Bookpleasures.com ispleased to have as our guest, Lloyd Lofthouse, author of The Patriot Oath.

Lloyd  is a former U.S. Marine and combat vet with a BA in journalism and an MFA, with a focus on writing.

He’s the author of the award-winning novels My Splendid Concubine, Running with the Enemy, The Redemption of Don Juan Casanova, and the memoir Crazy is Normal, a classroom exposé.

His short story, A Night at the Well of Purity was named a finalist in the 2007 Chicago Literary Awards.

Lloyd: You’re welcome and thank you for having me and featuring The Patriot Oath.

Bee: How much time and effort went into your research for the book, if any?

Lloyd: It’s safe to say the research for this book started in 1965 when I joined the US Marines and went to MCRD for Bootcamp. Of course, at the time I didn’t know that.

A month after boot camp, I landed in Okinawa, and a few weeks later clambered down a net into a landing craft to join an amphibious assault in Vietnam. Fast forward to 2006, when I learned I was eligible for medical care from the VA and learned I had PTSD. 

Until then, I didn’t know that the crazy things rattling around in my head was caused by PTSD.

Bee: How long did it take you to complete?

Lloyd: I wrote the first scene from a writing prompt in March 2018 in a VA sponsored PTSD writing support group. Forty months later, the final draft was ready to publish.

Bee: Are any of your characters based on real-life friends or acquaintances?

Lloyd: Yes, several of the characters in the novel are inspired by real vets and one service dog.

The main character Josh Kavanagh is based on what I have learned from the two Special Forces guys in the same PTSD support group.

Dr. Tate, the fictional Vet Center PTSD counselor in the novel has her real-life inspiration, too, one of the counselors at the Vet Center. Like Dr. Tate, the real counselor also served twenty years in the Air Force and earned her PhD after retiring from the military. 

At this point, I should add: This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, incidents, organizations and dialogue in this novel are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locals is entirely coincidental.

Bee: Which character do you love to hate in The Patriot Oath?

Lloyd: The character readers should love to hate the most is Damion Bran, also known as the Strawman.

Bee: Tell us about your cover. Did you design it yourself? 

Lloyd: I paid for the cover but was involved in its design.

Bee: What inspirations do you draw from for your writing?

Lloyd: As I was writing The Patriot Oath, the inspiration to create Josh Kavanagh comes from three former Special Forces troops.

There’s Robbie Rea and his PTSD memoir Next Mission,  Jim Hasse’s Warriors and Friends, and Legend by Eric Blehm.

Jim and Robbie are the two Special Forces guys in the same PTSD support group. Jim Hasse recommended Legend, a true story about a Special Forces Medal of Honor recipient that will amaze almost anyone that reads his story.

If you read Legend, Next Mission and Warriors and Friends, you will understand Josh, the main character in the novel, better.

Bee: If this is not too personal, please share ways to find respite from PTSD.

Lloyd: First, you have to learn what triggers your PTSD with professional help and support while also learning how to manage or avoid situations that will trigger you.

I think that applies to everyone that lives with PTSD. 

Once you know the basics, there are activities that help one manage their PTSD.  For me, those activities are exercise, meditation, writing, woodworking, and music, and I often use all five each day.

I think another method Robbie Rea uses to find relief is with help from his service dog.

In fact, I used Bella, his first service dog, as inspiration for Audie Murphy, the PTSD service dog in The Patriot Oath.

Audie is my favorite character in the story, who will also appear in the sequel Never for Glory. Robbie’s Bella was incredible, a Mother Teresa with four paws. Just writing about her brings tears to my eyes.

Although Bella died from cancer a few years ago, if you don’t mind risking a few tears, you may want to meet her and Robbie by watching THIS VIDEO.

Bee: You are sitting in a coffee shop. What does your writer mind see?

Lloyd: Ha! When I’m in public, in the car driving somewhere, a coffee shop or restaurant, it doesn’t matter where I am, I’m usually on high alert, my eyes searching for threats and planning what I’m going to do if there is one, and I’m not alone having this reaction.

Bee: What words do you use over and over that drive your editor crazy?

Lloyd: Sorry, I can’t think of any. Before I published The Patriot Oath, I shared every chapter with three different critique groups. If a writing habit of mine might drive an editor crazy, the support from those multiple constructive criticisms usually identified the problem and it vanishes through revisions.

Bee: What do you do when you are not writing?

Lloyd: Exercising, listening to music, working on one of my woodworking projects. I watch less than two hours of TV a day, and it’s dark out when the TV comes on.

Bee: Thanks again and good luck with The Patriot Oath.

Lloyd: You’re welcome and thank you for having me as a guest.