99 cent sale, 3 books including EATEN BY THE JAPANESE--3 days or less (see last)

[Richardcrasta]

EATEN BY THE JAPANESE, a father-son literary collaboration that is a story in itself, can be read by anyone, young and old--the section that is my father's story is in simple, universally understandable language--the language of hunger, thirst, justice, friendship, honor, and betrayal. It was described by Roger Mansell, WW II historian in Tameme Magazine as "a classic in military history, telling the story of men trapped in a world of torture, starvation, and death"

I am now pleased to present, on my father's 101st birth anniversary (he died in 1999, 2 years after I published the book), the e-book for the first time: EATEN BY THE JAPANESE: THE MEMOIR OF AN UNKNOWN INDIAN PRISONER OF WAR is two stories.

One is of a simple Indian soldier from a village near Mangalore, one who, according to his brother Louis, "never got into a fight with anybody"--finding himself in the most brutal war in history, World War II, and being taken prisoner by a fellow Asian army--the Japanese Army, which treats thousands of Indian prisoners with a  brutality that results in higher mortality rates for them than for POWs of the Nazis. And then, after a miraculous survival, comes home to write his story, which is forgotten, perhaps scorned by his feudal superiors.

The second story is of a son discovering his father's story even as his father is 86 years old, and feeble enough as to leave the world at anytime--and being so moved by it as to be compelled to publish it and to give it to the world.  It is a story about fathers and sons, part of the universal story that will never end, and will never cease to have fascination (incidentally, there is a strong father-son theme in my novel, "The Revised Kama Sutra"--the final scene of the novel, before the Epilogue, combines reconciliation with acceptance).



Just over 3 weeks from publication, it has done quite well, particularly in the UK. "Ranks with the best."--Mark Ledbetter, 5-star review.

This is the story that has not been told by Hollywood movies or by major Western history books--that Indians played such a huge role in World War II, and that thousands of them died or barely survived Japanese Prisoner of War camps.

Also at:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004UBFXFC
http://amzn.to/eWVexV
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/50202
http://itunes.apple.com/uk/book/eaten-by-japanese-the-memoir/id436268256?mt=11
http://itunes.apple.com/au/book/eaten-by-japanese-the-memoir/id436268256?mt=11
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/eaten-by-japanese-the-memoir/id436268256?mt=11

Kobo: http://www.kobobooks.com/ebook/Eaten-Japanese-The-Memoir-Unknown/book-8d9tpSQrLkeW7cjIqoEatg/page1.html

[Ann in Arlington]

Congratulations on your book, Richard! 

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[Richardcrasta]

To my surprise, this book is doing better than my other books, at least for this month. It went up to #9 in the "Prisoner of War" section in the UK last week, but is now down at #17

People who love war history are pretty passionate about it, I notice. But this is a father-son story in addition to the view of a simple soldier caught in a war--and therefore, it could reach a wider audience, I hope.

I looked at the prices for other books of this genre, and raised mine a bit to 3.99 to be nearer the standard. But if you catch it right away before the change goes into effect, it might still be 2.99.

[Richardcrasta]

This book was my bestselling title in April, and can be read by children as well as grandparents (might make a Mother's Day gift--my father dedicated this book to his mother, whom he worshipped), and has a 5-star review.

[Richardcrasta]

hi,

this is a father-son collaboration, how an old soldier's son rescues his secret POW story in his father's old age and publishes it just 2 years before his death.

Great 5-star reviewed memoir, touching father-son essays, a mere 2.99--a gift for anytime, including Fathers Day

[Richardcrasta]

Hi all,

Hope you try it, a very unusual story.

Richard

[Richardcrasta]

So Fathers Day approaches, and here is a book that may touch your/your father's heart.

[Tara Maya]

This book looks really amazing. I've bought it, though I will probably not be able to read it right away. This is an aspect of WWII I never knew anything about before.

[Richardcrasta]

This book looks really amazing. I've bought it, though I will probably not be able to read it right away. This is an aspect of WWII I never knew anything about before.

Hi Tara,

thanks a million. The sweetest words I have heard today--well, the second sweetest, but pretty close.

How we slave for small words of appreciation like these. (And a bit of rice and gruel to go along with it!)

Thanks again.
Richard

[Richardcrasta]

Can't believe I forgot to "bump" up this book for nearly 2 months!

This is a book for all ages--and a gift for anyone. If you try it and were not satisfied, please write me and I will send you a coupon for a free book of the same value or under on Smashwords.

[Richardcrasta]

Bumping again. A story that needs to be told. Now $2.99 at Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/50202 and will be reduced to $2.99 at Amazon a few hours from now.

[Richardcrasta]

Still $2.99. Somehow, watching the 9/11 remembrance made me think of what my father went through in his war.

[Richardcrasta]

Simple story, and yet touching complex human emotions-questions about loyalty:
History, Opinion, Interpretation, Political Correctness, War Crimes & Punishment, Fathers and Sons, the British, Indians, Japanese, post-war politics, the Indian National Army, Australians, Americans

Given the multiplicity of issues and actors, opinions and interpretations are bound to vary, and even to change over time. When I published the e-book edition, the Japanese were receiving worldwide sympathy because of a tsunami and earthquake, and that softened my earlier stand. But the core of this book is my father's story, and the history of the POWs who were his colleagues--and I ask only that his story be accepted and read for what it is, regardless of whether you disagree with the opinions and interpretations of the different actors, including any reviewers. That was my chief purpose: to tell my father's story. But I would also welcome your opinions and a democratic debate on the other issues, such as war crimes, the issue of apologies, and even the differing national perspectives. I accept debate and variety of opinion without endorsing any particular opinion. I also request those who have read the book to leave honest and if possible generous reviews!

