Army tales get attention

Featherston writer Mike Ledingham's book of colourful short stories based on his career in the army has been picked up by a publisher.

Originally self published in May by Mr Ledingham, independent publisher BMS Books has produced a second edition and a Kindle e-book of his book Once a Grunt.

Mr Ledingham is rapt. "It's like winning the trifecta," he said.

"The first edition sold out in no time, people seemed to really like it, and to top it all off, an established publisher has now taken it on, given it a bit of a polish, and put out a second edition and an electronic version as well."

Mr Ledingham spent 15 years in the New Zealand army in the Infantry and SAS.

His book loosely recounts some of his experiences from jungle warfare to the funny moments of army camp life.

As the title suggests, the stories are all told from the perspective of the "grunt", the foot soldier, the ordinary bloke.

BMS director Mike Smith said the book was a fine example of a New Zealand author being able to chart important aspects of his life in a series of humorous and honest stories.

"I am proud to be able to publish Mike Ledingham's book using our professional publishing services and help to take his stories to a wider audience.

"Once A Grunt fits in nicely with other books we have published by local authors, including A Soldier's Life."