https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTJ4WM4R/
Tales From The Frontline looks like a great
book. What can you tell us about it?
This book is the combination of two men’s writing of
their account in the Civil War written just a year or two after the conflict
ended. One was an early version of a combat reporter who worked for a newspaper
in the North and was documenting what he saw. His writing offers a very
descriptive aspect of the horrors of war. He was also captured by the rebels
and gives a level of detail of the tortures of being a POW. The other man was a
veteran for the North and give his witness of some of the clashes that he was
involved in. The book is minimally edited so these stories are not written from
the angle of a modern-day author re telling the stories this is the description
right from the men that lived it. I wanted to feel like you are sitting across
from these guys, and they are telling you first-hand how horrible it was.
That’s an amazing cover.
Can you tell us about it?
When I do a cover I just start going through pictures and
thoughts of how can I capture in pictures what this book is about. Sometimes it
is just an illustration other times as they say a picture is worth a thousand
words. I think this cover is more like 60,000 words. It is a Union soldier with
a tattered U.S. Flag that is all tore up. I colored it and added drops of
blood.
I felt that this tells the story of even though the North
won (Union Soldier and coloring of the flag) that it came at a high price –
human life (tattered flag and blood drops). Even though the Union won I feel
that on the mans face in the picture he is not gloating that winning cost him a
lot personally.
Can you tell us a little about the two veterans that
share their stories?
The men that wrote this (the embedded writer and the
veteran) both fought for their lives. True bravery comes from ordinary men that
are put in extraordinary situations and I believe that is who these men are. No
one comes out of war unscathed, and these men didn’t either. I hope that by
reading this we will remember all veterans and the sacrifices they gave for our
Country no matter what war it was.
What scene or section did you have the most fun writing?
The section that I am not sure I would say fun but was
interesting to me because I knew very little about it was the river boats and
all the battles they had. It was eye-opening the close combat they had and all
the damage they inflected and received.
What inspired the idea for the book?
I love history and am always looking through old books
and articlas to dig up stories for my Podcast (The Mad Wild West) and as I
search I come across gems like these stories that I felt need to be retold
because they are forgotten for the most part.
How did you come up with the title for the book?
These stories are truly form the frontlines. The hand to
hand combat descriptions are hard to believe and I felt you don’t get more in
the battle than the frontline so that is how I came up with that.
Did anything stick out as particularly chllenging when
writing Tales From The Frontline?
Really editing it down, what stories to take out and
shorten from the two writers were the hardest.
What do you like to do when not writing?
I love to go explore the South West and find old mines,
battlefields, Indian ruins and the like in my 4x4 with my friends and family. I
also do my Podcast The Mad Wild West
Where can readers find out more about your work?
Right now on Amazon I have this book and two others
(American Slave and Killer California – Rise of a Bloody State.
Also, visit Spotify, Apple or other podcast suppliers for
my Mad Wild West Podcast.