Behind Friendly Lines


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Memoirs of a US Marine in Chile
Travel, Military, Religion, Personal Memoir
Date Published: November 4, 2019
Publisher Lucid Books

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Behind Friendly Lines is the story of a US Marine officer serving as the only foreigner in the Chilean Marine Corps’ most important combat unit. Lieutenant Colonel Mark McGraw arrives with his young family to Chile full of optimism and certainty about his ability to navigate the obstacles of language, customs, and security, but quickly runs headlong into difficulties presented by a tragedy in the home, a commander initially hostile to Americans, and the isolation of his family’s inability to speak and understand Spanish. The author takes the reader far off the tourist’s beaten path on dangerous missions from the far-flung arid northern deserts to the frigid Straits of Magellan where he lived, trained, and suffered alongside the Chilean Marines. Behind Friendly Lines explores the challenge of recalibrating nearly every facet of a family’s existence while forging lifelong friendships and learning irreplaceable lessons.


What does it mean to serve your country while learning to love another one on the other side of the world? How does a family adjust to life in a new place and then find that they must adjust again to the place they always considered home? This memoir raises questions about the nature of nation, service, and belonging, while providing an honest view of American foreign policy decisions from a retired military officer.


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About the Author


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Mark McGraw was born in Ft. Worth, Texas, grew up in Alexandria, Louisiana, and lived and worked in thirty-four countries during his twenty years of service as a U.S. Marine officer. He is a writer, translator, and language professor, having earned a master’s degree in Modern Languages and a Ph.D. in Hispanic Studies from Texas A&M University. He has also translated Joseph Avski’s Heart of Scorpio (Tiny Toe Press, 2012) and One Step from Juarez (Mouth feel Press, 2015).




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Cruise Confidential

Audiobook Series Tour: Cruise Confidential by Brian David Bruns

Author: Brian David Bruns

Narrator: Gary Furlong

Length: 9 hours 44 minutes

Series: Cruise Confidential Series, Book 2

Publisher: Brian David Bruns

Released: Oct. 12, 2018

Genre: Travel Humor

Cruise ship crew have it hard. Cruise ship rock stars have it harder! Bruns is back to expose the high seas art world. In this hilarious sequel he vividly describes his ship life highs and lows, misadventures, mis-flirtations and, through it all, his astute insights into human nature.
Buy LinksBuy on iTunes
Buy on Audible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CiszF1QYAw
Brian David Bruns has adventured in over 60 countries to gather material for his bestselling books and won dozens of literary awards, including the USA REBA Grand Prize. He has been featured on ABC’s 20/20 and was anointed Sir Brian by Prince Michael, Regent of the Principality of Sealand (yes, really). Sir Brian writes of his global experiences with a self-mocking wit and an astute insight into human behavior. His historical fiction seamlessly blends his love of travel and adventure with the fantastical–a sort of Indiana Jones meets Bram Stoker. He is devoted to veterans organizations, such as Operation Homefront and Wounded Warriors Project, to which he’s donated thousands of his books. After several years residing in Dracula’s actual hometown (yes, really), he and his Romanian wife now live in Las Vegas with their two old rescue cats, Julius and Caesar.
WebsiteAmazon
Narrator Bio Originally from Ireland, Gary Furlong worked a teacher in Niigata, Japan; a puppeteer in Prague; an improv artist in Memphis, and a festival performer in Ireland. A naturally-gifted mimic, Gary began narrating audiobooks for a living in 2015 and hasn’t looked back. Gary specializes in accents and dialect, with fluency in Irish, British RP, and Standard American. In four years of working full-time with audiobook production, Gary has narrated over 100 audiobooks spanning Fantasy,Thriller, Romance, YA, and non-fiction for world-class publishing houses and independent authors. In 2018 Gary won a much coveted AudioFile Earphones Award and the Independent Audiobook Award for Romance. He now lives in Texas with his wife and their golden retriever called “Gansey,” which means “Sweater” in Irish Gaelic.
WebsiteTwitterFacebook
  I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Brian David Bruns. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. Guest Post
Brian David Bruns’ Perks of Being an Author
I am a ninja. Good authors are. There are many reasons for this. I’ll prioritize two: Organization isn’t a sexy topic. Satisfying? Oh yes. But not sexy. Writing a book forces you to use your gray matter, which is something we all can benefit from. It’s much-needed practice in taking time to put things where they belong. That makes good habits of being efficient. More importantly it teaches you how to look for commonalities, teaches you to analyze things and people and situations to find their roots. More sexy (perhaps, depending on your past) is introspection. Authors write about situations with which they are familiar. Always. Your book’s about intergalactic Znarfus invading Earth? Sure, there’s imagination at work, but what about character interaction? Character background, experiences, desires, hopes? That’s all based on familiarity, and that takes some inward analysis. Self-objectivity is not easy, but worth the effort. Perhaps you will surprise yourself on just how awesome you really are. Maybe you’ll discover you’ve been blaming others for every bad thing you’ve done. If you take the time to identify such things you are better able to recognize what’s up when situations pop up in the future. Self-awareness and objectivity is powerful stuff. The stuff of ninjas. Be a ninja. Giveaway
Giveaway: $100 Amazon Gift Card
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VIEW THE FULL 14-DAY SCHEDULE HERE!

