Ask the Author: Jon C. Gabriel
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Jon C. Gabriel
My reading toggles between fiction and non-fiction. A couple of years ago, I read a few of Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels, followed by books on the submarine war in the Pacific. The two topics soon merged in my mind, and I thought, "why not?"
I appreciated O'Brian's focus on characters first, action second. The historical detail made the series feel lived-in; a world to which the reader wants to keep returning.
And despite a lifelong interest in WW2 and my experience on submarines, I heard little of all the action around Australia. That was partly intentional (sub guys are a secretive lot), but it made it an underserved topic.
Most of my book's action scenes are taken straight from submarine patrol logs, but I also showed the grinding downtime common to naval life. These crews weren't a bunch of sullen, tough-talking alpha dogs fighting each other, but a well-oiled team deeply reliant on every other man aboard. Submariners were (and still are) tireless, crude, fierce, funny ... and a little bit odd.
Our sailors and soldiers were also remarkably young men, tossed without warning into world-changing events. Ordinary guys forced to do the extraordinary, day after bloody day.
I appreciated O'Brian's focus on characters first, action second. The historical detail made the series feel lived-in; a world to which the reader wants to keep returning.
And despite a lifelong interest in WW2 and my experience on submarines, I heard little of all the action around Australia. That was partly intentional (sub guys are a secretive lot), but it made it an underserved topic.
Most of my book's action scenes are taken straight from submarine patrol logs, but I also showed the grinding downtime common to naval life. These crews weren't a bunch of sullen, tough-talking alpha dogs fighting each other, but a well-oiled team deeply reliant on every other man aboard. Submariners were (and still are) tireless, crude, fierce, funny ... and a little bit odd.
Our sailors and soldiers were also remarkably young men, tossed without warning into world-changing events. Ordinary guys forced to do the extraordinary, day after bloody day.
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