Much of the action in the first third of the book takes place at the former Springfield airport on Liberty Street.
SPRINGFIELD—They are known as The Granville Brothers: Zantford, Thomas, Robert, Mark and Edward—producers of the Gee Bee Super Sportster air racers that rose to glory in the golden age of air racing.
Their firm, Granville Brothers Aircraft, was an aircraft manufacturer from 1929 to 1934, located at the Springfield Airport.
The Lyman and Merrie Wood Museum of Springfield History has a display of Granville Brothers Aircraft.
Now the Granville Brothers have a new claim to fame: They are characters in a new book, “Angels and Their Hourglasses” by J. M. Surra.
Published in March by Quixotry, the 400-page paperback chronicles the struggles of a time traveler stranded in 1929. He crash lands outside his hometown, Springfield, where the Granvilles find him.
The protagonist, Ben Ryan, tries to convince Americans to prepare to defend their country against the Japanese in 1941. Eighty years in the past, he learns to live and love again, and he plans for a future about which nobody wants to hear. He meets American business magnate, investor, aviator and aerospace engineer Howard Hughes who believes him and forms a consortium comprised of fellow industrialists. They prepare in every way they can without the backing of the U.S. government. The Japanese learn of their efforts and move up plans to attack Pearl Harbor in December 1939, two years earlier than the original history. The consortium learns this but is still short of planes, supplies and pilots.
“I’m a big fan of the Granville Brothers and a history buff,” said Surra, a friend of the son of Robert Granville. “I used to go to the Springfield Museums and visit the Granville exhibit.”
Surra’s father, the late John Serra, flew for the U.S. Army air force in World War II and passed on his love for aviation to his son. “It’s a passion we both shared,” the author said.
“Angels and Their Hourglasses” won the Global Awards in the popular fiction category and the Gold Award in the Fantasy/Science Fiction category at the e-Lit Book Awards.
This is Surra’s first published book; he repairs dental equipment for the Texas prison system and writes full time. He grew up near Chatham, N.Y., and earned an associate’s degree in English from the State University of New York at Oswego. He has a home in Maine and lives in San Antonio, Texas.
Much of the action in the first third of “Angels and Their Hourglasses” takes place at the former Springfield airport on Liberty Street.
“They were geniuses at what they did,” Surra said of the Granville Brothers who produced some of the world’s fastest airplanes during the golden age of air racing.
Surra is currently working on the release of the unabridged version of his book under its original title, “Aerodynamic,” which includes more of the background of the story. “People wanted to know more of the backstory” that had been edited out of the original book of about 600 pages, he said.
The list price for “Angels and Their Hourglasses” is $17.95.
For more information, visit www.jmsurra.com.