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The Nature of War Itself
The Very Dead Of Winter follows three men who are engaged in a war over in Europe at the time of The Battle of the Bulge. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
When I started this series in 2019, I was hunting different game than you might expect. I not only wanted to present the war as a study of the moral, psychological and sensory pressures placed on men in combat, and to do so from both sides of the conflict, I wanted the settings to be unfamiliar to the reader; to cover ground that had seldom been seen in war fiction. The first novel in the series, Sinner’s Cross, was therefore set in the Huertgen Forest Campaign, which has gone down a sort of cultural memory hole because it was a bloody disaster and a not a glorious victory. In regards to Very Dead, I understand everyone knows about the Battle of the Bulge, but what people may not know is that the Bulge was actually a campaign, a whole series of battles, and that some of them have been ignored or deliberately forgotten by historians. My characters will be found in the places history has avoided.
What were some of the emotional and moral guidelines you followed when developing your characters?
I always insist that my characters have an internal struggle which they are attempting to resolve even as they are faced with constant external danger. I also insist that each character is sufficiently developed within my own mind that their behavior is consistent and rings true, even as they undergo personality changes due to the nature of war itself. Each character must have a personality and a moral code (or an absence of one) which makes him distinct and realistic.
What kind of research did you do for this novel to ensure you captured the essence of the story’s theme?
Among other things, which included interviewing WW2 vets when I was in college, I read innumerable firsthand accounts of the conflict, and found that while no two people react exactly the same way to war, there is a great deal of commonality in the experiences of men who have been in military service and seen extensive combat. Not only terror and loneliness but also boredom, discomfort, cynicism, frustration and disillusion are all common reactions to war, even from people we might otherwise consider dedicated and heroic. I tried to pick up on those themes and deploy them within each character’s psychology. It was very important to me to avoid both “Greatest Generation” hero-worship (of the Americans) and Hollywood stereotyping (of the Germans), but actually get at the real people behind those photographs in history books, their souls and beating hearts. Ultimately this is a chronicle of men and women, not icons, and I let that be my guiding star.
What is the next book in the Sinner’s Cross series that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am working my way through the third novel, South of Hell, right now, and I hope to release it late in 2023. I foresee this series as having as many as seven books, coming out about once a year from now on.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Website
The Very Dead of Winter
The Very Dead Of Winter by Miles Watson is a work of historical fiction revolving around the Battle of the Bulge and is set during World War II. This interesting story centers around the three main characters with intermingled storylines, Halleck, Breese, and Cramm.
In The Very Dead of Winter, Miles Watson explores the very concept of war. The author addresses how war affects the mind, morality, and the relationships of the soldiers involved, in addition to the cruelty and horror of the subject matter in which enemies actively murder each other in an effort to advance their personal cause.
Each of the main characters in this book is complex, and we see in his writing how Watson brings each to life in the pages. Though the characters are different war officers, Watson portrays them in such a way that they are convicted by their morality, each one striving to do the right thing.
Watson has written a book that is sobering but intriguing. If you are looking for a book with rich characters, an enticing story, and significant historical context, this book is for you. It will make you think, empathize, and put yourself in the shoes of those men and women in the military, specifically those in active combat. This book is well worth the read and will give readers a brand new perspective. I highly recommend it.
The Very Dead Of Winter is a complex and thought-provoking historical war fiction novel. This captivating book can unmask the stereotypical idea of what the average citizen thinks a soldier looks like. The author’s storytelling abilities allow readers to get to the heart of the matter in distinguishing the humanity and moral choices people in the armed forces make in their daily decisions.
Pages: 380 | ASIN : B0B35N4S4D
Universal Human Elements
Miles Watson Author Interview
Sinner’s Cross is a gritty look at WWII and the toll it took on a group of soldiers. What was the inspiration for the setup to this thrilling story?
When I was much younger, I read a book by Charles Whiting called The Battle of the Huertgen Forest. It read just like a novel, and provided a horrifying, unrelenting look at this massive battle which killed 26,000 men, which somehow I had never heard of. I gradually began to understand that the reason the Huertgen Forest Campaign was unknown to the American public was because it neither began nor ended well, and saw many lives lost for very little return. It seemed tragic to me that only men who died in “glorious” battles are remembered or honored the way they ought to be. I wanted to tell their story, but in a way that concentrated on the universal human elements.
