June flew by! Alas, all too many years have passed since these times in the stories written by Mark Arbour in this month's CSR selections, Furlough and War's End. Did you have the chance to read these anthologies? They do tie together, so you really should read them that way so you can review both of them. If you haven't, first enjoy this interview with Mark and then go check out the anthologies and then come back and share your thoughts in the comments below!

If you had 30 minutes of free time, what would you do? 

When I have half an hour of spare time, I generally pick up my iPad and catch up on games (like Words with Friends) or the news.  I guess the preferred answer would be that I’d write, since that goes with the theme here, but to do that it takes more than time: it takes motivation. 

What’s one location you’d love to go to research for a story? 

I’m hoping to get to England in the next year or two.  I’ve spent limited time there, and what time I spent was in London, which I loved.  My plan is to spend some more time in London, then head down to Portsmouth to the Royal Navy Museum, and most importantly, to visit HMS Victory. 

What's your favorite room in your house? Do you plot or write there? 

The bathroom.  No one bothers me there.  I don’t write there (SMILE).

What’s something personal about you people might be surprised to know?

I flew on the Concorde from Paris to New York and I’ve travelled on the Orient Express (train).

If you had to only work on one project for the next year... what would it be?

              My ADD addled brain finds the idea of working on just one project absolutely abhorrent. 

What draws you to work on period pieces when you write stories?

There’s really two pieces to that question…there’s the time period and there’s the location.  I’m an avid reader, so during my reading travels, occasionally a time and place will intrigue me, and I’ll store that away for a potential story topic.  For a longer story (like the Bridgemont Series), it has to be an era that has truly captivated me.  You didn’t ask, but if I were to write another historical series, it would probably be set in Ancient Regime France, most likely around the reign of Louis XIV or XV. 

Did you pick WWI as a time period for a particular reason for Furlough and War’s End?

I picked World War I for three reasons, the first two of which are books.  I’d finished reading John Keegan’s “The First World War,” then I’d read Jeff Shaara’s “To the Last Man.”  Keegan did an excellent job of outlining the war from a historical perspective, and then Shaara made it come to life in the talented way that he has.  The final reason was that my grandfather fought in WW1, and I had been going through some boxes in the basement and I’d uncovered his gas mask and helmet, stark reminders of the hell he’d gone through at Verdun. 

Do you have a preference for one story over the other?

I like War’s End better, because I’m a sucker for happy endings. 

Both stories have strong themes relating to soldiers/war and recovery. Was this just their story that came to you, or was there an underlying theme to the story from events in real life at the time?

I wrote these stories in 2009-10, and during that time frame our soldiers were coming back from the debacle that was the Iraq War and Afghanistan.  There was much talk of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), but unfortunately the talk didn’t seem to manifest itself into action.  Suicides were much too frequent, and when it happened to a family friend, that brought the whole issue to the front of my brain.  I continue to agonize over how we, as a nation, glorify our soldiers when they go off to fight, yet after they are done and come home, we really don’t give a shit about them. 

Do you have a favorite scene/moment/sentence in either story that resonated with you that you’d like to share with readers?