Age Group:
EveryoneProgram Description
Event Details
Join the library for an author visit with Dennis Smith on Thursday November 9th at 6:30 PM.
Dennis Smith, a former Clarinda resident with numerous family ties to the area has just released a new novel, War Is Hell, A Love Story. Since retirement, this is his fourth novel.
His latest book traces the life of a fictional character Harvey Meyer who was raised on a farm north of Bethesda during the depression. After finishing his schooling, young Harvey enlists in the Navy prior to World War II. He was trained as a cook, and after training was assigned to the USS Arizona in Hawaii early in 1941. Less than a year later, and just a few months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Harvey is back home with a medical discharge. He refuses to tell anyone what happened or why he was released from the Navy. In fact, he barely tells anyone anything.
As an author, Dennis Smith utilizes real places in and around Clarinda and even ties in a few real people to make his fictional story more believable. This is similar to all of his books. He likes to put common, ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. His other books are Missouri’s Secret, also a historical fiction novel, and two other complete fiction pieces set in Denver, Night Light and The Man in the Van. All of his works are available at amazon.com and Kindle.
Mr. Smith retired from a career in the design-build construction industry where he spent many hours writing, editing and proofreading technical documents. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communications from Iowa State and his classes included several Creative Writing courses.
His ties to Clarinda include attending Clarinda Community College back in the 1960’s before being drafted into the Army. He served with the 25th Infantry in Cu Chi, Vietnam. After his discharge, he lived in Clarinda for a short period before returning to college on the G.I. Bill at Iowa State. That same year he married a Clarinda resident, Linda Tackett, CHS class of 1967. Linda passed away in 1998.
Dennis now has another wife from Clarinda, Carol Hook. They celebrated their twentieth anniversary last year. Carol worked in sales for KMA Radio and was on the board of the Clarinda Association of Business and Industry (CABI). She is credited with the inspiration of the annual Christmas Lights Parade and was the Grand Marshal for the fifteenth anniversary of that event. They reside in Leawood, Kansas
Free and open to the public - books will be available for purchase.
Books will be available for purchase as well!
No registration needed.
You can attend in-person or request the Zoom link.
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYtduGqpz8qG9GmrWYo9O19ebfJnBzjiKdt
Disclaimer(s)
Accessibility
We make every effort to ensure our programs can be enjoyed by all. If you have any concerns about accessibility or need to request specific accommodations, please contact the staff.
Photo Permission
Staff often take pictures during programs. We use photos in our publicity, in social media, and on our websites. If you do not want your photo used, contact the staff during this program.