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A Distant Field: Episode 1: Remember the Lusitania
Please note: This refers to a brief excerpt from A DISTANT FIELD by R.J. MacDonald which is no longer available. The full novel was published in November 2018 and is available through Amazon. This harrowing journey through World War I begins aboard the RMS Lusitania and ends on the edge of the world.
Stuart McReynolds, and his brother Ross, Scots-Americans bound for the old country, are aboard the RMS Lusitania when it is torpedoed by a German U-boat off the south coast of Ireland in May 1915. Despite frantic rescue efforts, they watch their family drown in front of their eyes. Having escaped the doomed ship, they are rescued by four young Irishmen and, together, the band of young men enlist in the Seaforth Highlanders, the remotest of all Scottish regiments in the British Isles.
They are soon deployed and within hours of landing in the British sector are thrown into the brutal battles of Gallipoli and must learn to fight—and to survive—in the bloody battlefields under a blazing Aegean sun. Stuart recoils against the carnage of the battlefield, but with his brother and friends by his side, fights gallantly forward, clinging to hope and their rapidly depleting trenchline.
Includes teacher's guide and discussion questions from noted historian Tom Laemline.
Stuart McReynolds, and his brother Ross, Scots-Americans bound for the old country, are aboard the RMS Lusitania when it is torpedoed by a German U-boat off the south coast of Ireland in May 1915. Despite frantic rescue efforts, they watch their family drown in front of their eyes. Having escaped the doomed ship, they are rescued by four young Irishmen and, together, the band of young men enlist in the Seaforth Highlanders, the remotest of all Scottish regiments in the British Isles.
They are soon deployed and within hours of landing in the British sector are thrown into the brutal battles of Gallipoli and must learn to fight—and to survive—in the bloody battlefields under a blazing Aegean sun. Stuart recoils against the carnage of the battlefield, but with his brother and friends by his side, fights gallantly forward, clinging to hope and their rapidly depleting trenchline.
Includes teacher's guide and discussion questions from noted historian Tom Laemline.
Kindle Edition
Published May 15, 2018
3 people want to read
About the author
R.J. MacDonald
2 books7 followers2019 Winner, military fiction category, Independent Press Awards
2019 Gold Medal Award, historical fiction, Military Writers Society of America
2019 Finalist, military category, American Fiction Awards
RJ MacDonald is an award-winning part-time author. He grew up in a small coastal fishing village in Scotland. He crossed the Atlantic and attended Cate School before studying both military history and social science at the University of California at Berkeley, where his dissertation professor was Stephen Ambrose (Band of Brothers). After graduating with two BAs, he enlisted in the US Marines as a reservist. Boot camp in San Diego went well for five days until the drill instructors read his personnel file and discovered not only a ‘Berkeley hippy freak infiltrating their Marine Corps’, but also one with an accent, ‘You speak funny private, are you Russian?’ Meritoriously promoted to sergeant, he served in a helicopter support squadron at NAS Miramar and as an expert marksman and marksmanship instructor, before returning to Scotland to complete two masters degrees and joining the Royal Air Force Reserves- ‘You speak funny sir, are you Canadian?’
Parachute qualified with jump-wings from Holland, the Czech Republic and US Special Operations Command Europe, he deployed as an intelligence officer with a Puma helicopter detachment during the war in Iraq, and then again to Cyprus during the conflict in Libya. Now a director within a small research company, he also serves on a Royal National Lifeboat Institute volunteer lifeboat crew tasked with a 24/7 all-weather search and rescue role in some of the roughest seas in the world. He lives with his wife, three children, and a very cute but equally stupid cocker spaniel, in the East Neuk of Fife, where he grew up. He can often be found tapping away on his laptop while waiting for various after-school clubs to finish.
A Distant Field is his debut novel and the first in The Seaforths series. His second novel, The Chosen Heroes, is almost complete (just needs a bit of tinkering). Off on a tangent, his third book, a murder-mystery set around a lifeboat crew, The Brotherhood of the Sea, is underway.
2019 Gold Medal Award, historical fiction, Military Writers Society of America
2019 Finalist, military category, American Fiction Awards
RJ MacDonald is an award-winning part-time author. He grew up in a small coastal fishing village in Scotland. He crossed the Atlantic and attended Cate School before studying both military history and social science at the University of California at Berkeley, where his dissertation professor was Stephen Ambrose (Band of Brothers). After graduating with two BAs, he enlisted in the US Marines as a reservist. Boot camp in San Diego went well for five days until the drill instructors read his personnel file and discovered not only a ‘Berkeley hippy freak infiltrating their Marine Corps’, but also one with an accent, ‘You speak funny private, are you Russian?’ Meritoriously promoted to sergeant, he served in a helicopter support squadron at NAS Miramar and as an expert marksman and marksmanship instructor, before returning to Scotland to complete two masters degrees and joining the Royal Air Force Reserves- ‘You speak funny sir, are you Canadian?’
Parachute qualified with jump-wings from Holland, the Czech Republic and US Special Operations Command Europe, he deployed as an intelligence officer with a Puma helicopter detachment during the war in Iraq, and then again to Cyprus during the conflict in Libya. Now a director within a small research company, he also serves on a Royal National Lifeboat Institute volunteer lifeboat crew tasked with a 24/7 all-weather search and rescue role in some of the roughest seas in the world. He lives with his wife, three children, and a very cute but equally stupid cocker spaniel, in the East Neuk of Fife, where he grew up. He can often be found tapping away on his laptop while waiting for various after-school clubs to finish.
A Distant Field is his debut novel and the first in The Seaforths series. His second novel, The Chosen Heroes, is almost complete (just needs a bit of tinkering). Off on a tangent, his third book, a murder-mystery set around a lifeboat crew, The Brotherhood of the Sea, is underway.
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