We have news on the publishing front. Koehler Books has gone with the majority opinion on the cover shown in this post. The vote was close at 56% of votes for the winner to 44%. Many thanks to those who participated. It was interesting to get the feedback.

I liked both designs and found myself alternating favorites depending on the day. Overall, I did lean towards the one chosen because it suggests that the novel is not just an American war story but incorporates elements of what the war was like for the Vietnamese.

Writers become attached to some of their characters more than others. A favorite in Poisoned Jungle was Yardly, third platoon’s Montagnard Tiger Scout. Through his depiction in the novel, I hoped to convey part of the complexity of the situation for the Montagnard people in Vietnam. Portrayed as a boy soldier of sixteen who had seen his first combat at fifteen, I witnessed Montagnard soldiers as young as thirteen after a battle near the Seven Mountains. After treating many wounded in a mass casualty situation, I began asking an interpreter the ages of the youngest soldiers.

“This boy, fourteen. This boy, fifteen.” And, finally, a boy in full combat gear coming off the mountain at the age of thirteen. I keep promising more topics and will write more on the Montagnard people in the future.

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Our digital author review copies (ARC) are out and should be in the subscriber’s email boxes by the time this blog is posted. Please let your friends know that these copies are still available free of charge to the ARC reader subscribers on my website (james-ballard.net) until August 19. They contain the full novel and are identical to the text of the print and e-book copies scheduled for publication on Aug 20. We promise not to bombard you with emails or give or sell any addresses to companies or any interest groups.

We would request a brief review of the novel posted to Amazon, Goodreads, or another platform of your choice after you have read Poisoned Jungle, but it is just a request. This will help with sales and bringing attention to the novel in a crowded publishing field.

We are planning a book launch around the scheduled publication date. Due to the pandemic, this may still be via a streaming mechanism unless the new cases of the virus have been reduced further. My timing has always been good, graduating from a U.S. high school in 1967, publishing my first book at the age of 71 as COVID-19 ravages the world.

For those younger generations, it is important to note that during the Vietnam War, the U.S. had a draft in place. All young men were required to register with their local draft boards at the age of 18. Without a college student deferment, or a medical condition, it was likely for a healthy young man to be called for the draft by his nineteenth birthday. My second novel (unpublished at this time) explores aspects of this. It also devotes a couple of chapters to basic training and the protagonist’s experiences while training to be a medic before shipping out to Vietnam.

Many thanks to those following my blogs on the website and on Facebook. I hope you enjoy Poisoned Jungle.