That Such Men Lived follows a young German Jew who finds himself thrust into the chaos of WWII, dealing with grief and loss, and coping with anger and his own fears. Why was this an important book for you to write? 

Both of my grandfathers served in World War II. As a sixteen-year Air Force veteran myself, I wanted to highlight the kinds of sacrifices that the men of this era went through. Given the prevalence of stories from this time in American history, I chose to focus on lesser-known aspects of larger campaigns, and I tried to bring the stories of mostly unknown soldiers to the forefront. It was Bruce Henderson’s book, Sons and Soldiers, that led to my focus on a protagonist like Johannes.

Can you share with us a little about the research process that went into putting this book together?

After deciding to write a book about World War II, I read as much as I could about the subject. I read books like The Iron Sea, by Simon Read, The Rifle, by Andrew Biggio, and The Last Battle by Stephen Harding. However, it wasn’t until I read Sons and Soldiers that I knew I had my story. After that, it was a matter of narrowing down the focus, and for that, a big help (probably the biggest help) was Four Stars of Valor by Phil Nordyke. I wanted to get the details right and highlight the stories of real men. In my historical notes within the book, I provide more details, but I’ve tried to ensure that the stories of real soldiers are included in That Such Men Lived.

How were you able to capture Johannes Schmitt’s thoughts and emotions?

I’ve been writing for a long time, and often as you write a character, they kind of begin to tell you their thoughts and emotions. Johannes was probably the most difficult for me to understand. His story went through a dozen different iterations before I developed enough of a relationship with him to understand his motivations. Despite the book being about 90K words, I probably wrote close to 200K before I finished. Spending that kind of time with someone (even someone fictional) helps you gain insight into their mind.

Can we look forward to seeing more work from you soon? What are you currently working on? 

That Such Men Lived was something of a departure from my normal writing, which focuses more on Medieval and Ancient history. I’m currently working on the fourth book for my series, The Crusader Chronicles, which follows the story of a thief-turned-knight during the First Crusade. I don’t yet have a working title, but I’m hoping to finish that up by the end of the year, with a potential early spring release.

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