Long time SDWEG member, Al Converse, departed from his usual genre of humorous who-dunits to write a historical fiction book about his great-grandfather’s experience as he served in Company G of the Thirteenth Vermont Volunteers, Second Vermont Brigade in the Union Army that fought at Gettysburg, PA.
Converse details the way of life for the government’s soldiers during the Civil War. The food was inadequate. Though they had uniforms, the soldiers only had one set, which they wore daily. In addition to being scratchy, their wool pants were hot, and their brogan boots fell apart as they walked. Rarely having a chance to clean their uniforms, the men endured lice most of the time. Only when they stayed somewhere more than a couple of days did they get a chance to boil their clothes and gain some relief from the bugs.
Converse and his troop enlisted for nine months. They spent most of their time walking and camping thirty or so miles outside Washington, DC; probably to protect the capitol city from attack. Only when called on to go to Pennsylvania did the men know they would be experiencing battle. The book depicts all emotions from fear to determination to win, as Converse nears the battle site.
Vermonter depicts the famous Gettysburg battle and gives a sense of its vastness. Details of Converse and his troop during the battle actions are clear and moving. Converse’s troop fought valiantly, and to their relief they found Confederate soldiers raised their hands in surrender to the Union.
Though I have a distaste for battle scenes, Converse won me over. He wrote with such clarity and passion, with meaningful details, I felt breathless from the time Nathan Converse is told that his troop will be packing to go to battle until he returns to his farm and greets his sweetheart.
Since 2012, Converse has published short stories in The Guilded Pen, an anthology produced by the San Diego Writers and Editors Guild. His first novel, Bitch'n, a coming-of-age thriller, set in the 1959 beach town, Coronado, was published in 2012. In his second novel, Die Again, a college student's life changes when he catches a serial killer. His novel, Boston Boogie is an adventure thriller set in 1963 Boston. The Baja Moon was his fourth novel. In 2016 he released News from the East, an action adventure set in 1974. In 2017 he completed Flagship, a novel based on his experience in the Vietnam War. In 2018 he released, Hornwinkle Hustle, a cold case thriller. In 2019, Jack Blue was released that addressed some moral questions as Mo Harris solves a murder.
