The Last Post

The Last Post is a historical war novel that prophesizes the January 6th storming of the Capitol. It is a historical novel that is told from the perspective of three men and a woman who fought in four different wars – the Second World War, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Gulf War. Through these characters we experience the reality and the impact of the Flying Fortress bombing raids against Germany and Berlin - the retreat from the Chosen Reservoir in North Korea by twenty five thousand Marines who battled their way home in sub-zero weather while being surrounded by over two hundred thousand Chinese - the covert battles fought “over the fence” in Laos by the Special Forces SOAG units attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail - the desert warfare of the Gulf War, the journey down the Highway of Death, the moment when evil takes on a life of its own, and we turn against each other.

Charlie, Bob, the Reverend, and Leah, the main characters in the story, are the microcosm of the macrocosm of America. They span four generations and four eras of American history, and they tell the story of the vast majority of the American people, their hopes and dreams, their fears and disappointments, the illusions that keep them going, and the simple values and expectations and the everyday joys and pleasures that give their life meaning and value amidst the madness that we all suffer from in our unwillingness to face some obvious truths and the fact that tragedy is lurking everywhere in America today. Or, as Bob Sumner, one of the main characters in the novel, says, “If what’s happening below, is not happening above, and the head is not talking to its asshole, the shit will fly.”

Quite simply, The Last Post is about the rise of fascism in America, and it is a prophet vision of what happened in Washington when Trump’s followers marched on Washington. How did I know this was going to happen? My characters and the story led me there, and we ignore their story, their hopes and dreams, and their fears and anger at our own peril.