I think we all need some good news today -- I know I did -- so it was a great personal relief to begin 2025 by getting notice that SINNER'S CROSS, my most decorated novel, now has a new decoration. Last year the book was given a "5 Star Award" by the Historical Fiction Company. Well, today, as I was driving back from my daily hike, I received notice that it had also taken the Silver Medal in the Hemingway War Fiction category for 2024. Maybe it's because I'm a fan of Hemingway, but I find this especially satisfying. Along with this, here is the list of awards this book has won since it was released in 2020:

Best Indie Book Award
Book Excellence Award
Literary Titan Gold Medal
Readers Favorite Gold Medal
Readers Favorite "5 Stars"
Historical Fiction Company "5 Star Award"
International Author Network Award Finalist

For those unfamiliar with SINNER'S CROSS, it's the inaugural novel in a WW2 series which also includes the award-winning VERY DEAD OF WINTER, and should see its third installment, SOUTH OF HELL, appear sometime late in 2025 or early 2026. In writing this series I created a simple architecture for storytelling which I have clung to religiously from the very first word:

1. All the novels are set during events which are less well-known to the public than, say, the Normandy Campaign or the Battle of Bastogne -- the Battle of the Huertgen Forest, the Battle of the Snow Eifel, the Alsace Campaign, and so on. This is in large part an effort to shed a bit of light on sadly and sometimes deliberately neglected corners of history. However, they are not history lessons. I never hesitate to compress, conflate, composite, or "synthesize" events for the sake of the narrative.

2. All the novels are told from multiple viewpoints, which include the Germans, and all the characters are protagonists and antagonists both. There are no "good guys" or "bad guys" per se. One common remark readers make about these novels is, "During the German chapters, I found myself rooting for the Germans." I am always pleased by this because that is not an easy task when dealing with American audiences (Europeans find it easier). But you should take note that the larger issues of the war are simply taken for granted.

3. The novels are about people, about human beings, not technology or place-names or strategy. They are a study of human beings under immense, unrelenting pressure. Though I have taken enormous pains to get all the little details right, I never hesitate to sacrifice historical accuracy in favor of emotional honesty.

4. The lives of the various characters, whether fighting for the Allies or Germany, must intersect in some way, directly or indirectly or both.

5. There is no "Greatest Generation" worship in these books. My characters, including the Americans, are portrayed with a wide array of human faults and failings.

In any event, SINNER'S CROSS, both as a novel and as a series, represent my lifelong obsession with the Second World War and in some ways are the culmination of a lifetime of study and hobby. Like Sauron and his Ring, I have poured so much of myself into them that in some ways they are more "me" than I am. I hope some of you reading this will give it a chance.

Sinner's Cross

The Very Dead of Winter: A Sinner's Cross Novel