Brian Dougherty

"The Edges of War" Brian Dougherty

The Edges of War encompasses three novellas and offers a different view to the first and second Indochina Wars. In '-- Beggars would ride' a Cambodian-American teenager, Haw, returns to his roots to help the spirit of his dying grandmother. The tale presents a hard-hitting contrast between Haw, more American than not, and a childhood friend, who runs from a vicious father to join the ranks of the Khmer Rouge. One attempts to survive on his own after the city of Phnom Penh is evacuated, while the other loses himself in the insanity of the communist movement in Cambodia.'Tuyet An' is the girl of Tony's dreams, which he only fully realizes after his tour of duty in Vietnam. As the war draws to its sad conclusion, Tony makes every effort to return from his stateside life to find her and bring her home. His travels bring him through Thailand, the Philippines, and finally back to Vietnam just after the fall of Saigon. Tony's story is learned from the efforts of an Air Force NCO involved in the search for America's prisoners of war and those still listed as missing in action. 'Tuyet An' is based on a true story, and the author needed the permission of the American intelligence community to write it. Shadow leaders of the Cambodian government fear exposure in any UN tribunal of the former Khmer Rouge leadership, so they opt to contract out a final solution in 'Barrel of a Gun.' Unknown to these leaders, a Cambodian-American, trained sniper from the Marine Corps, plans for revenge when he learns of the death of family members at the hands of the Khmer Rouge. He seeks out the assistance of a Thai Special Forces friend who is linked to the planned killings. The killers want their scapegoat and see one in the Marine, who blindly follows the instructions given him. The heroes in these tales are ordinary people calling upon extraordinary resolve to survive, to triumph, and to end the haunting of Cambodia's past. Readers are in for a different kind of ride, as they are led to The Edg