[Richardcrasta]

The book is still here, and looking for some love!

[Richardcrasta]

Bumpity bump. It's 2.99 now, it's lowest price ever.

[Richardcrasta]

But it's free at Smashwords & Apple Itunes. Your choice: pay or not pay, but I am happy for the honor to my father that someone is reading his story--a story many have praised.

So here are the links:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004UBFXFC
http://amzn.to/eWVexV
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/50202
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/eaten-by-japanese-the-memoir/id436268256?mt=11

[Richardcrasta]

Still free on Smashwords and Apple Itunes (Amazon has not yet made it free), so it's your choice to pay or not to pay. I would be happy either way--I'm so poor right now that a few dollars here and there are going to make no difference.

Also, feel free to try any of my other books. For the next 3 days, anyone buying any book on Smashwords gets a book of equal value free when they PM me with the details.

thanks
richard

[Richardcrasta]

Hi,

And anyone buying any book of mine on Kindle or Nook or Smashwords in the next 3 days gets a book of equal value free on Smashwords (send details)

thanks, and wish you all a very happy X'mas!
Richard

[Richardcrasta]

An easy read, moving story.

[Richardcrasta]

Excerpt:

Major Fujiwara spoke to us in Japanese (his speech translated into English by Lt. Kunizuku) at length as to how the mighty British forces in Malaya and the invincible fortress of Singapore had been destroyed in such a short time. He added that they were fighting the common Anglo-Saxon enemy of the Asiatics, and that theirs was a noble cause. The Whites, who mercilessly exploited the Asiatics, must be driven out of the entire continent. This sacred war championed by Nippon was not for selfish reasons, but for the sake of all Asians. The Emperor had commanded that all Indians be treated like their brothers, and he hoped that Indians would themselves try to throw off the yoke of slavery. He would now hand us over to the command of our officers, and had released Captain Mohan Singh for that purpose. We must carry out the latter’s orders as if they came from the Japanese themselves.

[Richardcrasta]

Imagine your 87-year-old father, 2 years from death, his faculties greatly diminished, suddenly realizing that he is an author, that his 51-year-old manuscript has been published!



EXCERPT from new first chapter:

Invisible Beginnings: A Short Early History of John Baptist Crasta
[Adapted from a Speech given by Richard Crasta, the minor co-author, editor, and publisher, on the occasion of the launch of the first edition of this book on December 30, 1997, simultaneously with his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary.]

But we mustn’t go too far back, must we, we mustn’t go too far back  in anybody’s life. Particularly when they’re poor.—Martin Amis, London Fields.

But I must, Martin, I must. I must go back to “the terrible smells, the terrible jolts” [Amis again], especially because my father was what some of his relatives might have called poor. And because he was my father, and because the story of his pain, his relative hardships, and his survival is all the more heroic to me precisely because of the terrible smells some writers would like to shrink from. And also because his old age prevents him from speaking for himself.
Besides, the account that follows is the gripping, sad, and yet life-affirming tale of a simple soldier caught in the middle of a war he was probably unsuited for, did not want, and sometimes failed to understand. And it is somewhat short on biographical or atmospheric details which might enhance our understanding of its protagonist, his background, and his point of view. Let that be my opportunity, though I make no apologies or disguises for my utter subjectivity.
John Baptist Crasta (Prabhu was the ancestral family name, which he did not use), whose son I claim to be in more ways than one, was born on 31 March 1910, in Kinnigoli, India—a remarkable achievement, because nothing has, does, or ever will happen in Kinnigoli. Luckily for it, the village has a road connecting it to the larger port-town of Mangalore, in the monsoon-drenched Southwestern pocket of India where little of earth-shaking importance has happened since the beginning of time, and where, during the first half of the 20th Century, tigers still roamed the surrounding villages and occasionally strayed into town, snacking on domestic animals and people, once biting off the fingers of a man preoccupied with answering the call of nature in the Great Outdoors at night. 
My father was the firstborn of eight children, the others being Lucy, Antony, Aloysius or Louis, Ignatius, Bonaventure or Bonu, Margaret, and Gerald. Make that eight thin children. “We came from a family of thin people,” said Uncle Louis recently, himself pretty thin despite ascending in mid-career to the world of medium-fat cats.
The Crasta children may have been thin in body, but their lives were thick with rosaries. “No rosary, no rice,” was their Mater’s domestic diktat: her inverted version of “No taxation without representation.” Religious piety was a staple among these Konkani-speaking descendants of converted Catholics, refugees from the Portuguese Inquisition in Goa of the late seventeenth century, and survivors of Tipu Sultan’s persecutions over a century later.  And here, in a province long used to paternalistic British rule, in this verdant corner of a country where life was nasty, brutish, and often cut short by snake bites and other arbitrary acts of nature, Catholic priests exercised awesome power over their flock, threatening hell and eternal damnation to sinners and moral stutterers. The priests were dictators, declared the town’s unofficial philosopher, raconteur, and freelance social analyst Dennis Britto.

[Richardcrasta]

Value has been added to this book recently; the biographical parts enhanced. The book has a chapter mentioning my meeting with the Indian Army Chief and with the Defence Minister.

[Richardcrasta]

"As a war memoir, ranks with the best."--Review.
touching personal story woven into a war story.

[Richardcrasta]

My thanks to Mark David Ledbetter, an author and KB member, and professor of linguistics, for a fantastically moving review of this book. He says, "as a war memoir, one of the best."

I recently enhanced the biography section; there is a bit more humor in there to balance out the few pages of darkness which he overcomes in the end.

thank you!

[Richardcrasta]

The Australians who rescued my father get a good deal of affection in this subjective and very human account. And so do the residents of Surabaya, Indonesia.