KP author pens again

Local author Richard A.M. Dixon recently published his latest book about a Vietnam War soldier who encounters a tiger while in battle Photo by Ed Johnson, KP News

Key Peninsula author Richard A.M. Dixon has published his third and final Dillon’s War novel; this one is titled, “Weretiger’s Deliverance.”

It is a 216-page psychological drama, continuing the story of a Vietnam War era soldier who encounters a tiger in the war-torn jungle of Southeast Asia.

Dixon said each book in the series is designed to stand alone.

“The trilogy was written at the demand of David Duryee, who is a minor character in the first book. David said, ‘My part wasn’t big enough,’so he became the main character in the Revenge of the Weretiger,” Dixon said.

Dixon served as a 1st Lt. in the U.S. Army Airborne on Okinawa. In 1964, “as it turned out, we were the first ones in,”at the start of the police action in Vietnam”, he said. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lt. in the Regular Army after earning a degree in clinical psychology from the University of Washington.

“This started out as a memoir, and when I got to the part about being in the foxhole, I remembered coming face-to-face with a tiger. I will never forget it.”he said.

Dixon was enamored enough with Dillon’s character and the tiger to write a second book, now a third.

“The tiger became the protagonist. It was cathartic,”he said.

These books are based on true stories, though the places and characters may have been changed.

Fan and reader, Ed Johnson said, “The story moves fast enough and is exotic enough to hold my interest.”

When Dixon retired from a very lucrative medical sales career to care for his wife after a serious illness, he found extra time and started writing a children’s book.

“I created a living thing that will outlive me. That’s what got me hooked,”he said.

Dixon writes four hours a day and said he reads it to his dog.

“If the dog stays, it’s OK to read it to my wife. If she says OK, then I read it to the Lakebay Writers Group. Then I put it in manuscript form and set about to re-write the whole manuscript, which I give to my son. I get the perspective of a whole group of people. They do the proofreading for free,”Dixon said.

He said he has done everything wrong you could imagine in writing.

“I’ve found it best to hire an editor, preferably one who is far away. They are more objective,”he said.

Dixon said he felt remorse when he finished the series, and asked himself, “What am I going to do now?”The answer is: write another novel, The Tiger of Dien Vien Pu is now in the works. It is set in the timeframe from 1932 in Hai Phong to 1965 in Bangkok.

Meanwhile, Dixon has scheduled local book readings and book signings and has entered the cover art for “Weretiger’s Deliverance” into contests for consideration by The National Indie Excellence and Writers Digest.

All of Dixon’s books are available through his website at richardamdixonbooks.com, and on Amazon.com.