About the Author: Paul Clayton

Paul Clayton photoThe war in Vietnam made me a writer. Over there I saw life at its strangest, its most beautiful, its most bestial. We were young and ignorant, and had never been out of our home states, let alone the country. We were naïve and a little drunk with the illusion of our invulnerability.

Most times the war raged far away—strange flickerings of light in the night sky, rumbling noises like thunder. Sometimes it grew so quiet that it seemed as if there was no war at all. We worked very hard, hiking our heavy packs all day up and down mountain trails until we almost passed out. And then it was time to dig in. The occasional dangers and the rigors of our life forged bonds between us as strong, perhaps, as those between mother and child, and probably for the same reasons. And when we least expected, the war would leap up before us like a beast, tearing at us with its blood-smeared stainless steel teeth and claws. Afterward, usually in the morning's light, we would see the broken, shredded mess it made of men.

It is the salt of the earth who fight and die in wars—young and inarticulate, faceless, the "masses," the communists call them. Like me, Carl Melcher has waited a long time to tell their story. Now, he finally has a voice. I hope you'll give him a listen.

— Paul Clayton [email]

Paul Clayton is the author of a three book Historical series based on the Spanish Conquest of the New World - Calling Crow, Flight of the Crow, and Calling Crow Nation. His last book, Carl Melcher Goes to Vietnam, was a finalist at the 2001 Frankfurt eBook awards in Germany. He lives in Sunny South San Francisco with his son and daughter. 

Other Works by Paul Clayton
Calling Crow (ISBN:1585865745, paperback, 288 pp., $19.95)
To his people, Calling Crow is a Cacique, or chief, but to the Spaniards who invaded his land, he is only a slave. In 1535, Spanish slavers arrive on the coast of the land that would later become known as Georgia and South Carolina. Calling Crow and many others are captured and taken to the Spanish island of Hispaniola. But Calling Crow refuses to submit to the humiliation of enslavement. After several unsuccessful escape attempts, he finally returns to the mainland. Guided by his dreams, he vows to return to his village and save his people.
Flight of the Crow (ISBN:1585865826, paperback, 244 pp., $15.95)
Calling Crow goes on a quest to find his love, stolen by a Spanish priest. Along the way he is captured, then adopted by the Coosa, a hostile tribe to the south. Badly wounded, he is dragged from deaths door by a proud, strong woman he grows to love. But, life is strange, and back to Florida come the hated Spanish, and with them, the woman Calling Crow lost so long ago. The Spanish settle in, building a fort. Later they receive word that the hated French heretics known as the Huguenots have settled somewhere to their north. Both groups begin to plan the slaughter of the other. Now Calling Crow must walk a fine line to protect the women he loves.
Calling Crow Nation (ISBN:1585865788. paperback, 268 pp., $19.95)
For as long as anyone could remember, the native Coosa people had lived free and proud on the fertile coastal lands. Now their enemies, the Timucua, armed with deadly thundersticks provided by Spanish slavers, begin to push into their lands. Calling Crow knows that the bows and clubs of the Coosa will not save them. On a reconnoitering mission, he and his men rescue a group of English merchants the Timucua had captured and were holding to turn over to the Spanish. Now Calling Crow must decide whether joining forces with the Englishmen can halt the Timucua onslaught without sacrificing the freedom of his people.