Dennis Latham: Life, Fiction, and the Pursuit of Madness

Vietnam Tet Offensive 1968 (original pictures first time posted anywhere) Pictures from Vietnam Tet Offensive 1968 (click to enlarge photos) Marine Corps Vietnam/ Tet Offensive 1968 Camp Books north of Danang during Tet 1968. 122 mm rockets fired into base almost daily. Sometimes several times a day, and a lot at night. You either lived or you died. Each rocket was six feet long and carried 40 pounds of TNT. It could explode on impact or be delayed to bury in the soil and then explode. All the shrapnel usually went forward from the blast so if it passed over your head before impact, you were usually safe. (You c ould be KIA or injured by blast, too. I had a Timex watch and my left arm was outside the bunker when a rocket exploded. The watch stopped at 6:00 and could not be fixed.) They sounded like freight trains coming at you. If the train sound passed over you, you waited for the blast on impact. If the train sound stopped like it was cut off, you we...

The cover represents the crucifixion of Christ on Calvary. The bent cross represents my twisted telling of the Second Coming. The wall is from an actual building that caught fire and burned to the ground. It was rumored that demons did it. “ Lord of Homicides was my return to a type novel I felt comfortable writing. I take an idea and imagine how I would write the story if I was totally nuts. My heroes are usually losers striving to change their lives.   This novel started during an attempt to explain why normal people suddenly commit horrible crimes against innocent strangers: school attacks, restaurant shootings, and unexplained murder. I created my often bizarre and comic view of the dimension we sometimes see when things dart past the corners of our eyes: the realm of psychotic demons and paranoid angels.” The Summary Lord of Homicides explains why normal people commit sudden horrible crimes; based on the concept that all humans are born with good traits and com...