Guest Post and Giveaway: P.O.W. by Max Vos

We’re so pleased to welcome author Max Vos to TNA today, on the tour for his newly re-released P.O.W. Max is sharing a bit about how this book came to be, and is also offering a great giveaway, so be sure to check out the Rafflecopter widget below for details.

Welcome, Max!

Hello, y’all! Thank you, Lisa, and everyone at The Novel Approach for letting me have a little space here to promote my book P.O.W., which is a re-release. I have to give kudos to A.J. Corza, the genius behind the new cover. I personally think it is one of the best covers I’ve ever seen. If there was an award for cover artists, she definitely should be a front runner.

I thought I would write about how this book came about. I was still living in Atlanta at the time and not very far from the Veterans Hospital. Seeing so many men on the streets, homeless, waiting for medical attention broke my heart. But, it was a report from Anderson Cooper during the spring uprising in the Middle East that caught my attention.

He briefly mentioned the Afghan/Iraqi war and how rape was often used as torture. I was dumbfounded. Surely, this can’t be. After some digging, and I had to dig pretty deep, I found that it was something that was common. Although it goes against Muslim law to be a practicing homosexual, it was perfectly alright, by the extreme radials at any rate, to use any means possible to humiliate and denigrate the infidels. Not only was it permissible, it was and is encouraged. I even read an article from an Iman, who discussed that it was okay for a man to practice anal sex so that he would be comfortable when taking a bomb up his ass.

I have to admit, while I was writing this book and doing the research, I was terrified that the NSA, FBI or CIA was going to come crashing through the door at any minute. I even had a nightmare about it. My search history looked like I was a terrorist planning to do a mass rape. Not only did I have nightmares about being hauled off to jail but the content was enough to mess with anyone’s head. It was very hard to write.

This book is not an easy read. There is no fluff here. It is hard, gritty and not for everyone. Yes, it contains scenes of extreme torture and rape. I tried to write this as true as I possibly could. I did a lot of research for this book and found it so disturbing. I tried to ‘lighten it up’ when I first started and it just didn’t work. I had to go and bluntly tell it the way it really was. Even then, I did tone it down a bit, which I know some might find hard to believe.

However, there is a lot of love in this book and I think a terrific love story, so it isn’t all horror and mayhem. There is male bonding and love between friends and love between enemies. There is a lot of care and emotion given and taken.

If you are looking for something that is fast paced, hard and gritty, then I hope you’ll give P.O.W. a try.

About the Book

Title: P.O.W. (2^nd Edition)
Author: Max Vos
Publisher: Max Vos, Inc
Release Date: January 20, 2017
Length: 125 Pages
Blurb: After being taken prisoner by a Taliban Warlord, can Sam Stone hold on long enough to get his best friend back to his family and find love in the arms of Abbas, the handsome, blue-eyed Arab?

Sam has secretly been in love with is best friend and fellow Marine, Benoit, for quite some time and would not hesitate to die for him.

The macho Marine, Benoit, is shaken to his very core when he and his best friend are taken prisoners and made to do things that he would never have done, especially with Sam, who he knew had feelings for him.

Abbas tries everything to gain his families freedom when an unexpected man comes into his life that he starts having deep feelings for almost immediately.

Sam Stone has been secretly in love with his best friend and fellow Marine, Benoit, for a long time. It’s only after they were captured by a Taliban Warlord that he realizes that he would readily give his life to get Benoit back to his family. But it is Abbas, the Westernized Arab who steals his heart and helps Sam and Benoit regain their freedom. Now Sam has to learn to find true love and help heal not only himself, but the two men he loves deeply.

Warning: This book contains material that may be offensive to some: graphic language, military situations, P.O.W scenes, adult situations and other situations only meant for an adult audience.

Buy Links: Amazon || iBooks || Smashwords || Kobo || Barnes and Noble

Excerpt

“Mayday, Mayday, Black Hammer is hit; I repeat: Mayday, Black Hammer is hit. We’re going down.” Bucky’s voice may have seemed calm to an outsider, but those who knew him understood he was anything but calm. “Mayday, Mayday. Black Hammer’s current location: thirty-three Lat by seventy Long. Repeat. Mayday, Mayday.” Bucky choked out as the cabin of the helicopter quickly filled with smoke.

Samuel J. Stone looked at the other five members of his team. “Fuck,” he mumbled, wondering if perhaps they weren’t going to make it out of this one. He yelled at his best friend Benoit. “After all the fucked-up shit we’ve been through, I’m not gonna fucking die splattered on the side of some mountain in this hellhole.”

“Vasquez, get that damn door open,” Stone yelled across the cabin to the other Marine.

“Gettin’ it, Stone,” Vasquez answered his lieutenant.

Stone opened the opposite door, letting some of the thick smoke billow out of the burning helicopter. He and his fellow Marine, Benoit, looked out the open door. They could tell they were going down fast.

“We’re still too high to jump,” Stone yelled at the others trapped in the flaming bird.

“If there was anywhere to fucking jump to,” Benoit yelled back.

Even with both side doors open, the cold winter wind whipping through the cabin, the acrid black smoke continued to surge in, making their eyes burn, their chests constrict with the lack of breathable air. There was a bitter taste in Stone’s mouth from inhaling the foulness of burning rubber and jet fuel.

Using hand signals to keep from yelling to be heard, Stone motioned for Vasquez and the two others to use the door they had just opened to escape through, while he and Benoit and the new kid, Saundersen, would use the one opposite.

The high-pitched scream of the rotor motor was loud enough to pierce the ear-protection headphones, making it nearly impossible to speak. Each man could barely hear Bucky still calling out a Mayday over the radio, through the headsets.

About the Author

Max Vos is a classically trained chef with over 30 years of food service experience. After retiring in 2011, Max found himself with time on his hands and was urged to turn his talents to writing. ‘Cooking English’, a short story, now part of his anthology collection, Inappropriate Roads, is now available. My Hero was his first novel, which turned into an international best seller. Max now has a total of six completed novels, which are listed on his website, along with the entire Memories Series. My Hero: The Olympian, the sequel to My Hero was released late last year.

Social Links: Website || Tumblr || Blog || Twitter || Instagram

The Giveaway

Grand prize: $20 Dollar Amazon GC and a Ecopy of P.O.W. by Max Vos

Second prize: The Complete Memories Series ( 5 ebooks) by Max Vos

Third prize: Two Backlist Titles by Max Vos

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