A Very Serious Review Of Liberal MP Dennis Jensen’s New Erotic War Novel ‘The Skywarriors’

About two weeks ago, The Australian broke a story about Western Australian Liberal MP Dennis Jensen and a book he’d tried to get published back in 2007. The Australian‘s select published excerpts of The Skywarriors, a fantasy war thriller in which Indonesia does battle with Australia, gained attention for all kinds of reasons, most of which revolved around the sex scenes. Those hot, steamy sex scenes.

Shortly after that story broke, Jensen’s political fortunes took a turn for the worse. He lost Liberal endorsement for his seat a few days later, effectively ending his Parliamentary career, and accused the man who was elected to succeed him, former state director Ben Morton, of leaking the book to the media to damage his reputation.

Now, with plenty of time on his hands, Jensen has gone ahead and self-published the book that caused so much trouble. This afternoon The Skywarriors went up for sale on Amazon for the low, low price of $6.51, and knowing a not-to-be-missed bargain when I see one, I bought a copy and speed-read the entire thing — all 198 action-packed, sex-riddled pages of it. Rather than a straight review, I’ve decided to let Jensen’s words speak for themselves by highlighting some choice passages for you, the reader. Here, in all its baffling glory, is The Skywarriors.

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Once Upon An Introduction

Here’s how things kick off:

This is a good opening paragraph. It establishes what it happening and also where those things are happening and who they are happening to. Clarifying that the sweat staining the soldiers’ uniforms “was not a result of the heat and humidity alone” is important, as it was established earlier that the soldiers were coming “out of the sweltering heat and humidity”. It is likely that this other sweat is nervous-sweat, maybe even fear-sweat, but we would not notice this unless Dennis Jensen had thought to point it out. Also, the description of the “highly supersonic bullets” is valuable, as it distinguishes the bullets from other, slower bullets. Dennis Jensen is a good writer.

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On Cars

This passage lets us know that Frank James (he is a character in the book) owns a car, and that the car he owns is a blue Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo with a 4.0 litre six-cylinder engine. It also shows us that Frank James likes cars and knows lots about them, which is why he is able to tell us that his blue Ford Falcon XR6 Turbo with a 4.0 litre six-cylinder engine is a good car. Jensen evokes the goodness of this car by using the word “sophisticated”, a word commonly associated with Ford Falcon XR6 Turbos.

Here, Jensen conveys that the car is travelling at speed, mainly by listing the speeds at which it is moving in ascending order. We know the car is the same Ford Falcon from before because Jensen is sure to mention the 4.0 litre engine again. The car’s great speed causes Jenny to cry out in alarm, providing tension: “Fraaaank”

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On Women, And Having Sex With Them

Here is how Jenny Peters, the novel’s main female character, is introduced to the reader:

This is an excellent example of how a writer should describe a human woman. If, as a writer, you do not specify the state of the woman’s physique, height, hair colour and style, eye colour, dress, face, calves and whether or not said calves “need assistance from any stocking”, the reader will be unable to picture the woman in their head. This will make them confused and upset. Do not do this!

Unbeknownst to many, women also purchase and read books, just like men do. Every good writer, therefore, will include some discussion of Women’s Issues in their book. Jensen handles this deftly, seamlessly weaving in a conversation about an issue that every mother and would-be mother worries about at night: the unknown effects of G-forces experienced while flying a fighter jet on the human uterus.

Further catering to his female readers, Jensen has included some Love Scenes. In this one, he establishes that Jenny (she is a character in the book) is both “comforted and comfortable” by the presence of a man; a welcome development from earlier, when she “was really embarrassed at her lack of control over her emotions”. Many women will identify with this passage.

Jensen also does a very good job of describing sex, defined as “a voyage of gentle and passionate discovery” in the Oxford English Dictionary since 1885.

This passage is highly erotic. It speaks for itself.

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On The Horrors Of War

The heart of the novel, however, concerns wars, and the ways in which it can break the bodies and minds of even the strongest men. Here, Jensen really comes into his own, evoking the horrors of the battlefield with a poignant and sombre mastery.

They were dirty. Like in mud wrestling, where you wrestle in mud. That is what the war was like.

The tiger shark in this passage is an actual tiger shark, but it is also a metaphor for the cruelty and randomness of war. But, mainly, it is a tiger shark.

It is unfortunate because “decapitated” means “dead”, and this passage, therefore, tells us that Fitzpatrick is dead. War is hell.

Along with 167 other nation-states, Australia is a signatory to the Ottawa Treaty of 1997, outlawing the use of landmines in warfare. This was a terrible decision.

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On The Art Of Writing

I’ve highlighted a few passages below, not because of their importance to the plot or character development, but because of their skill with words, which are very important when writing a book.

Jensen does good work in clarifying that her pause was deliberately drawn out. Otherwise, we may have mistakenly assumed that she was seeing how long she could hold her breath, or was sleepy. This would have been confusing. Dennis Jensen is a good writer.

In this passage, the reader is in no doubt as to the location (on the bench, over there) of the entrée (Turkish bread and dips). It is important that the reader can picture where everything is.

To really appreciate this sentence, you need to read it out loud. Go on. I’ll make myself a tea.

Wahoo indeed, James. Wahoo indeed.

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That brings us to the end of our review of Dennis Jensen’s book The Skywarriors. I hope you enjoyed these samples of the book. I would definitely recommend this book to you, to read. You can buy it here.

***SPOILER ALERT***

In case you have finished The Skywarriors and want more fiction in Jensen’s style, worry not: if the ending of the book is anything to go by, he’s planning a sequel.

Can’t wait.