“The Chaplain’s Assistant: God, Country, and Vietnam,” a novel by Mount Pleasant resident Timothy Caldwell, recently was honored as a finalist in the Military Fiction category of the 2009 Ellen Reid National Indie Excellence Book Awards.

Caldwell, who wrote the book under the pseudonym JT Caldwell, said he is “delighted that ‘The Chaplain’s Assistant’ was a finalist in the 2009 Indie Book Awards. I hope that recognition in competitions will help bring the book to the attention of more readers.”

And Caldwell’s desire to make more people aware of the book has nothing to do with sales numbers or profits; rather, he’s focused on its potential benefit to fellow veterans.

“Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan — as well as Vietnam — who read the book tell me that the problems I wrote about — particularly in terms of returning home from war — very closely mirror their own experiences,” said Caldwell.

According to the awards’ official news release, “(t)he competition is judged by an independent panel of experts from all aspects of the publishing industry. The awards are based on overall excellence: cover and interior design, promotional text, and content, and winners are selected for each of over 65 categories.” The 2009 competition drew the largest number of entries in the Indie Excellence Book Awards’ three-year history.

“The Chaplain’s Assistant” also has earned a positive nod from the Midwest Book Review, which called the book “solid and riveting reading.”

The story behind the story
After his draft release paperwork was “lost in the mail,” forcing him to give up a teaching position at the University of Dubuque (Iowa), Caldwell served in the U.S. Army from 1969 to 1972. His service included a 1970 assignment as a chaplain’s assistant in Vietnam — which inspired and provided much of the fodder for Caldwell’s novel, which he refers to as a “fictionalized memoir.”

“Almost everything that happens in the book happened— just not necessarily to me,” said Caldwell, a professor of voice in Central Michigan University’s School of Music.

To learn more about “The Chaplain’s Assistant,” visit http://www.thechaplainsassistant.com; Caldwell also maintains a blog at http://www.thechaplainsassistant.blogspot.com. To order a hard copy or Amazon Kindle version of “The Chaplain’s Assistant,” visit http://bit.ly/chaplainsassistant.

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