The War To End All Wars

Create Space called me yesterday to ask me if I wanted them to edit the journal entries in my up coming book, "The Great Promise". They promised that I would have the edited edition by the end of the workday of December 19. I'm looking forward to reviewing the changes the editor made so that I can make the changes and move forward on getting the book published.

I hope that the book will be received well so that I can say that through my grandfather I was able to tell his story and contribute to history. I have to admit that I would pleased if I sold enough books to pay for my investment. I'm trying to find marketing opportunities that will hopefully improve my chances success.

The promotional text for the book is as follows;

On   On August twenty-third, 1914, the British Expeditionary Force’s (BEF) entry into World War I was against the German First Army at what would become known as the Battle of the Mons. Before the battle began, four friends serving in the BEF made a promise to each other: whoever survived would contact the families of those who did not, to make certain they would know what happened to their sons, brothers, and husbands. Of those four young men, only Captain Frederick G. Coxen survived.

Underscoring the importance of writing down events in your life for future generations, Frederick L. Coxen’s debut is a fascinating, visceral journey into the hell of war, the hearts of the men engaging in battle, and the search for closure for those left in its wake. Nearly one hundred years after the BEF’s initial engagement in World War I, Captain Coxen’s grandson and namesake discovered his grandfather’s journal—and a letter sent in 1945 that referenced the promise the senior Coxen made. The junior Coxen took the discovery as an opportunity to begin a quest: to find the families of the three other men and make good on the promise left so long unfinished. Interspersing sections of his grandfather’s journal with key historical background to put the information in context, Coxen then describes his own journey as he attempts to track down the families of the deceased. With minimal information at his disposal and across the Atlantic from his grandfather’s home in England, his tireless efforts to close the circle so long left open delivers a surprise conclusion fitting for such a remarkable journey.

Historically fascinating and emotionally affecting, Coxen’s augmentations of his grandfather’s journal entries give depth and resonance to two separate paths connected by one hundred years of silence. Intimately descriptive and bracingly honest, The Great Promise: A Compelling War Journal Fuels a Grandson’s Mission to Finish an Unfulfilled Promise should be on all World War I buff’s must-read list. 

My goal is to get the book out in early 2012 so that it can be available when the 100 year anniversary of the war arrives in August 2014.