Breath of a Tigress

I can honestly say that I’ve never met a man quite like my fellow North Louisiana “cousin” - David Ware. Then again, and to be even more honest, I can say that I’ve never actually met David - not in person, anyway - only talked with him on the phone. I’ve been interviewing service veterans for a few newspapers for which I write. David’s name was given to me by Johnny Malone, an old family friend who said, “Give this guy and call. He’s from my hometown of Homer, Louisiana and he’s got some great stories about his time in Vietnam.” After our interview, David’s sent me his manuscript for “Breath of a Tigress.” My first reaction was that a first-time novelist could never write this well. And not only was it well-written; I literally couldn’t put it down.Without stealing the author’s thunder, “Breath” is a story of a high school student who, after graduation, enlists in the service and finds himself in combat in Vietnam – just like David Ware did. The lead character is named Tom Wade. But make no mistake about it, with all due respect to the muse and common use of literary license, Tom Wade and David Ware are one and the same. And the characters in his book are all loosely based on people he knew growing up or fought with in Vietnam.I’ll leave it to David Ware to tell you the rest.