Title: More Than a Soldier: One Army
Ranger's Daring Escape From the Nazis
Author: D.M.
Annechino
Category: Adult Fiction, 316 pages
Genre:
Historical Biography, WWII
Publisher: CreateSpace
Release date: April 2017
About the Book:
Feeling a patriotic duty to defend
his country after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, seventeen year old, Angelo J.
DiMarco, enlists in the U.S. Army. Severely short of frontline fighters, the
Army rushes Angelo through Ranger training and sends him to Italy as part of
the 1st Ranger Battalion. Their objective: stop the German invasion.
Fighting on the front lines in Italy, the German’s teach Angelo a sobering
lesson on life when they capture him during the bloody battle of Cisterna.
Against insurmountable odds, Angelo miraculously escapes in a way that
stretches the imagination. He survives behind enemy lines for over five months,
hiding from the Germans and trying to outmaneuver them. He begs for food,
sleeps in barns and suffers from many ailments, including dehydration,
malnutrition, malaria and exposure to the elements.
More
Than a Soldier is Angelo DiMarco’s powerful story of survival,
resilience and courage.
About the Author:
Daniel M. Annechino, a former book
editor, wrote his first book, How to Buy the Most
Car for the Least Money, while working as a General Manager
in the automobile business. But his passion had always been fiction,
particularly thrillers. He spent two years researching serial killers before
finally penning his gripping and memorable debut novel They Never Die Quietly. He has written and published five
novels—all thrillers. But his latest work, More Than a Soldier, is a Historical Biography set in Italy
during WWII.
A native of New York, Annechino now
lives in San Diego with his wife, Jennifer. He loves to cook, enjoys a glass of
vintage wine, and spends lots of leisure time on the warm beaches of Southern
California.
Connect with the Author: Website ~
Twitter ~ Facebook
Of all the issues related to writing fiction,
none is more subjective or controversial than the long-standing argument over
which is more important, plot or characters. Anyone with even the most
limited knowledge of fiction—reader or writer—could build a strong case either
way, and there is no absolute right or wrong. As a writer myself, I, of
course, have my own opinion; a very strong opinion. Needless to say, any
successful, well-written novel must have both a strong plot and fascinating
characters. That’s a given. However, I’d like to build a case for
characters.
Of all the novels I’ve read throughout my
life, those most memorable, locked in my mind forever, are books whose main
characters were three dimensional and lifelike. A novel could have a
highly compelling plot, but if interesting characters do not support it, the
story will likely fall flat no matter how complex, leaving the reader
disappointed. As a novelist, you’re competing with God and that’s no easy
task. To create characters who live and breathe and literally jump off
the pages requires a very unique talent.
Not to minimize the importance of plot, it is
my strong contention that plots—and please forgive me for saying this—are a
dime a dozen. Consider this: if you pick up any major newspaper in the
country and skim through its pages, you will find dozens of plot ideas from
real-life situations. The husband who has two wives—one on the east coast
and one on the west coast. The corrupt politician who accepts a bribe. A
national security leak. A conflict in the Middle East. For no
particular reason a lunatic walks into a classroom and executes the
students. An average Joe rescues a child from a burning building and
becomes an overnight hero.
Not only are plots everywhere, but many
storylines have a familiar ring. How many times have the two main characters in
a romance novel hated each other throughout the book, only to fall in love at
the end? How many times has the good guy, the character you least expected, turn
out to be the villain? How many books about lawyers and doctors and superheroes
follow the same formula? How many times have you read a classic cat and mouse
whodunit mystery with a familiar storyline?
On
the flip side, have you ever seen the likes of Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs,
or Scarlet O’Hara in Gone with the Wind? Has
either character ever been cloned in any other novel? Their uniqueness
and originality cannot be easily duplicated. Although the plots for both
of these memorable tales were compelling and engaging, it was the main
characters that grabbed your attention and kept you turning pages.
The ultimate challenge for all novelists is to
write a book with both an original, attention-grabbing plot and fascinating
characters. And this is a tall order. But remember this: if you
create complex, truly intriguing characters, the story can be a lazy tale about
someone building a horse barn and your readers will be totally engaged.
Daniel M. Annechino, a former book editor, wrote his first book, How to Buy the Most Car for the Least Money, while working as a General Manager in the automobile business. But his passion had always been fiction, particularly thrillers. He spent two years researching serial killers before finally penning his gripping and memorable debut novel They Never Die Quietly. He has written and published five novels—all thrillers. But his latest work, More Than a Soldier, is a Historical Biography set in Italy during WWII.
A native of New York, Annechino now lives in San Diego with his wife, Jennifer. He loves to cook, enjoys a glass of vintage wine, and spends lots of leisure time on the warm beaches of Southern California.
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