They Called Him Marvin by Roger Stark

Publisher: Silver Star (September 21, 2021
Category: Historical Romance, WW2, Family Saga, Based on a True Story
Tour dates: April 25-June 24, 2022
ISBN: 978-0578855288
Available in Print and ebook, 320 pages

Description They Called Him Marvin by Roger Stark

They were just kids, barely not teenagers, madly in love and wanting to be a family, but WW2 and a B29 got in their way.

Three hundred ten days before Pearl Harbor, buck private Dean Sherman innocently went to church with a new friend in Salt Lake City. From that moment, the unsuspecting soldier travelled a remarkable, heroic path, falling in love, graduating from demanding training to become a B29 pilot, conceiving a son and entering the China, Burma and India theater of the WW2.

He chronicled his story with letters home to his bride Connie that he met on that fateful Sunday, blind to the fact that fifteen hundred seventy five days after their meeting, a Japanese swordsman would end his life.

His crew, a gaggle of Corporals that dubbed themselves the Corporealizes, four officers and a tech Sargent, adventured their way across the globe. Flying the “Aluminum Trail” also called the Hump through the Himalayas, site of the most dangerous flying in the world. Landing in China to refuel and then fly on to places like Manchuria, Rangoon or even the most southern parts of Japan to drop 500 pounders.

Each mission had its challenges, minus fifty degree weather in Mukden, or Japanese fighters firing away at them, a close encounter of the wrong kind, nearly missing a collision with another B29 while flying in clouds, seeing friends downed and lost because of “mechanicals,” the constant threat of running out of fuel and their greatest fear, engine fire.

Transferred to the Mariana Islands, he and his crew were shot down over Nagoya, Japan as part of Mission 174, captured and declared war criminals.

Connie’s letters reveal life for a brand new mother whose husband is declared MIA. The agony for both of them, he in a Japanese prison, declared a war criminal, and she just not knowing why his letters stopped coming.

Praise They Called Him Marvin by Roger Stark

“This was an amazing book. This isn’t a look at war through rose colored glasses, but one that shows the reader what life was like for people from many backgrounds. A soldier, his love left behind on the home front, and those that were considered the enemy at the time.
This was an intimate story that doesn’t focus only on the war, and pulls the reader in quickly and easily. Historical fiction lovers, those with an interest in war history, and anyone just looking to take a few steps back in time will greatly enjoy reading this.”- Liliyana Shadowlyn, The Faerie Review

“The fact that the premise for this book started with the story that Marvin told and then the letters from Dean and Connie shows how much research Roger Stark put into writing this book. I love how he revolves all of the events around the dates of the letters. The letters give the reader a reprieve from the atrocities of war and show the humanity of the soldiers fighting.
There are some parts of the war that are shared that are so vivid and so horrifying – both on the part of the Japanese and on the part of the Americans. It is so heart-wrenching to think that these young (barely) men were out in those situations.

My almost-93 year old grandpa, whose name is Marvin and who served in the Korean War, also read this book, and he really liked the story.
For anyone who likes to read books based on wars or just history in general, I definitely recommend this one. It is also a love story that unfolds and is eye-opening to horrors that were experienced.”-Heather, 2 Many Books, 2 Little Time

“Told in prose with diary-style sections of narration as well as central figure 1st Lt Dean Harold Sherman’s own personal correspondence, this is a beautiful tale of enduring romance and the heroism of those who fought and flew during the latter part of World War Two during the United States’ conflict with Japan. What results is a touching family saga that also foreshadows the great horrors and sacrifices of life in war.
Author Roger Stark has crafted an emotive work with plenty of historical richness, pathos, and heart to offer readers. One of the features which I found particularly impressive about this piece was the heartfelt presentation of the unshakeable bond between Dean and Connie, both through the curation of their own words to one another and the contextual gap-filling which Stark achieves with facts, but also emotionally sensitive additions and details.
Overall, I would highly recommend They Called Him Marvin to fans of accurate wartime accounts and for enthusiasts of World War Two reports.”- K.C. Finn, Readers’ Favorite

Interview with Roger Stark

TR: Please tell us something about ‘They Called Him Marvin’ that is not in the summary.  (About the book, character you particularly enjoyed writing etc.)

