Saturday, June 30, 2012

A Powerful Cartoon

Thank you to all who served and continue to serve our country.

"We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would do us harm.”
                                                                                                       
                                                                                                       George Orwell

                           

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Where are the novels about the war in Iraq & Afghanistan?

     I ran across an article today that asks a very interesting question: Where are the novels about Iraq and Afghanistan?
     The war is nearly ten years old now. Book stores and Amazon are running over with memiors, but where are the novels? Where are the attemptes to annalyze, understand, and explain the experience instead of merely reporting it?
     If you search Amazon for novels about the Global War on Terror (GWOT), you might get some Vince Flynn-style action and adventure titles, but nothing like Tim O'brien's The Things They Carried or even Crane's The Red Badge of Courage. I'd say Ghosts of Babylon is somewhere in the middle. Is there a market for modern war novels? I guess we'll find out.
    Here's the link to the story:  http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/06/wheres-the-great-novel-about-the-war-on-terror/240233/
Is the lack of modern war novels due to a change in readers, publishers, authors, or all three?
What do you think?

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Website & Facebook Are Up!

As the title suggests, the website www.ramathis.com and Facebook page www.facebook.com/ramathis are up and running (okay...limping). Stop by and check it out!

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Welcome to the Blog!

Welcome readers, writers, and lovers of words. This is a place where we can connect, share stories, and maybe even blow off a little steam.
Since this is my first post, I’ll give a little background. I’m a jack of all trades and master of none. I've worn many hats: student, construction worker, factory supervisor, soldier, teacher, and public official, but I've always been a writer. I increasingly used writing as an outlet after serving in the Iraq War. The more I wrote, the more I wanted to write. Eventually, a book (very slowly) began to take form. I hired an editor and set about seriously studying the craft. After much learning, frustration, and umpteen rewrites, the novel, Ghosts of Babylon, was finally finished.
My editor referred me to a top NYC agent and, incredibly, he signed me! In spite of the ninety-nine to one odds, I got an agent. I couldn’t believe it. But there was still one last hurdle to clear – finding a publisher.
Most of the big houses said the same thing. Good story. “Very authentic. Love the author’s strong voice. But we just can’t market this project right now.” Bottom line: No publisher.
After a few days and a lot of ice cream, I started reading blogs of authors like J.A. Konrath (http://jakonrath.blogspot.com) and others. I learned that many successful fiction authors like him, Vince Flynn, and E.L. James couldn’t find a publisher either and self-published.
So that’s what I’m going to do. Ghosts of Babylon will be on Amazon.com in a few months in paperback and e-book. I hope you enjoy it. If you do, please post a great review. If not, skip the review and use the book to prop up a wobbly table.