Featured Author
Curt J. Robinette was born and raised in a small city, Nelsonville, in southeastern Ohio. The former coal-mining center of the USA, Nelsonville is now 5,000 folks trying to hold on to the memories of brighter days. I grew up, never worrying about safety or issues that plague our country today. Joking about growing up with my head in a bag, I was oblivious to anything but playing baseball and chasing girls. Never adept at either activity, I still had a wonderful childhood. After one tumultuous semester at Ohio University and facing the draft, I enlisted in the U.S. Navy and began a 20-year career and love affair. By no means a military addict, I loved the work and the lifestyle of changing scenery every three or four years. Believe it or not, there is great security in a military career, if you live through it and most do. Two trips on the USS Enterprise to the coast of Viet Nam, where the guilt grew from knowing that boys from my hometown were dying in-country. It's something that you don't get over, but you do learn to live with. After the Navy and obtaining my Bachelor's degree, I was hired to manage various government IT contracts for the next 27 years. As an aside, during that time, I worked for the State of Virginia and five different IT companies. The last of the five companies just merged and retired the name, so technically all the companies that I have worked for no longer exist. I hope I didn't have much to do with their demise and take some consolation that the State of Virginia is still alive and kicking. Retiring in 2009, I then had lots of time to work on my family history which I had dabbled with since 1993. I kept finding information on my grandfather's half-brother Hiram, who was a 2nd LT in the First West Virginia Cavalry during the Civil War. So much information was available and it became more apparent with each new piece that this was a story that just needed to be shared. In 2015, at the suggestion and with the aid of my sisters, I put the story together, first in a spreadsheet, then into a Powerpoint presentation and finally into words. I had so much information and after putting it in linear order, I began to imagine how Hiram got from Point A to B to C, etc. Every opportunity to utilize facts and my imagination when needed and finally I had a story. For wanna-be authors, I first tried doing my own editing and self-publishing. If you are experienced, you might pull that off. I am a novice and I failed fairly miserably at attempts to do that. When I found Gina McKnight at Monday Creek Publishing and she accepted my book, the entire process turned around. It became a professional endeavor in every sense of the word. The final product is awesome and if you give it a read, you will agree that the two main characters (who are real people, by the way) were heroic and incredible young men in a very tumultuous time in American history. I am in the process of researching and writing a second story involving Hiram and his family. It will be about my grandfather and his siblings growing up in southeastern Ohio. It includes mystery, possible murder, and hard times in 19th century America.
Additionally, working on a short book about the many humorous incidents that I experienced during my 20 year Navy career. Each duty station, the "old salts" would always complain about this not being the Navy. I eventually came to the realization that in 20 years of trying, I never found it, thus the title "This is not the 'real' Navy!"
A young man from Chauncey, Ohio, is one of the first to answer the President’s call for volunteers to help defend the nation. As a “90-day wonder”, he evaluates his opportunities and makes the choice of cavalry over infantry. With his childhood friend, they depart on the trip of a lifetime. Based upon actual experiences, good and bad. A story filled with military and historical facts and appropriate assumptions to get them where they ended up. Heroes of a different sort, Hiram and Robert answered the call to duty and gave their best to help save the country. Experience their adventures and immediately realize their contributions. It is an engaging emotional story that leaves the reader wanting more.
Connect with Robinette!
Instagram @robinettecurtj
Monday Creek Publishing: Curt J. Robinette Facebook Album
Curt J. Robinette, Author Facebook Page
Riding & Writing Author Interview
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