Far On The Ringing Plains

Islands #1

by Murray Pura, Patrick E. Craig

ISLANDS: Far On The Ringing Plains INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTS

In the spirit of The Thin Red Line, Hacksaw Ridge, Flags of our Fathers and Pearl Harbor.

Realistic. Gritty. Gutsy. Without taking it too far, Craig and Pura take it far enough to bring war home to your heart, mind, and soul. The rough edge of combat is here. And the rough edge of language, human passion, and our flawed humanity. If you can handle the ruggedness and honesty of Saving Private Ryan, 1917 or Dunkirk, you can handle the power and authenticity of ISLANDS: Far on the Ringing Plains.

For the beauty and the honor is here too. Just like the Bible, in all its roughness and realism and truthfulness about life, reaching out for God is ever-present in ISLANDS. So are hope and faith and self-sacrifice. Prayer. Christ. Courage. An indomitable spirit. And the best of human nature, triumphing over the worst.

Bud Parmalee, Johnny Strange, Billy Martens—three men that had each other’s backs and the backs of every Marine in their company and platoon. All three were raised never to fight. All three saw no other choice but to enlist and try to make a difference. All three would never be the same again. Never. And neither would their world.

This is their story.

346 pages, Paperback

Published March 19, 2020

About the author

reader, writer, author, free thinker

books published in 2023
KINGFISHER CROSS
NEVENA IN LOVE
CLARA RAVEN
UNDER THE STONES
available on Amazon, B&N, Indigo, etc.

listed for Best Series of the Year Award 2023
Hemingway Award 2022 Seattle
Word Guild Award 2022, 2012 Toronto

Reviews

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️ 🌴 The title comes from Tennyson’s poem Ulysses which is about the Iliad - “Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.” This novel won The Hemingway Award, Seattle, 2022. It’s up for Top Series of the Year 2023 along with its companion volumes.

Love, war, peace, romance, tropical beauty & suspense on the islands of Tonga, Fiji, Guadalcanal and the island country of New Zealand.

🌟 🌴All times I have enjoyed
Greatly, have suffered greatly, both with those
That loved me, and alone; on shore, and when
Through scudding drifts the rainy Hyades
Vext the dim sea. I am become a name;
For always roaming with a hungry heart
Much have I seen and known—cities of men
And manners, climates, councils, governments,
Myself not least, but honored of them all,—
And drunk delight of battle with my peers,
Far on the ringing plains of windy Troy.
I am a part of all that I’ve met.

Ulysses by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

[Murray · Rating 5 out of 5]

🌴FAR ON THE RINGING PLAINS (#1 in the Islands Trilogy)

🌴 The Pacific War The idea was not to make war pretty or glorious. Vets told us their stories and asked us to be authentic to the 1940s and realistic about what it was like to be in combat. They asked us to be true to the frightening rigors of battle and have our Marines talk and act like Marines talked and acted on islands like Tarawa, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. WW2 was not church and it was not Sunday School. So, Pat and I wanted to honor that.

🌴We did as much as we thought was right. Three kids, barely out of high school, all raised never to wear a uniform or bear arms. All three do put on the uniform and two of them do bear arms. The other bears gauze and morphine and plasma. The Islands Trilogy, and the book that follows, Beyond the Red Hills 1945-1968, is their story. Far On The Ringing Plains is that story’s beginning.

🌴This book won the Hemingway Award 2022, a literary award that comes out of a large group in Seattle that annually presents awards in all genres.

🌴Its sequel (The Scepter and the Isle) and the final novel of the trilogy (Men Who Strove with Gods) have both been placed on “the long shortlist” by CIBA and are in the running for the Hemingway Award 2023.

