Counters

Eric Hoffer Book Awards 2016 Honorable Mention for Legacy FictionWarmones, hormones, and conscience compete for the souls of young pilots in the VietNam war. An air combat tale of whimsical intelligence and vivid realism.It's 1967 in DaNang, Vietnam, as new pilot Steve Mylder reports for duty to his fighter squadron and meets fellow pilot Avery Aughton. Avery is cocky, unbearably patriotic, and outrageously successful with women--everything Steve is not! Yet they become friends as they drink together at the DOOM Club bar and learn the ropes of air combat. As they dogfight in the air, their mutual friend Sub-Lieutenant Sam the Collie--who thinks he's a fighter pilot too--parallels their war by dogfighting on the ground against his rival Charlie, a junkyard mutt.Steve, unenthusiastic about the war, fights for his life in the skies over North Vietnam but battles for his soul against the Red Baron of his nightmares. Avery--master of the art of combat seduction--achieves a measure of humility as he thunders fifty feet over a North Vietnamese beach, looks down and locks eyes with an improbable bikini-clad woman ... and falls into hopeless love. Both pilots seem on-track to survive their tours of duty when Avery is shot down and Steve has to face himself--balancing imagination against reality--in the aftermath of a rescue attempt.In Counters, former air force pilot Tony Taylor weaves whimsical humor and authentic details of air combat into a brooding yet fanciful tapestry, illuminating the hormones and warmones that impel young men to war and stupidity.