Ken Sympson is not only our Sea Horse Editor but he is an accomplished author in his own right.

  His book is soul searching, heart opening, healing, enlightening and humorous all at the same time.

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As many of you know, my book, Images from the Otherland, Memoir of a United Status Marine Corps Artillery Officer in Vietnam, was originally published in 1995 by McFarland and Company.  The second edition of the book (same title) is now available from iUniverse.com, an internet-based publisher.

The new edition contains some corrections, additional photographs and text.  To give you an idea as to what it is about, here's some of the text from the jacket of the hard cover version:

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Images from the Otherland is a Vietnam War memoir that includes stories and photographs depicting the author's experiences as an artillery forward observer (India Battery, 3d Battalion 11th Marines) supporting companies of the 7th Marines, and as an artillery liaison officer (Golf Battery, 3d Battalion, 12th Marines) for the 2d Battalion, 4th Marines, the "Magnificent Bastards." From Qui Nhon to Chu Lai, Da Nang and Hue; from Operations Starlite, Double Eagle, Texas and others, the author describes the images of combat that in one Operation had him directing over 2,500 rounds of artillery fire nearly on top of Echo Company to drive back the Viet Cong who had trapped the Marines at the edge of a heavily fortified village.

"Two decades later, the memories of combat began to emerge and threatened to overcome him.  Dealing with these images brought him to a deeper respect for, and devotion to, the men with whom he served and a painful realization of the lingering guilt that can haunt a combat veteran.

"Images from the Otherland traces the origins of Sympson’s feelings of guilt from his Catholic upbringing through some of the bloodiest battles of the early Vietnam War.  Then, in an emotional effort to cultivate support for the veterans of Desert Storm, he suddenly discovers that he is actually imploring the community to understand him and his fellow veterans of Vietnam.  In the end he realizes he will never fully comprehend his feelings about the war, but that he cannot and should not forget those memories - that he must honor them and the brave Marines and Navy Corpsmen with whom he served."

If you are interested, the book is available in paperback and hard cover from the publisher (iUniverse) at:

Link to order the paperback is http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-25969-3

Link for the hard cover version is http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/book_detail.asp?isbn=0-595-65475-4

If you already have a copy, or are not interested in the book, I would still like to invite you to take a look at my web at http://home.rochester.rr.com/kensympson/.  There's some information on the book there (the foreword written by General P.X. Kelley, the 28th Commandant of the Marine Corps, the preface, and the dedication), as well as a "photo gallery."  The photo gallery parallels the book in many ways, and shows the path I took into, through, and out of the Vietnam War.  Some of it is amusing; some may bring back memories.