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Cruise Confidential

Audiobook Series Tour: Cruise Confidential by Brian David Bruns

Author: Brian David Bruns

Narrator: Gary Furlong

Length: 9 hours 20 minutes

Series: Cruise Confidential Series, Book 1

Publisher: Brian David Bruns

Released: Mar. 31, 2016

Genre: Travel Humor

National Best Seller ForeWord Humor Book of the Year Benjamin Franklin Awards Humor Book of the Year In Cruise Confidential, Brian David Bruns spills the dirt – or, in this case, the dirty water – on those romantic, fun-filled vacations at sea. His hilarious chronicle of the year he spent working for Carnival Cruise Lines takes listeners down into the areas where the crew works and lives, leaving listeners gasping with laughter as they’re assaulted nonstop with events that range from the absurd to the utterly bizarre. Stewards fighting over food. Cutlery allowances and other nonsensical rules. What the crew calls those onboard (no, it’s not passengers). And, of course, the sex. An abundance of ready, willing, and able bodies eager for action on a vessel replete with nooks and crannies leads to love in some mighty strange and seemingly impossible places. Breezy, entertaining, and informative, Cruise Confidential is essential listening for those planning a cruise or for anyone who just needs a good laugh.
Buy LinksBuy on iTunes
Buy on Audible
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CiszF1QYAw
Brian David Bruns has adventured in over 60 countries to gather material for his bestselling books and won dozens of literary awards, including the USA REBA Grand Prize. He has been featured on ABC’s 20/20 and was anointed Sir Brian by Prince Michael, Regent of the Principality of Sealand (yes, really). Sir Brian writes of his global experiences with a self-mocking wit and an astute insight into human behavior. His historical fiction seamlessly blends his love of travel and adventure with the fantastical–a sort of Indiana Jones meets Bram Stoker. He is devoted to veterans organizations, such as Operation Homefront and Wounded Warriors Project, to which he’s donated thousands of his books. After several years residing in Dracula’s actual hometown (yes, really), he and his Romanian wife now live in Las Vegas with their two old rescue cats, Julius and Caesar.
WebsiteAmazon
Narrator Bio Originally from Ireland, Gary Furlong worked a teacher in Niigata, Japan; a puppeteer in Prague; an improv artist in Memphis, and a festival performer in Ireland. A naturally-gifted mimic, Gary began narrating audiobooks for a living in 2015 and hasn’t looked back. Gary specializes in accents and dialect, with fluency in Irish, British RP, and Standard American. In four years of working full-time with audiobook production, Gary has narrated over 100 audiobooks spanning Fantasy,Thriller, Romance, YA, and non-fiction for world-class publishing houses and independent authors. In 2018 Gary won a much coveted AudioFile Earphones Award and the Independent Audiobook Award for Romance. He now lives in Texas with his wife and their golden retriever called “Gansey,” which means “Sweater” in Irish Gaelic.
WebsiteTwitterFacebook
  I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Brian David Bruns. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.
Q&A with Author Brian David Bruns
  • Tell us about the process of turning your book into an audiobook.
    • I feared the challenges of finding a narrator were too great for this book. Sure, I could find someone to just read the text, but I wanted to convey the feeling of being abroad. Accents can be tricky things because many people, Americans in particular, are not exposed to too many of them. So you don’t want to put anybody off. But when you are living below the waterline in a crew cabin of a cruise ship, every single person you meet reminds you that you’re far from home with every single word they say. I thought that was important.
  • Do you believe certain types of writing translate better into audiobook format?
    • I think any story can and should be shared audibly. Perhaps this is because I’m a natural storyteller who insists upon sharing audibly every single thing to every single person I meet. It’s amazing I have any friends left at all. That being said, I am a visual creature too. I love the look of the printed word and take pains to make my writing visually engaging. That’s more of my fiction, though. My narrative nonfiction, such as in Cruise Confidential, is much more like us sitting down over a beer and sharing experiences.
