We need to do more for our returning war Vets -Johnny Oops

(1) Long Road Home - 50,000 veterans will have returned home physically wounded since 2001.

(2) According to the Veteran’s Administration not-yet-published statistics, 367,749 Iraqi and Afghan vets have sought mental health care treatment. That's 51.7 percent of the total caseload - and also 28.2 percent of the returning 1.3 million vets - a number that's sure to grow larger as those who returned home recently begin acknowledging cases of delayed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It's common for vets not to begin experiencing combat stress until after the euphoria of being home has waned, typically six months to a year or more.

(3) 45% of Afghanistan, Iraq Vets Seek Disability
By Daniel Politi | Posted Sunday, May 27, 2012, at 3:32 PM ET

My novel Sequin Boy And Cindy takes a long hard look at the plight of our returning war Veterans, and although basically the love story of two disabled returning war heroes manages to pose the problems we face as the result of the Iraqi and Afghanistan wars.

We need to be able to do more than we have for our returning Vets. Not everyone can hope to be as blessed as our principal characters Billy and Cindy in http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Regards,
Arthur

Sequin Boy and Cindy

www.amazon.com

Spirit ancestors charging through the night sky and a White Buffalo with blazing red eyes show our young lovers the way to true happiness. Two lonely young people from abused backgrounds find each other, fall in love, join the army, and both suffer injuries in a war in Iran, but go on to build a ...

Explosion - Sequin Boy And Cindy

 

I still don't remember everything, but I can piece together most of the tragic events that ensue according to Cindy's fellow soldier who accompanied her on the fateful trip. One day near the holy city of Qom-the site of a nuclear bomb facility American bombs have destroyed-Cindy is driving her armored fighting vehicle (AFV) to the site of a place where her control has just radioed her that an IED has been diffused. She spots the yellow teepee with the sequins sitting on a little rise in the sand that I have left. She knows immediately upon seeing the sequins that this is from me. She jumps out of her AFV, grabs the canvas, and looks at the note from me. The note say, "I disarmed this at seventeen hundred hours and am heading west. I love you." Cindy looks at her watch. It is only 1720 hours.

Cindy jumps back in her AFV and takes off at break neck speed, much to the surprise of the private with her who says, " Slow down. You'll kill us. What's the rush?"

Cindy had just gotten a field promotion to corporal. She doesn't bother to answer the private on the seat next to her. In the distance she sees another AFV stopped at the side of the road. Instinct tells her this is me. She races towards my AFV. As she approaches I look up and see her driving towards me with her head out the window of her AFV waving frantically. I start gesturing wildly with my hands and shouting at her to stop, but I guess in her excitement she doesn't recognize I'm warning her to stop, to stay away from my location where I'm in the middle of diffusing an IED. I jump up and start running up the road towards her waving her off, shouting, "Stop, stop." Just as we reach each other another IED buried at the side of the road goes off. I must've missed that one.

I'm thrown in the air. All I can feel is extreme pain shooting through my right leg. I have lost my leg up to the kneecap and blood squirts from ruptured veins and arteries all over the place. Cindy's AFV is tossed in the air and crumples like an accordion. Somehow, bleeding profusely, I drag myself the few feet over to her vehicle and with all the strength I have left pull her vehicle door open and grab Cindy out of her AFV. She has lost her right hand up to the wrist. This is the hand I always hold.

"Don't worry," I cry as I tried to stop her bleeding. "They will be here soon. We will be all right. I love you." Then I pass out from shock and loss of blood. The soldier with her later told me that Cindy sat there half on top of me shaking and screaming, and clenching her remaining hand over the stump of my shattered leg trying to stop the bleeding. The stink of burning motor oil and smoke is everywhere. She was shouting at him, "Get help, get help, he's dying. I can't stop the bleeding." She disregarded her own wound. She was so hysterical I don't think she fully realized she'd lost her hand.

