Writing
The front cover is a forearm with the tattoo of words attributed to both George Orwell and Winston Churchill, “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night on because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” The forearm is writing with an M4 and medals spread around the table. The back cover is an out of focus, jarring photo of Spc Eric McKinley taken on patrol in Baghdad. Eric died in combat on June 13, 2004, just north of Taji, Iraq.
Rough Men Stand Ready:
We had a small administrative problem that set us off schedule, but that is fixed and we are back on track. The first anthology had a few stories pulled and replaced in the last month or so. One story was replaced because the veteran got a book deal and couldn’t use what he originally sent. This is a good thing. People want to read the stories. The first anthology will be out before Thanksgiving of this year. We hope to have the second edition out the following spring.
Now Accepting Story Submissions
A Rock Or Something Productions is now accepting submissions from veterans, their family members, and others directly affected by war and the military lifestyle. We are accepting submissions for our second anthology now. If you are a veteran, service member, family member, or have been affected by the military lifestyle and have a story or poem about something that is important to you please send it to sean@arockorsomething.com.
Sorry, we are not accepting excerpts of a larger memoir or book. The story should be 4,000 to 5,000 words at most. Shorter stories and poems are encouraged. Send us a few pages from your war journal and also your pictures.
Editor Sean Davis
The editor-in-chief is a Purple Heart Recipient and graduate of the Pacific University Masters in Fine Arts Writing Program.
Sean spent 16 years in the US Army infantry and left as an E7, platoon sergeant, in which time he was stationed at Schofield Barracks, HI, Fort Drum, NY, Bad Aibling, Germany, and then he joined the Oregon National Guard. He has been deployed to Haiti, Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina. After leaving the military Sean graduated from Mount Hood Community College, Portland State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in English, and a Master’s Degree from Pacific University.
Sean:
I understand many vets haven’t written about their experiences or if they have they feel the stories may not be worth much because they haven’t had any formal “writing training.” It isn’t my intent to win writing prizes here. I only want to help vets find the path that helped me, that probably saved my life. Along the way I have no doubt we will find amazing stories people will want to read.
Send the stories you have to sean@arockorsomething.com
This will be a book of short stories. We’ll take fiction, non-fiction, and poetry. The poems can be about anything at all, but the stories should focus on a military experience, or if you’re a family member you can write about the impact of having your loved one a part of the military lifestyle. Each story should be around 20 pages max, double spaced. If you have something larger give me the best part of it and we’ll publish an excerpt.
Great idea Sean! Is there a deadline for submissions?
We will set a deadline soon. We have two more readings and then we’re going to start reading what is sent to us. I’d say end of March early June, but a more official announcement will be made soon.
Thank you for doing this! I’m the daughter, wife, and mother of soldiers so hope to send you a poem from each perspective. May God continue to bless you and your good work.
I once had this squad leader named Washburn. One drill before releasing us for the day he told us the story of how Roman soldiers would deal with someone being drunk on duty. He then informed us how he would modify their technique for a more current disciplinary use. It was unfortunate that the chaplain heard it. You should really have him tell you the story.
I can’t BELIEVE you would allude to that story Ryan!!!!
Hey Sean, who were you with at Ft. Drum? I was with C 2-87 Infantry from 1990 to 1996, did the Haiti deployment, but was left behind for Somalia.
I was with the triple deuce. I was in Haiti with the 25th and laughed at the Drum soldiers we relieved because their duty station was so cold and shitty, but when the Haiti deployment was over my unit (4-22) disbanned and I was re-stationed at Drum. Never laugh at Joe’s sucking, or you’ll be there next. I learned.
Hahaha, that’s awesome! I had a friend of mine tell me about how cool it was in Hawaii…training deployments in Australia and Thailand, etc…and then he wound up at Drum too. Seems to be a common theme, go someplace beautiful, enjoy it, and then wind up at Ft. Drum.
It’s good that you went to triple deuce after Haiti. I think it was them who fired up friendlies in Port Au Prince.
I’ll get to work writing an essay about my experiences for the book for ya soon.
Ty
I am trying to do something similiar in the front range area (Wyoming) with an online addition called Veteran Voices. We have an events page up on Facebook. It would be great to receive submissions from vets in your circle, espescially for those that missed the deadline (as I did) for your anthology. Thank you!
online edition oops