We’re celebrating veterans all month long at ClearanceJobs. We kicked off the month with a webinar featuring Eric Frohardt, Navy Seal, who shared how he navigated his career transition. Next we launched a contest for defense recruiters and cleared professionals to share their hiring success stories. And now we’re kicking off our November book club with an anthology of military stories. Our Best War Stories was edited by Christopher Lyke and features the stories and poems of dozens of stories of service members, veterans and their family members, including ClearanceJobs contributor Sarah Maples.
The first 10 to email lindy.kyzer@clearancejobs.com will get a free copy of Our Best War Stories.
The anthology is a collection of stories and poems spanning the first five years of the Col. Darron L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards. It includes writers from a cross section of military conflicts and with a variety of experiences, including previously published authors and others with works they’re preparing to introduce.
“This anthology is a perfect introduction to both new and established voices who are writing about wars from Vietnam, to Iraq and Afghanistan—while also exemplifying the increasing diversity of life-experiences that should be included under the big-tent definition of ‘military writing,’” says Christopher Lyke, editor of the anthology and a founding editor of the Chicago-based literary journal Line of Advance.
Contributors include:
• Brian L. Braden: U.S. Air Force veteran, former military intelligence officer, and author of the historical fantasy series Black Sea Gods: Chronicles of Fu Xi.
• Eric Chandler: U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, former F-16 fighter pilot over Iraq and Afghanistan, outdoor sports writer, and author of the poetry collection Hugging This Rock: Poems of Earth & Sky, Love & War.
• Desiree Cooper: U.S. Air Force family member, journalist, and author of the award-winning flash-fiction collection Know the Mother.
• Jillian Danback-McGhan: U.S. Naval Academy graduate, management coach, and emerging author of literary short stories.
• David R. Dixon: U.S. Army veteran, and author of the military science-fiction swashbuckler The Damsel.
• Dewaine Farria: U.S. Marine Corps veteran, winner of the inaugural Syracuse University Press Veterans’ Writing Award for best book-length fiction or non-fiction, and author of the forthcoming novel Revolutions of All Colors.
• Travis Klempan: U.S. Naval Academy graduate, and author of the metaphysical thriller Have Snakes, Need Birds.
• Ray McPadden: U.S. Army Ranger veteran, winner of the American Library Association’s W.Y. Boyd Award for Excellence in Military Fiction, and author of the novel And the Whole Mountain Burned.
• Lisa Stice: U.S. Marine Corps spouse, and author of the poetry collections Uniform and Permanent Change of Station.
• William R. “Bill” Upton: U.S. Army veteran, a former crew chief on C-72B “Caribou” aircraft over Vietnam, and author of the memoir Pizza and Mortars: Ba-muoi-ba & Body Bags.
Other contributors include:
Edward Ahern • F.S. Blake • Randy Brown • Jack Erwin • Ellyana Gomez • Scott Hubbartt • Laura Joyce-Hubbard • Michael Janairo • Brian Kerg • Michael Lund • Sarah Maples • David S. Pointer • Terry Sanville • Colin W. Sargent • Ryan Stovall • John Thampi • Meredith Wadley • Jeremy Hussein Warneke • Ben Weakley • Amy Zaranek
Join us at the end of the month for a live chat with book contributors, and read with us to see how veterans, service members and family members are using their experiences in innovative military writing projects.