Each of your characters were well developed. Who was your favorite character to write for?
All of them had their pleasures and their pains. The emotional arcs of Breese and Zenger were rather tough for me to write because they were suffering so much — Breese from fear, Zenger from doubt. Halleck was fun because he is so tough, but also so taciturn that all of his emotions are beneath the surface. Sinner’s Cross is a WW2 story, but Halleck is a classic Old West cowboy at heart. Anyone who says writing cowboys ain’t fun is lying to you.
I enjoyed how historically accurate this book is. What kind of research did you undertake to ensure the books authenticity?
I’m a history buff, have a degree in history, and possess an immense library of books on WW2, including a collection of material printed during the war by both America and Germany. Whenever I needed information, that was where I started.
However, I am of the opinion that if you want to read a genuine account of a battle, that’s what history books are for. Novels are there to put you inside the experience, and the best way to make situations real is to nail the small details — what type of tobacco the Germans smoked, what type of music the Americans listened to, what happens when a hundred pounds of high explosives hits a tree at supersonic speed. I am very proud to say that I’ve had veterans of the Army and Marines both, guys who fought in wars from Vietnam to Iraq, congratulate me on getting the atmosphere right.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I like to write in every genre, and right now I’m trying to finish an epic horror novel I’ve been toiling on for 2 1/2 years. I have several months of work ahead of me just to finish the first draft, so it’s anyone’s guess when it will see the light of day. However, the sequel to Sinner’s Cross is in the final drafting process as I write this, and I intend to release it in October of this year.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
![Sinner's Cross: A Novel of the Second World War by [Miles Watson]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51PsoM+cb2L.jpg)
In 1944, Sinner’s Cross was just a point on a map: a muddy track through shell-torn German woods. Worthless…except to the brass on both sides of the war, who are willing to sacrifice their best men to have it. Men like Halleck, a tough-as-nails Texan who traded driving cattle for driving soldiers; Breese, a phenomenal actor who can play any part but hero; and Zenger, the Nazi paratrooper who discovers Hitler’s Germany is a lousy place to grow a conscience. Their lives and deaths will intersect at the place called Sinner’s Cross.
Sinner’s Cross
![Sinner's Cross: A Novel of the Second World War by [Miles Watson]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51lwFiDLd2L.jpg)
Sinners Cross, by Miles Watson, is a deeply captivating historical fiction novel of the Second World War. This is an action packed story detailing the horrors of war and the people that must endure them.
This is not a watered down version of war, the battles are chaotic and gritty. I appreciated Mile Watson’s ability to place me in the field with the soldiers. The story focuses on a collection of well developed characters, each with their own issues not completely unique but well drawn and expertly unraveled before the reader. Having such well defined characters made me appreciate the terrible way in which war changes people.
The book is set in Germany during the Second World War and told from the point of view of soldier on the ground. We get to know what they fear, their motivation, how it feels to take the impact of a sniper bullet to the head only for it to be stopped by a M1 Helmet. How one would survive the cold in a fox hole knowing the chance of living to see the following day comes down to an unhealthy probability. To how your ears ring when you are accidentally within the range of an explosion. Sinner’s Cross is full of these types of details only soldiers can tell you.
The book begins with two characters, Duffy and Halleck, who have been fighting Germans for a while now. Each lost in their own thoughts, they engage in a sporadic and thinly worded conversation. Whenever Halleck’s drifts back to his thoughts, they give the reader a glimpse into the hopelessness of their predicament when he refers to their reinforcement as mere replacements. As a veteran I can appreciate the clarity with which the author paints the picture of war and how a soldiers mind might race.
This book was exceptional in it’s ability to make me question, not necessarily the motives of war, but the motives of those in charge of the battles in war. How human ineptness is either waned or magnified under such monstrously strenuous conditions.
I’m surprised Sinner’s Cross is a historical fiction novel. It’s full of historical details and military jargon that, I felt, were spot on, if not believable. This is an exceptional novel that is consistently entertaining, although dark it fits with the tone of what is a dark time in history. Any armchair historian will love this book.
Pages: 284 | ASIN: B07YS4T3TB
LITERARY TITAN 