John M. Vermillion
22 Apr 22: "Big Stone Gap & Beyond" went on sale 15 March 22. It has sold well. Thanks to all who have wanted to learn more about the Coalfield and the people who built it.
23 Sep 21: "Awful Reckoning" is about to be published. A kidnapping initiates the action, but you can bet this is like no abduction story you've ever read.
29 Mar 21: "Rockledge" is available now. It's a crime thriller that examines the effects of a crooked, autocratic group of elites (politicians and contractors) on people who have been abused for many decades. This is the opener of a planned Cade Chase series. It is a crime thriller set in the fictional Rockledge, an impoverished town in the center of Appalachia, more precisely in extreme southwest Virginia.
The main character, Cade Chase, recently retired from the military. He has given insufficient thought to life afterward. He accedes to the urgings of a longtime friend and former JAG officer, to come to the town of Rockledge. He leaves Florida and heads to Rockledge uncertain that this move is wise.
On his first morning in Rockledge he runs across a hillbilly octogenarian named Dale Carter, who tells him finding a place to live will be tough. So Carter invites him to have a look at a home, one of three, he owns on a mountainside "out in the valley." The home he shows Cade is one of the grandest Cade has ever seen. Carter tells Cade the house is his if he wants it. Seems joining the military was the defining event of Dale's life. Without the military's 'gifts' he wouldn't have amassed the wealth he possesses. But he stipulates one condition: help protect him and his wife against what appears to be a dangerous crew of squatters camping in the woods on or near his proprerty.
Cade is instantly fond of Dale, and agrees to help him. This agreement sets the story in motion. There's plenty of action from that point onward.
Yes, it's a thrilling story involving crime, but more important, it's a story of the evils of autocratic behavior by political elites. Cade is determined to bring the evildoers down. He quickly learns that extreme southwest Virginia has been a whipping boy for sixty years or more. Cade and a cadre of like-minded people strive to end the trampling of this region of the state.
I graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point and retired from the US Army as an Infantry Colonel. After active duty I worked overseas (Germany, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Croatia, Bosnia, and Iraq) in a variety of military-like positions. I completed numerous military programs, including the Airborne and Ranger programs, and also graduated from the School of Advanced Military Studies and the National War College. I served in combat, and have earned three Masters' Degrees.
I love all things outdoors, and have a special connection to Montana, to which I make an annual pilgrimage. More generally, I love the Mountain West. Even more generally, I love our nation, each region of which holds its individual charms and spectactular vistas.
In assessing fiction, I ask the three fundamental questions: (1) what did the author say? (2) how well did he say it?, and (3) was it worth saying to begin with? In my opinion, too many novelists pay too little attention to the last question. With that in mind, I try to write only about matters I believe ought to be relevant and important to people, American citizens principally.
I love rural settings, so if you're looking for a novel set in New York City or LA, look elsewhere. With respect to characters, I want humble men and women who stress themselves physically and intellectually, people striving to be lifetime learners, people uncomfortable with too much comfort and relaxation, and people whose examples will strengthen the character of their followers.
