George MacDonald Fraser was born in England and served in a Highland regiment in India, Africa, and the Middle East. In addition to the twelve Flashman novels, he wrote screenplays, most notably for the James Bond film
Octopussy. He died in 2008.
Michael Dirda is a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic for
The Washington Post and the author of the memoir
An Open Book and of four collections of essays:
Readings, Bound to Please, Book by Book, and
Classics for Pleasure.