Islands Books

CHANTICLEER INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS FIRST PLACE — HEMINGWAY 20TH CENTURY WARTIME FICTION. CHANTICLEER INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS SERIES AWARD FINALIST FOR GENRE FICTION. ISLANDS: Far On The Ringing Plains INSPIRED BY TRUE EVENTSIn the spirit of The Thin Red Line, Hacksaw Ridge, Flags of our Fathers and Pearl Harbor.Realistic. Gritty. Gutsy. Without taking it too far, Craig and Pura take it far enough to bring war home to your heart, mind, and soul. The rough edge of combat is here. And the rough edge of language, human passion, and our flawed humanity. If you can handle the ruggedness and honesty of Saving Private Ryan, 1917 or Dunkirk, you can handle the power and authenticity of ISLANDS: Far on the Ringing Plains.For the beauty and the honor is here too. Just like the Bible, in all its roughness and realism and truthfulness about life, reaching out for God is ever-present in ISLANDS. So are hope and faith and self-sacrifice. Prayer. Christ. Courage. An indomitable spirit. And the best of human nature, triumphing over the worst.Bud Parmalee, Johnny Strange, Billy Martens—three men that had each other’s backs and the backs of every Marine in their company and platoon. All three were raised never to fight. All three saw no other choice but to enlist and try to make a difference. All three would never be the same again. Never. And neither would their world. This is their story.

CHANTICLEER INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS FINALIST — HEMINGWAY 20TH CENTURY WARTIME FICTION. CHANTICLEER INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS SERIES AWARD FINALIST FOR GENRE FICTION It did not end with Guadalcanal. It did not end with one island. There were more islands... an island with snow-capped peaks, friendly people, blue seas, where Bud found love with his Tongan princess. Where Billy breathed the clean air of mountains where no danger lurked. Where Johnny found a way to drain the hate that drove him mad. They found life again after the death-filled frenzy of GuadalcanalBut the God of war was not done with them. More islands sent their siren call from beyond distant horizons and they were cast upon dark shores. Islands with coconut palms, dense green jungle and death. Islands that took more life than they ever gave back. Islands where women killed like men, islands filled with the most brutal soldiers the Japanese Empire could offer. Tarawa. Saipan. Islands that had to be endured. Islands they had to survive. There was no other way to bring the war to an end. There was no other way to get home again.

CHANTICLEER INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS FINALIST — HEMINGWAY 20TH CENTURY WARTIME FICTION. BOOK THREE OF THE AWARD-WINNING ISLAND SERIES. CHANTICLEER INTERNATIONAL BOOK AWARDS SERIES AWARD FINALIST FOR GENRE FICTION. Since 1941 Marines have fought the Japanese. They met them first on Guadalcanal, a maelstrom of death and fury. Tarawa, Saipan, Okinawa—their friends died beside them, their youth disappeared in a baptism of fire, but they kept on. Johnny, Bud, and Billy went ashore on bloodstained Okinawa hungry for the end of the war. But they knew when the battle ended, they would face their Armageddon on the sacred beaches of Japan. Then, in a blinding flash of light, everything changed. The bomb fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese laid down their arms, and the Marines arrived to occupy the homeland of their bitter enemy. Now they walked the streets and cities of the Japanese, at their shrines, underneath their cherry blossom trees, gazing on the white slopes of Mount Fujiyama. They came face-to-face with a different Japan, one that did not want war but only peace. This new Japan affected each of the friends in its own way. Bud found life, Johnny found strength. But Billy gazed upon the face of a young Japanese woman, a samurai. Her life was so beautiful, her heart so lovely, that his own war faded in the peace of her arms, and she brought him to the place of love.