Still Kicking ...

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It was a warm (very warm) day in August when I was awakened from my summer doldrums when I saw a Flogger misidentified as a Mirage. (See here.) Actually, I was feeling somewhat adrift at not having posted for quite some time. Though I have been working on what I shall now refer to as "The Trilogy." My WWII "epic" tale. So I've been writing, just not posting. Much to juvat's chagrin ...

"The Trilogy" consists of Almost a Lifetime, which would be the third volume, which is nearly ready for actual publication other than the fact that I am still unsatisfied with the product. For various reasons.

What is simply known, for now, as "The Prequel" is under the vicious knife of the editor. This would be first volume.

The first volume runs from September 1939 to December of 1941. The third volume runs from the 2nd of June 1944 to the end of the European portion of World War II, the 8th of May, 1945.

The second volume will cover everything in between. So yeah, it could turn into a tetralogy (quartet for the musically inclined) as there is a lot of war between December 1941 and the 2nd of June 1944 in the European theater. (Which traditionally includes the North African campaign. At least in my book it does.)

So I've been writing, just not on a daily basis for the blog. I will get back to that as the Maryland portion of summer is nearly at a end. Which will lead to the The Missus Herself visits Korea for 60 days phase of the end of summer/beginning of autumn. No, I'm not going with her, she and two of her Stateside dwelling sisters will be on that trip. I shall be by myself, staying up all night, beating my drums, and playing loud music. At least until the neighbors complain ...

So why did I write the third volume first? Well, it started as a series of blog posts meant to coincide with the anniversary of D-Day and then grew by leaps and bounds until it took on a life of its own. Liking the characters I had created, I decided to write about them some more, earlier in the war. Which of course led to more new characters and ...

Yup, the thing has become sentient and dominates my thinking.

On that note, I'm going back under again. No doubt I shall re-emerge here next week, when the travel portion of the summer concludes.

We shall see.

Is it June Already?

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Yes, another day of tired eye syndrome (TES if you will, and I will, of course), so you get musings, not a real post requiring lots of research, creativity, and coherence.

What? When did I start doing that?

Uh, uh, never mind.

Anyhoo, I've got a post in the works to continue the story, well, make that a couple of ideas for a post, plus one post actually started. While I don't intend to go into the Battle of Britain in great detail, I do wish to introduce characters who will play a role later in the series. Which kind of hints that some of the aviator-type folks I've introduced already (on both sides) may live on for a while.

I'm still debating whether or not some of the lads wind up in North Africa, particularly the Germans. The Brits will probably wind up there as there isn't much else for Billy Wallace and his lads to do until the invasion of Sicily otherwise. Also, as I mentioned in a post a few days back, Flavio Gentile's first combat action is in North Africa. So yeah, we'll visit the heat, flies, and barren ground of the North African campaign at some point.

As for Jürgen and his crowd, it's Russia for them. His division goes there, gets destroyed, gets reconstituted with a new number then gets destroyed again in Normandy. Remember when we met him and Manfred Sauer in the series within a series Sieben Männer von Sachsen¹? So their backstory is closely tied to the unit history of that division, the 223. Infantrie-Division. Which became the 275th before being destroyed again in the Falaise pocket.

I may even fill out a bit more of the back stories of Stephen Hernandez and Nate Paddock, two characters that I really enjoyed. Someday we may even get to the postwar with them. Maybe even Korea.

So that's where I'm at right now, as I rest my eyes. Any suggestions as to future characters, story lines will be entertained. Even the Muse needs help from time to time. As some of you can attest, I do sometimes use those suggestions.

Oh yeah, welcome to June ...

Keep your powder dry and, as always, stay frosty.

¹ Seven Men of Saxony (German), a title I stole borrowed from R.F. Delderfield's Seven Men of Gascony, a superb novel of the Napoleonic Wars.