😀If you’d like to read it and review it please message me and I’ll get a free PDF copy to you 😀

[Anne Rightler · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finished this book a week ago and am still reflecting on it. Far On The Ringing Plains is a fictional account of the WWII battle at Guadalcanal and three young Mennonite men (boys from this 70 year old's perspective) who chose to put themselves in the fray. The authors, Murray Pura and Patrick E. Craig, have done an extraordinary job of portraying the battles, the men involved in the battles, and the courage, the fears, the anger, the emotions that drove these soldiers. I have read only one other book that I actually had to look up to see if it was fiction or not. Far on the Ringing Plains is a second one that is so real, it could be non-fiction. The authors have done well with their research. The book is touted as book 1 in The Islands Series and if in deed there is another book or two to come, I can't wait to read it. I have a grandson who is a history buff and I know he will love this book too.
I won a copy of the book in a contest and was not required to write a review. The opinions are my own.

[Megan Hamsher]

Far on the Ringing Plains is in the style of Band of Brothers
and Jeff Shaara's books with a Christian fiction twist.
There was a little bit of language, particularly during training.
But our authors wrote it in a way that didn't bother me.
We follow the 2nd Marines Division, 2nd Regiment
from boot camp to 2 paradise islands,
then to Tulagi and Guadacanal-
3 Mennonite fellas in particular.
Hot-headed Johnny Strange is just mad at the world.
Quiet, steady Billy Martens becomes the sniper.
But I have to say that my favorite fella was the guy who never cared about weapons and fighting ... Bud Parmalee - the corpsman.

We meet some of the other fellas of K Company, though.
Kind of made me think about how our CO and brass and even Butterworth really love us.
It's the love that men feel for other men
they know they will share a great adventure with and maybe even die beside.
And it's the love I feel for the guys sacked out all around me
while I'm writing this under my blanket.
It's not a sissy thing -
it's a strong, real, powerful kind of love
that means you would go the distance to protect your buddies and even die for them if need be.
Bud
page 73

Along the way, we also have to put up with the 1st Marine Division,
get help from the artillery guys,
and eventually come across a few Army fellas.

The Japs hid in caves, behind trees, in bunkers, under rocks -
and it pissed them off that we had the balls
to come and kick them off their brand-new empire.
2nd Marines on Tulagi
page 128

We learn every trick the Japanese had up their sleeves,
weather, bugs, land crabs, one goofy bird's call in particular,
the codename to Guadacanal,
and just about every way a guy could get himself killed.
And a little love along the way as well.

Yet, despite the often-grisly scenes and horrors of battle - and there were plenty of those -
we also find the age-old questions and seeking the answers.
In the midst of everything, we find that, in each other,
they found hope and determination to keep going....

It's not the color of the skin that makes them your enemy, Johnny.
It's what's in the heart that makes a man evil.
Johnny hearing a voice after brutal attack
page 277-288

2 of my other fave quotes:

"Look, Johnny.
I know you walked away from God,
but He hasn't walked away from you.
He sends us signals, road maps, blazes on trees of our life -
this is the way, this is the path; walk this way."
page 165

"The way I see it:
You can pray, sit, and wait for God to act without you.
Or you can pray, move, and watch God act with you.
Let's go with the second choice."
Father Erik to Billy

I don't know who was more excited to get off of Guadacanal -
me or the battered Marines -
but I can't wait to reunite with this group of guys and see what happens next
(and learn more about the Pacific War)!

(I read the physical book, by the way.)

