Cussedness

This month I ordered a large number of war novels and non fiction covering the period from World War II to the first gulf war. The first book to arrive was Black Hawk Down and I had just started it when the one I wanted most to read arrived. I read this novel when I was a teenager, much too young to have been reading it, but I've always had an obsession with warfare and consider myself to be a military buff.

I was thirteen when I managed to cage a copy of Monte Cassino, later retitled The Beast Regiment, by Sven Hassel who was Britain's then king of the war novel. If I remember right it was eventually made into a movie. It's told first person from the German pov. Hassell was actually Danish and according to various possibly mythologized bios served in the German army from 1936 to 1946.

My uncles who had been in World War II had a habit of talking about it once they got drunk enough and several of them were alcoholic. Get enough booze into them and they seemed to forget that they talking to a young girl -- a wholely inappropriate action in all regards. One uncle told funny stories and one told terrifying tales that made my skin crawl. But it marked my imagination for life. Tid and Frank talked the most, but nine uncles had gone over and all but one had come home again. Amazing odds. The other uncles were most reticent even when loaded, but get them going with Tid or Frank and it would sooner or later start oozing out.

Fortunately for me, Mama never asked what I was doing sitting on the floor in front of them listening so closely or perhaps she figured I had the good sense to handle it well or walk off if I couldn't. She always did trust my judgement even when I was twelve and thirteen. She figured that if she hadn't done her job by then, it was far too late to change me. and she was right there.

Monte Cassino, even by modern standards, is an intense read from opening to closing. Not for the faint-hearted or those with weak stomachs despite the book being nearly forty years old.

What set me off to reading and in many cases re-reading these books is the fact that I'm currently working on an AH horror/war novel. I'm going back to my roots and reading forward as I write and re-write, I'm currently 175 pages into the new novel.

Currently Reading: Monte Cassino by Sven Hassel; Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowen.

Recommended Reading:

Cussedness Godwar Central Station LEVEL 20 ARCH-CURMUDGEON ALL HATE MAIL WILL BE POSTED I am an out of the closet, bi-sexual gender queer and have long believed that the personal is political. Perhaps that is simply a bit of 1960s idealism that most people have outgrown; but it remains near and dear to me. I am the best-selling dark fantasy ebook author of the Dark Brothers of the Light series. I made my first short story sale at 23. it appeared in Amazons! which took the World Fantasy Award for best anthology in 1980 February 2004: In The Darkness Hunting: Tales of Chimquar the Lionhawk (wildside press) Dark Brothers of the Light Series. Renaissance Ebooks.
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Previous Entry :: Next Entry Mood: Content Read/Post Comments (0) Share on Facebook		2004-03-25 3:14 PM war novels This month I ordered a large number of war novels and non fiction covering the period from World War II to the first gulf war. The first book to arrive was Black Hawk Down and I had just started it when the one I wanted most to read arrived. I read this novel when I was a teenager, much too young to have been reading it, but I've always had an obsession with warfare and consider myself to be a military buff. I was thirteen when I managed to cage a copy of Monte Cassino, later retitled The Beast Regiment, by Sven Hassel who was Britain's then king of the war novel. If I remember right it was eventually made into a movie. It's told first person from the German pov. Hassell was actually Danish and according to various possibly mythologized bios served in the German army from 1936 to 1946. My uncles who had been in World War II had a habit of talking about it once they got drunk enough and several of them were alcoholic. Get enough booze into them and they seemed to forget that they talking to a young girl -- a wholely inappropriate action in all regards. One uncle told funny stories and one told terrifying tales that made my skin crawl. But it marked my imagination for life. Tid and Frank talked the most, but nine uncles had gone over and all but one had come home again. Amazing odds. The other uncles were most reticent even when loaded, but get them going with Tid or Frank and it would sooner or later start oozing out. Fortunately for me, Mama never asked what I was doing sitting on the floor in front of them listening so closely or perhaps she figured I had the good sense to handle it well or walk off if I couldn't. She always did trust my judgement even when I was twelve and thirteen. She figured that if she hadn't done her job by then, it was far too late to change me. and she was right there. Monte Cassino, even by modern standards, is an intense read from opening to closing. Not for the faint-hearted or those with weak stomachs despite the book being nearly forty years old. What set me off to reading and in many cases re-reading these books is the fact that I'm currently working on an AH horror/war novel. I'm going back to my roots and reading forward as I write and re-write, I'm currently 175 pages into the new novel. Currently Reading: Monte Cassino by Sven Hassel; Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowen. Recommended Reading: Read/Post Comments (0) Previous Entry :: Next Entry Back to Top