What’s it like to reach out and touch history in the moment, to peel back the layers of hyperbole and political deception for yourself as a simple soldier?
Welcome to one of the February 23rd stops on the blog tour for Running With Cannibals by Robert W. Smith with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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Author Guest Post
What Inspired You to Write This Book?
This question strikes directly to the heart of my Running with Cannibals and I’m tickled pink for an opportunity to tackle it. The short answer is that, in researching this subject matter, I discovered the true story of two remarkable people from opposite ends of the earth, divided by language, culture and a brutal war of colonial aggression, but united by a love of justice, compassion and one another. I found it irresistible.
In school I heard in passing something about the “Philippine Insurrection,” a brief and minor conflict in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War, a subject steadfastly ignored in U.S. History books. With a little digging on the internet, I uncovered a completely different version of the so-called “insurrection,” a version based on facts and more fairly represented by Filipino historians and official U.S. Army records. Filipinos more accurately call the conflict, “The Philippine-American War.” Ultimately, the conflict held lessons that might have altered the course of history, specifically the U.S. involvement in Vietnam.
As my research deepened, I explored America’s Age of Manifest Destiny, a time during which powerful forces pushed the McKinley administration into a policy of colonialization modeled on the British experiences in Africa. The policy was motivated partially by a perceived need to control valuable trade routes and raw materials in the Far East and resulted in the U.S. “purchasing” the Philippines from Spain after vanquishing her meager forces in battle. Some historians simply attribute the entire policy to greed.
The result was accurately predicted by no less than Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain, in his famous essay, “To the Person Sitting in Darkness.” U.S. forces occupied the seven thousand Philippine Islands, formed a military government and embarked on a brutal war of aggression against the Filipino people. I was struck by the parallels to the U.S. involvement in Vietnam and to the general ignorance of history that certainly contributed to the initial acceptance of U.S. policy in Southeast Asia.
Delving even deeper into that time and place, I leaned the true love story of a Filipina, Casiana Nationales (Geronima) and Sgt. Frank Betron of the U.S. 9th Infantry Regiment and the so-called “Balangiga Massacre” in which villagers rose up in defiance of their occupiers, killing some fifty American soldiers. Filipinos call it the Battle of Balangiga.
Geronima is a national heroine in the Philippines, a strong and beautiful woman of inexplicable influence who fell in love with Sgt. Betron and yet opted to side with her people against the Americans. Little is known about the details of their love affair. Those details of their love are fictionalized, the product of my imagination, but the romance is not. Betron lived the rest of his life in the Philippines and raised a family. To me, bringing real characters to life in a fictionalized, plausible story is the most exciting achievement for an author.
About the Book
Running with Cannibals
by Robert W. Smith
Published 22 February 2022
Willow River Press
Genre: Historical Thriller
Page Count: 303
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
On the run from a hangman’s noose, a young man joins the army in search of anonymity, but lands in the Philippines in the closing phase of the war (1901), where his life intersects with a beguiling and mysterious young Filipina, a disillusioned Catholic priest and an American “Negro” deserter. They join forces, each in his or her own way, to hold back the tide of greed and colonial barbarity from a ravenous Eagle. At great cost, the young soldier will find his place, his people and himself. But to end his running, he must endure the last battle and the dark jungle beyond that holds the key to his fate and future.
One will die in the fight. One will learn that truth wears no flag and must be pursued and safeguarded, no matter the price. The other two will live forever, legends in the minds and hearts of the Filipino people.
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Excerpt
In that moment, Ethan was grateful to be a lowly sergeant. No real decisions to make. No strategy to plan. No responsibility for disaster. Just get back to camp fast and make the report. He remembered the NCO training on writing reports. Report only what you saw and heard. Never report what you think. The Army doesn’t care what you think. Fair enough. The name of David Fagen would neither pass through his lips to superiors nor through his pen to paper.
Ethan had seen the wanted posters himself. General Funston had personally posted a $600 reward around the towns and villages for the capture of “Mad Dog Fagen.” And no wonder.
Whatever grand scheme Ethan’s patrol had fortuitously thwarted, the schemers themselves, especially Fagen, posed a far greater danger to the successful subjugation of this little, brown race than one operation. Newspapers all over America had trumpeted “victory” in the Philippines and repeated the official line that “isolated pockets of disorganized resistance” would be purged from the islands. Ethan Cooper now knew better. Any inference, however vague, that Fagen was in Manila and actively involved in an insurrecto plot to assassinate William Howard Taft or Arthur MacArthur would ignite a bonfire of terror at command level.
