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Monday, February 18, 2013

New Release Celebration: Donna Steele

Donna Steele has stopped by today to tell us a little about her newest release...


The War

Vietnam was my war. We didn't talk about it around the Sunday lunch table with the relatives like we always had for WWII. I grew up with those stories from my aunts and uncles, but mine was different. John Wayne didn't glorify mine and people were angry and confused about the whole thing.

We had Kent State and protests and love-ins.  Hair, Peter, Paul and Mary, and "For What It's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield. I knew people that went to Canada and more that thought about it.

We had the draft lottery and boys with lower numbers were scooped up and sent to training camp. I had no brothers, so I was slightly removed from the process, but I wasn't sure I'd be allowed to go away to school after Kent State.

I thought I'd forgotten about it, but then Rebel Ink asked for short stories involving men in uniform. And there was Welcome Home – already written in my head.  The people aren't specific. I didn't know them in real life. But I knew them and I remember how it was.

A war doesn't have to be "popular" for the men and women that answer the call to be appreciated and thanked. I think we learned our lesson on that. I hope so.




Bobby's back from Vietnam and finds the world has changed.
"I didn't care if I was fighting communists or socialists or Martians. I just wanted to live and come home." Why can't his old friends let go and understand how he feels?
Can Katie help bring him all the way home?

You can purchase Welcome Home at Amazon.






Thanks for stopping by today Donna!

5 comments:

  1. Thanks for having me! Although the names have been scrubbed of "real" people, this is personal. I hope we learned.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! You're welcome anytime! I love learning!

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  2. Donna, I'd just turned 15 when Saigon fell and the war ended. My brother was only 5, so the war never touched me personally. But I remember seeing soldiers being spit on and my mother crying. And I remember not being able to watch the news when I was much younger, because once while the news cameras were rolling, a man was executed on national television. I still remember the stunned silence and my father's stern voice saying, "turn that off." I get cold chills just thinking about it. If this book is anywhere near as good as Learning Trust, I will most definitely be reading it!

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  3. Thanks - this is a short story. I was in high school and college, everyone lived in fear of their "number". I hope you enjoy!

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  4. So glad things are different now. The story sounds interesting and heartfelt. Can't wait to read it!

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