

   This novel brings alive the ubiquitous newsreel footage from television’s current affairs programmes. It takes you into what Conrad would describe as the heart of darkness.

  As with Conrad himself, English is not Dassen’s mother tongue. All the more remarkable the author’s achievement, for Dassen’s use of the English language reveals that language’s complex origins and its infinite flexibility.

  Dassen will rivet your mind with minute details concerning the technical difficulties of landing, not always successfully, on a jungle landing strip and then explode your mind with the natural glories of the African environment.

missions in civil war-torn Angola following its independence from Portugal on 11th November 1975.  With his military, aviation and first-hand experiences, Dassen is somewhat uniquely qualified to write about his chosen subject: Angola of 1995 with a flashback to 1975.