An Authors Insights

My heartfelt writing brings humor, history, and humanity together in unforgettable ways.

Insights from Today, Tomorrow & Yesterday

Here are insights into what’s happening in my world as it pertains to my writing. I welcome questions, comments, and suggestions on what you might like to see.

Today

2025 was a year my wife, Lou Ann, and I will never forget. It started with a first-place award from the Colorado Independent Publishers Association for Best Nonfiction Military Memoir, followed by a trip to Boulder, Colorado, to accept it. Next came a Finalist Award in the same category from the Penn Craft Awards, along with another trip, this time to Las Vegas. I can’t leave out the Literary Titan Book Awards, First Place, Story Trade Book Awards, Finalist, Readers' Favorite, Finalist, The Bookfest Book Awards, Second Place, the International Impact Book Award, First Place, and to top it all off, the International Impact Book Awards, Author of the Year for Nonfiction, History and a trip down the red carpet in Hollywood.

As we enter 2026, I am in a quandary, wondering whether we could ever top 2025. Well, if the past month is any indication, look out. Things started with a TV interview on the show Coast Life, which is televised locally on the Delmarva Peninsula. Next was a podcast with the founder of the International Impact Book Awards, Nim Stant. Kristen Hampshire of Coastal Style Magazine then interviewed me for an article to be featured in their April issue. On January 31st, my book was featured on a Jumbotron TV in Times Square, NY, in honor of my father's 106th birthday. If that weren’t enough, the Independent Press Awards notified me that I have been awarded First Place for best Nonfiction Historical novel for 2026, and we’re going to New York. Whew, I need a vacation.

Tomorrow

It’s February, it’s cold, and Punxsutawney Phil predicts six more weeks of winter. So why am I thinking about spring? Perhaps it’s because I’m looking forward to being a storyteller again for the Ocean Pines Veterans Memorial Association. Each spring, Worcester County fifth graders take a field trip to the memorial to learn about the veterans who served and how to handle and show respect for the American flag. They also learn about the memorial's meaning. I joined the group last spring and enjoyed talking to the kids. I was amazed at how attentive they all were and impressed with the questions they asked. On one occasion, a young boy really impressed me with his interest and knowledge of the air war over Germany during World War II. As I told the story of my father’s service, each time I mentioned him, the boy would come to attention and strike a salute. I got fourteen salutes out of that boy. After my talk, he asked me where he could find my book to read. I told him he could find it in the library across the street. About a month later, I was at the library, talking to a librarian who remembered the boy checking out the book. He added, " It’s still overdue.” I told him I would gladly pay the late fee, but the book was finally returned, and no fee was charged; no harm, no foul.

Q & A

Q How did you come to write Avoiding Muddy Foxholes?

A Every interviewer asks me this question, and I never tire of answering it. The fact is, I could write a novel about how I came to write this book. In short, it really started when I was around five years old. In the late 1950’s and early 1960’s, kids like me loved to emulate our fathers' wartime experiences by playing army. We would dress up in makeshift uniforms and use our toy guns to raid imaginary places in our backyards. I recall turning a picnic table into a Sherman tank, using the benches as the treads and using a fifty-gallon drum as the turret. I think we destroyed more German Tiger tanks than there were in the whole war. These reenactments led to countless interrogations of our fathers. In my neighborhood, all our dads fought in World War II in various branches of service. I always thought my dad had the coolest job. He was a bombardier. This led to question after question filling me with pride in what he endured.

As a rule, my dad never really talked about his experience, not that he suffered from any emotional problems. He just chalked it all up as a job he was called to do, and he did it as best as he could. Over the years, as I learned more about this incredible story, I determined that it should never be swept under the rug or forgotten as so many others have. So, on Father’s Day, 1972, I decided to give him a gift I knew deep down he would appreciate. I promised him I would never let his story be forgotten.

Unfortunately, the years passed, and because raising families and careers occupied all our time, I began to think my promise to him was, in fact, being swept under the rug. I made bogus attempts to resurrect my ambition. In October 2003, the worst thing happened. At eighty-three, my hero, best friend, and father, passed away from a long bout with cancer. I was devastated. My promise from thirty-one years ago went unfulfilled. In a failed attempt to make amends and make good, it was no use. Anything and everything got in the way, and slowly, I lost hope.

In December 2020, the day finally came. After over fifty years of following in my grandfather’s, father's, and uncle's footsteps in the electrical contracting business, the Loveless reign was over, and I retired. At my retirement party, someone asked me what I was going to do with all the spare time I would have. I thought for a moment, and then it hit me like a load of bombs dropping on my head. I am going to fulfill the promise I made to my dad forty-eight years ago.

On December 19, 2020, one day after I retired, the words. Avoiding Muddy Foxholes: A Story of an American Bombardier appeared for the first time on paper. Two and a half years later, on June 31, 2023, I was notified that my book had been published and was available to everyone to read. It was a promise fulfilled.

Did You Know?

Known as Black Monday, the Stuttgart Mission on 6 September 1943 was the most disastrous for the 388th Bomb Group. 21 crews were sent, and only 13 returned. All 6 aircraft of the 563rd Squadron were lost. This was Mission #19 (barely 2 months into the war for the 388th), and there were 287 more combat missions to go for the 388th.

Eighth Air Force Mission No. 91, September 6, 1943, The Bombing Raid on Stuttgart, Germany

The mission: Daylight high altitude bombing

Duration: 7hrs, 13min Ave total flight time

Distance: 1150 Miles to and from the target

Aircraft Launched: 338 Aircraft Aborted: 44 Effective Bombers: 262

Lost on Continent: 32 Ditched in Channel: 12 Crashed in UK: 6

Aircraft Damaged: 116

Note: This was mission no. 6 for the crew of Slightly Dangerous. Crew 10 Evaded Capture 2 POW 3 KIA 5

Back in the Day

Do any of these items from the past bring back memories?

The percolator coffee pot 1960's This was the Mr. Coffee of it's day. Our parents only used it for hot water. They were instant coffee drinkers.

Aluminum electric skillet 1960"s A lot of French toast came off of this appliance.

Tang breakfast drink 1960's - 1970's We started the day with Tang, the drink that went to the moon.

Magnavox color TV 1970"s Who cared that it didn't have a remote, it was color. Just couldn't get the reds and greens quite right.

Free standing ash tray 1950's One of these monstrosities stood in our living room.

Dressing table & mirror 1940's - 1950's I recall my sister having a dressing table very much like this one.

Wall telephone 1960's - 1970's A yellow wall phone in the kitchen was as prestigious as having a cell phone in a car back in the day.

Rotating color wheel 1960's My dad, being an electrician, always kept up with the latest technology of the day.

Aluminum Christmas tree 1960's This was my mom's pride and joy. It stood on top of our grand piano in the living room complete with blue Christmas balls and color wheel.