A Private War

Thomas Kindred left his war behind in 1968, the day he left his Saigon base and became a deserter from the United States Army. Thirty years later, he's living the life of an exile in Vancouver, British Columbia. To him, his old country no longer exists. Then he receives a surprise call from Rick Goody, his closest friend from his days in Vietnam. The call forcefully reawakens a past Thomas thought he'd forgotten.

Rick Goody believes his life is in danger from the militant, anti-war group he's been a part of since leaving Vietnam. Now he's on the run, and he asks Thomas for help. Thomas, with a renewed sense of his old fugitive self, enters the U.S. for the first time in years.

Complicating matters, Thomas's girlfriend, Carmen, has a reawakening of her own hidden past, brought about by Rick Goody's plea and the events that followed. She too disappears into the lower 48. Thomas now has a new purpose: to find Carmen or face a life without her.

His search leads to what he never expected. On a cross-country trek, he rediscovers the country he left behind thirty years before. He becomes involved in a dangerous mission with the same anti-war group that had Rick running for his life. And finally, Thomas finds a resolution of sorts to his own private war.

Stephen Hazlett was born and came of age in New Jersey. He served in the Army Medical Corps, including a year in Vietnam, after which he began a career as a computer professional in California's Silicon Valley.

He currently lives an author's life in New Mexico's Land of Enchantment.