This novel is a continuation in the saga of Ralph Arnold and his adventures through life as a veteran with PTSD in a crazy world. When Russia invaded Ukraine on the 24^th of February this year, I thought that this might be an opportunity to utilise Ralph and his ‘abilities’ in the setting of a real-world, real-time story.

I was just putting the touches on what will be Episode Six in the Broken Arrow series when war broke out. As it turns out, Ralph was ending up in Kazakhstan by the end of the book. So, to become involved in the Ukraine war, was just a cross boarder event for him.

Every news channel was covering the invasion so there was plenty of points of view and critical analysis to filter through and work with as I devised a story plot. When one of the Russian billionaire oligarchs put a $1M bounty on Putin’s head, dead or alive; I thought, wow. My attention was then drawn to the man himself, Putin. How would someone get at one of the richest men in the world, with a four-tiered security detail numbering 50,000?

Keeping the veteran PTSD character background was important to the story; some things can’t be ignored or glossed over. Ralph’s struggles are part of his DNA now and I therefore are bound to include this level of detail.

Writing story plot, which involved real places, people and events was an interesting journey for me in writing fiction; contemporary fiction.

Once the book was complete, Amazon presented me with some hoops to jump through. As it was about a present event, they did not let me advertise and my book was hidden from the marketplace. I queried them on how other contemporary fiction writers, and non-fiction writers advertise their books with such rules. After many email and phone call attempts to gain an answer, they couldn’t identify how my book was different to other contemporary works, and I was allowed to sell and advertise my book, yay.

This book was principally written covering events over the first six weeks of war. The interweaving of my characters into the areas of battle had to fit perfectly like a jigsaw puzzle for the complete story picture to gain clarity. I believe that I have achieved this.

The name of the book; Putin Rendition 2022.1 might not sound too obvious to many as to its meaning. In military circles, a rendition is a scenario that you play out in various ways, configurations and strategies until you can achieve your objective with minimalistic or no casualties. The goal of this book was to get to Putin, so this is the Putin Rendition 2022.1.

I also decided on a penname, initially through fear of censorship, and having my whole author account shut down from writing such a book about Putin. Cymonev Polinksnia was created, a play on my own name to sound more Eastern Bloc.

The book was easy to write and I may use future global events again in the future. Writing about Ralph Arnold and his world is exciting and he is a man that I would like to meet and have a beer with.

.

Hi crew.

This was a novel that just had to be written, for many reasons. My protagonist is Ralph Arnold, a Veteran who came home with undiagnosed and untreated issues arising from his war service. In my Leader Files series, these issues led him to be portrayed as the brutal and uncaring antagonist. But I was pained by what I had created.

Ralph’s story had to be told. I did not want the readers world to know him as a misfiring angry man; I had to do better by Ralph and the Veteran community. That opportunity came when the UK BBC were running a Pilot competition for a new series to be aired on their channel. The story had to be an original and not previously published. Perfect.

The book title has meaning. Broken Arrow is a term in some military circles, that special forces personnel will use amongst themselves, when they have suspicions of one of their own struggling with an enemy within. Heart of Darkness has a dual meaning. Firstly, it is the name of the spiritual home of the Taliban, where Ralph’s ultimate battle takes place. It also serves as poignant reminder of the internal often silent and debilitating struggle that someone with PTSD, diagnosed or undiagnosed goes through.

I had not written a screenplay before, but that didn’t concern me as I set about developing Ralph’s back story. I know novels, so I wrote a novel which I would later convert into a screenplay. It sounded simple enough, to someone who had never written a screenplay before! But I knew it was either going to be a 25 minute screenplay or a 40minute one. I wrote with the expectation that the Pilot story would be at least 40 minutes as there was lots to cover.

I also wanted to ensure that Ralph was not seen as a bad guy, but did have problems. Then the idea developed inside me that I wanted this book/screenplay to help undiagnosed veterans who may be suffering from PTSD to find similarities in Ralph’s characters to their own struggles. As a result, seek out help for themselves.

The statistics from the Afghanistan ware are; for every battlefield death, 16 veterans will suffer PTSD. That is an alarming statistic. It also means that there are many veterans in our community who are suffering, and possibly suffering in silence and/or are unaware of their injuries. For it is uncommon for a veteran to self-diagnose PTSD, they need to be told.

Intended Audience – Veterans of all countries who have the potential of an unseen enemy still fighting inside of them. Gradually wearing them down. Even with all their training, the are defenceless against the relentless attacks from within their own mind.

The Why – With the evolution of warfare, we have seen a decrease in battlefield fatalities. The number of wounded veterans returning home is ever increasing. Some of the wounds cannot be seen as physical scars. Some of the wounds are not self-evident to the veteran, sometimes for years. Often veterans, their families and the civilian colleagues don’t become aware of their wounds until things go wrong.

This book is dedicated to those veterans who have left one battlefield, and who may now be blindly walking through an unseen minefield. A minefield so dangerous it kills at more than sixteen times the rate of battlefield fatalities.

How can this book help? – By being a great read about a veteran who is cast out of the service and is morally struggling with no longer serving. All the time suffering in silence with undiagnosed PTSD.

The author wants this novel to also serve as a self-help book. To capture veterans who may have signs and symptoms of undiagnosed PTSD. For them to personalize with the protagonist RALPH ARNOLD and seek help. Or for veteran’s family and friends to recognize, through reading this book, similarities in a veteran and help them in their journey to seek help.

Writing about Ralph and his struggles feels right. I interviewed veterans who shared their own experiences with PTSD. I fictionalised triggers, warning signs, events, signs and symptoms in order for Ralph to be any veteran. Naturally, there was always going to be more books with Ralph as the hero protagonist. There is already another one in print and three more in draft.

The author wants to decrease the rate of veteran suicide, substance abuse and depression. There has to be a better world for those who were prepared to give their all.