I am pleased, tickled, thrilled, (and no doubt in need of a time out to calm down) to announce the launch of what I believe is the first official fan site on the web that stretches world wide for Konowa and the lads. Emmanuel Chastellière, the French translator for the Iron Elves and one heck of a nice guy, has taken it upon himself to create a whole site dedicated to the series – http://www.leselfesdefer.net/ What can I say, I’m overwhelmed and more than a little honored (which really means I am a lot honored). Emmanuel, merci! I realize not everyone speaks French, but you can quickly and easily translate the site through the use of http://translate.google.com/# Just copy and paste the text into the box and voila!

Emmanuel has even gone to the trouble of tracking down several of the different covers including the very funky Japanese editions and the lean and cool French edition which goes on sale soon.

Cheers,

Chris

Band of Brothers, first a book written by Stephen Ambrose, and later a television mini-series, chronicled the training and battles of the US Army’s Easy Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division the Screaming Eagles in WWII. Ambrose, of course, was borrowing Shakespeare’s speech as he imagined King Henry V giving it to English troops before the Battle of Agincourt. Just as Shakespeare before him, Ambrose captured the quintessential qualities of leadership and comradeship in time of war, and Major Dick Winters proved to be a leader of exceptional ability. Every interview I’ve seen and read about Winters reveals a calm, thoughtful personality and above all a man who cared for the soldiers he led. I found more than a little inspiration for the Iron Elves in the exploits of Major Winters and Easy Company, and I offer my sincere condolences at the passing of a true leader and great, if humble, man.

http://www.ldnews.com/news/ci_17050738

The first is for a book I edited which is just hitting the stores now. I may have mentioned before how proud I am to work with veterans in helping to tell their stories, and the same goes for the journalists and historians who make it possible. In this case it’s journalist Charles Jones writing about US Marine Corps combat photographers in WWII. The book is titled War Shots and features Marine Corps legend Norm Hatch (he shot some of the iconic footage on Tarawa which ended up winning an Oscar in 1944). You can find out more at http://www.warshotsbook.com/

The other website is actually a complete redesign of the publisher’s site I edit for, Stackpole Books. You probably already know this, but I edit military history and current affairs and conflicts books, everything from Civil War to WWII, Vietnam to Afghanistan. It’s just possible you’ll detect a little of that influence in the Iron Elves. This new website is a quantum leap forward for us and looks pretty darn spiffy. You can find it here: http://www.stackpolebooks.com

Cheers,

Chris

For a number of years now, I’ve tried to live my life in a linear fashion. I’m not suggesting I used to live it in contravention of the arrow of time, but I was focused on accomplishing A before I moved on to B. Sounds logical and obvious, and I suppose it is, but I’m coming to realize life doesn’t exactly work that way, at least not for me. What I was really doing was putting off all sorts of things until I had achieved a set goal. So I’d place all my energies into a manuscript and skip the gym. Or I’d go for a run and give up going to a movie. Worse was when I’d plan to write, want to see a movie, felt like a run, and wound up doing none of them. What’s become apparent to me is that I need balance. With a little planning (and that’s huge for me – I used to not know what I was having for lunch five minutes before I ate) I’m starting to be able to walk AND chew gum at the same time.

So not so much a resolution as a burgeoning realignment of priorities that let’s me have cake and eat it too 🙂

I’m very proud and at the same time feel incredibly fortunate to have spent the last ten years of my life working with so many writers and veterans to tell the stories of soldiers at war. I just happened to see this photo tonight on one of my author’s Facebook pages. I think it’s the first time I’ve seen a photo of one of the books I edited in war zone with a soldier. You can see a lot truly amazing photos of the war in Afghanistan here: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/12/afghanistan_december_2010.html

Here’s hoping 2011 brings us one step closer to peace on earth.