Rolf Margenau's Blog - Posts Tagged "combat"
Second edition of my Korean War novel here soon.
In 2011 I published Public Information, a story about a young man coming of age during this bloody and almost forgotten war. It became an Amazon best seller that summer, encouraging me to write three more novels. Many veterans of that war were generous with their comments, mostly positive, and some shared anecdotes of their own. Since then, new historical information (Japanese confirmation of their use of Korean “comfort women” and corruption in Syngman Rhee’s government, for example) has become known.
There is a rumor that Public Information is slightly autobiographical since some of it is based on the 300+ letters I wrote to my future wife when I was in Korea. This I neither confirm nor deny. However, the other veterans’ comments and new information refreshed old memories and, last year, I considered revising the novel to include new material.
Editing took longer than I expected. Beside adding fresh material, I needed to look again at the characters born five years ago, add dimension when needed and cut things that bogged down the narrative. Then my editor, proofreader and printer added a few more months.
However, the second edition will be available in about two weeks. The Midwest Book review said the first edition was “a fine read well worth considering for historical fiction collections.” And a fan, Ford Fifty-Six, called it “a new perspective on the military, war, love, journalism, humor and youth. Enjoy.”
In addition to blood and guts, glory and honor, the novel has accuracy, realism, and humor. Lots of humor. Veterans say it “tells it like it was.” The novel also explains the origins and history of the war, and is dedicated to the tens of thousands of GI's who served there. My hope is that younger readers will gain entertaining knowledge of this distant conflict and will wonder, as I do, why it cost the lives of over thirty-five thousand young Americans.
There is a rumor that Public Information is slightly autobiographical since some of it is based on the 300+ letters I wrote to my future wife when I was in Korea. This I neither confirm nor deny. However, the other veterans’ comments and new information refreshed old memories and, last year, I considered revising the novel to include new material.
Editing took longer than I expected. Beside adding fresh material, I needed to look again at the characters born five years ago, add dimension when needed and cut things that bogged down the narrative. Then my editor, proofreader and printer added a few more months.
However, the second edition will be available in about two weeks. The Midwest Book review said the first edition was “a fine read well worth considering for historical fiction collections.” And a fan, Ford Fifty-Six, called it “a new perspective on the military, war, love, journalism, humor and youth. Enjoy.”
In addition to blood and guts, glory and honor, the novel has accuracy, realism, and humor. Lots of humor. Veterans say it “tells it like it was.” The novel also explains the origins and history of the war, and is dedicated to the tens of thousands of GI's who served there. My hope is that younger readers will gain entertaining knowledge of this distant conflict and will wonder, as I do, why it cost the lives of over thirty-five thousand young Americans.