  • Was a possible audiobook recording something you were conscious of while writing?
    • The narrative voice of the book is entirely my own, but I didn’t have a hope or a prayer of handling the extreme linguistics of so very many “characters” from so very many nations. After a decade I finally mustered the courage to actually seek somebody who might be able to give it a shot. It was a daunting task.
  • How did you select your narrator?
    • With 60+ nationalities and subsequent accents, selecting a narrator was no mean feat. I searched through copious numbers of samples from many excellent narrators. But really, how realistic was it to find one person who could do accents ranging from all places Asia to all places Europe and North America to boot? Behold: Gary Furlong. He was an Irishman who had lived in Japan who I found by way of Ohio. His mastery of so many accents that one hears living on a cruise ship was so complete I suffered flashbacks.
  • How closely did you work with your narrator before and during the recording process? Did you give them any pronunciation tips or special insight into the characters?
    • Narrator Gary Furlong is a consummate professional, so any word he doesn’t know how to pronounce he knows how to learn. That said I through him for a loop once or twice with some Native American names. The man’s from Ireland, so you have to give him a break. Certainly I’d be lost if he showed me some Gaelic! It was important that the narrative voice was a Midwestern standard American accent because that is what I speak, and where I’m from is fundamental to the plot. It was also important to convey my manner of storytelling, which is often grandiose but in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Transcripts of my dialogue can strip out my presentation and sometimes make me out to be a superlatively arrogant man. In fact I’m only very arrogant.
  • Were there any real life inspirations behind your writing?
    • Contrary to the naysayers, every word of this book is true. When peeling back the veneer of a beloved pastime such a cruising, there is bound to be resistance. I’d imagine anyone writing a tell-all about working in Disney World would encounter the same thing. But what I experienced was absolutely shocking and I felt the story needed to be told. That it had a happy ending was in no way assured and is honestly more a matter of attitude than objectivity.
  • Are you an audiobook listener? What about the audiobook format appeals to you?
    • I love audiobooks. I was a marathoner for most of my life and would listen to lots of books. They made the long, painful miles enjoyable. Well, at least somewhat enjoyable! I am particularly fond of narrators who can do multiple voices. It’s by no means a requirement, but I enjoy the theatricality of it. As I branch into narrating some of my own books I understand just how impressive such skills are!
  • Is there a particular part of this story that you feel is more resonating in the audiobook performance than in the book format?
    • The accents are incredibly powerful. I think the audiobook is orders of magnitude better than the print.
  • If this title were being made into a TV series or movie, who would you cast to play the primary roles?
    • This book has nearly been made into a TV show on several different occasions, once getting all the way to step 20 of 20 before not making the cut. That was disappointing, as you can imagine. If I had a time machine I would have done anything to get Bruce Campbell to play the narrator (me). If anyone wants to know what it’s like hanging out with me, just watch Evil Dead 2. Looks, personality; we could be twins. Well, barring the chainsaw hand and the misogyny.
  • What’s next for you?
    • I am learning to narrate my own books for release in 2020, as well as release a series of historical fiction thrillers. My true love isn’t being abused on the high seas, but in fact more akin to something you’d find in the X-Files or Bram Stoker. Travel and history do go hand in hand, and a good historical fiction can be very educational. That’s where my real passion lay.
Giveaway
Giveaway: $100 Amazon Gift Card
Cruise Confidential Giveaway: $100 Amazon Gift Card https://widget.gleamjs.io/e.js
VIEW THE FULL 14-DAY SCHEDULE HERE!

