KARL STEWART
Award winning author, KARL STEWART, was raised in the hills of post-WWII West Virginia, and moved to Wisconsin in his teen years, attending a Catholic seminary. Upon leaving the seminary, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966, serving as a communications sergeant in the elite Green Beret Special Forces until 1969. He enrolled in the University of Wisconsin, earning a double-major degree in political science and history. In 2005 Stewart retired from teaching high school Social Studies and English to devote himself to his two passions, family and writing. His first novel, The Legend of See Bird: The Last Long Drive, (a Western) was followed by a sequel, Devil’s Backbone (dealing with the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys), which received an Honorable Mention at the Southern California Book Festival. Both books are loosely based on the life of Stewart’s great-grandfather, See Bird Carpenter, a Choctaw Indian. He and his wife live in rural Wisconsin on a pine-lined ridge with a stunning view to the south, echoing his West Virginia childhood playgrounds.
THE SEVENTH CRUISE
On December 7, 1941, an unprepared and pacifist America is suddenly thrown into World War II. Young men and women from every corner of the USA leave their homes and schools for military service or jobs in the newly developing war industries. In West Virginia, See Bird Carpenter, Choctaw legend, must advise and try to prepare his young grandson, Stu Carter, for what is to come before the young man embarks on a long, four year, two ocean war. Other young men, both American and Japanese, hear their nations’ calling and abandon their college classrooms for combat flight training. American farm girls leave for the city factories to do their part for the war effort. When Stu meets Maggie while on ‘liberty’ sparks fly. But can love survive the brutality of modern war? A new generation must grapple with issues of courage, honor, and integrity amid bombs and cannon-fire. Their decisions shall shape the post-war world.
KARL L. STEWART