Americans were still being ambushed on the roads, murdered in the towns, and cut down on the trails by deadly traps. But Command had been pushing the narrative to the American newspapers that the war on Luzon was virtually won. Ethan couldn’t reconcile the disparate realities.
No one had told the Filipinos on Luzon they were beaten.
About the Author
Bob was raised in Chicago, enlisting in the Air Force at age eighteen during the Vietnam War. Following a year of intensive language training at Syracuse University, he served three years as a Russian Linguist in Security Service Command, a branch of the NSA. Upon return to civilian live, he attended DePaul University and The John Marshall Law School in Chicago on the G.I. Bill while working as a Chicago Transit Authority Police Officer. Thirty-odd years as a criminal defense lawyer in Chicago ensued. His first book was Immoral Authority (Echelon Press, 2002) followed by Catch a Falling Lawyer (New Leaf Books, 2005) and The Sakhalin Collection (New Leaf Books, 2007, hardcover)
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Giveaway Alert!
Robert W. Smith will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway| Feb 21 | Long and Short Reviews | Feb 22 | Rogue’s Angels |
| Feb 22 | Fabulous and Brunette | Feb 23 | Westveil Publishing |
| Feb 24 | Literary Gold | Feb 25 | The Avid Reader |
| Feb 25 | It’s Raining Books |
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks for hosting!
Thank you for having me.
I liked the excerpt.
Rita, thank you again. We have to stop meeting like this lol 🙂
Wow. I was blown away by this book. What historical moments or stories are you still itching to write about? This book is a clear labor of love, and I wonder if you want to go back to this time and place, or if there are other stories you’re hoping to tell?
James, I should try to act suave or cool, I guess, but my wife says I can’t hide my emotions. That’s why I’m always saying stupid stuff. But a question like this just tickles my twine. Yes, it was a labor of love, since the day I first read about the true-life romance that inspired it. That, combined with the largely untold story of American aggression in the Philippines, made this project irresistible. I’m a Vietnam-era Veteran and proud of my service, but not proud of what we did there. It’s just possible that if the history of our actions in the Philippines had been taught, we might have learned lessons that could have spared us the Vietnam experience.
Now, if you’re still reading, I have a new book. It’s the best thing I’ve ever written and inspired by the alleged suicide of my wife’s grandfather in 1914. He was a Chicago cop, found dead in the Chicago River in uniform. I love Chicago. I’m a homie there, spent a career defending drug dealers and killers in Chicago courts. So I thought, “What if he didn’t shoot himself in the head? What if he’d been murdered?” After all, he was a bar room Irish Republican? So I came up with this story about a planned assassination of the Prince of Wales by Irish Republicans in Chicago. As with all my stories, it has a theme, “The true, meaning of brotherhood.” The story allowed me to tell the sad story of poor immigrant women in Chicago simultaneously. It’s my best book. I’m trying to get my current publisher to take it and they’re considering it. It’s a gem of a small press. The boss a very nice lady who likes email. I’m thinking if I stop texting her, “Happy New Year” or “Merry Christmas” at one in the morning with a snoot full…Well, fingers crossed. Oh, my wife’s family like the new book so much they believe the story and think their grandfather was an Irish patriot murdered by The Crown. I think the old guy was drunk on duty and fell into the river.
finally, I love these characters and this period in Chicago history so much that my next project is a sequel. Thanks for the questions, Bro.
I enjoyed the guest post and the excerpt, Robert, your book sounds like a fascinating and thrilling read for me to enjoy! Thanks for sharing it with me and have a wonderful day!
What a thoughtful note, Eva. I’m sure you know already what a thrill it is for any author to see a comment like this, especially since I didn’t pay you lol (joke). I hope we cross paths online in the future. Enjoy your day. Bob
looks interesting
BN, Thanks so much—again 🙂
My favorite part of today’s post was the About the Author section and reading about the life of Robert W. Smith the creator of Running With Cannibals.
Nancy, you can bet your britches I’m showing this post to my wife lol. You totally rock, Girlfriend! Thank you so much. Hope you like the book. Bob
This sounds like a great read.
Thank you, Sherry
Looking forward to reading Running with the Cannibals.
Joe, I appreciate the thoughtful comment. Bob
Thank you for sharing the author’s guest post and book details, this sounds like an excellent read for me and I am looking forward to it
Ea, thank you so much. Bob
This sounds like a very interesting book to read, thank you for sharing
Thank you, Marisela