"Works in Progress (2021)" is a smorgasbord of nine widely varying pieces: joyful, contemplative, humorous, serious (a public interest essay), personal essays, and dark stories, many of which are almost ready to publish independently, but will cost much more if purchased separately. The memory tax, family pride and ancestor snobbery placed in context (Letters to the Dead), our attitudes to beggars, stories about fatherhood, some tools that may come in handy when talking to writers (or else, or for writers dealing with the public), and many others. Real life is a combination of light and dark moments, and though I am often known for my humor and satire, there are untold stories within me that demand to be told, that would kill me not to tell them. A writer who fails to tell his stories is untrue to himself. This is why "Works in Progress (2021)" is a book I call upon all my true friends to read. Please, please, please: you don't know who I am, what I am hiding, and what burdens I am carrying, until you read at least this one book of mine, in which I keep my promise to myself and to my readers: to tell my truth. Why do I publish this book now? Because, feeling the fragility of life especially keenly at this moment in my life, I never know which book could be my last published book. And every moment is precious.

Works in Progress (2021)

Crasta, Richard

Parenting & Relationships

Invisible Man Press

A true story of World War II (in the words of the survivor, with essays by his son, an author): how Indian soldiers in the British army became Prisoners of War and were shipped by their Japanese captors in "torture ships" to Papua New Guinea, and how just a fraction of them, including the author, survived 3 1/2 years of horrific imprisonment, beatings, starvation, bombings and more to return home to India.John Baptist Crasta's story, written shortly after the war, was discovered and published 51 years later by son. At the time, John was 87 years old. He died less than 2 years later, after having seen his book in print. It was by reading his father's memoir that the son not only discovered his father; but decided to do all he could to make the world know about it. This book contains not just the father's memoir, but the son's essays about rediscovering his father and his feelings about the memoir.This shocking and poignant story of World War II and its forgotten Indian Prisoners of War has never been told before from the viewpoint of an ordinary Indian soldier who was there as one of its actor-victims. Nor has it ever been coupled with a moving story of fathers and sons."A classic in military history, telling the story of men trapped in a world of torture, starvation, and death"--Roger Mansell, War historian, in Tameme Magazine "You see the horror of war, without a trace of artifice, through the eyes of one who was there, the writing a simple act of catharsis. A war memoir that ranks with the best."--Professor Mark Ledbetter, Nisei University "Striking and raw, an antidote to myth. Something to be treasured. This is the kind of record that this generation is losing fast, and we need to hold on to this. It made me think of what had happened to my own father's memoirs, which were lost."--Professor Barry Fruchter.

Eaten by the Japanese: The Memoir of an Unknown Indian Prisoner of War

Biographies & Memoirs

Crasta, John Baptist

Community & Culture

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