My Dad's book....

Greetings! Jonathon Jones (AKA Brent Taylor) here. As most of you probably know by now, I am the publisher and editor of my Dad’s (Stan Taylor) real-life story account of his time in the Vietnam War. The ebook, print book, and audiobook versions can be found on Amazon.com. Anyway, for those few out there who still can’t comprehend why the front of the book says Jonathon Jones instead of my Dad Stan Taylor or my real name of Brent Taylor, I wanted to explain why things were done the way they were done.
 When the book was first released, my father wasn’t ready to publicly come forward yet. He was okay with just being an anonymous soldier, the face of many. In addition, since I already had a few books published under my pen name we figured we’d just throw it in the mix. Besides, I was starting my life anew and he wanted me to have the funds to help me along.

Some naysayers out there have speculated that because my name (Or should I say pen name) was on the book, that I actually wrote it instead of my father. Let me make something clear. I did NOT write this. I just tidied it up a little. I am the editor which means that, yes, I did have to fix some grammar issues and even change some sentences around, but the entire story was his. In fact, it took him months to type it all out, which wasn’t always an easy task for him because so many decades had went by. When the memories did start flooding back to him, apparently not all of them had the best results. During certain parts my mom even told me that he broke down. Especially when he talked about the end results of Mother’s Day as the book progressed.

So, to summarize, yes, my father wrote the book and, yes, it is fully based on his life experiences before and during the Vietnam War. I thought we made that perfectly clear at the beginning of the book when I inserted “Published for my Father”, but perhaps I should have also inserted the words *and Edited* to make my role in the book’s creation a little clearer. Now that the book has been out a while and my dad’s okay with being known since he has talked to a few people about it since it first came out, I don’t know how easy it would be to re-do the title page to show his name as opposed to my pen name, and also change the search function on Amazon so it comes up under Stan Taylor as opposed to Jonathon Jones. So for now we’re just going to leave it until I can figure out if it’s even possible to make those changes.

Anyway, the origin of how the book got rolling is an interesting one. When he first handed it to me back in 2012, I pretty much rolled my eyes and dreaded reading it. After all, what does a tree-hugging pacifist who mainly writes books on antiques, vintage toys, dating guides, and an occasional short sci-fi story know anything or care anything about war? Luckily, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and started to read it. I figured at least I might get a little insight on what his early life was actually like. Although my Dad was always a great talker, he didn’t really talk about his life back then. I would get an occasional tidbit about his early childhood and what my Step-Grandpa Bill was like when my Dad was younger, but I never really heard anything about his time in Vietnam. It was like he managed to keep those memories locked up so tight that not even he could recall them on purpose. I mean, I saw his pictures, captions near those pictures, some letters, medals, and other paperwork in the past, but that was all that I knew about.

When those hidden memories of his did finally creep back into his head and made their way on paper, I have to admit that I was taken back. I suppose it’s true when they say that sometimes there’s much more to a person than meets the eye. All of my life I had known my Dad as the hard worker, the funny man, and as he was in my younger days…the guy who seemed to envelop himself in tons of past-time hobbies. Drinking, bowling, softball, you name it. My Dad always tried to keep his mind constantly occupied with things, but it wasn’t until I read his life story that I figured out *why* he probably did all of that. It was to mentally escape what he went through by always filling his mind with other things.

It wasn’t until 2012 that the flood gates opened. When his memories came rushing back, they made their way into his head full throttle. I’m sure it was painful to remember and to write about, but at the same time by doing so I think he learned quite a bit. In my opinion his flashbacks made him re-learn about the value of strong friendships, integrity, the differences between bravery and young recklessness, about loss, and most of all about family, whether his own or the ones he made out on the battlefield so long ago.

When I read his story, I was amazed at the kind of life he had once lived and had kept hidden from his family and friends. I think, finally, by letting it all out and meeting others like himself who went through the same kinds of ordeals…he has more closure than he ever has before. In my opinion, that’s all that anyone could ever ask for. So I want to thank you for reading his story, and equally thank him for allowing me to publish it.

Brent Taylor
(AKA Jonathon Jones)

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#vietnamveterans