Better Than a Rabbit’s Foot by S. S. Hampton, Sr.

Before I get into this review, I realized this is my 100th Review!  Wow!  I appreciate those of you who follow this blog and I'm sure the authors whose books I've reviewed do as well if I've managed to help them generate any sales.  Now, back to our regularly scheduled review.

Staff Sergeant Jerry Stanton is a young soldier serving in the War in Iraq. He is a gunner on a gun truck nicknamed “Lucky Bear,” one of those tireless workhorses that escort supply convoys from camps in Kuwait to destinations scattered throughout the war-torn country. In the early morning hours before a scheduled mission, a dust storm howls across his camp and threatens to bring convoy operations to a halt. Worse, the camp receives word that a gunner from his company was killed by an IED [Improvised Explosive Device] while on a convoy mission in Iraq. Unlike most soldiers, Jerry doesn’t carry a lucky charm, but upon receiving news of the death of the gunner, he begins to mull over the merit of a good luck charm—only, what would work for him? Perhaps mail call will provide the answer.

Jerry isn’t expecting anything special in the mail, so when he first hears it’s come, he decides to wait until he returns from his mission to read it.  The soldier distributing the mail throws the letter to him by mistake, forgetting he asked to pick it up later.  It turns out to be a fortunate mistake.

Better Than a Rabbit’s Foot is what I call a quick little “waiting room read.”  You can scarf it down in a matter of minutes, but in those few minutes you will be transported to Afghanistan and get a glimpse of what our troops endure there.  You’re plunked down into a dust storm in the early morning hours and you feel the dust seep into your clothing, trickling down your back as it mixes with the sweat.  You feel the tension and fear of preparing for a mission knowing another man in your job has just been killed.  You feel the homesickness and the loneliness—all in eighteen short pages, because Sergeant Hampton has been there and he’s brought it back for us to experience.  Thank you, Sergeant—for both your excellent writing and your service.

Length:  18 Pages

Price:  $1.99

Buy Link:  http://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=514&category_id=60&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1

You’ll notice I always include the publisher’s buy link.  That’s because authors usually receive 40% of the book price from the publisher.  Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%.  When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes & Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author, editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left.  So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40.  If you buy the book at Amazon, the author will receive about $0.83.

Downloading the file from your computer to your Kindle is as easy as transferring any file from your computer to a USB flash drive.  Plug the USB end of your chord into a USB port on your computer and simply move the file from your “Downloads” box to your Kindle/Documents/Books directory.  I actually download my books using “Save As” to a “Books” file I created on my computer that’s sorted by my publisher, friends, and books “to review,” and then transfer them to my Kindle from there.  That way, if there’s a glitch with my Kindle, the books are on my computer.  Your author will be happy you did when he/she sees his/her royalty statement.

Thanks for visiting.  RIW