military – Page 5

Signalman Rod Hogarth with B70 - circa 1973 — Signalman Rod Hogarth with B70 – circa 1972

As the title suggests, this is the second episode of my coming-of-age story. My plan at the time of writing this post is to produce a series of five books, but this will depend on two factors.

1. How well the early books are received.

2. How any feedback affects the detail and content of the successive episodes.

In Part One, ‘Innocence and Inebriation’ Jim Faulkner left a humdrum existence, and as a reserved 17-year-old went out into the world in an unexpected move. He joined the British Army and found himself facing trials and tribulations he’d never before considered.

In Part Two, ‘Paths and Progression’ our young man has congratulated himself on completing basic training, adventure training, and radio training. He’s spent a few months in his first working unit in the UK, and he finds new discoveries and adventures following arrival of the entire unit in Germany.

For the benefit of anyone interested in such detail at this stage, the operator featured on the front cover of this volume is my good mate, and one-time fellow crew member Rod Hogarth. Here, Rod is depicted operating the obsolete B70 SHF radio set, and on this occasion it’s ground-based, mounted on a tripod.

The introductory book of the series was published on 6th January 2016, and has reviews.

Recruits outside a Sandhurst Block in Catterick

The second book has been published a week later than scheduled. It is a larger book than the first, because it focuses on a longer time period

My aim is to produce the next episode in October 2016.

A Life of Choice: Part One

Amazon (Preview/Buy) BookLinker (Universal)

A Life of Choice: Part Two

Amazon (Preview/Buy) BookLinker (Universal)

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Now available!

I’m delighted to report the publication of my fourth anthology of short stories. The primary theme is of course military, but as suggested in the title, ‘courage’ is the underlying feature of this collection.

In some cases how the character deals with adversity is fairly obvious, but in other tales the conflict and solution is more subtle.

Here I have created 12 stories using a wide spectrum of scenarios. Military experiences can be funny, heart-breaking and, everything in between.

This anthology is a blend of my personal experience and knowledge, together with specially created pieces to highlight the peaks and troughs of service life.

These tales can be enjoyed equally by those who have served and, those who have never donned a uniform.

Humour, fact, fiction, and fantasy are used to portray service in theatres as varied as Vietnam, Northern Ireland, Ancient Briton, the Persian Gulf, Africa, and elsewhere.

Amazon – Universal (Preview / Buy)

Booklinker (if unable to download from Amazon)

As any sensible and serious indie author will do, I requested beta readers to cast a critical eye over these stories. Notwithstanding the fact one of the stories was a competition winner, I needed the confidence of more than one set of eyes checking my work. To this end, every story has been seen by at least two beta readers, and in some cases I stretched this to four beta readers.

I would now like to say a public thank you to Martin Ashworth, an ex-colleague from my latter days in the military.

My other readers are all members of the fine Indie Author Support and Discussion group:

Sharon Brownlie, Lucinda E Clarke, Barbara Doran-Rogel, Sylva Fae, Pam Kesterson, Robert Lalonde, Eric Lahti, Penny Luker, Julia Lund, Ian D Moore, and Andy Updegrove

Many thanks guys, one and all. I may not have used every suggestion, but I considered every one, and used a lot of them. Without your help I doubt if I’d have the same confidence in the end product.

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