A Word About One of My Favorite Childhood Writers

A comment about one of my favorite childhood writers from when in grew up in the USSR—Valentin Pikul.’ Massively popular in Russia, this historical military fiction author seems much less known in the West. While he was often criticized for liberally handling the facts and for sometimes unliterary language, I was always fascinated by his dramatic, tight POV descriptions of military action and passionate, driven, flawed, and troubled characters. I try to incorporate some of his approaches into my own prose.