PLEASE, SOMEBODY, MAKE ME AN OFFER . . .
Being a published author opens me up to input and comments from the public. Most are uplifting and positive. A few are caustic, but that’s just part of doing business. Then there are the occasional email solicitations I receive that seem downright insulting . . . to my intelligence. Here’s an example: “I hope this…
Read MorePROVENANCE OF EACH NOVEL IN THE WHEN HEROES FLEW SERIES—PART II
This blog is a continuation of the one I posted last week about the background of each of my WHEN HEROES FLEW novels. DOWN A DARK ROAD This novel, strictly speaking, isn’t part of the WHEN HEROES FLEW series, but it is closely related. Unlike my other WWII historical fiction books, the protagonist in this…
Read MorePROVENANCE OF EACH NOVEL IN THE WHEN HEROES FLEW SERIES—PART I
Provenance is just a fancy word for “origin” or “history.” I’m thinking my use of it makes me sound more authorial and learned. You’re probably thinking it makes sound like a jerk. Okay, let’s call it a draw. But I’ll give a brief background of each novel anyhow. WHEN HEROES FLEW This novel, my first…
Read MoreAT LEAST I DIDN’T WAKE UP IN CHINA
I had a strange dream a few nights ago. A really strange dream—unlike any I’d ever had before. Up until that particular night, the dreams I had always involved people I knew or had known. And they usually took place in locations with which I was familiar. But on the night of my bizarre fantasy,…
Read MoreI WISH I WERE A BETTER WRITER
For reasons I can’t explain, or even understand, my recent visit to southeastern Alaska’s Misty Fjords triggered a deep emotional response within me. My wife Barbara urged me to write about it before my feelings became lost in my own mists of memory. So I did. I wish I were a better writer. I wish…
Read MoreHOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU?
Probably the most frequent question I get as an author is, “How long does it take you to write a book?” In truth, I’ve never really put a clock (or a calendar) on my work. But looking back over my last four publications, they are spaced about a year apart. Keep in mind, however, that…
Read MoreI’M 88 YEARS OLD AND HAVE NEVER READ A BOOK COVER-TO-COVER
Sometimes the best reviews of my books aren’t reviews at all, but mere acknowledgments that somehow, someway, I changed someone’s life. Maybe just a little, but at least for the better. I got an email recently from a gentleman—I’ll call him Alf (not his real name)—who had signed up for my newsletters. I gotta tell…
Read MoreWORLD WAR II AND THE ROCK GROUP “KISS”
It’s surprising, amazing even, the links to today that can snake unexpectedly out of the past. One such connection revealed itself to me as I worked on my new novel DOWN A DARK ROAD. The focus of the novel is based on true events—the discovery of a Nazi death camp, Gunskirchen Lager, in Austria near…
Read MoreBIRTHDAYS, DYSLEXIA, GUARDIAN ANGELS, AND FAIRY TALES
You’d think after eight decades I would have figured it out. But here I am, on my 28th birthday and I realize I’m dyslexic. Which, of course, works to my advantage when it comes to birthdays. Maybe I really am 28. At least my mind thinks so even if my body doesn’t. In truth, when…
Read MoreJUDAS GOATS AND GERMAN JETS
While my forthcoming novel, Down a Dark Road, isn’t, strictly speaking, part of the When Heroes Flew series, that doesn’t mean it will be devoid of aviation action. Quite the contrary, besides slogging along with a U.S. infantry platoon through Germany and Austria during the closing days of WWII in Europe, you’re going to encounter…
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