FAQs

Here are some of the frequently asked questions from readers, either directly or thru my website, that I've been asked concerning my book Shall Never See So Much:

Q - How did you come to choose the year 1968 as the setting for your story?
A - So much happened in 1968 that there was an unusually large number of events with major historical significance. Though my novel deals largely with the first half of 1968, the story still includes the large Tet Offensive in Vietnam, the growing anti-war movement at home, the decision of LBJ not to seek re-election as president, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., and the presidential-primary campaign and eventual assassination of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.

Q - Why the choice of a brother and sister as the main characters?
A - Mostly, for balance. The story told via the point-of-view of a Marine brother in combat, and his estranged and politically active sister, seemed to offer such a conduit for portraying what was unquestionably a divisive, complex period.

Q - Did you serve in Vietnam?
A - No. I served as an artillery officer in the U.S. Marine Corps in the early Seventies, and certainly trained for combat in Vietnam, but I was not sent. I spent a year in Okinawa and mainland Japan as the regular Marine Corps units drew down from Vietnam.

Q - What do you want readers to come away with after reading your book?
A - If the reader is old enough to have lived through the period covered, then I hope he/she enjoys the trip back in time. If the reader was born after the period covered, then I hope he/she gets a sense of the times--the cultural and political divide, the war, the momentous events, and the courage and spirit of Americans doing what they thought was right. In the end, though, it's my hope that the reader is entertained with a good story and compelling characters.

Q - Do you have another novel planned after Shall Never See So Much?
A - Yes. It's a business novel . . . and I'll leave it at that for now.