Thayer’s Return received a 4+ star review, making it an IndieReader Approved title.
Following find an interview with author HJ Koch.
What is the name of the book and when was it published?
Thayer’s Return, Early history of West Point in Verse, 1/23/2019.
What’s the book’s first line?
From slumber waked a drowsy mind, and sound.
What’s the book about? Give us the “pitch”.
In a compilation of historical verse, Sylvanus Thayer, the Father of West Point, returns to the U.S. military academy as a ghost to catch up on it’s history. This is done by way of dialogue with cadet McKinley over a number of nights. He arrives in 2011 and West Points history is covered up to just before WWI.
What inspired you to write the book? A particular person? An event?
I was inspired to write this book in honor of my wife and three children, all of whom are graduates of West Point. My wife being in the second class of females the graduate.
What’s the main reason someone should really read this book?
Any lover of poetry should read this book and to be informed of how much of an impact this institution has had on America. The tremendous selflessness that is demonstrated by the graduates of our military academies.
What’s the most distinctive thing about the main character? Who—real or fictional—would you say the character reminds you of?
S. Thayer created the academic structure used to this day, and Duty, Honor, Country are instilled in all cadets. Those hallowed words seem to be rarely used throughout the wider nation today and yet at the academy they are inculcated every day as air is to the body! Therefore S.T. reminds me of himself!
If they made your book into a movie, who would you like to see play the main character(s)?
Tom Hanks.
Is this the first book you’ve written?
Yes this is my first book.
What do you do for work when you’re not writing?
I’m an airline pilot for American Airlines with 34 years of flying.
Would you go traditional if a publisher came calling? If so, why?
Yes, for the marketing assistance.
Is there something in particular that motivates you (fame? fortune?)
The aesthetic of poetry! I could care less about fame or fortune. I’m a Stoic so all I I’m trying to do is gain wisdom and live my life well.
Which writer, living or dead, do you most admire?
The greatest poet to ever rhyme, Alexander Pope.