Shadow of a Soldier: Army Tales From an Unpublished Diary & Other Orphan Stories

While serving as a husky young MP in Europe, noted sci-fi author Bill Burkett kept a diary of his misadventures, encounters, romances, and sightseeing. Later, he turned these scribblings into what he calls Brautigans, so named after a writer named Richard Brautigan whose short story style he admired. Many of these stories never made it into collections of Burkett’s work, so he refers to them as “orphans,” unclaimed writing that have been pulled together under the general theme of soldiering. But in addition to stories of Burkett’s military days you will also be treated to adventures in the Bahamas and the American northwest. “A real treat,” says anthologist Hollis George, who worked with Burkett in their early newspapering days.

William R. Burkett, Jr. published his first novel at 18. His first job was as a copy boy for the Florida Times-Union and Jacksonville Journal, but that soon gave way to a position as feature writer. After a tour of duty as an MP in Germany, he resumed his journalistic career. Working in both the States and the Bahamas, he pursued a particular muse - duck hunting. That led to writing for hunting magazines and doing PR for the Washington State Highway Patrol and settlement in the Pacific Northwest where the ducks were plentiful and the fishing was good.