Threads of The War, Volume I: Personal Truth Inspired Flash-Fiction of The 20th Century's War

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"You are getting to be a budding WEB Griffin. Putting a bit of a face on real events in war." — Pat Raw personal emotions. Human trial, triumph and tragedy. Can we experience War through the eyes of the soldiers and civilians who lived it? See the sites, hear the sounds, and read short stories of war from a unique perspective: behind the eyes and in the mind of its participants. From the seats of a German cinema in 1915 and high over Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 to under the water of the port of Alexandria Egypt and on a rail line in East Prussia in 1945, the reader is carried from one front of war to another in short easily-readable, yet emotionally compelling, bursts. Threads of The War is the first collection of flash-fiction in the Threads of The War series. If you like history, personal narrative, and have a short attention span, you'll love Jeremy Strozer's touching prose. Grab a seat and a copy of Threads of The War to see war through the eyes of the men, women and children who lived and died in it. Here's a snippet from: First Line of Defense "Go left… toward the water!" Erich screams out. The steering wheel lurches, first to the left, then to the right, and then back to the left as our little Kubelwagen (bucket car) bounces and bumps over the sandy beach at over 40 kilometers per hour. "Ok, ok," I reply, knowing that as much as I want to, I've little if any control over which way our improvised dune buggy of four drunken officers is headed. Realizing how pointless attempting to hold the steering wheel would be, I reach down with my right hand to grab the bottle of '38 Barolo that Erich is guarding under his left arm. Seeing that I'm going for the wine, Erich yells out, "Hold the wheel! HOLD THE WHEEL!" He reaches out with both arms to try to stabilize the steering wheel. The Barolo is free! I grab the bottle quickly, just in time to save it from hitting the floor when the Kubelwagen makes a hard landing from a jump off of a sand dune. "I can't hold it steady!" Erich yells as I press my foot to the brake and slow down the car. Good, now I can find my bottle opener The Kubelwagen comes to a halt on the upward slope of another sand dune. Erich looks shaken. Sober, he is a commanding figure in his crisp Captain's uniform. Drunk, he is a nervous, disheveled mess of a child with no balls. "That was fuck'n great!" Jürgen slurs from the back seat. "I've next swig," Horst calls from behind me as I fumble with the bottle opener on the Barolo. My fingers are numb from the bouncing steering wheel, thereby slowing down my already alcohol-impaired ability to do anything requiring fine motor skills. "Damn it, Peter, I'm thirsty!" Horst yells as he kicks my seat from behind. "I'm opening i…." BOOOM BOOM BOOOOM BOOOM BOOM BOOOM BOOOOM Before I can say the word it, a series of explosions rock the beach, spraying sand and dirt into the Kubelwagen from all directions. What the hell is going on? Jürgen cheers as each new explosion sends towering geysers of debris into the sky. "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah!" Dazed and confused, Erich looks around. Horst calls out, "Give me the damn wine!"

Threads of The War

About the author

Jeremy Strozer

Raised in California, Jeremy moved to the Washington, D.C. area at the age of 18 to attend university. Through education and luck, he became a Fulbright Fellow, a Presidential Management Fellow, and found ways to live and work across vast swaths of the world. Professionally, Jeremy helped remove unexploded ordnance from war-ravaged countries; stem the flow of the world's most dangerous weapons; and potentially reduced the likelihood of war between a couple of the world’s most powerful countries. 

He lives in Falls Church, Virginia, with his wife and son where he continues to work on preventing future war and warning the world about the human cost of violence.