Grunty Effort Echoes and Reverberates

Media release
21 August 2013

Grunty Effort Echoes and Reverberates

They’re stories that won’t lie down.

Once A Grunt, Featherston writer Mike Ledingham’s book of quirky short stories based loosely on his colourful career in the army and beyond, has gone into a second edition and is now also available for Kindle eReaders.

Originally self-published by Mike, Once A Grunt has been picked up by BMS Books, an imprint of Rotorua-based Business Media Services Ltd, which has produced both the second edition and the Kindle version.

“It’s like winning the trifecta,” says Mike. “The first edition sold out in no time, people seemed to really like it, and to top it all off, an established publisher has now taken it on, given it a bit of a polish, and put out a second edition and an electronic version as well. I’m rapt.”

Mike spent 15 years in the New Zealand arm (Infantry and SAS) and has also been a farmhand, real estate salesman, small business operator and armed security guard. He currently works as a caregiver.

The stories in Once A Grunt are presented in two parts: Army Life and Civvy Street. As the title suggests, they’re all told from the perspective of the ‘grunt’, the foot soldier, the ordinary bloke. And as you’d expect, senior military ranks and civilian powers-that-be cop a bit of mockery.

The book is strong on humour but also touches on weighty issues of life and death, justice and injustice. One reviewer has noted the book’s natural ease, with a lot of dialogue – with some of the language exactly what would be heard in real life, in the circumstances being described by Mike.

BMS director Mike Smith says Once a Grunt is a fine example of a New Zealand author being able to chart important aspects of his life in a series of humorous and honest stories.

“I am proud to be able to publish Mike Ledingham's book using our professional publishing services and help to take his stories to a wider audience,” he says. “Once A Grunt fits in nicely with other books we have published by local authors, including A Soldier's Life.”

Once A Grunt is available at www.bms.co.nz.

For more information on the book, please contact BMS Ltd – email ms@bms.co.nz or phone 07 349 4107

ENDS

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