Blake Powers aka "
Laughing Wolf" over at
Blackfive has an announcement:
"My newest book, A Different View: Travels to Al Qa’im and Beyond, is now out as a trade
paperback via Amazon's CreateSpace and on Kindle. This new volume in
the A Different View series showcases day-to-day life of Marines at Al
Qa'im on the Syrian border while I was with them on the last part of my
first embed. It then transitions to Germany and Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center, where I introduce readers to a very special ceremony for
arriving wounded.
To borrow from his preface: "This is not a book about combat, or combat
photography. While every combat reporter wants that one-in-a-million
shot or video snippet, such images can only show a few seconds out of
what can seem an eternity. Blood sells, and the 99 percent of time that
is routine or even boring is not news. It is, however, real." This
volume is part of his continuing effort to share the "real" with the
public at large.
Reviews of A Different View are as expected quite positive!
Larry Bond, bestselling author of
Shattered Trident writes of Power's latest offering, “A Different View is a personal and vivid narrative of the author’s
experience in a combat zone, showing not combat but the mundanity,
humor, and boredom that make up ninety-nine percent of life ‘inside the
wire.’ The author’s photos and narrative illustrate how service members
cope and adapt to the surreal conditions, and how injury and death are
still close by. This is a valuable book, and anyone who cares about
America’s troops and the fight in the Middle East will find it
worthwhile.”
Maj Pain (USMC), who writes at the miblog:
One Marine's View has this to say: “My
first thought as I looked at the pictures was, "I’ve been there,” “I
think I know that guy” and the fine details of multiple deployments come
rushing back like they were yesterday. I can smell the pictures. Blake
captures a reality through a very narrow opportunity that many will
never understand. Those that have been there will look at the pictures,
remember their experiences, and if they are viewing with another
warrior, they will simply glance at one another as they both will
remember the events they lived through and will do so with a smirk on
their face. They will do it for those that were there with them, that
didn’t come home.”
Publisher of Baen Books Toni Weisskopf says, “Lest
we forget—Blake Powers helps all of us who were not there witness the
everyday lives and achievements of our armed forces in Iraq with
gorgeous pictures and thoughtful commentary.”
“None
of us really know what it’s like to be ‘on the front lines’ unless
we’ve served. Which means most Americans really have ‘no clue’." writes David Mecey, former Staff Photographer, Playboy magazine. He continues, "Blake
shows these guys and gals in their environment. Sure, there are fun
times, how could there not, you’d go bonkers otherwise. But the real
deal is just being ‘in country’. Living it, breathing it, seeing it,
being enveloped by it every waking moment (and sleeping too) then
getting through it as best one can. He has really put this out there for
all of us, those lucky individuals who have been lavished with the most
amazing country in the world, to feel safe, made so by the sacrifices
of these brave men and women.”
Juliette Ochieng, author of Tale of the Tigers writes, "A
Different View is well-titled; it gives the reader an alternative
perspective of the fruit yielded by the American effort in Iraq. Most of
it is good fruit. The book is well worth your time...and your money."
This book builds on A Different View: Travels with Team Easy, Iraq, 2007 (
Kindle), and (
Trade Paperback).
Full copies of the reviews provided by David Mecey and Juliette Ochieng can be found at
http://laughingwolf.net/?p=541
