One of the highlights of my year is when I have the opportunity to sell my books at the annual MFCA Show in Trevose, Pennsylvania. The display of models and dioramas ā both based on history and fantasy ā belongs in a museum. I took a few pictures, but Iād suggest checking out the member gallery at the Miniature Figure Collectors of America web site.
Here are some shots from the show.
Speaking of miniatures, when I began formatting my books for Amazonās Kindle ebook reader, Amazon would pay a royalty to publishers based on the number of copies that were downloaded. This led some entrepreneurial/unscrupulous publishers to begin producing books like āThe Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in 30 pagesā or āHistory in an Hourā which were flooding the market. So I began creating shorter works ā sometimes an individual interview, or a collection of stories in the 30-to-100 page range.
Then Amazon wised up to these publishers that were gaming the algorithm and instead of paying a royalty based on the number of books downloaded, the royalty was based on the number of pages that were actually read once a book was downloaded, so that if someone downloade a 500-page book but only read the first chapter, the royalty would be based on 20 or 30 pages read.
With a few tweaks, the shorter books I published for Kindle could be converted to paperback form, and I discovered that by displaying them at vendor events, it gave shoppers with less time to read or tighter budgets an alternative to the full-length books. These are not excerpts but are complete stories as well.
Shoppers sometimes ask me which is my favorite book, which is a tough question because I love them all and theyāre good reading, but each is very different in its own way. That said, one of the first āminiā collections of stories I compiled is āA Walk in the Sun.ā The title is taken from my interview with 101st Airborne Division veteran Len Goodgal, who described joining the paratroopers as āa walk in the sun.ā Lenās full interview is included in āThe D-Day Dozen.ā
Despite the fact that I was a newspaper copy editor, this story of Lenās still befuddles me, after, that is, I finish getting all choked up.
After I returned to the outfit [from suffering trenchfoot at Bastogne], we liberated Landsberg Prison. I didnāt see the prison. I saw the prisoners. Iāve got an interesting story about that.
When we liberated Landsberg I was right outside the town; the prison is part of the town, and I was in a machine gun position with Eddie Austin. We had three of these refugees with the stripes. They were Russian I think. I donāt know whether they were Jews or not, but they looked horrible. They looked nightmarish. And we were trying to feed them something. We had D-ration [chocolate] bars we were putting into our canteens and heating them with water, and we had some pickled eggs we used to find in the basements, and some bread that we grabbed from someplace, and a couple of things, I donāt know what. Weād find stuff in cellars. These guys wanted something to eat, which we were trying to feed them, some of the cocoa. And this one guy was shaking terribly. Eddie Austin took his coat off and gave it to him. And Jesus, I almost flipped. I said, āAre you out of your mind? What are you doing? Giving away your overcoat?ā
He said, āI canāt not give it to him.ā
I said, āWhat do you mean you canāt? Theyāll bust your balls for that.ā
He said, āWho needs it more, him or me?ā He or I. Him or me. āWho needs it more, he or I?ā is correct. He said, āWho needs it more, him or me?ā Eddie Austin was a superintendent of schools in California later on, but thatās beside the point. He knew what he was saying, him or me? He knew what he was saying, āWho needs it more, him or me?ā
āI donāt know, Eddie,ā I said. āTheyāre gonna bust your balls.ā
Until my dying day Iāll never forgive myself for not giving my coat to one of the other guys.ā