What is Tom Young reading?

The current featured contributor at Writers Read: Tom Young, author of The Renegades.

His entry begins:

From time to time I try to fill the gaps in my education by reading authors I neglected in younger days. Not long ago I pulled down from a library shelf a volume of Walt Whitman. I hadn't read Whitman since taking a college freshman course in American Literature.

Back then, I read--or skimmed, more likely--a few Whitman poems only because the syllabus required it. What possible relevance could this long-dead nineteenth century poet have to my life? His verses seemed mere relics, like rusting sabres from the Civil War. That long-ago conflict inspired much of his writing, and when I first read Whitman, his poetry did not speak to me. With apathy, I completed the assignment, and then I forgot about Whitman.

In the years that followed, I pursued a career in journalism. I got married. I took an interest in flying and joined the Air National Guard.

I went to war.

And the next time I opened a collection of Whitman poetry, his images lifted off the page with the vividness of tracer fire. If I hadn't known...[read on]

About The Renegades, from the publisher:

A catastrophic earthquake ravages Afghanistan, and American troops rush to deliver aid, among them Afghan Air Force adviser Lieutenant Colonel Michael Parson, and his interpreter, Sergeant Major Sophia Gold. The devastation facing them is like nothing they’ve ever seen, however—and it’s about to get worse.

A Taliban splinter group, Black Crescent, is conducting its own campaign—shooting medical workers, downing helicopters, slaughtering anyone who dares to accept aid. With the U.S. drawing down and coalition forces spread thin, it is up to Parson, Gold, and Parson’s Afghan aircrews to try to figure out how to strike back. But they’re short of supplies, men, experience, and information—and meanwhile the terrorists seem to be nowhere ... and everywhere.

Learn more about the book and author at Thomas W. Young's website and blog.

My Book, The Movie: The Mullah's Storm.

Writers Read: Thomas W. Young (August 2011).

Writers Read: Tom Young.

--Marshal Zeringue