The private with her was miraculously unharmed. He called in our location and tried to tie off our gushing wounds. He says to headquarters, "Need help now. Two down both missing limbs. I can't stop the bleeding. Need immediate Medivac. Our position is . . . In minutes a rescue medical helicopter lands, does immediate triage on both of us to stop the bleeding and flies us to the main emergency medical facility in the area transfusing both of us in the copter. We both have lost a lot of blood. I'm fading in and out of consciousness I guess from the shot of morphine they give Cindy and me for the pain. Cindy keeps crying and holding my hand with her remaining good one. We are both covered with blood and sweat from the stinking heat. Must have been one hundred and six, but I feel ice cold from the loss of blood. If not for the quick action of the medics and the private with Cindy we would never have survived.
Excerpt from http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Regards,
Arthur

Sequin Boy and Cindy

www.amazon.com

Spirit ancestors charging through the night sky and a White Buffalo with blazing red eyes show our young lovers the way to true happiness. Two lonely young people from abused backgrounds find each other, fall in love, join the army, and both suffer injuries in a war in Iran, but go on to build a ...

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Bottom of Form

Explosion - Sequin Boy And Cindy

I still don't remember everything, but I can piece together most of the tragic events that ensue according to Cindy's fellow soldier who accompanied her on the fateful trip. One day near the holy city of Qom-the site of a nuclear bomb facility American bombs have destroyed-Cindy is driving her armored fighting vehicle (AFV) to the site of a place where her control has just radioed her that an IED has been diffused. She spots the yellow teepee with the sequins sitting on a little rise in the sand that I have left. She knows immediately upon seeing the sequins that this is from me. She jumps out of her AFV, grabs the canvas, and looks at the note from me. The note say, "I disarmed this at seventeen hundred hours and am heading west. I love you." Cindy looks at her watch. It is only 1720 hours.

Cindy jumps back in her AFV and takes off at break neck speed, much to the surprise of the private with her who says, " Slow down. You'll kill us. What's the rush?"

Cindy had just gotten a field promotion to corporal. She doesn't bother to answer the private on the seat next to her. In the distance she sees another AFV stopped at the side of the road. Instinct tells her this is me. She races towards my AFV. As she approaches I look up and see her driving towards me with her head out the window of her AFV waving frantically. I start gesturing wildly with my hands and shouting at her to stop, but I guess in her excitement she doesn't recognize I'm warning her to stop, to stay away from my location where I'm in the middle of diffusing an IED. I jump up and start running up the road towards her waving her off, shouting, "Stop, stop." Just as we reach each other another IED buried at the side of the road goes off. I must've missed that one.

I'm thrown in the air. All I can feel is extreme pain shooting through my right leg. I have lost my leg up to the kneecap and blood squirts from ruptured veins and arteries all over the place. Cindy's AFV is tossed in the air and crumples like an accordion. Somehow, bleeding profusely, I drag myself the few feet over to her vehicle and with all the strength I have left pull her vehicle door open and grab Cindy out of her AFV. She has lost her right hand up to the wrist. This is the hand I always hold.

"Don't worry," I cry as I tried to stop her bleeding. "They will be here soon. We will be all right. I love you." Then I pass out from shock and loss of blood. The soldier with her later told me that Cindy sat there half on top of me shaking and screaming, and clenching her remaining hand over the stump of my shattered leg trying to stop the bleeding. The stink of burning motor oil and smoke is everywhere. She was shouting at him, "Get help, get help, he's dying. I can't stop the bleeding." She disregarded her own wound. She was so hysterical I don't think she fully realized she'd lost her hand.

The private with her was miraculously unharmed. He called in our location and tried to tie off our gushing wounds. He says to headquarters, "Need help now. Two down both missing limbs. I can't stop the bleeding. Need immediate Medivac. Our position is . . . In minutes a rescue medical helicopter lands, does immediate triage on both of us to stop the bleeding and flies us to the main emergency medical facility in the area transfusing both of us in the copter. We both have lost a lot of blood. I'm fading in and out of consciousness I guess from the shot of morphine they give Cindy and me for the pain. Cindy keeps crying and holding my hand with her remaining good one. We are both covered with blood and sweat from the stinking heat. Must have been one hundred and six, but I feel ice cold from the loss of blood. If not for the quick action of the medics and the private with Cindy we would never have survived.
Excerpt from http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Regards,
Arthur

Sequin Boy and Cindy

www.amazon.com

Spirit ancestors charging through the night sky and a White Buffalo with blazing red eyes show our young lovers the way to true happiness. Two lonely young people from abused backgrounds find each other, fall in love, join the army, and both suffer injuries in a war in Iran, but go on to build a ...

On the Beach for a fun holiday read with Sequin Boy And Cindy

We do so many exciting things together. We go to the beach at Long Beach, Long Island taking the train directly there. I have never been to the beach before. Cindy buys me a black bathing suit that comes down to my knees. She wears this little bikini type pink bathing suit. What a figure. All the guys are staring. I don’t know whether that makes me happy or jealous. I guess both. I find myself protectively putting my hands around her shoulders. Can’t let any of these other guys get the idea she’s available.

I don’t know how to swim. There was never any one around to teach me. I will go into the water knee-deep holding Cindy’s hand like a little kid, and when the waves rush in I run out of the pale green water squealing as I pull Cindy along with me. I didn’t know how great the summer could be. I love the beach.

I ask Cindy, “Can we come back next weekend?” I kept sifting the golden strands of sand through my fingers in disbelief at their sparkling fine-grained beauty. There is so much I know nothing about and so much I’ve missed. Where have I been all my life?

She kisses me gently on the cheek and says, “We can do anything you want, Lover Boy.” No one ever called me that before.

I say, “Guess what I want to do next, Cindy?”

Cindy giggles. “We can’t, Billy, people will see.”

I shake my head no. “We can do it under the blanket.”

“We’ll get full of sand, Billy.” I notice she is looking around for a private place.
“I don’t care, Cindy. I want to make love to you now. You said I could do anything I want.”

“Okay Billy, let’s go under the Boardwalk. You are getting me hot just thinking about making love. Tell me this will never change.”

“I promise, I promise. God you are so wonderful, Cindy. I’m so happy.” There’s a certain look that Cindy gets on her face when we are about to share the moment that I can’t describe. Ecstasy? I wish I was a painter.

We stay on the beach until the sun goes down. Then we stop for pizza at some stand on the boardwalk. The pizza is greasy, very cheesy and loaded with tomato sauce. We sprinkle the pizza with pepper flakes, garlic powder and oregano, making an aromatic treat that tastes great. We each have two slices, which we wash down with super sized cokes. Finally we take the Long Island Railroad home. I hold Cindy’s hand all the way. In spite of all the soda, my thirst for Cindy is insatiable. I can’t get enough of her.


Sequin Boy Blurb – Paranormal Romance –Adventure - Love Story - Young Adult

Tags – Paranormal Romance, Coming of Age, Young Adult, Lonely, Lost Souls, Lovers, Fantasy. Indian Ancestors, White Buffalo, Playing House, God, Faith, Love Story, Inspiration, Disabled Vet

Hi everyone, the White Buffalo is coming. She can make your dreams come true. Sequin Boy and Cindy my new novel will show you how.http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Regards,
Arthur

Sequin Boy and Cindy

Spirit ancestors charging through the night sky and a White Buffalo with blazing red eyes show our young lovers the way to true happiness. Two lonely young people from abused backgrounds find each other, fall in love, join the army, and both suffer injuries in a war in Iran, but go on to build a ...

Standing Ovation

5.0 out of 5 stars A Standing Ovation, July 4, 2012
By
James A. Anderson "Author" (London, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Sequin Boy and Cindy (Kindle Edition)
It is not often I'm left at a loss for words, but Arthur Levine's SEQUIN BOY AND CINDY did just that.

I have to dig deep to find the appropriate words to describe this wonderful romance novel. I haven't been moved so much by a romance novel since Erich Segal's LOVE STORY many years ago. SEQUIN BOY is funny, touching and infused with wonder, as all love stories should be.

