BRAT and the Kids of Warriors
Page 40
Page 291
Two Tanks and a mini track vehicle
Kent Stalker
Page 292
German Kids checking out 50 Cal. machine gun
Horst W. Müller
Page 294
Little Bird
Tony Conrad
Page 298
View of Gunthers farm
David Wisniewski
Page 302
View of the Hohenstaufen
Jacqueline C’est La Vie
Page 326
The BRAT Team
It has been an honor to write this story, but that honor is not mine alone. An amazing group of people over the last four years have grown into what I call The BRAT Team—those who have been so instrumental in bringing an idea through concept and creation all the way to you readers. I can’t imagine any first-time author having a better team.
These teacher-coaches and book-production experts provided countless hours of help and value that brought this work to life. If I am the storyteller, they are everything else that made this book what it is.
Editorial
Lori Mulligan Davis, the person who most influenced, architected, and affected this book, my writing coach, my editor, and now my friend. Wow, does that woman have a lot of patience to put up with me. Believe me when I say, if the writing in this book is good, it is because of Lori—it is her doing. When I showed her the first several chapters of my first draft . . . well, anyone else would have thrown me out then and there. Why anyone would have taken me on. . . . But oh, is she sneaky. I must have had over a hundred disastrous flaws as a writer, but she only smiled and said, “Well, let me teach you two things and we’ll work on that.” Then she would say a week or two later, “Here is another thing. Let’s work on that.” She never let on what a wreck I was. And good thing for me, or I might never have stayed with it if I’d known how far I would have to come. Lori is a great teacher, a great coach, a great motivator, a great writer, and (Lord, help me!) also part of the grammar police. You are fun, you are patient, you are kind, and you are seriously disorganized. What would I do without you? When this book has success, it will be because of you.
Kristina Cowen and Nancy Nehmer batted cleanup, and Lord knows we needed these razer-sharp proofreaders.
Advisors
Colonel Brett Sylvia, now Commander of Strike, the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st’s Airborne Division, is the busy man who made time to be my military editor, ensuring the armor and infantry material in the book was correct. Brett is both an Airborne Ranger and a tanker. Besides tuning up content, he gave me detailed background explanations that improved the story.
Gavin Sylvia, Col. Sylvia’s son, is a brat with a can-do attitude. All writers should be so lucky as to have a beta reader like Gavin. Talk about feedback! Gavin returned his copy plastered with over three hundred sticky notes—full of excellent comments and corrections.
Chris Faber, one of my earliest readers, first read the book when he was ten. Wow. His feedback was a mind warp. He is nothing short of wicked smart, giving me sage advice way beyond his years. He was the first to help me know my characters had actually come to life.
Simon Perutz, my wise friend, was the first adult I dared let read the book. It was through his feedback that I understood the book needed some drastic rewrite, but with his continued encouragement I began to believe the story could get legs.
Yogi Mahendra and Dee Ott were early encouragers that kept me going.
German Experts
Willi Hass, of Munich, carefully corrected all the German phrases in the book—more than once.
Peter and Sibylle Sonnenberg, originally from Stuttgart, made sure the German was in the proper Göppingen dialect.
The Advance Team
Michelle Miller, Bob Holliker, Louis Bartrand, Mimi Hayes, Misty Corrales, Chris Kyrios, Joseph Condrill, and that very talented writer, Patty Tracy Perrin—brats one and all—kept me straight and made sure that the unique world of us brats was accurately portrayed. R Jamaal Downey and Donna Musil helped me think through the positioning of the book for the brat community. Also a special thanks to Donna for allowing me to use her film short, Growing UP Army, on my website, to help those who have never had exposure to military families get a feel for what it means to be a brat.
Production and Design
Jordan Vouga, graphic designer and brand creator in Berkeley, California, developed the clean and deceptively simple Bravur Media logo, brilliantly playing off the Spartan hoplite shield.
Lauren Tackbary, Berkley-based graphic designer, created the brat dandelion and barbed wire decorative spacers, one of my favorite elements in the book.
Mark Davis, a graphic and font designer from New York, selected the readable-but-cool period-correct style fonts used in the book. I love them.
Judy Ostarch and Andrea Reider, in LA, did a beautiful job with the whole book layout, getting ready for Nick Vergoth (x-military intelligence) to print it at Lake Book in Melrose Park, Illinois.
Christine Goulden was worth the trip to New York City just to have her photograph my author headshots. Somehow, she always manages to capture that just right moment. She and Muhammad Salman built my author’s website.
Jivko Jelev is the talented illustrator who managed to create the “pirate map” illustrating where Jack McMasters and the brats lived and operated. It was no small undertaking to draw an accurate map of a large chunk of Cooke Barracks circa 1958. Jivko then transformed period photos from the late 1950s into the illustrations throughout the book.
Greg Samata and Tim O’Brien were the dream team who created the cover. I never realized just how hard it could be to create a decent book jacket. After the fourth unsuccessful attempt, I had the great good fortune to meet Greg. Among other things, Greg is a creative genius and a master at creating a brand. He said, “Scrap everything—we are going to hire some great models to represent Jack, Rabbit, and Queenie, and dress them in period-accurate clothes and do a photo shoot.” I thought that was pretty outrageous, especially when the Chicago photographer, Melissa Salvatore, was working to get those kids into character to get just the right shot. But when it came time to find an illustrator to take those great photos of the kids and turn them into a book cover, I knew Greg was a wild man. He dropped a TIME magazine with an incredible cover on me, saying, “How’s that for an illustration? He did the Hunger Games covers, too. Let’s go get that guy.” I should have immediately known he wasn’t joking. That’s just what he did. And the next thing I knew, we had one amazing book cover.
Getting the Word Out
Natalie Faye, from Paris and Morocco, greatly expanded my social media presence.
Carla King, from San Francisco, helped me put together the distribution strategy for the book. Carla definitely knows the ins and outs of book sales.
Syliva Perez, fellow brat and TV news reporter in Chicago, conducted the interviews and worked her magic to bring the book trailer to life.
The Glue
My wife, the love of my life, who holds me together.
Need I say more? I have the very best of teams. You can join us on Facebook and Goodreads. Your positive reviews will lead other readers to Brat and the Kids of Warriors.
I surely hope you have enjoyed the first book in this series, and that you’ll be back for more. As Editor Lori says, “Book One just pushes the boulder to the top of the hill. Book Two lets it really roll.”
Thank you for reading.
—Michael Joseph Lyons
Wet Shoes
German/American Friendship Week
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Michael Joseph Lyons, BRAT and the Kids of Warriors