The Johnson Family Chronicles – Changing Currents ~ Changing Tides has entered the editing/rewrite phase and should be released sometime late Spring 2017. It’s a fiction novel about a small town family with two sons who must decide whether or not to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States or take deferrals to work jobs in the national interest. Ray is the oldest son and wants to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father served in the First Marine Division of the Marine Corps during the Great War and was decorated for his actions in the Battle of Belleau Wood. Ray is a junior at State College in Raleigh and must decide during Christmas of 1941 whether to return to school after the break or join the military with the Marines being his first choice. Jimmy is a senior at Montcross High School and wants to serve in the Army Air Corps as a pilot. Jimmy knows he must graduate first along with earning his private pilot’s license before the Air Corps would allow him to enter pilot training. Both brothers will learn the cost of serving from their father before making their decision.
The book starts at the onset of World War II for the United States with the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Naval and Air Forces and will follow the brothers’ journey from students to soldier and airman respectively while leaving their family and loved ones behind in Montcross, North Carolina. Montcross is based on my hometown of Belmont, North Carolina and most readers will recognize the various Belmont landmarks along with some added landmarks for story continuity. This book is the first in a series following these brothers, small town families, and the United States in the bloodiest conflict in the 20th Century, World War II. I hope you will enjoy it because I have certainly enjoyed the process of writing my first novel.