long weekend, long memories

Marty Cesana's West Point graduation photo

As you probably know, the reason for this (American) long weekend is to honor the memory of those who died while serving their country. As ever, I’ll be thinking about my friend Marty, who died 30 years ago so heartbreakingly, so needlessly, and so close to Memorial Day.

It also feels like a good time to share a podcast on which I was recently invited to speak about military fiction. The story we chatted about (not one of mine) is called Jack Fleming Lives! by fellow veteran-writer Benjamin Inks. It’s hilarious and poignant and so alive itself. If you want to be reminded of how awesome soldiers are, even when they’re made up, you can read the story here.

And listen to our discussion of it here:

I hope it cheers you up and if it gives you a new way to think about people who wear the uniform, that you tell me about it below!

NB – Towards the end of the discussion I make a distinction between combat stories and other kinds of military stories. Listening to it now I wish I’d just called them either combat or non-combat military stories. I think that’s a more clear way to talk about them.

Similar Posts

  • Senseless loss

    Remembering Marty Cesana My friend Marty died as a result of a stupid training accident at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, in 1996. Military training itself is not stupid. We train as we fight, which can happen day or night, in the dust and heat of the desert or in the brutal…

  • Core Strength*

    I have often thought that putting together a group exercise class is like telling a story: first, there’s a beginning. There are peaks and valleys and a conclusion you hope feels satisfying. A class literally moves people. It makes them feel things and teaches them something about themselves. Ideally, an exercise class uses its physical…

  • The Heavy Season

    A bit of a book review, more moodlin’ than maudlin: A conversation went deep at the Little Ripon Bookshop the other night, discussing how family stories are shaped and told (in reference to Kate Grenville’s Restless Dolly Maunder, a not very sympathetic fictionalization of her grandmother’s life that was shortlisted for the 2024 Women’s Prize)….

  • Poetry – my vaguest goal

    I like a good, quantifiable goal. I’m sure you’ve seen S.M.A.R.T. goals on a briefing slide somewhere, but if you haven’t tripped over that acronym before, you can read about it here. It’s hokey but I like them, and keep my goals and New Years resolutions achievable and quantifiable – write 300 words a day,…

One Comment

  1. Thanks Nancy. You are so involved in interesting things, Remember we still miss you here.

    Sharon

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *