A National Book Award Finalist at The Brickyard (Indianapolis Motor Speedway)

The 13^th Valley

Rides (Or Races) Again!

Author: John M. Del Vecchio

Audible edition narrator: Sean Runnette

Driver: Frank A Del Vecchio

Car: Van Diemen Formula Ford

Photo: Final prep for Indy complete; #13 is ready to be rolled out of the shop.

The Novel: A National Book Award Finalist, The 13^th Valley is a literary cornerstone for the Vietnam Generation. The story follows an American infantry unit on its spiraling descent into a world of conflict and darkness as it maneuvers to find, fix and destroy an NVA basecamp deep in the jungled mountains and valleys of I Corps.

Racing this weekend in the 2016 Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational, Frank Del Vecchio has reincarnated his 1983 National Championship Formula Ford (see photo below) to help publicize the audio edition release by Audible.com  of brother John’s classic war novel.

To listen to an excerpt from Chapter 1 follow this link: https://soundcloud.com/audible/the-13th-valley.

The full audio edition can be found at:

http://www.audible.com/pd/Fiction/The-13th-Valley-Audiobook/B01CKFQO6Q/ref=a_search_c4_1_1_srTtl?qid=1459613368&sr=1-1

Frank Del Vecchio piloting the original (1983) 13^th Valley Formula Ford at the National Championships at Road Atlanta.

Now available at Audible.com

The 13th Valley
http://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B01CKFQO6Q&source_code=AUDORWS0308169GHA

The Narrator: Sean Runnette.  Sean, an Earphones winner, has directed and produced more than 150 audiobooks, including several Audie Award winners. He is an American Repertory Theater company member and has toured in the US and internationally with ART and Mabou Mines. TV and film appearances include Two If By Sea, Copland, Sex and the City, Law & Order, 3rd Watch, and lots and lots of commercials.

Finalist for the National Book Award: A work that has served as a literary cornerstone for the Vietnam generation

The 13th Valley follows the terrifying Vietnam combat experiences of James Chelini, a telephone-systems installer who finds himself an infantryman in the NVA-infested mountains of I Corps. Spiraling deeper and deeper into a world of conflict and darkness, this harrowing account of Chelini’s plunge and immersion into jungle warfare traces his evolution from semi-pacifist to all-out, combat-crazed soldier. The seminal novel on the Vietnam experience, The 13th Valley is a classic that illuminates the war in Southeast Asia like no other book. It is the first title in Del Vecchio’s Vietnam War trilogy, which also includes For the Sake of All Living Things, about the Cambodian holocaust, and Carry Me Home, which addresses the aftermath of war.

The Author: John M. Del Vecchio is the best-selling author of The 13th Valley and other historical novels on the war in Southeast Asia and the veteran home coming experience. In 1970-71 he was a combat correspondent for the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile), and was awarded a Bronze Star with V device for ground combat. Other writings include For the Sake of All Living Things, Carry Me Home, Darkness Falls, The Bremer Detail, and numerous articles and papers.

Just for fun:  The Barium CT Scan

Do you recall Ol’ Mrs. McGlusky, the cafeteria lady at Stratford High. She made a Shepard’s Pie that stuck to your ribs, or to the ceiling if there was a good food fight. It also stuck to the linings of your intestinal tract, designed to stay there for a century or more, if you lived that long. Well, I found the solution. Had the barium prep for the CT scan this morning. Not so bad, a quart of vanilla shake. And the procedure, of course, was a breeze. When I was leaving the cute, little scan-technician said to me, “Oh, by the way, you might have some loose stool later today.” Yeah, sure, I can put up with that, I thought. The technician smiled. She could see right through me. About three hours after the last radiation blast the first urgent warning sent me scampering off to the can. Ah, there, I thought, that’s done. But I still felt some pressure so I delayed heading out. Good thing. Half hour after the first wave came the second. Then in ever shorter intervals the 3d, 4^th, 5^th, 6^th, 7^th… someplace in here I lost count. By the 4^th I was thinking there goes the hamburger and cheese I had last Tuesday; by the 6^th, there goes the Christmas goose or maybe Thanksgiving turkey. Little did I realize the barium was just getting started. This is kind of a reverse procedure from a colonoscopy where your insides are sanitized prior to the procedure. That seems to make sense. Not sure why, for a barium scan, they need to clean you out after the procedure, but questioning modern medical protocol doesn’t help. Anyway, by the nth trot to the can I realized that it was Good Ol’ McGlusky’s Shepard’s Pie that they were really after.