Why I Love Being An Author Reason #239

Why I Love Being An Author Reason #239: I get to meet other authors who have greatly affected my life.

William C. Dietz and I have been Facebook friends for several months. He and the 3500 of my closest friends chat about this or that. You know, it's Facebook and about as deep and lasting as a line of coke. But I've always been thrilled when I saw him post a comment to one of the increasingly ridiculous things I do. After all, he's someone I've read.

Then it was pointed out to me that he reviewed one of my books on Amazon. 

What the What? William C. Dietz reviewed one of MY BOOKS?

Must be a prank.

Here's what it said: In Babylon Smiles Ochse gives us an outstanding book filled with memorable characters, a terrific sense of place, and a rip roaring war story that I enjoyed immensely! Extremely well done. - William C. Dietz

So I sent him a thank you on Facebook, half expecting a response saying that it was a different William C. Dietz.

But it was him. 

And we've begun to chat.

He wants me to write more books in the Babylon Smiles universe. 

I'm seriously considering doing it.

Why is this such a big deal? You ask. 

He's just an author, you say.

TRUDAT, but he's not just an author. He's one of THE authors who wrote a book that looked like one I wanted to write. In Fayetteville, North Carolina, outside of Fort Bragg, somewhere on Yadkin Boulevard, there was a used bookstore that I used to go to. I was a broke ass sergeant with a starter wife and no money. I was in Special Ops, so we'd frequently deploy for 2 - 8 weeks at a time, anywhere in the world. So before I would leave, I'd scrape about 20 bucks together, descend on the bookstore, and come out with ten to fifteen books. This is how I scored Legion of the Damned shortly after it came out in 1993. I read it once, then turned around and read it 

again, something I've only done a few times in my life. It's interesting. I can remember the exact moment when I was sitting on the floor of the shop and pulled it off the shelf. I can also remember reading it and knowing that when I started writing, this was the sort of book I wanted to write. I read it on a drop zone in Bangladesh.

Whenever I think about this book, the red glowing eye blinks to life in my memory.

I've just read that he didn't start writing until he was 39. That wasn't too much older than me when I started writing. And he's still going strong.

I just downloaded Andromeda's Fall, which he recommended as the first book of a prequel trilogy to Legion of the Damned. I'm going to read them, then read Legion again. Hashtag-I Can't Wait To Start Reading Them!

Yep. Reason #239. I love being an author!!!