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.