Wednesday, October 16, 2013

A Cartload of Stories

A Cartload of Stories has gone to press, and is now available on Amazon.
This is my fourth book of poetry, and contains "The Wristwatch of Flying Ace Mills", "A Knock on the Door, and "The First Thanksgiving".  It has an introduction by Marlin Detweiler, the president of Veritas Press.  The plan is to release all ten volumes of my poems by Christmas time this year.  It is a little ambitious, but the poems are nearly all written already.  It is the editing and designing that takes the time.
A shout-out has to be given to Madeline Merritt, a Hillsdale graduate, who is a much appreciated sharp-eyed editor.
There are twenty one original stories in this collection written over the last fifty years.  One a brand new one just finished, "The Knock on the Door" is about the grim task of announcing to loved ones and next of kin the news of a soldiers death. This one was written for our friend Sergeant First Class Greg Mikat.  We met the Mikats because our children were home schooled using the Veritas Press Scholars academy program.  And it was with them that we McLeods visited Alaska when the Mikats were stationed at Fort Wainwright.

The Wristwatch of Flying Ace Mills is a great war story told me by the pilot's son Mike Mills.  In it I try to capture the rhythm of Robert Service, who crafted his famous story about Sam McGhee.


Here just in time for Thanksgiving, is my tribute to the American holiday.  Have fun and let me know what you think.  Your review and promotion of my work will be very much appreciated.

The cover is a picture of our backyard.  We are putting to use the old cart wheel rescued from the dump a few years back.