Sunday, July 02, 2017

What is Michael P. Spradlin reading?

Featured at Writers Read: Michael P. Spradlin, author of Prisoner of War: A Novel of World War II.

His entry begins:
Writing historical fiction, much of my reading is for research. Which is okay because occasionally you find books that are tremendous and wouldn’t have read otherwise. Yet, even with deadlines approaching, I make time to read authors and books that speak to me. I do make it a practice not to read non-fiction (except research) when I’m writing non-fiction and I usually don’t read fiction when I’m working on a novel.

I’m currently reading Crazy Blood by T. Jefferson Parker. I’ve loved Parker’s work since I first read Laguna Heat almost thirty years ago. Like most of Parker’s incredible novels, Crazy Blood opens with a murder. In this case, two half-brothers, Sky Carson and Wylie Welborn, are inexorably scarred by the murder of their father by Sky’s mother. Wylie is the illegitimate heir to the Carson family ski resort empire in the Mammoth Mountains of the Sierra Nevada’s. Parker is a master at...[read on]
About Prisoner of War, from the publisher:
Survive the war. Outlast the enemy. Stay alive.

That's what Henry Forrest has to do. When he lies about his age to join the Marines, Henry never imagines he'll face anything worse than his own father's cruelty. But his unit is shipped off to the Philippines, where the heat is unbearable, the conditions are brutal, and Henry's dreams of careless adventuring are completely dashed.

Then the Japanese invade the islands, and US forces there surrender. As a prisoner of war, Henry faces one horror after another. Yet among his fellow captives, he finds kindness, respect, even brotherhood. A glimmer of light in the darkness. And he'll need to hold tight to the hope they offer if he wants to win the fight for his country, his freedom ... and his life.

Michael P. Spradlin's latest novel tenderly explores the harsh realities of the Bataan Death March and captivity on the Pacific front during World War II.
Visit Michael P. Spradlin's website.

My Book, The Movie: Prisoner of War.

Writers Read: Michael P. Spradlin.

--Marshal Zeringue