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Mike Trahan has written a book that really does something quite strange. It used to be a fact that a memoir would be a written account of the life of someone with a series of stories to tell. In modern times, post-1990 I mean, the memoir genre has been hijacked by every celebrity, near-miss pop star and TV personality in town. What has happened to stories of men who struggled against the odds to get to where they wanted to be?

Mike Trahan is what happened.

Now, that sounds a little dramatic– I grant you, I am rather dramatic. I got my copy of this book and I sat down expecting an interesting tale of a guy from Texas who got his wings and coped with life. What I actually found was the history of a time, a place, a family and the struggles and problems a family faced. Mike writes with striking honesty about his life– his father and his mother who raised him on a small farm over in West Orange, Texas. The man who would become Captain Mike Trahan started as just ordinary Mike who spent summers playing with his cousins and living off the land. This boy grew up poor, but never knew about poverty, because his family was so rich with love and devotion. He also left school at the beginning of eighth grade and didn’t look back. He just found another school, another route into his desired occupation. This book is not about great achievements, it’s not about fame– this book is about life, and most importantly, how you can deal with life.

Turning the pages, Mike writes as though he is telling you his stories over a beer and a smoke on a slowly closing day. You can feel the warmth of the love he has for his mother and the drive and ambition he had to reach his goal of being a pilot. You can pick any page of this book and you will learn something about Mike and in the process you will learn something about yourself. This is the real journey of life. Mike was lucky enough to know what he wanted from life– he took a fateful flight when he was fifteen and knew that he wanted to fly planes. So, Mike geared his whole life to fulfil that dream. He wouldn’t stop until he had his wings. That is the crux of the story. He didn’t sit back and say “I want to fly, but I am scared.” He looked at what needed to be done and he went straight ahead and did it. There were false roads and dead-ends of course. Mike spent two years on a football scholarship– it didn’t work out so he just changed schools and finished his education and jumped through the open window instead of banging his head on a firmly closed door. Trahan then found that he had a cyst on his tailbone– a cyst that would have made it impossible for him to join the forces. Did that stop him? You bet your ass it didn’t! He had it removed and bided his time until he could reconnect with his dream. Actually, this book isn’t really about flying or cysts or stories; this book is about finding your goal in life and creating acheivement. This book is about choices, actions, the ability to think for yourself and create your own future.

As you read The Gift you will be hooked by a book that has all the hallmarks of a touching and inspiring story. You will feel the love, the trials, the tribulations, the problems, the successes, the failures. You will discover a world that has all but disappeared now. You will hear stories of times long past; you will learn of a man who not only succeeded in his attempts, but he failed and he learnt from his failures. He didn’t give up; he didn’t say he couldn’t make it; he kept on going and going and going and going… He stood his ground and, sure, he hit the dust a few times, but Mike Trahan born in 1942 in West Orange, Texas, became Captain Mike Trahan after achieving over 600 hours of flying time whilst at college, whilst juggling his life, whilst living and breathing and striving.

For a guy like me, that’s a story I want to read. I know you will, too. Get the book and sit down and learn who the real Mike Trahan really is…and you may just learn something about yourself, too.

By Nick Wale

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 ”An unmissable read worthy of any library and certainly one to keep and read over and over again..”

Meet Joey Ruff and his new book The Dark Communion. I was fortunate enough to be asked to review this one. What can I say? At first glance it sounds like a good read. Jono Swyftt is a hunter, a predator and his prey are those nasties you grow out of believing in when you start to grow up and realise about the real-life nasties. You know those monsters you grew out of believing about? You know– Orcs, Goblins, Trolls and such– well they exist in this world created by Joey Ruff. Jono meets them and dispatches them with relative ease– he’s a gun expert, an ex-cop and a priest. Supernatural beings beware! In this brand new novel, Joey Ruff has created a book that is nothing less than a rollicking action-packed journey from page one.

The Dark Communion opens with a preview story– rather like a TV show. Jono Swyftt is searching for a young girl called Julie Easter who has gone missing. To me, this book reads like an episode of The Shield– the reader feels like they are there as Joey Ruff writes with incredible skill in the first person. Jono is led to a disused and rundown house on the wrong side of town. What will he find inside? All I am going to tell you is that Joey had me riveted from the get-go with this one. I was up all night turning pages to find out what would happen next. What does happen next?

With Joey’s law enforcement background, The Dark Communion is technically brilliant. The history of weapons is touched upon, ammunition, and his own personal knowledge of weaponry shines through. This makes it great for a European like myself to sit and immerse myself in a book that really does idolise the gun. However, just as gun-mad as Jono Swyftt is, Joey created a second character called ‘Ape’ (otherwise known as Terry Towers) who doesn’t use guns at all. The name ‘Ape’ should be explained. Jono calls Terry ‘Ape’ because of his impressive size and strength. ‘Ape’ gave the book a balance that said to me, “I thought of all the bases,” and it works very well. Traditional action and gun toting action are two different things and work together very well in this book. The nasties sometimes need a kick up the ass to get them to give up.

About the nasties! There are Orcs, Goblins, creatures of the night, and the kind of thing you would never want to meet in a dark alley–that is, unless you had a Glock to back you up! Joey writes with great description about the monsters his characters run across. These monsters aren’t created to do anything other than roar, be mean and get killed by Jono. I found it a relief to read a book that just pounded out action in this way.

What about the writing style? In the first person, you feel as though you are actually there. I began edging around as I enjoyed the action. The Dark Communion is a very addictive read in that way. You are immersed into the world of a hunter and as a reader the action is very easy to follow. This is one of those books you pull yourself away from and realise you read fifty pages without even realising it. The dialogue is traditional hardman fare including quips and one-liners, but is intelligent enough not to end up as an Arnie picture. Events, guns, creatures, and backstory are explained as though Jono Swyftt is talking to you over a beer at the local bar.

Overall, I think for a reader looking for a story–a really entertaining, action packed, immersing story– this is one to pick up. It isn’t overbearingly intellectual; it doesn’t give you insight into your past or present; it won’t save your marriage; but it will entertain you! Well done, Joey! This one is a stomper! Jono ain’t bloody cheap… but the price of this book is! Buy it now!

By Nick Wale

Read an interview with Joey on Novel Ideas here!