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Projects – Done and To Do

This week I’ve finished the scarves and the afghan for my student workers’ graduation gifts.  I’ve given one gift which is why I’m posting the two pictures.  For the afghan, I need to take pictures.  I plan to publish four of the scarf patterns and the afghan pattern.  This adds to my list of crochet patterns to publish.  I have a bandanna, log cabin afghan, and set of headbands to publish.  

The collar or cowl scarf shown on the left turned out gorgeous.  I’m really proud of it because it was outside my normal and preferred type of project.  The smaller yarn and projects like this are hard on my hands but it was worth it to do and redo some of the stitching.  The other scarves turned out excellent and I’m excited to publish the four new ones.  The necklace type scarf I love making.  It uses up small bits of yarn but is stunning and versatile.  
Tonight I’ll be working on dish towels and dish cloths to make for someone who is helping me out this weekend.  After I get those done, I’ll be back on my other projects.  Currently I have bibs for a former co-worker of Vicki’s, a skirt, a couple of afghans, and a few smaller projects which aren’t designated for anyone yet.  
This weekend Ken goes off to Atlanta for twelve days.  I know he’s excited to visit the girls down there.  It will give him a nice break from work and our messy house.  
Vicki and I plan to play a bit on Saturday.  Sunday we will have help with getting things organized and settled.  Next weekend will be busy with working on the house as well.  
However, I’m taking off work on the 11th and hoping to get some writing stuff done – like publishing patterns.  I’ll have two days with no one in the house so I plan to get up and work on anything I have for writing – publishing, writing, marketing, editing.  I have a number of projects in the works so I want to make progress on them.  
Ken may be gone for twelve days but it will be a busy time for Vicki and I.  Hopefully by the time he comes home, the house is better organized.  I’m hoping this will lower everyone’s stress levels.

Weekend Away From Home

Ken and I spent the weekend with Vicki.  She and I went to Painting with a Twist on Friday night and did a moon picture.  Saturday, Vicki talked Ken into going and he had a good time.  We did a sunflower picture.

We watched the three original Star Wars movies and the three Back to the Future movies.  As well as I made pizza for Vicki.  She made me hermits and Ken German Chocolate Cupcakes.  She thoroughly spoiled us.

Today is back to reality.  I have a long long list of writing projects to deal with this week or at the weekend.  I’m hoping to accomplish some of them during the week but I’ll have to see how my week goes as I can only spend so much time at my desk at home without it bothering my legs.

It was good to get away.  The car handled wonderfully and we got good gas mileage – definitely an improvement over the van.  In addition to the good gas mileage, I didn’t hurt nearly as much as when I was driving the van.  Ken also was more comfortable in the car.  It was a good decision to get this car.  I don’t like the loan or the car payment but I like the improvements for my pain level and his.

Ken and Vicki took Sasha to the vet for shots.  She is having surgery as she appears to have a cyst or growth on her paw.  It’s bothering her so Vicki will be taking her to the vet again on Thursday for a quick surgery.  Hopefully all goes well and Sasha will only be annoyed with Vicki for a few days.

Normally when we go to Vicki’s we do as little as possible – mostly just hang out with her.  This is the first time I didn’t crochet her anything while I was there.  I wasn’t in the mood.  It was nice to just sit back, watch movies and hang out with her.  Painting with a Twist was fun.  I didn’t like my painting on Friday but when I woke up and looked at it on Saturday, I did.  Now I just have to find a place to hang it.

It was a good weekend.  I enjoyed the mini break and the time away from home.  Now it’s time to get back to work on my writing and crocheting.