"Poignant, and scary" - Norman Bates, editor. "It made me cry, it made me laugh. I couldn't put it down." - Jackie Arnold, editor. "Baby! What BABY?!" - Marisha Hall, the author's wife - overheard as she proofread one of the chapters. "I see you tomorrow Beeelle, you Number One Beeelle! You bulletproof GI! Beeelle" - Lum, hooch-maid, Quang Tri Combat Base, Vietnam, 1970. "You boom-boom, GI? ...Or, maybe you 'Funny-Boy'?" - The Pimp, pimp age six, DaNang, Vietnam, 1971. The writing started as a simple answer to a cousin's emailed question about the war. It was sort of like someone had distracted the little Dutch boy and caused him to pull his finger from the hole in the dike thus letting the flood waters flow. That was the story of Lum, the first chapter written. Then, much later, after I had called the book finished the first time, I awoke in the middle of the night one time and realized that I had finished the whole darned book without having written the first chapter yet. I think you can read it in most any order you want, if you are somewhat familiar with the jargon. Each chapter pretty much stands on its own.
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