Why Don't we just see what Happens, Joe?

Mrs. Stroock is home from the hospital. Things are a bit busy here. Hence the timing of this post. 

Yesterday was the girl's last day of school. Yes, we get out much later here in the northeast. This year being what it is, our plans are really up in the air. Right now we're looking at books and a few indoor, chemistry set type activities. 

Oh look, Pershing in Command is #8 in Great War books:

Thanks, Helen's Page.

We all know Joe is a loudmouthed braggart, a tough guy poseur in aviators. Boy, Joe really took his idiotic braggadocio to the next level, didn't he? Nukes and F-15s indeed.

This wouldn't be the first blog to point out that Capitol Hill was overrun by a gaggle of QAnon rejects. Look at the Capitol cop's paralyses. You'd have that nationwide in a Civil War.

We think it's cute when the military brags it could handle a domestic insurrection. How'd all those $50 million weapons platforms work out in Afghanistan?  Colonel Schlichter, who is always right, has some thoughts. And please, we write novels extolling the virtues of and glorifying the military, so don't go there.

One's tempted to say, fuck around and find out, Joe. Ok, there's our own bit of braggadocio, right? So let's get something straight. We're not joining any resistance. We have a family to think about. Besides, what does the 2nd Continental Light Infantry want with a 47 year old gout ridden author. That being said, 'Why yes officer, I did see some Continental forces moving through the area, yes sir. Said they were headed for Princeton, yes, sir. Oh yes, that's they way they headed.' 

Pershing in Command: The Last War

The generation of officers that lead the American Expeditionary Force in the Great War was trained by officers who marched with Grant, Sherman and Sheridan.

For Pershing and his men 'the war' meant The Civil War.

We cover this legacy in Chapter II of Pershing in Command:

Pershing in Command...

...is available.

A history of General John J Pershing and the AEF.

When the United States entered the Great War, John J Pershing was chasing Mexican bandits and the US Army was a constabulary of frontier cavalrymen.

In a year Pershing transformed that constabulary into a modern army ready to strike the decisive blow against the Kaiser's war machine.

Through force of will and with the backing of Washington Pershing built an army in his image, counting on 'open warfare' tactics to win where the British and French has lost.

Chapter I: A Frontier Constabulary
The army in 1917, the Philippines, Poncho Villa
-Chapter II: Legacies
The Civil War and the American mind
-Chapter III: The Man Pershing
Laclede, young Pershing, West Point, the frontier, law school
-Chapter IV: Frustration and Ennui
Pershing’s vision, open warfare, The AEF arrives in France, training camps, quiet sectors
-Chapter V: The Bureaucratic Struggle
The battle for an American army, crisis on the Marne, the April conference
-Chapter VI: On the Marne Salient
The AEF’s first battles, Rock of the Marne, Cantigny, Belleau Wood, Soissons
-Chapter VII: Slug up the Marne, Lessons Learned the Hard Way
The Marne, the Ourcq, the Vesle
-Chapter VIII: False Victory at St. Mihiel
The 1st Army goes into action
- Chapter IX: The Meuse-Argonne, Pershing
The battle from 26 September till 16 October
-Chapter X: The Meuse-Argonne, Liggett
Liggett saves the battle, reorganization, change in tactics, the 1 November attack
-Conclusion

Pershing fades away, MacArthur, Patton, Marshall

Pershing in Command and Physical

Pershing in Command is coming soon:

There's the printed proof with samples of the pics and maps.

We're giving the MS its very last read through and we will this week mail it to the proofer.

Then we're done and on to making Battles of the AEF, which ironically will be longer.

Pershing in Command

And the formatting wars continue.

Actually, we made an editorial decision to include a lot of pics to go with the maps. We think they'll really add something to book.

All that remains is to figure out how we want the chapter headings to look.

From there we order a proof and read. One. Last. Time.

Format This !@#$

We've been formatting Pershing in Command all afternoon. 

Decorum prevents us from saying how things went and how we feel about the process. 

Just imagine a string of curses and us sitting on the couch wondering if we're having a heart attack.

Jesus H Christ, all those years of work and the goddamn thing is only 185 pages long

That said we are quite pleased with the cover and the maps have scanned well.

Map Example:

This book should look pretty good.

Pershing in Command

Alright!

We have scanned a dozen maps from the American Battlefield and Monuments Commission guide for use in Pershing in Command.

Here's an example:

Pershing in Command

Allllll riiiight now...

The faire Debbie (PBUH) has sent us Pershing in Command.

All that remains is to go over her notes, double check a few things, like those god-awful French spellings, and then formatting.

When we promise a book avalanche in the fall, this would be what we're referring to. 

Will's Good Idea for the week of 6-17-18

For the Pershing in Command history, why not just put maps and pictures up here on the blog and direct readers to visit this site?

It will save a ton of time in production, not to mention costs, and enable us to use a ton of pics, maps.

Will's Good Idea for the Week of 1-26-18

Scrapping Pershing in Command

We spent all week reading and re-reading Pershing in Command and came away appalled.

First off, who edited this thing? It's a freakin' disaster. Too many needless words, run on sentences, underdeveloped paragraphs....

Second, the things we thought made Pershing in Command different just distract from the narrative.

Thirdly if there's nothing to make it different, what's the point?

