Two major things happened.
We now have publishing dates for both the fiction novel and the military history book. The fiction novel – The YouTube Candidate – will be released on August 29. The company is preparing marketing material and information packages to coincide with the release. I’ll send more information as it becomes available. It will be good to have it published at long last. Several events in it mirror what is going on in the real world, so we were hoping to have it available as soon as possible during the election cycle and thus, perhaps, enhance its impact. Who knows – it may sell as many as 12 copies worldwide.
If you are so inclined, your assistance in reaching those 12 readers would be appreciated. The publishing company’s marketing staff encourages reaching out through Twitter (X), Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc., as a way of further extending the scope of their information. I am not a player in any of those networks, so any mention in those venues would be most sincerely welcomed. I will keep you posted as further information comes available.
The tentative release date for the military history book is June 17, 2025. That information reached us in an interesting way. When a website reader “googled up” a list of my publications, the title of the new book – and its provisional publishing date – was included in the display. The title – the final decision was made by the company – is Taking Command: The U.S.’s Unsung Miliary Leaders, Innovators, and Difference Makers Since World War II. I had suggested “Taking Command” and then something a bit different as a tag line. This will be okay, though. I am anxious to get it published. As I have mentioned before, for a considerable time my goal has been to write about forgotten military leaders in each of our nation’s conflicts – those officers who have done extraordinary things for which our country owes them enormous debts – but their feats are little known by the American public. The first two of these books – titled In the Shadows of Victory and In the Shadows of Victory II – took us from the War of Independence through World War II. This third book picks up with the Cold War and continues through Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Desert Storm, the War with Iraq, Afghanistan/ Iraq, and the Global War on Terrorism, extending to the present day. We felt the title of the third book had to divert from the In the Shadows of Victory labels since the outcomes of a few of those conflicts have constituted something less than victory.
An interesting, minor side story associated with the manuscript has recently developed. One of the leaders I wrote about in the Global War on Terrorism section is Admiral William McRaven. He’s the officer who planned and led the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound, yet few in our country recognize him for that achievement. (Ironically, though, millions – mostly of younger generations – know his name from a five-minute motivational presentation titled “Make Your Bed” which has something like 15 million viewers on YouTube.) In recent days, at least one source has mentioned his name as a long-shot possibility as Kamala Harris’s choice for Vice President. He would indeed be an extreme dark horse. That would be in interesting selection though – after retiring from the Navy McCraven was Chancellor of the University of Texas and was considered for the Secretary of Defense position by President Obama. Anyway, if by some chance he would be named as VP nominee, a bit of rewriting would be necessary in that portion of the manuscript. Fortunately, there would be sufficient time to do that.
AND NOW SOME PUN-LIKE OBSERVATIONS
Last night the internet stopped working so I spent a few hours with my family. They seem like good people.
If Adam and Eve were Cajuns, they would have eaten the snake instead of the apple and saved us all a lot of trouble.
Just once, I want a username and password prompt to say CLOSE ENOUGH.
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This is an exciting time of year. Pennant races are heating up. Football season is approaching – in Nebraska, that is a very big deal. Hope springs eternal.
Best wishes to all,
Tom