Episode 132: The Naval Author with R.L.Crossland

The naval experience is fertile ground for an author of both fiction and non-fiction. How does real world experience inform that author, and how does fiction and non-fiction writing inform those serving today?

Our guest for the full hour will be author R. L. Crossland, Captain, USN (Retired).  A SEAL, Captain Crossland served 35 years service, active and reserve, from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

Widely published on maritime unconventional warfare and naval history, he holds a merchant marine captain’s license and is a practicing trial lawyer. He resides in New England.

A graduate of Columbia College with a degree in history, and the Naval War College Command and Staff Course, Crossland has written internationally on the subject of maritime unconventional warfare and includes U. S. Naval Institute Proceedings and the New York Times among his credits.  His articles “Rusty Hand of Steel” (Proceedings, December 1979) and “Unconventional Warfare Afloat” (Proceedings, November 1981) were required reading at the Naval War College for several years after their publication. His most recent article (Proceedings August 2009), "Sometimes the Insignificant is Significant," analyzes aspects of the rescue of the Maersk Alabama from Somali pirates.

His recent second novel, Jade Rooster, a mystery set in the 1913 Asiatic Fleet, allows him to apply his experience to the elements of intrigue that grow when  the daily life of a sailor of an emerging navy in the age of coal-driven ships crosses courses with the then growing cross-tensions in the Far East.