Threads of The War: Personal Truth-Inspired Flash Fiction of The 20th Century's War.

Threads of The War #1

by Jeremy Strozer

Threads of The War collects and shares personal narratives during real events across the span of The 20th Century's War. From the seats of a German cinema in 1915 and high over Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 to under the water of the port of Alexandria Egypt and on a rail line in East Prussia in 1945, the reader is carried from one front of war to another in short easily-readable, yet emotionally compelling, bursts.

Each story in this collection opens the door to a unique personal facet of war; exposing the reader to the facts, fictions, and fallacies of armed violence. Following each story, the reader is provided specific and revealing facts about the events narrated, offering both entertainment and education within the time it takes to read a blog-post.

Genres: War, World War II, History

202 pages, Paperback

First published September 16, 2015

About the author

I write first-person historical flash-fiction in order to expose the wanton waste of war. Fascinated by ideas and personal stories, I am able to find connections between seemingly disparate phenomena. By enjoying thinking and learning about the past I understand the present through creating its context. I have faith in the links between all things; believing there are few coincidences and that almost every event has a reason. I am also inspired by the future and what could be; thereby inspiring others with my visions of what occurred and what is possible.

My inspiration comes from education in improvisational acting; the actions and writing of Gene Sharp, Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Woody Guthrie, Studs Terkel, and Henry David Thoreau; and an affinity for history. I believe all stories are best told from the personal perspective and learning about history should be an emotionally driven experience. Therefore, I push the conviction all history is simply a personal story, compounded and woven with the personal story of everyone else, throughout time.

Raised in California, I moved to D. C. to attend university. Through education and luck, I've traveled the world helping remove unexploded ordnance from war ravaged countries, stemming the flow of the world's most dangerous weapons, and potentially reducing the likelihood of war between some of the world's most powerful countries.

Now, I simply seek to warn the world of the human cost of violence.

Reviews

[Genevieve Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed these brief forays into various moments during the wars. Well and smoothly written. I especially liked the factual section after each fictional account. Very enlightening.

[Brian's Book Blog · Rating 5 out of 5]

See more reviews like this at Brian's Book Blog

Historical Flash Fiction Done Right

Threads of the War tells different stories throughout history from a first person perspective. The stories are all true and based on real events, but the first person accounts are fictional, using details from history to tell amazing tales.

John Pirhalla does the narration for Threads of the War and seriously makes each story captivating. He is also able to do various different accents throughout making this stories really come alive. Pirhalla would go from a German accent to a southern American the next as the flash fiction stories came alive and it sounded like a different person each time. Absolutely wonderful job.

Threads of the War doesn't really fit in with my "typical" genres on here, but what you don't know about me is that I absolutely love history. I love sitting and learning something about the past, especially things that I didn't know before and this was definitely full of stories I didn't know.

I love the mixture of fact and fiction and the way that Strozer was able to write stories based off of historical events. I also really liked the idea of these being "flash fiction" stories where you don't spend more than a couple minutes on each story. It really was a refreshingly quick read.

Overall, if you enjoy history and would like some great storytelling thrown into stories you may or may not know then Threads of the War is for you. Also, if you just need a quick read in the morning while you're in the restroom -- instead of browsing Facebook, you should read one of these stories instead. Maybe you'll learn something!

[Jodie Toohey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeremy Strozer's Threads of the War Volume I contains numerous entertaining, easily digestible, and quick-to-read short stories based on real war-related historical events. Some of them are suspenseful and some are humorous, but all are engaging and interesting. I also enjoyed the parts that told the "real" stories behind his stories as well as the factual information and photographs included. Threads of the War Volume I put me into these moments in history, and I greatly appreciated that they were moments, because they provided so much detail and intimacy that gets glossed over in public school history classes. These stories also reminded me that war involves people, and they allowed me to step into history as a breathing, feeling human being.

[Mandy Walkden-Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well written, insightful and a compelling read.

Flash fictionalised stories of actual historical events.

Sometimes poignant, sometimes funny, but all are thought provoking. Author is adept at humanising some of the aspects of war and its impact.

These little stories of moments in time during the first and second world wars bring home the impact of war, all wars, in a much more intimate way than the broad sweep covered by non-fictional historical books about those wars are able to.

Enjoyed this collection so much I purchased the next three volumes of The Threads of the War, and am looking forward to reading them.

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fantastic set of books. They consist of short essays from the point of view of people involved or affected by the various wars. In addition, there are additional pages that have not only links to additional background documents regarding the various essays. The additional documents could be maps, photos or official documents.

I highly recommend the four volumes of Threads of the war. I acquired the first volume free from Amazon. I received the last three volumes complimentary ebook with no obligation. I am writing this honest review on my own.

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a series of very short stories each based on events during and surrounding different conflicts during the 20th Century. Strozer includes a brief note with each story about the real events that inspired his fictional account. The stories are short enough to make the book easy to pick up and put down during a busy day. Strozer's writing is urgent and passionate, perfect for the 1st person narratives in the collection and for stories fraught with the perils of war. The exciting, tense tales make it difficult ro set aside the book, despite the bite-sized stories.

[Samantha Zee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I surprisingly loved this. This book is a series of short stories (VERY SHORT) based on actual events that happened during WWI and WWII but that Strozer made his own. Each of the stories are told in first person and are based on events that are not typically focused on in history books. In fact, many of the stories seemed to be based on smaller news headlines, which made this a very refreshing and unique read.

[Belinda Earl Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting historical fiction

Jeremy Strozer weaves his fictional stories around real war events in an interesting and concise manner. His grammar and punctuation are good.

[Sheryl Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m not a history buff and don’t usually read these kinds of books, but I found myself enjoying the writing of these vignettes. I found them to be interesting little insights into real events of past wars.