More than fifty years ago, I was drafted into the US Army and a few months later I was provided an all-expense paid tour of Southeast Asia. I served a year in Vietnam (1969-70) as an Army enlisted man in the Americal Division. When I returned from Vietnam and was admitted to graduate school at West Virginia University, I decided that I would write about my experiences in the war. I actually wrote a couple of chapters of a novel and sent them off to a few literary agents - all of whom uniformly replied that no one would pay to read and be reminded of that awful war.
But I vowed to myself that at some point in my life, I would write about my time in Vietnam. It would be on my bucket list. But of course, life got in the way and I found it necessary to find a real day job to support my young family. And so, the book was put on the back burner until I retired from my public relations business a few years back.
I finally found the time to write a story about Vietnam. That novel, Augie’s War, focuses on how one soldier dealt with that awful experience, and how memories of his Italian American family upbringing was the crutch he used to get through a very difficult time in his life. Augie’s War was published In 2018, and it has received excellent reviews from readers all around the world, as well as from literary critics, newspapers and magazines.
"My writing is a reflection of my personal experiences, my very active imagination
and my observations about the world we live in."
Encouraged by the response to that book, I decided to write a sequel to it, and Augie’s World was published in 2020. The novel follows our protagonist when he returns home from Vietnam. At home, Augie must deal with the emotional and psychological scars of PTSD. To further complicate matters, an incident involving Augie, his family and the mob presents a new and dangerous problem. Augie must find a way to protect himself and his family from the mob or face the deadly consequences. While I never intended to write another Augie novel, there were just too many ‘loose strings’ at the end of Augie’s World. So, I penned the third and final book in what has become the Augie Trilogy.
Augie’s Wine is the final chapter in the series and it deals with Augie’s desperate need to leave home and establish a new identity in the California wine country. Once again, Augie is on the run and he must try and avoid the deadly pursuit of two deranged mob hit men. I’ve written about wine since the 1980’s and this book was fun to write because I’ve placed Augie in many of the beautiful wine country locations I’ve had the privilege of visiting and writing about for over four decades.
You can read more about my three novels, including excerpts, in another section of this website where you can also find out where you can purchase the books. I hope you’ll consider reading all three novels in what has turned out to be the Augie Trilogy.
Thanks for your consideration.
