Just received a wonderful review of my third and final novel in my Red White & Blues trilogy from acclaimed author and poet (and Vietnam veteran) Bill McCloud for the Vietnam Veterans of America’s Books in Review. I am honored and humbled by his words not only about Book Three but my entire series (he also reviewed Book Two) as well as my writing ability, especially my character development. The full review is below:
It was a pleasure to discover that L.V. Sage had completed her massive 2,000-page trilogy of fictional American social history as seen through the eyes of the members of a California motorcycle club. Red, White & Blues, Book Three (685 pp. $20.97, paperback; $2.99, Kindle) picks up the story in 1995 and carries it to the changing of the century.
This series has been looked upon favorably by The VVA Veteran, since 2013 when the late David Willson referred to Book One as “a giant accomplishment.” I then had the privilege of enthusiastically reviewing Book Two in 2020. I’m happy to report that the new book shows no drop-off.
Book One began in 1965, spending a great deal of time on the war in Vietnam and its effect on the nation as well as on some of the bikers’ families. Book Three begins in 1995. Stresses within the Souls of Liberty motorcycle club are threatening to divide the membership while bikers deal with their own family issues.
If this wasn’t enough, the late 1990s included societal challenges such as the new Internet, no-smoking laws in bars, the O.J. Simpson trial, Bill Clinton’s impeachment, and the hate-crime death of college student Matthew Shepard in Wyoming.
The older club members favor reducing relations with a drug-selling Mexican gang that it’s providing protection for. Younger members want to continue the relationship because of the large amount of cash it brings to the club. Meanwhile, they engage in efforts to improve the club’s image. The Souls of Liberty has a friendly relationship with a rival club, the Foxtrot Yankees. Both have members who are Vietnam War veterans. In fact, Sage describes the leader of the Foxtrot Yankees as still carrying “much shame and guilt from his experiences in Vietnam.”
While there are, appropriately, fewer mentions of the Vietnam War in this book, the war and its legacy are constantly beneath the surface. When a young man whose father was killed in Vietnam receives permission to attend a reunion of his father’s buddies, for example, his mom tells him, “I hated that damn war. I hated that your Dad went. He didn’t belong there.”
Another young man, during an argument with his father, says, “Dad, you’ve never wanted to put yourself out on the line for someone else.” His dad responds: “What the fuck do you think I did in Vietnam, son?” Later, a woman says that her husband, after returning from Vietnam, experienced periods when it was difficult to perform sexually because of the “emotional distress” he experienced after coming home.
What L.V. Sage does so well, in the company of very few other writers, is present a fictional world with a huge number of distinctive characters, keeping each one identifiably separate and making each one someone of interest.
I stand in awe of her ability to do this.
lvsage 