Beyond the Echoes - Research
First, this post is not a summary of the book currently in progress, it's only one of the ongoing updates during the writing process of "Beyond the Echoes," expected to be published by this Fall. In addition to extending appreciation to valuable sources of research, my regular posts will provide sneak-peaks and insider-info into each book.
Part of my research included a brief interview with Lisa Sharik of the Texas Military Forces Museum, located in Austin, Texas. She is one of the museum's three staff members wholly dedicated to coordinating and organizing contributions from the public. She and her co-workers also help manage events, such as the recent Muster Day, which included live re-enactments. They work tirelessly to make the museum a place for America's military history to be studied, remembered, and honored.
We didn't have much time to go into details, as they were in the middle of preparing for Muster Day, but Lisa was proficient and informative, providing another solid track of data to add to the bulk of my current research.
After this conversation with Lisa, I felt overjoyed because the credible sources she shared are directly related to the 36th Infantry Division of WWI. This is of particular interest to me since the book's hero serves with Company K of this Army Division called to service during the war (Army National Guard).
Even though a part of her leads were for material I'd already reviewed in its entirety, I was delighted that a couple of other directions were new leads; these sources, at least to my voracious eyes, were virgin material.
By this time, I'd read countless records of personal diaries, military accounts, and private letters written to loved ones by American, British, French, and German soldiers serving in WWI. Of course, in order to get a better grasp of front-line conditions, I studied beyond the American perspective, but a twist in my expectations hit as I was captivated by reading some of our nation's de-classified government documents relating to WWI; they were often fascinating reads similar to old-school sci-fi novels.
After all of this research and work, we are planning a road trip to Austin with the primary destination being the museum, especially since they preserve pieces of war history from countries. The museum showcases weapons and interesting items once owned by America's enemies and allies from various wartimes, and they have new displays, so an excursion to the museum should be fascinating.
Considering the museum owns authentic uniforms worn by soldiers in WWI's 36th Infantry Division, and weapons of all types and sizes used in WWI, I'm sure walking through the museum will tug at my emotions...not only because my great-grandfather served in this division during the war, but because I've given my characters an earnest embrace.
Each main character of this series, still untitled, takes us back in time. We join them as they journey through life’s worst and best experiences. Our storylines transport us into the WWI era as our nation joined forces against an intrusive evil. Germans sought to achieve widespread conquering domination, and they might have succeeded, if it weren’t for ordinary people converting to live the otherwise mysterious life of a soldier. Time ran short for too many young men during WWI.
In all, 27 countries participated in WWI, on some level, but the war's blood-cost for France, England, and Germany were especially devastating. The human toll during the first world war equaled an international death sum of thirteen million with another thirteen million wounded.
For the United States of America, deaths attributed to WWI comprised approximately 116,000, and it’s a ghastly number that represents mutilated bodies, dreaded telegrams, fatherless children, mothers’ heartbreaks, and cold headstones. The devastation of war can never be recognized or expressed throughout history in its totality. There’s no way to recapture incalculable loss.
This work-in-progress is a series dear to my heart… one of loss, redemption, romance, and discovering the meaning of “home.” We start with Johnnie, an ordinary Southern boy who has learned harsh lessons about the horrors of war. As a country boy, he never imagined having to kill another human being, but war demands we alter comfortable imaginations of ourselves and others.
After the war, Johnnie and his buddies find their way back home while still healing in mind and body and while America still recovers from the necessity of war and its terrifying new-age realities. The entire world is irrevocably changed, but Johnnie isn’t sure if a newer, faster-paced society is for the better.
In spite of their losses, weaknesses, and shiny military medals, the power of love can attack just as suddenly as the enemy and with a merciless ferocity. Johnnie’s heart survived the battlefield, but can it live without Lola?
The tick and tock of time continues. Are Johnnie and his pals ready to reconcile an anguished past or will festering wounds compromise their future? And will Johnnie build a new life Beyond the Echoes?