Hit the subscribe button so you don't miss the updates on the great writers we have coming up over the next few weeks.

And if you want to see photos of the studio and the cocktails getting made, check out my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

And please leave a comment. I want to hear about the writers you want to hear on this show.

I've been getting a lot of great booking ideas from you guys.

Welcome to Dedicated with Doug Brunt.

You have just gained access to an exclusive insider's look at the lives and works of some of your favorite authors and hear conversations with the world's greatest writers as they discuss their writing lifestyle, creative process, latest work, and behind the scenes revelations.

Welcome to Dedicated. I'm your host Doug Brunt. Today we're talking with Elliot Ackerman. I knew of

Elliot, but had never taken a closer look at his achievements, which I discovered read like

a fictional superhero. Elliot is a former Marine Corps Special Operations team leader with a total

of five deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

He's been awarded the Bronze Star for Valor, the Silver Star for Heroics in Battle, and a Purple Heart.

He's also the author of nine books, both fiction and nonfiction, and has won or been nominated for just about every literary prize there is, including the National Book Award, the Andrew Carnegie

Medal, and the Dayton Literary Prize. His latest is the novel Housian, and I'm thrilled to have

him with us today. Elliot, welcome. Thanks for having me, Doug. So in keeping with two of the

main characters of your latest book here, who have interesting conversations over martinis,

we're going to be drinking a traditional gin martini with four olives.

Awesome.

Got it all rigged up here with some ice. I've been wondering how you were going to do this.

This is great. And I've got some Bar Hill gin here, which is... Yeah, very nice.

Distilled somewhat locally in Vermont was a gift of our pal Chris Bojalion.

Awesome. I'll put a little more in there. So I understand you have a tennis game later, so we'll see.

Yeah. Don't, don't let that hold you back.

...