As a Special Forces officer in Vietnam, Jim Morris suffered a significant setback in the form of a combat wound which forced his retirement. But that didn't keep him away from Indochina or from the Montagnards he'd lived, fought and trained with so extensively--he returned as a war correspondent. In fact, he covered several Third World hot spots after that.
And lucky for literate, red-blooded males, he began writing books, too. War Story, The Devil's Secret Name and Fighting Men earned him the respect of servicemen, veterans and lifelong civilians. He wrote some dang good fiction, too.
Time marched on. Books went out of print. Self-appointed soothsayers in the publishing industry decided for us what we were willing to read...and it wasn't the kind of books Jim Morris wrote. Oh yeah--there was also a movie called The Rookie which helped supplant the identity of the man associated with that name in the popular consciousness.
Time kept marching. As tends to happen, changes in technology and culture take place. First came POD publishing. Then e-publishing. Then the Two-Fisted Blog! Maybe not in that exact order, but the point is, some great books and great authors will be fighting their way back into the literary landscape.
I've already got some teasing tidbits on my Virtual Pulp Press site, while more and better morsels are in the works. Jim's got some great stories to share, both within and without his books, and I'll be passing some of them along in months to come.
Looking forward to it! It's so bad that although I was a big fan of Morris' books, I had no idea that he wrote any fiction until I read about it on this blog!
ReplyDeleteThat right there tells me that this blogging thang is not a waste of time and effort.
ReplyDeleteNew York can't shut us up. Truth, justice, and automatic weapons will prevail, one book at a time.
ReplyDeleteKeep on bloggin'
They can't stop us, any more than they can get toothpaste back in the tube once it's squeezed out.
ReplyDelete