This is the wonderful, tumultuous, heartfelt story of Billy Wolk, a half Lakota Native American and Cindy. Two young people from abused backgrounds who find each other and true eternal love. This is a magnificent novel that will grab you, hold you and stay with you forever, long after you turn the final page.

It will make you fall in love with love again. A sweeping story that takes you through their lives, their triumphs, their setbacks, their attempts to pay it forward and help others. Oh that we had politicians like Billy who becomes Mayor of New York City!

SEQUIN BOY AND CINDY is an experience. The reader who responds to this little book will feel less like a reader than one of Levine's characters, living it all out from the inside..In this 'love story' you are not just an observer.

This novel is spiritual on so many levels and a daring departure for Mr. Levine, author of the Johnny Oops novels, very different kind of books.

If a book deserves a standing ovation, this is it!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Sequin Boy and Cindy

www.amazon.com

Spirit ancestors charging through the night sky and a White Buffalo with blazing red eyes show our young lovers the way to true happiness. Two lonely young people from abused backgrounds find each other, fall in love, join the army, and both suffer injuries in a war in Iran, but go on to build a ...

Excerpt - Sequin Boy And Cindy

CHAPTER 5

Months fly by and we are so happy. I race home every day after work to be with Cindy. We must call each other at least ten times a day. We are in love, and every moment together is an exploration of how wonderful life can be. We are growing up together, that’s how I think of our love, and I believe my darling Cindy feels the same way. I look forward to the warm embrace I get when I come home.

I’m constantly planning little surprises to make Cindy happy. I never had any one to care about before. One day I will bring her flowers. Another day a new blouse I buy off the rack from a corner peddler. I think I have terrible taste, I love vertical stripes and the color purple is my favorite, but Cindy never says anything. I guess she just appreciates that I’m thinking of her. Took me two months of yellow daisies to find out she doesn’t like daises and doesn’t like yellow. It’s a good thing I’m a writer and not a graphic designer.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6 

Boom - Sequin Boy And Cindy

 

For Immediate Release

Boom

New York, NY – Two young people from abused backgrounds fall in love, join the Army together, are separated and then their whole world goes boom—up in smoke. The smell of burnt flesh, tires burning and the stink of blood and sweat is everywhere when an IED explodes as the two young lovers are desperately trying to reunite in the middle of a battlefield.

Saved by a miracle and Army surgeons, Billy and Cindy return home as disabled war heroes to the enthusiastic support of their local community. The whole Nation falls in love with their earnestness and desire to make a place for themselves in the aftermath of war.

They go on TV, receive a TV station sponsored Wedding and honeymoon, and go on to college together partially paid for by the Army and the rest by the University they attend.

In spite of their handicaps Cindy becomes a one-handed registered nurse and Billy the first one-legged part Lakota Indian Mayor of NYC. They have twins—a boy and a girl and go on to raise a great family.  They usher in an era of kindness and caring into the Big City, but life for our eternal love bugs is not without adversity and the almost constant ramifications of the wounds and trauma they have endured in the service of our Country.

They never forget their love for one another and their desire never to be separated and alone again. As Billy says, “God you are so wonderful, Cindy. I’m so happy. There’s a certain look that Cindy gets on her face when we are about to share the moment that I can’t describe. Ecstasy? I wish I were a painter.”

Throughout their lives together, God, A raging White Buffalo and Billy’s spirit ancestors protect them in this paranormal romance love story for the ages.

James A. Anderson the author of Deadline and The Scorpion says in his five star review,

 “It is not often I'm left at a loss for words, but Arthur Levine's SEQUIN BOY AND CINDY did just that.

I have to dig deep to find the appropriate words to describe this wonderful romance novel. I haven't been moved so much by a romance novel since Erich Segal's LOVE STORY many years ago. SEQUIN BOY is funny, touching and infused with wonder, as all love stories should be.”

Sequin Boy and Cindy is available on Amazon Kindle and Smashwords.

