Since I announced getting it out, it’s generated some buzz, and several writers have expressed interest in contributing to it.

That said, it’s become a community project. I’m still putting the pieces together, but what we’re looking at is 25 to 25 stories between 1000-3000 words each. They can be stories handed down through the family (if so, try to verify the accuracy) concerning family members in the military. With luck I’ll get some from the World War I, and possibly handed down stories from earlier wars.

I’m looking to help try to preserve the stories before they vanish. I responded to GP Cox that I was trying to locate the son of a man I knew who had served in France during WWI. Turns out he died several years ago, and no one seems to know what their grandfather did there, or the stories he told. From where I sit, his voice is stilled now and what he did and saw is gone.

I want to try to help preserve the small stories. History, as I note elsewhere, isn’t dates and the famous. It’s the people who came before you. it’s their stories. It’s about the young kid who had never been more than ten miles from home and suddenly riding a train cross country to an induction center. It’s the soldier that got separated from the rest of his unit in ‘Nam, and spent the night with his back against a tree in a village full of people who didn’t speak his language. It’s the guy who tried to make the best cup of coffee for the Captain of the Enterprise.

It might even even be your story if you’ve served in the military. I’m looking for the funny, the terrifying, the profound. I’ve gotten my contributions identified as follows:

  • Atomic Marine
  • The Lupe Velez Syndrome
  • The Long Walk
  • Midnight at the Live Fire Range.

Since it’s going to be community effort, and I already said that 75% of sales would go to Wounded Warriors, I’m making that 100%.

Over the weekend, I’ll get the organizational side of it put together and put out how to contribute. etc.

So start thinking of the stories. It’s your chance to help change the world a little, and preserve the world.