Dear Mr. LaFond,

I recently stumbled upon your work by way of a blogger whom I follow and am now playing catch-up. (I was intrigued with the "Taboo Man," Baltimore, and boxing stuff, but I stayed for the Conan.) Having served in Bosnia and Afghanistan, and spent a lot of time trying to wrap my mind around human nature and conflict, I think what you're doing is badass and I hope you keep up the good work.

There are some things you have written concerning culture, violence, and the overall rhythm of history that resonate with me, and that is the reason I've taken the liberty of writing to you. There is a project I've been sending around for feedback/review, and I was wondering if you would be interested in taking a look at it.

I have written a book entitled Breakfast with the Dirt Cult. It is a novelized account of a period during my enlistment as an infantryman in which I got caught between a girl and the Afghanistan campaign, then after being wounded downrange and consummating the affair, had all hell break loose on me. In trying to make sense of it all, my thoughts led me to the understanding that many of those who shape the ideas that influence everything from love to war have taken us upon a self-destructive course. And in our folly, we have marched to their cadence.

At the very least, I like to think that between infantry grunts, strippers, firearms, and helicopters that readers will not only get a ground-level view from the front lines of the current wars (both political and cultural), but also find a laugh or two. If you would be interested in giving it a read, let me know and I'll send you a copy (in Kindle or paperback; for more information, the link to its page on Amazon is below). If you'd rather pass, I completely understand. Regardless, please know that I admire what you're doing and hope you keep giving 'em hell.

Respectfully,

Sam Finlay

Enclosures:

Book page at Amazon

James,

Thanks for getting back to me so fast and for being willing to take a look at my book. I'll have a copy headed your way this week. As for the email, if there's anything in there that you can use, feel free to do so. I don't have a website, but if the book is to your liking and you choose to post something about it, the link to it's page on Amazon would more than suffice.

I also appreciate the stuff you sent! I'm about to crack the seal on it. Howard-related stuff is a badass genre. All I knew about Conan growing up was the movie, but as I've revisited all that as a man, it's really cool to explore all this underlying elements in the stories that just makes you want to go out there, get dirty, and kick ass at life. In fact, quoting it was a regular thing with some of us in my old platoon. We'd be about to go train or go out into Indian Country and someone would say, "Let me tell you of the days of high adventure!" or "He didn't care if he lived or died. Life...death...the same."

Thanks again, James,

Sam