Prepping for Blooms

Tooling around the internet last night while listening to the Joe Rogan Podcast with Steven Tyler, we found this old review of A Line through the Desert. 

Yes, we were ego searching our books.

The review will confirm reader's suspicions, we are awesome.

Not that anyone else thought so way back in 2009. We believe ALTD sold 19 copies the first month. Which was really pretty good, though we didn't know it then. We remember the following month's sales, mostly becuase they hurt like hell: Six, four, four, eight- etc etc. Then we had another decent month becuase we scored another review before returning to form.

By the end of the year we were thinking we'd made a huge mistake.

When we published our second novel, To Defend the Earth, it sold a couple of copies a day, and 104 the first month. We were giddy.

Then came Israel Strikes and 50, 60, 70 sales a day, a feat we've never come close to replicating.

Now we're settled in, our sales numbers a steady, ever advancing column of awesomeness, taking us to our ultimate goal: to be part of the high school canon for early 21st century American Lit.

It's times like these we miss Ed. But you can't be too careful in the age of #metoo, even with an imaginary editor.

Anyway, below is the first review of A Line through the Desert:

Reviewed by Trooper Phil Bolté- This is a book of modern war, soldiers, and romance. Author Stroock has written about a a young man who volunteered for Army service and became a trooper in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, then stationed in Germany. Well trained and motivated, Jake Bloom became a tank commander, leader of a four-man crew of an Abrams tank. And then came Desert Shield and Desert Storm and he found himself shipped to the Middle East and participating in the regiment’s combat operations.

Stroock has done a good job of capturing the life of a soldier in a combat unit throughout his service in Germany and the Middle East. He describes accurately the challenges of the junior leader as he deals with his subordinates, peers, and superiors. Sergeant Bloom is able to walk the line between familiarity and discipline, a particular challenge of a tank commander. Underlying the military aspects of Bloom’s life is a romance started and broken off before his movement to Germany, a home town romance that went sour. Without overdoing this aspect of the story, the author has made it realistic. It is the story of a teen-ager who grows up in years and in experience, the latter magnified by battle.

While the gutter language used throughout the book may be seen as adding realism, some will find it offensive and consider it detracting from the overall quality of the narrative. Soldiers who read this book will find the author’s accuracy in describing weapon systems and their performance refreshing. He has, as well, captured the performance of soldiers in modern battle. — Cavalry Journal (US Cavalry Association)

A Line Through the Desert may be purchased through Amazon.