Writer's Showcase,
Lincoln NE 68512, ISBN: 0-595-21729-X Do you remember that old ASA joke: "What's
the difference between a fairy tale and a war story?" Well, a fairy tale starts
out: "Once Upon a Time" and a war story starts out: "That Ain't No Shit!"
TANS is a compilation of
short stories written by ASA vets as gathered by the folks over at "Old Spools &
Spies" during one of their annual short story contests. The paperback book
covers primarily the Vietnam era, but also includes stories from the Cold War
period. Many of the stories will sound
familiar. Just change the names, places and dates and you will find a few
narrations that even you might have written. The stories range from "The Best
Can of Beer I Ever Had," to "Complicated Sex." See; I told you that you’d
recognize the stories! Pale Bone Publishing, San Diego, Calif.; $24; hardcover; 288 pages; ISBN 0-9670176-1-0 By Billie Lancon "C Trick: Sort of a Memoir" is fun, irreverent, filled with colorful characters — a source for real guffaws. It was hard for me to believe Don Cooper’s recollections of his duty in Berlin was nonfiction because it had the flavor of a novel, like "Catch-22." It would be easy to shrug off "C Trick: Sort of a Memoir" as just another book about the military — that was one complaint I had with the book; I believe the cover with its photograph of an Army Security Agency installation and its choice of olive green color scheme could lead the reader to think it is just another military memoir — but it is much more. "C Trick: Sort of a Memoir" may have a military setting, but to jump to the conclusion that it’s a military book is like saying Frank McCourt’s memoir "Angela’s Ashes" is about the Irish economy. In his use of anecdotes about his service with an elite Army unit in Berlin during the Cold War, Cooper tells about young men coping with unpleasant circumstances and coming of age during a turbulent era. The men of C Trick, one of the shifts that maintained an around-the-clock vigil of Soviet and East German communications from atop Teufelsberg, a 400-foot-high mountain built from the rubble of World War II, struggled to carry out the difficult technical work involved in an important national security installation while coping with the rigors and absurdities of military life. The characters of "C Trick: Sort of a Memoir" are well drawn and by the time I had finished the book, I felt like I knew Hairy Ranger, Chief, Grumpy John, Rock Weed, Prince and, of course, Blackie, which was the nickname the author lived with during his three years in Berlin. Like the author, many of these young men were from small towns and were experiencing for the first time the exhilarating life of a European metropolis. For most of them, Berlin offered a chance to live life to the fullest, even to excess, and they leaped at the opportunity. The author doesn’t whitewash his own activities, recounting hilarious encounters with Berlin’s streetwalkers and transvestites, playing practical jokes on the "treads" (career military) and drinking excessively. The men of C Trick were both idealistic and cynical. While they believed what they were doing was important for the country, they also were cynical about military service, and most of them agreed with Hairy Ranger’s comment: "Every day I spend in the Army is a day in my life that’s wasted." Maybe that’s what Hairy Ranger thought about his military service, but that’s not how I felt about "C Trick: Sort of a Memoir." It was irreverent, bawdy and hilarious, and I’ll pull it off the shelf again and again. Billie Lancon, a free-lance writer, lives near Daingerfield, Texas. Why do some cryptographic systems fail and others succeed? Stephen Kelley's
new book, Big Machines, explores this fundamental question of cryptology by
examining the history of three of the most renowned cipher systems of World
War II - the German Enigma, the Japanese PURPLE, and the American
SIGABA/ECM - to understand why the first two were broken by the allies and
last remained unbroken. Were the allies' successes against Enigma and
PURPLE due to inherent weaknesses in the Axis' machines, to poor
communications security procedures, to physical compromise, or to all
three? Was their failure to break the SIGABA/ECM due to the strength built
into the American cipher or to Axis cryptanalytic incompetence? Big Machines investigates the histories of these three cryptosystems - how they
were designed, how they were used, and how they were attacked by hostile
cryptanalysts . Mr. Kelley compares the strengths and weaknesses inherent
in each machine, and considers external factors influencing their ultimate
security. Big Machines helps explain the allies overwhelming victory in the
critical information war with Germany and Japan. Aegean Park Press is
pleased to offer this unique and valuable addition to the literature of
both cryptology and the Second World War. C-91 · 8-1/2" x 11", xvi + 242pp, Paperback, ISBN: 0-89412-290-8 · $38.80 Available from: Aegean Park Press (http://www.aegeanparkpress.com)
"TANS, VOLUME I, You Called. We Went." by
William Jacobson
Since the book is sub-titled "Volume I, " you can rest assured that even
more stories will be forth coming. You may want to consider submitting your own
story; just change the names, places, and dates and you’ll be good to go!
I found TANS on Amazon.com for fifteen bucks!
"C Trick: Sort of a Memoir," by Don Cooper
Big Machines, Cipher Machines of World War II, Stephen J. Kelley
P.O. BOX 2837
Laguna Hills, CA 92654
(949) 586-8811; Fax (949) 586-8269 ; Toll free in US/Can (800) 736-3587