📚 A Bookish Chat with 'They Called Him Marvin' Author Roger Stark | Author Interview | #AuthorInterview #BlogTour #Interview

 


Today we welcome Roger Stark to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Roger is the author of the historical romance, They Called Him Marvin. This interview is part of his They Called Him Marvin Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

I am, by my admission, a reluctant writer. But some stories demand to be told. When we hear them, we must pick up our pen, lest we forget and the stories are lost.

Six years ago, in a quiet conversation with my friend Marvin, I learned the tragic story his father, a WW2 B-29 Airplane Commander, shot down over Nagoya, Japan just months before the end of the war.

The telling of the story that evening by this half orphan was so moving and full of emotion, it compelled me to ask if I could write the story. The result was They Called Him Marvin.

My life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. I pray that we never forget, as a people, the depth of sacrifice that was made by ordinary people like Marvin and his father and mother on our behalf.

My career as an addiction counselor (CDP) lead me to write “The Waterfall Concept; A Blueprint for Addiction Recovery,” and co-author “Reclaiming Your Addicted Brain.”

My next project is already underway, a memoir of growing in SW Washington called “Life on a Sorta Farm.” My wife of 49 years, Susan, and I still live in that area.

We raised seven children and have eleven grandchildren. We love to travel and see the sites and cultures of the world. I still get on my bicycle whenever I can.

You can visit Roger’s website at https://theycalledhimmarvin.com/ or connect with him on Facebook or Instagram.


TWL: Welcome to The Writer's Life!  How did you come up with the idea to write your book?

 

Roger:  I am, by my own admission, a reluctant writer. But there are stories that demand to to be told. When we hear them, we must pick up our pen, lest we forget and the stories be lost.


Six years ago, in a quiet conversation with my friend Marvin, I learned the tragic story his father, a WW2 B-29 Airplane Commander, shot down over Nagoya, Japan just months before the end of the war.


Lt Dean Sherman was the father he never knew. The telling of the story that evening by this half orphan was so moving and full of emotion, it compelled me to ask if I could write the story. The result being “They Called Him Marvin.”

My life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. I pray that we never forget, as a people, the depth of sacrifice that was made by ordinary people like Marvin and his father and mother on our behalf.


TWL: Can you give us a short excerpt?

Roger: When Dean and his B-29 left Smokey Hill, they knew their destination was Morrison Army Air Field in Florida, from there they had no idea where they were going. After spending the night at Morrison, they were given a heading and a sealed envelope containing their flight plans, with the instruction to open the envelope an hour after getting airborne.
 

Secrecy was a priority, “Loose Lips Sink Ships” was the popular reminder. The crazy part was in spite of all the clandestine efforts, after ten stops and nearly sixty two hours of flying spread over twenty two days, Tokyo Rose welcomed Lt. Dean Sherman and each crew member by name to the war the day they landed in Paidoba, India. 


That was a real head scratcher.


A pattern for the trip evolved. Fly for four to eight hours, stop over night and get up and do it again. From Florida, they would follow the coast south to Natal, Brazil, cross the Atlantic to Africa, jumping the ocean was eleven hours and fifteen minutes of flying. They then flew across Africa to the Middle East and on to Pakistan and their duty station in India.


The trip involved two long stays, six days in Ghana West Africa, and several days in Khartoum, Sudan for maintenance of the airplane. At each destination, the crew would get cleaned up upon landing and head for chow. Their next interest was finding what was playing at the movies.


In Puerto Rico the crew was quite happy to watch the new release  The Lady Takes a Chance starring John Wayne and Jean Arthur. Coincidently when they reached British Guiana the same movie was featured. Not to be deterred the crew again enjoyed the film. When they got to Brazil and it was again the featured picture show, some murmuring occurred. The Corporalies, were feeling cheated.


When they found the movie would be playing at their fourth stop also they complained to Dean.


“Sir, ain’t the Army got any other movies?”


“We know the lines better than the actors.”


“We know John Wayne is going to eat the lamb chops because Jean Arthur cooked them for him even tho he is a beef man.”


“Maybe there will be something new at our next stop,” was the consolation Dean offered. But at each of their ten layovers, The Lady Takes a Chance was the featured movie. After crossing the Atlantic The Corporalies showed signs of giving up on the movies.


But in Khartoum The Corporalies forced into the NCO Club by the searing heat and therefore ‘forced‘ to drink cold beer all day had a terrible yearning, near evening, for a movie. 


“Howell, go see what’s playing at the movies tonight.” ordered his fellow Corporalies.