And D What the fuck? Professionals looked at this book and said, 'yeah, sure!'

I dunno, maybe we're just being too critical, but man....

Times like these, I'm just glad we have money in the Banana Stand.

Pershing in Command

When we originally wrote Pershing in Command we planned on a narrative broken up by chapters describing some aspect of the AEF. These chapters covered things like the Civil War's legacy, the army in 1917, the young Pershing, the 79th Division at Montfaucon and the 89th Division.

After going through the MS we think these chapters distract from the narrative and should be removed. Tis' better to get to A to B to C without delay, no? That leaves us with a quandary. These chapters made Pershing in Command somewhat different than other histories. Without them, what's the point?

Here's the clean chapter list:

Intro
11/11/11
The Old Army
Early Battles
The Bureaucratic 
Slug up the Marne
St Mihiel
Meuse-Argonne: John J Pershing
Meuse-Argonne: Hunter Ligget
Conclusions

We must contemplate this upon the Tree of Woe.

Command This

We've been going through Pershing in Command all week and have gotten about half way through.

We haven't so much as opened the original document since sometime in 2016 so we have the benefit of an absolutely fresh perspective. It's almost as if we haven't read the MS before.

So far we think we'll axe an entire chapter.

I dunno, maybe we're getting bitter and cynical...

[getting?-Ed]

...Anyhoo, but we've read some good parts but overall find ourselves thinking, 'Why are we reading this?' Then we got to one section and thought, 'Jaysus!'...

[Jaysus?-Ed]

...This was edited?

It's kind of a ritual at this point, but right now, Pershing in Command sucks.

Pershing in Command

This week we'll be going back through the Pershing in Command manuscript.

Honestly the MS doesn't need that much work. We edited it to death, then my agent her crack editor edited it death (thanks Ella!).

So we'll fix a few things and then its off to the editor!

Honestly the biggest problem will be illustrations and maps.

In our possession we have the American Monuments and Battlefield Commission Guide to the AEF. It is a massive tome that contains three fold out maps. These are 3x4', intricately detailed maps of the battlefields.

Yesterday we went down to Kinkos where the staff was able to scan the map on to a flash drive and make a PDF at 600 DPI.

We're stoked. 

[Really?- Ed]

We'll be able to take screen caps from any section of the maps and use them to illustrate and battle we want.

Great War Books

As part of our prep for Pershing in Command and since it's the 100th anniversary of the American Expeditionary Force's great battles in France, we'll be posting excerpts here.

One of the chapters of our AEF ebook deals with literature produced by vets of the Great War. A great tale of the marines comes in Thomas Boyd’s Through the Wheat. Boyd served with the 1^st Battalion, Sixth Marines and saw action at Belleau Wood, St. Mihiel and Mont Blonc. Boyd retells his experience through the character of William Hicks an Ohio boy who joined the Marines in Cincinnati. 

Though Hicks is the protagonist we meet an eclectic array of characters. An unscrupulous supply sergeant who sell tinned beef ‘monkey meat’ or ‘Argentina beef’ for bottles of vin blanc. Captain Powers, an English professor in Texas who pines for the days of Sam Houston and the Texas War of Independence. ‘How much finer it is, he thought, to attack as General Sam Houston attacked; to march steadfastly upon the enemy and make them surrender at the point of a sword or a bowie-knife.’ There is Sgt. Harrison, the reluctant enlistee who nevertheless performs his duty until receiving a dear John letter from his girl back home. Wanting nothing more than to win his girl back Harriman shoots himself in the foot and only afterwards does he realize that he has committed an offense punishable by court marshal. Boyd writes, ‘And he had only meant to get back home. He began to whimper.’ 

Boyd also gives us harrowing tales of action at Belleau Wood. After the war Boyd become a socialist journalist and actually ran for Vermont governor on the Socialist Ticket.

Tuesday Tally

Pershing in Command Edition  

As we get things going for publishing Pershing in Command we are compiling a list of things we need. Our agent already edited the book but we'll give it a final proof.

1-Maps: These will be easy to come by as we can always tap into the West Point Atlas of Wars, and the Battlefield Commission's Battlefield and Monuments Guide. 

2-Art: Lots of photos. Again, not a yuuge issue. Under no circumstances will we use the Belleau Wood stock photo. You know the one with the two Marines manning the Lewis Gun.

3-Cover. Probably a photo of Pershing, but we'll see.

4-Read through: As we haven't so much as looked at the doc in over a year this affords us an excellent opportunity for a fresh look.

As things stand we're looking at a summer release.

Pershing in Command

Flash! Must Credit Stroock Report
Stroock, Tannenbaum International severe ties

Indy Published History?

Already Successful Top 10 Indy Fiction

Friday Updates

We are pleased to say that World War 1990: ANZACs is at 60,000 words. The completion of the rough draft is near and we are hoping to start editing on 15 April.

Nothing new with Pershing in Command.

We are struggling on with Whatever Happened to Jake and Patricia Bloom and that is now 50,000 words. Interestingly we have no idea how it ends but we got everything else.

We are thinking soon that we might begin writing the Austrian Painter.

We are experimenting again with digital ads. Check it out.

New video on Pershing and Amalgamation:

Latest Pershing Video: Pershing and Open Warfare