Today, June 22, is the anniversary of the launch of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, and of Operation Bagration in 1944. The first was Hitler’s Germany’s invasion of the USSR, the largest land invasion in history. Three years later, Stalin’s Soviet Union answered that with Operation Bagration, a massive assault on the German Army Group […]
Today is Midsummer’s, the Summer Solstice, long regarded as a special day by humanity. This year, the full moon was just a few nights ago—also an auspicious time for mystics and sky-watchers. The Bones of the Earth, my first published novel, begins at midnight on the Summer Solstice, under a full moon. That coincidence does […]
An independent review The Bonding Blade by M.L. Doyle The premise is fun: the ancient Sumerian goddess of love, sex, war love, beauty, sex, desire, fertility, war, justice and power, Inanna (also known as Ishtar) becomes embodied in former U.S. soldier who lives in Minneapolis. Of course, where there’s Inanna, there has to be her […]
Happy Mother’s Day to readers, mothers, sons and daughters. In honour of the day, here’s a sample from the closing chapter of Army of Worn Soles, featuriing a mother out of history: Tekla Kuritsa. Army of Worn Soles is the story of the conscription into the Red Army of a Canadian, my father-in-law, Maurice Bury. […]
This instalment of “the best and worst” is by mother, author and blogger DG Torrens. Her blog, My Books and I, covers the writer’s experience as well as book reviews and previews of her own book (kind of like this one). I have also contributed a guest post on her blog. But read this one […]
By Autumn Birt I was a little nervous as I read the first chapter in Stories from the War. I like Autumn Birt’s writing and I enjoyed her fantasy series, Rise of the Fifth Order. So I was intrigued by her shift from epic fantasy to dystopian military thriller with Friends of My Enemy. Hopes high, I […]
Independent review of the book By Samreen Ahsan A Silent Prayer is a book that deserves all the attention, including the many awards it has received. In just over a year since its publication, A Silent Prayer won first prizes at book fairs in Los Angeles, Hollywood and Paris, first prize in the Readers’ Favorite […]
One hundred years ago, the subject of my historical trilogy, The Eastern Front, was born. In honour of this centennial, here is an excerpt from his story, in the third volume, Walking Out of War. This story that Maurice told me could have happened on that early April day in 1945. Approaching Berlin Prussia, April […]
As we approach what would have been the hundredth birthday of my father-in-law and the subject of the Eastern Front trilogy, here’s a sample that describes life during the Nazi German occupation of Ukraine, 76 years ago. Kalush, western Ukraine 1943 The first Friday night dance was held at the newly established Prosvita Ukrainian Reading […]
This coming Thursday will be the centennial of the birth of the subject of my Eastern Front trilogy, Maurice Bury. To mark that occasion, I will publish excerpts from the three books in the series all week: Army of Worn Soles, Under the Nazi Heel and Walking Out of War. Most of them appeared previously […]