RS:  They Called Him Marvin came about because I went dinner at my friends house. There in a quiet conversation, Marv Sherman told me the tragic story of the father he never knew. He was carried away with emotion several times and admitted he did not really know that much because it was just too painful to research.

My heartfelt compassion led me to ask if I could research it for him, so that hw would at least know what transpired. It wasn’t long before I requested he lit me write the story. 

TR: How did you decide to write ‘They Called Him Marvin’ as historical fiction that is based on a true story rather than non-fiction?

RS: That decision was made to honor the main characters in the story. Their lives were real, their experiences real. I did not feel the need to embellish or fictionalize any parts of their story that I did not need to. I developed a feeling of closeness to Dean and Connie through the writing process, I was sure Dean was looking over my shoulder at times and definitely had ideas come into my head that could only have come from him.

TR: Where did you get the inspiration for your cover?

RS: I count the cover as a little miracle. I had seen the B29 picture on Pinterest and several other sites but the artist/owner of the image was never clear. One day I stumbled onto a chat room discussing how the image was created. The conversation was a number of years old, but I left a comment that I was looking to  get in contact with the owner. Within a few hours Kenneth Walker and I were in contact and he graciously gave permission to use the image. Finding Ken was a one in a million shot and I am grateful the universe put us together.

The image of Dean and Connie came from their early days of courting. 

Kathryn Campbell was the creative genius that put it all together. Kathy has some very unique talents and was a joy to work with.

TR: Since ‘They Called Him Marvin’ is mostly true, are all the character also based on real people or did you add some to round out the story? How did you develop them?

RS: Your asking about folks like Therill Hanson, “mailman extraordinare and distant cousin of some sort” and the Japanese family, the Kyoshi’s.

The Kyoshis were plucked from diaries of Japanese people written during the war experience. Rico was one of my favorite creations and I feel a connection to him that I do not understand or can explain. I know he is not a real person, but still I feel a human kinship with him.

Therill is a bringing together of many characters I have met in my life. Named for a friend of my youth his characteristics a menagerie of traits of acquaintances, and yes I do know a man that can whistle a duet!

Hyum Pak was a real character the played a role in the Yokohama War Crimes Trials, he was rather fully developed by his testimony in the trials. I felt an immediate connection with him as he tried to help his friends even though he would lament “I am only a private.”

TR: Which actor would you like to see playing Dean from ‘They Called Him Marvin’? Who would you like to see playing Connie?

RS:  For Connie, Mckenna Grace. Dean another Dean, Dean-Charles Chapman that starred in 1917.

TR: What are you currently working on?

RS:  My memoir about growing up in SW Washington, “Life on a Sorta Farm.”  I have about a hundred pages or so done. Progress these days is pretty slow, but I plan on getting back to it in the fall.

About Roger Stark

Roger Stark, by his own admission, is a reluctant writer. But there are stories that demand to be told. When we hear them, we must pick up our pen, lest we forget and the stories be lost. Six years ago, in a quiet conversation with his friend, Marvin, he learned the tragic story of his father, a WW2 B-29 Airplane Commander, shot down over Nagoya, Japan, just months before the end of the war.

The telling of the story that evening by this half orphan was so moving and full of emotion, it compelled Roger to ask if he could write the story. The result being “They Called Him Marvin.”

Roger Stark’s life has been profoundly touched in so many ways by being part of documenting this sacred story. He prays that we never forget, as a people, the depth of sacrifice that was made by ordinary people like Marvin and his father and mother on our behalf.

Website: https://theycalledhimmarvin.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TCHMarvin

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This giveaway is for 3 print copies, one for each of 3 winners. This giveaway is open to  the U.S. only and ends on June 24, 2022 midnight, pacific time.  Entries accepted via Rafflecopter only.

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