By virtue of being the youngest Howell was often the brunt of such requests especially after three or four beers. He had given up protesting that he was the same rank as them. In fact as the Central Gunner, he was in charge of the other gunners in combat, but as the youngest of four boys at home he felt a strange comfort in re-playing the role with his combat brothers.

“And damn it, don’t come back if it is The Lady Takes a Chance.” 


Of course he discovered that The Lady was indeed tonights special feature. On the way back to the NCO Club with the sad news that John Wayne was again eating those lamb chops even here on the edge of the Nile Rivers, he met his Airplane Commander.


“Sir, they are playing that same damn movie here, oh sorry sir, that same John Wayne movie is playing here. We are sick of it, Sir, ain’t the Army got any other movies?”


Dean could easily see that Howell was near beer incapacitation. Puffy face, glassy eyes, speech just a bit off. He took pity on his Central Gunner.


“Evan, the reason that movie shows up everywhere we go, is that we have been tasked with delivering it to our final destination while allowing each layover airfield to use it.”


Howell stared at his Airplane Commander as his cognitive impaired brain tried to process. The light finally came on for him, a bit dim, but it came on. “Oh, Sir, I see Sir, I’ll tell the boys.”


And off he wandered, not in the direction of the boys, but in the direction of his bunk, taking his comrades threat to not return with bad news seriously.





TWL: What part of the book was the most fun to write?

Roger:  I thoroughly enjoyed creating the character of Therill Hanson, mail man extraordinaire and distant relative of some sort. Therill is the kind of guy our society loves to ignore. No one ever called him handsome, and he came with a personality filled with quirks, but he gave some very comforting service to Connie Sherman as she waited on her husband’s letters.


TWL: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

Roger: The main surprise for me in writing this story was learning the fate of many of the B29 airmen shot down over Japan. Over 300 were executed, some without trial, as war criminals. They were not extended POW status but labelled as Special Prisoners by the Japanese. This in response to the B29’s relentless firebombing of urban areas of Japan.



 

TWL: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

Roger:  I am muddling along on my memoir. I am not sure I will publish the whole work but have had some excerpts published.

TWL: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

Roger: Please remember. Remember and honor those of our greatest generation. All gave some, some gave all.  And for the families that lost loved ones, it became a lifetime of giving.

TWL: Do you have any final words?


Roger: Our motto ought to be, Lest We Forget.

Title: THEY CALLED HIM MARVIN
Author: Roger Stark
Publisher: Silver Star Publishing
Genre: Historical Romance/WW2/Family Saga

BOOK BLURB:

18-year-old Pvt Dean Sherman goes to church with a friend in Salt Lake City. He meets 16-year-old Connie that will become his wife. After Pearl Harbor Dean applies for pilot training and is accepted. Dean joins Connie’s Mormon Church and they secretly become engaged.

By the time Dean has commissioned a pilot, Connie is 18 and they marry and are together for a year and a half before he ships out as an Airplane Commander of a B-29.  Connie is pregnant with their son, Marvin.

A Japanese family is introduced, the Kyoshis. She is an important member of the Community Council he is a builder of water guns used in fighting fires and is the neighborhood fire captain.  A son Reo will go off to war and train as a fighter pilot. 12-year-old Son Riku has a reappearing role in the story concerning the B-29’s bombing of Japan. They also have 6-year-old twin sisters that are sent to Hiroshima early in the story for their safety.

The crew of 44-69966 arrives in India after a month of flying. Letters start arriving for Connie. Discussion of the B-29s development of strategic purposes is explained.

In Japan Reo Kyoshi goes off to war and the Firebombing of Tokyo occurs. 15 Square miles burned down to the sidewalks. 100,000 casualties and a million people homeless. The Kyoshi survive the conflagration but lose their home.

Marvin is born. Dean returns to duty and his plane is transferred to the Marianna Islands in the Pacific. Some 67 love letters are exchanged between Dean and Connie.

Dean’s plane is shot down over Nagoya Japan, the crew is captured and sent to Tokai Army Headquarters. Connie keeps writing letters that cannot be delivered. She has no idea he is in a Japanese prison.

Prison conditions are horrible, beatings and interrogations constant. Connie receives the war department telegram listing Dean as MIA.

A sham trial is conducted the crew is found guilty and their sentence is carried out the next day.

Almost 50 years later, Dean comes to Connie in a dream/vision and confirms his love for her and that they will yet have a life together.

Book Information

Release Date: September 1, 2021

Publisher:  Silver Star Publishing

Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-0578855288; 333 pages; $17.43; E-Book, $2.99

Goodreads: https://bit.ly/3BnQYnD

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3JsqVi1

IndieBound: https://bit.ly/3BnQYnD

Barnes & Noblehttps://bit.ly/3Lv4sD3








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