Best selling author and former soldier David Black now lives and works in Hertfordshire UK. For years, he lived an extraordinary double life as a London taxi driver and reserve SAS Senior Instructor and Troop Sergeant. He has recently launched a new career as a novelist.
His first book - Playing for England - takes a first hand look at exactly what the SAS require in a man, and what they demand to pass their rigorous and exhausting selection process. With a 90%+ failure rate...you'll have to see for yourself what's entailed!
David Black served with the Territorial SAS, based in Chelsea, London for 11 years while also working hard as a black taxi driver in the capital. His double life was the inspiration for his first novel in the new SAS Shadow Squadron series - The Great Satan.
The book is based around the very real concept that Iraq did have a secret weapon of mass destruction, which disappeared during Saddam's overthrow in 2003. The weapon - a small but viable atomic bomb - goes missing in Iraq before eventually turning up in London and threatening the very existence of the city. The hero of the book, Pat Farrell is, like David Black, a part-time SAS soldier and part-time London taxi driver.
David Black said: "I left the regular army after three years because I wanted a normal life. But while I was doing The Knowledge I quickly became very bored with a mundane civilian existence so I joined the TA SAS for some action on the side. I loved my life as a part-time soldier and part-time taxi driver. I would be driving around London, picking up and dropping off fares, when suddenly I'd get a call and be summoned in by the Regiment. I'd drive to the barracks in my black cab, park up, go off on a mission for as long as was necessary - a day, a week, a month - and then come back and get straight out on the road again. It was a life filled with incredible adventure and perfect inspiration for my first book, and the forthcoming Shadow Squadron Series."
The Great Satan was published by Pennant Books in August 2010, and produced in Kindle format in January 2011.
As well, David has recently written the first of a new series of historical fiction adventure stories - Siege of Faith - set on Malta in 1565, against the savage backdrop of the Great Ottoman Invasion. Siege of Faith was first published on Amazon in Kindle Format - May 2011, and then published in paperback - October 2011.
