Paladin_HGWT: Blog

I appreciate the feedback I get on all of my stories. A professional editor reviewed the first 17 chapters as a favor to me, however, she admitted that she is not familiar with military technology or jargon. Despite that, I missed somethings when making corrections to these documents. Significantly fewer than when I have self-edited.

One of those errors was in the Blurb, that I was concerned would occur repeatedly throughout the story. Fortunately, it did not. Constructive Criticism is greatly appreciated! I have made corrections, and am reposting the first 3 chapters. Only one or two errors (detected so far) per chapter.

Re-reading some of the books I use for sources, I am saddened by the numbers of typos and other errors I notice. I wonder, didn't they use a proof reader or editor? It seems more common in books published since 1990. "To Error is Human, to Really Foul Up you need a Computer!"

In comparison, I have yet to discover a single error in the Order of Battle of the US Army in World War Two by Shelby L. Stanton (1984) a massive tome of more than 600 (large) pages!

If you intend to write about the US Army in WWII, I highly recommend this reference book. It provides a brief overview of the organization and subsequent reorganizations of the US Army from 1939 to 1945. Higher commands, including Armies and Corps are also given a brief overview. The over 100 Divisions (Infantry, Armored, Airborne, and Cavalry). some 500 Regiments, as well as separate Battalions, and other units.

From "Patton's" Third Army, to the "Big Red One" the 1st Infantry Division, or the "Ivy Division" (the 4th ID), the famed "All Americans" of the 82nd Airborne, and their brother paratroopers of the 101st "Screaming Eagles" made famous in "Band of Brothers" to the ill fated 106th Infantry Division, who arrived in France on 6 Dec 1944, only to be shattered on Dec 19th in the opening hours of the "Battle of the Bulge" or the supreme courage and fidelity of the various units of the Philippine Scouts who fought tenaciously primarily on Bataan and Corregidor; but elsewhere too on Luzon and the other islands of the Philippine archipelago. The 26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts) who conducted the last successful (horse mounted) Cavalry Charge in the history of US Armed Forces.

This is a reference book, there is only about 4 pages about the "Big Red One" 1st Infantry Division that engaged in more combat than perhaps any other unit. Most other divisions only get about 2 pages. The 5307th Composite Unit, Provisional (aka "Merrill's Marauders") get a long paragraph. The 777th Field Artillery Battalion (Colored) gets only 2 lines for their 8 months in combat.

Something about the "American Way of War" may be discerned from the nearly 100 pages devoted to the US Army Corps of Engineers. Similar to the Artillery, most units only have a brief 2 line description. Combat Engineers often landed with the First Wave of Infantry during Amphibious Assaults (or even a few minutes before).

Anyway, back to Editing, Researching, and Writing as my best way to demonstrate my Appreciation of the Readers on this site.

I had hoped to post the first several chapters of this story on the anniversary of the "D-Day" landings of Operation Overlord on June 6th 1944, on the beaches of the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy, France.

While a fictional story, it is heavily based upon Historical Facts. Upon the advice of a friend who read those chapters, I am making some significant changes. I am removing much of the Historical Background, and posting it as a separate, non-fiction, document. With a note at the beginning of my story for people to consider reading it to gain some perspective about both World War One and World War Two. (Many issues that resulted in WWI were also causes of WWII).

I am also going to remove much of the back story about the main character's father, and his experiences in 1917 on the US/Mexico border, and the "Punitive Expedition" and his subsequent adventures in the "Great War" (or the "War To End All Wars") as the First World war was originally termed.

Unfortunately, this means I have been rewriting the first few chapters, and removing some related content, and having to insert a few things to make sense; because some character dialogue related to the historical content I am removing.

I intend to Post the revised story before July 4th; Independence Day in the USA.

I have been writing this story since 2017. A friend began editing this just before Covid shut things down. While waiting to get these many chapters back, I began publishing chapters of Darkness Falls as I wrote them.

A couple of months ago an opportunity to take a class for college credits, paid for by the VA, absorbed more of my time than I initially thought it would. I will begin posting chapters of Darkness Falls in mid or late June. Concurrently, I will be posting a chapter a week of Aztlán Portal.

Between Memorial Day and June 6th I will be posting some chapters of a story about the men of Company A 1st Battalion of the 8th Infantry Regiment of the US 4th Infantry Division, that conducted the amphibious assault upon Utah Beach (on the Cotentin Peninsula of Normandy, France) on June 6th 1944. I have been holding these chapters since last Fall, intending to publish them on the anniversary of the beginning of the Allied Liberation of Europe in 1944.

The focus of my writing is Darkness Falls, however, I want to start publishing these other stories I have just sitting on my hard drive.

It took me longer to finish editing, and get chapter 3 posted. There were more issues getting my vehicle repaired after I was hit during the snowstorm a couple of weeks ago.

I hope that I can get caught back up and finish editing chapter 4 of Darkness Falls by the end of the week.

I did not have an opportunity to print out Chapter 3, which I use as a final check for typos and other minor errors, so I may be making some corrections on Wednesday after I have a chance to read the chapter on SOL.

Chapter 3 Welcome to TERRA - Cowboy 101 reveals a little more of the duties of Cornelius MacLeod, and the plans of TERRA (Tonasket Environmental Research and Recovery Associates).

Chapter 4 will introduce the relationships of TERRA with their neighbors, in particular members of the Colville Confederation.

"The Best Laid Plans Of Mice And Men Aft Gay Aglee..."

Unlike those who read this story, the characters have no idea how their well laid plans are about to be effected as 2019 draws to a close, and a "brief" 15 day closure to "bend the curve" is in their immediate future.

Until then, the characters can enjoy being able to converse, shake hands, and other activities we once took for granted.

Due to being in a minor traffic accident in the snow, and some other issues, I focused on making some corrections to the already submitted chapters 1 & 2, as well as editing chapters 3 & 4 (3 to be submitted around Friday February 26th.

Based on some comments, I completely changed the 'Blurb' for the story. I already have the relevant part of the poem by Yeats at the very beginning of Chapter 1. As there is no way to insert a break in the blurb. It confused more than a few people, when I also used it as the beginning of my 'Blurb' too.

I hope the new Blurb, along with the (corrected) Story Codes provide potential readers a better idea of what I am writing, and help them determine if they may be interested in Reading it.

I would appreciate some replies to this Blog entry, if you would read the Blurb for my story Darkness Falls. Please tell me if it seems appropriate for the story, and raises your interest in possibly reading the story.

Of course I encourage people to read the whole story, but any Constructive ideas of how to improve the Blurb would be appreciated. Thank You.

Paladin; Have Gun - Will Travel