Redemption A Novel

Redemption: 108,000 word high action story of a young Marine’s return home with the effects of heated action and the devastation he endured etched onto his conscience. Before PTSD became a household word, and now treated like a physical injury, veterans returned home to fend for themselves. Imagine you are the All-American boy: Accomplished and awarded high school athlete, a great student, wonderful son, loyal friend. Imagine following your father’s example and joining the Marines, then spending two and a half years immersed in clandestine warfare in Cambodia and Laos, when no U.S. troops were supposed to be there. Imagine watching friends and foe dying ghastly deaths or suffering terrible wounds. Some by your efficient hands. Imagine while in the midst of this war you are summoned home to attend the funeral of both of your parents, killed in a tragic automobile accident. Imagine, after the funeral, the love of your life, your high school sweetheart tells you she is moving on. So, you return to the war. Imagine suffering wounds to the body and mind. The body healing, leaving scars. But the wounds to the mind are sliced deep and are picked at by recurring nightmares, waking you in cold sweats. Unwanted memories festering on. Imagine being discharged from the Corp., returning to a country where many thought of you as a criminal. Imagine returning to your home town in a last ditch effort to redeem a nugget of your past life. A life that had unresolved issues. Here begins Jon Marzetti’s story

A small town Michigan lad, James Gregory Maynard embarked on his journey as a storyteller after retiring the rigors of management in industry. Having served in Vietnam during the 1968 Tet Offensive in the U.S. Air Force, James envisioned a story that would reveal to the reader the harrowing feats and suffrage that so many Army and Marine veteran’s endured. More importantly, he desired to tell the story of so many of his brothers who returned home to a hostile public, the first time in this country’s history troops returning from war were spat upon and admonished as baby killers. He chose to use the methods and technology employed by the Special Forces operating clandestinely in Laos and Cambodia, as revealed in the eye opening book “SOG, The secret War”, by Major John Plaster (available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble), as the background of Jon Marzetti’s experience. More of James’ writing can be seen on his website: jamesgregorymaynard.com. Later in 2016 he will release his second novel, Balamar, a science fiction thriller and he is currently working on his next novel, George and Irma – A love story. Also, in the works is a collection of short stories to be released in late 2017.