Title: Lines in the Sand: An American Soldier’s Personal Journey in Iraq
Author: F. Scott Service
Genre: Nonfiction/Memoir/Military/Personal Growth/Spiritual
Book Blurb:
For F. Scott Service, a five-minute phone call one peaceful morning was all it took. Faced with the terrible dichotomy of his moral opposition to war and an innate sense of duty, little did he realize that when he was called for deployment in Iraq that his would be the journey of a lifetime.
A tour of duty destined to change him forever.
Witnessing the violence of a country ravaged by chaos and facing the disintegration of his life back home, his sojourn in Iraq forced him to fight a new battle, a battle within himself. What had once been a noble intention became a desperate struggle to salvage what was left of his humanity, an excursion into the darkest recesses of the human mind that ultimately led him to question everything he had come to believe.
Pushed to the edge, only then would he discover what lay within.
Author F. Scott Service recounts his wartime experience within an artfully lyrical epistolary composition. Transcribed from his handwritten journals, Lines in the Sand is a powerful exercise in self-exploration amid heart-wrenching loss and anguish.
Excerpt:
Last night was silent, eerie—the quietest night I can remember in a long, long time. There were no explosions or gunfire—not even helicopters. The tranquility of Kuwait took me by surprise. I’m not used to being able to rest easily with no worry of being killed. It felt odd, out of joint with life as I know it now, and much to my surprise I found myself missing Camp Anaconda. The constant threat of death has sunk into my soul and is a part of me now.
Now that I am able to rest more easily, I’m finding that I can’t. I’m constantly on edge, always expecting the next explosion or siren, the sounds of war echoing in my head day in and day out. I don’t know what I can do about it. When I lie down at night or even while I’m having a cigarette, my hands are clenched—my whole body is tensed. Relaxing takes a conscious effort now, and most times I can’t even when I try. Two minutes after unclenching my hands they are clenched again without me even realizing.
It feels normal to be afraid now.
I’m so used to it that this peaceful place feels foreign and ominous now simply because my fear no longer has a basis in reality. I can’t wrap my head around that one but it’s true nonetheless.
At least when the bombs were falling being afraid made sense.
Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):
What’s the first binge-worthy book you read and why was it a must-read?
Tom o’Vietnam by Baron Wormser. I simply couldn’t put it down because I felt as if the author was completely in my mind, speaking my voice, the voice of a veteran. I heard myself, felt myself in those pages. It’s an amazing piece of fiction from someone who never served in the military.
What makes your featured book a binge-worthy read?
I think, I hope, that it’s binge-worthy because it will shed some authentic light into an experience that was life changing for me. I hope it provides some enlightenment as to why war is wrong and the devastating consequences it can have. I hope it moves people’s hearts and shows them a broader perspective of the world around us.
Giveaway –
One lucky reader will win a $75 Amazon gift card
Open internationally.
Runs August 1 – 31, 2023.
Drawing will be held on September 1, 2023.
Author Biography:
A former sergeant with the Army National Guard, Scott is an award-winning, full-time author. His first memoir, Lines in the Sand: An American Soldier’s Personal Journey in Iraq, is a transcription of the handwritten journals he kept during his tour of duty and details not only the turmoil of war, his divorce, but how he became a conscientious objector. It won a Bronze medal in the 2022 Wishing Book Awards for Adult Nonfiction. It also has been awarded a Readers’ Favorite Five-Star rating and a Pacific Book Review Star for a Memoir of Excellent Merit.
His second, Playing Soldier, takes on a broader scope capturing his lifelong journey of unlearning expectation, celebrating individuality, and nourishing self-acceptance once buried by cultural stamps of approval and societal convention. It has won the 2021 IndieReader Discovery Award for Memoir. It was also awarded Finalist in the 2021 National Indie Excellence Awards for New Nonfiction, the Book Excellence Awards for Memoir, the Wishing Shelf Book Awards for Best Cover Design and Adult Nonfiction, the Independent Author Network (IAN) Book Awards for Autobiography/Biography, the N.N. Light Book Awards for Memoir, and won the Honorable Mention Award in the 2021 Readers' Favorite Book Awards.
Having earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Professional/Technical Communication and a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing, he has also had experience with editing, journalism, and desktop publishing.
He lives in New England and you may connect with him at: www.fscottservice.com
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