[Shreedevi Gurumurty · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the spirit of The Thin Red Line, Hacksaw Ridge, Flags of Our Fathers and Pearl Harbor.Realistic.Gritty.Gutsy.Without taking it too far, the authors take it far enough to bring war home to your heart, mind, and soul-just as it did for the men who fought. The rough edge of combat is here. And the rough edge of language, human passion, and our flawed humanity.For the beauty and the honour is here too. Just like the Bible, in all its roughness and realism and truthfulness about life, reaching out for God is ever present in the ISLANDS. So are hope and faith and self sacrifice. Prayer.Christ.Courage.An indomitable spirit.And the best of human nature, triumphing over the worst.Bud Parmalee, Johnny Strange, Billy Martens-3 men that had each other's backs and the backs of every Marine in their company and platoon.All 3 Mennonite boys were raised never to fight.All 3 saw no choice but to enlist and try to make a difference. All 3 would never be the same again.Never.And neither would their world.This is their story.The 2nd Division participated in operations in the Pacific Theatre:The Guadalcanal Campaign, in the Solomon Islands campaign-4th January-8th February 1943. They reinforced Guadalcanal-Tulagi landings, 7th-9th August 1942; capture and defence of Guadalcanal, 10th August 1942-31st January 1943. The intense nature of the rivalry between MCRDs Parris Island and San Diego is much more pronounced. Marines trained at San Diego are often referred to as "Hollywood Marines" because of the base's location in Southern California.The lessons from bootcamp, or any intense training experience, is to expect immediate, difficult change, never complain, never fight the man who trains you, pace yourself, don't be a "grab ass", learn rules quickly,follow them explicitly.The will to survive comes from the spiritual considerations, which are to collect your thoughts and emotions,identify your personal beliefs,use self control,meditate,remember past inner sources to help you overcome adversity. Pray for your God's help, strength,wisdom and rescue. Talk,give thanks, pray for protection and a positive outcome.Love for family and self.

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this in sixteen hours!

As a near 70-year old woman, I am astounded that I lost myself in this book! I have been an avid reader since grade school. My mother, a mother of eight, read voraciously and we came to know books opened the doors to let you slip through into another time and place. An escape from reality!

I chose this book for a glimpse of what life may have been for my father when Uncle Sam drafted him to fight in the year after Pearl Harbor. He left behind his wife and the first four of his babies to fight for his country!

After basic trading, he was shipped off to fight the Japanese in the Philippines. He was my hero in many ways. He came home in critical condition. Mayo Comic would restore his health. He would go on to father four more babies! I was the seventh.

He would not talk about the war. His battles. The pain. The anquish, I sensed. After my mother's sudden death at 69, I spent nights with him. My parent's had grown up together. Fell in love in their teens. Married after high school. They would live through the years he served his country. When I asked, one night, about that time he asked why I wanted to know? Got up and left the room.

When I came across this book, although this campaign was on another Pacific Island, I started reading it to get a feel of what might reflect a smidgen of what he lived through. I will never have those answers. But, between the covers of this book, I got a glimpse of what war might have been for him!

I want to thank the authors for presenting an outstanding glimpse of the horrors our military men experienced in their battles for America's freedom and the freedom in the world. This was an emotional walk for me! If only my father could have found the words. He is gone. Yet, always in my heart! ❤

[John Vonhof · Rating 4 out of 5]

Far on the Ringing Plains was an excellent read, interesting from the start to the end. Young man, some Mennonite boys, joining the new World War II to help America. The adventures through boot camp, specialized training, and finally shipping out to the South Pacific. Billy, Bud, Johnny, and others make up the story. There's young love, dysfunctional families, loud in-your-face drill instructors--and then finally war. Working their way through the jungle, fighting the "Japs" is their daily routine. The story moves between the foxholes of the Marines, with their weapons that strike terror in the enemy, and the constant battles. This is a book worth reading.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book sounded a good one to recommend to my husband, so I did. I read part and stopped as it was not in a genre I usually read. I think I would have finished it except for my husband's comment about the end. He said the characters's story lines weren't complete. Is there a sequel? It wasn't mentioned,although I see this was Book 1. Still, I like books with a satisfying ending. :) The writing was good, the characters seem well-developed, and my husband said it was good, but he, too, was disappointed in the ending. I hope that is satisfied in the next book.

[Mike Krogh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good novel on the Pacific war

My first read from either of the authors, and I was pleasantly surprised. Really well written story that delves into three different characters. Some slight inaccuracies but well worth the reading.