Contact:

Arthur Levine

Sequin Boy and Cindy

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Sequin Boy And Cindy

James A. Anderson says:

Folks:

Sequin Boy and Cindy by Arthur J. Levine is one beautiful love story. If you don't like it, you don't have a heart!

Bravo, Arthur!

The White Buffalo is Coming - Sequin Boy And Cindy

\

Hi everyone, the White Buffalo is coming. She can make your dreams come true. Sequin Boy and Cindy my new novel will show you how. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Indie Spotlight interview on Sequin Boy and Cindy

Hi everyone, Sequin Boy and Cindy got written up on http://www.theindiespotlight.com/
Please check it out.

Regards,
Arthur

Are You Sure - Johnny Oops

I just finished reading In One Person by John Irving. I was induced into reading it by someone who thought I write like him, I don’t.

It was as to be expected well written by such a famous author, but that’s not what stuck with me.

I have always assumed that the main character in my novel Johnny Oops had nothing to do with me, but reading Irving I discovered that Johnny really did. No, I’ve never done the things that Johnny does, but evidently I thought about doing them or I couldn’t have written the book.

I guess there is a little part of Johnny in me, and maybe his or her counterpart in you. That’s what Irving does so well in my opinion, he brings out the possible in all of us readers. We may not like what we learn about ourselves, but yes, it has an all too familiar ring to it. We may not like some of the stereotyping—that can’t possibly be me, but in some vague and yet familiar way there are parts of the story that remind us of ourselves.

 I like you reserve the right to say, “Oh no, that’s not me. Are you sure that maybe even a little bit isn’t in your mind waiting to be revealed.

After reading In One Person I sure am glad that my alter ego is Johnny and not John Irving’s principal character, but how can one be absolutely sure.
http://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Oops-ebook/dp/B0041KL52M/ref=pd_rhf_p_t_1

Against All Odds - Sequin Boy and Cindy

Billy and Cindy overcome all obstacles to find true love in Sequin Boy and Cindy - a paranormal romance.  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Second Chance - Sequin Boy and Cindy

Learn how two young people in love can come back from war disabled, but form a great life and family together in this paranormal romance. A love story for the ages. They are protected by Billy's spirit ancestors, a White Buffalo and God. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

Introducing my new novel Sequin Boy and Cindy

Spirit ancestors charging through the night sky and a White Buffalo with blazing red eyes show our young lovers the way to true happiness. Two lonely young people from abused backgrounds find each other, fall in love, join the army, and both suffer injuries in a war in Iran, but go on to build a miraculous future together. This is the heartwarming tale of the art of the possible as Billy and Cindy return from war and capture the hearts of an adoring public.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6

5 STAR REVIEW Sequin Boy and Cindy

A Standing Ovation July 4, 2012

By James A. Anderson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

It is not often I'm left at a loss for words, but Arthur Levine's SEQUIN BOY AND CINDY did just that.

I have to dig deep to find the appropriate words to describe this wonderful romance novel. I haven't been moved so much by a romance novel since Erich Segal's LOVE STORY many years ago. SEQUIN BOY is funny, touching and infused with wonder, as all love stories should be.

This is the wonderful, tumultuous, heartfelt story of Billy Wolk, a half Lakota Native American and Cindy. Two young people from abused backgrounds who find each other and true eternal love. This is a magnificent novel that will grab you, hold you and stay with you forever, long after you turn the final page.

It will make you fall in love with love again. A sweeping story that takes you through their lives, their triumphs, their setbacks, their attempts to pay it forward and help others. Oh that we had politicians like Billy who becomes Mayor of New York City!

SEQUIN BOY AND CINDY is an experience. The reader who responds to this little book will feel less like a reader than one of Levine's characters, living it all out from the inside..In this 'love story' you are not just an observer.

This novel is spiritual on so many levels and a daring departure for Mr. Levine, author of the Johnny Oops novels, very different kind of books.

If a book deserves a standing ovation, this is it! 

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0085M3BZ6 

Special Holiday Treat

My novel Johnny Oops 11 - Timeless is free for the month on Smashwords https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/100269 Be sure to use Coupon Code SSWIN