I’ve just published my 26th book and latest book in my serialized autobiography called, ‘In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography): Book Fourteen – New Horizons,’ about fulfilling my longtime dream of flying the F-4 Phantom II and accidentally beginning to write my first novel.  Here’s the book description:

“This is the Second Book of my ‘Air Force Years’ and Fourteenth Book overall in my serialized autobiography entitled ‘In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography).’  My aim in telling the story of my life in the Air Force is not a typical military memoir, but instead a journal of my personal challenges and accomplishments within the backdrop of my goal of flying jets.  My goal had been to fly the F-4 Phantom from the very beginning and fortunately I’d overcome a number of failures, setbacks and roadblocks to finally get that opportunity at F-4 ‘Replacement Training Unit’ (RTU), at Homestead AFB, Florida, in the fall of 1982.

This chapter of my life specifically shows how I pursued my literary dreams without having any clear understanding of where they would lead me and how I began writing my first novel entitled ‘Jonathan’s Amazing Adventures: Jonathan’s Dream (An Adventure Novel)’ literally by accident.  It was during a ‘freeform writing exercise’ that I’d come up with, when the first two paragraphs of Jonathan’s Dream literally sprang from the page without my realizing I’d just begun writing my first novel.

The goal of this book is to show you my personal challenges of learning to fly the F-4 Phantom and all the associated adventures of my life, up to the point of beginning my first novel and jump starting my literary career.  While I had ambitions to one day become a published author, I had no idea of how or when that would ever be possible, as I thought I’d need to attract the attention of a publisher who could make it happen for me.  Now, some 37 years later, technology has made it possible to self-publish my own books and stories, taking me on a very long and circuitous literary journey to bring these stories to you, the reader – enjoy!

Book Fourteen paints a portrait of my life flying Phantoms in West Germany and beyond, and it’s an honor and privilege for me to tell this story I’ve lived.  Mine was an era that seems far removed from the world we live in today, but not really that far removed.  A time when life existed before cell phones and the Internet, when analog gave way to digital technology and when global navigation first became possible.

So while not a history book per se, it is a record of how things were, and the dreams and adventures of a young boy who grew up in Flint, MI, hoping to one day to fly jets, live a life of adventure and see the world – and did.  If I could make my hopes and dreams come true, then you certainly can, too!  Carpe Diem, seize the day!  Cheers!  Mark”

Here’s the Kindle Link (Free to read with Kindle Unlimited – Open the link to see the preview):

Here’s the Paperback Link (190 Pages):

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1076259006/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p4_i7

Here’s my Amazon Author Page: Mark D. Jones:

https://smile.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B078RRS631?_encoding=UTF8&node=283155&offset=0&pageSize=12&searchAlias=stripbooks&sort=author-pages-popularity-rank&page=1&langFilter=default#formatSelectorHeader

Cheers!

Mark

I’ve just published the latest book in my serialized autobiography called, In Search of the Meaning of Life (An Autobiography): Book Thirteen – Overcoming Challenges about fulfilling a childhood dream of mine to fly jets one day.  Here’s the book description:

“I’d always wanted to fly jets and be a fighter pilot ever since I was a boy, yet at some point along the way I’d given up on my dream once I knew fighter pilots needed 20/20 vision to be accepted into the United States Air Force and I wore glasses.  It turned out that my aircraft of choice, the F-4 Phantom, had a two man crew with a specialized navigator or Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) manning the rear cockpit, and the WSO could wear glasses.  In addition, the WSO could do most everything the pilot could do, to include flying the aircraft – so I was hooked!  I decided right then and there to apply to become a WSO.

While I could dream of flying Phantoms all day and night, the reality was I was as far away from making that dream come true as I could possibly be.  Had I known at the time the immensity of my achieving my goal, I wouldn’t have pursued it, so in that case it was best I remained fat, dumb and happy to the entire process of what I needed to accomplish to earn the privilege of turning my dream into my reality.  What I didn’t and couldn’t have known at the time, was that the process of selection and qualification was more rigorous than I could have ever imagined.  Every step of the process from beginning to end was graded and evaluated, and the standards were set so high that a significant number of applicants were washed out of training at every milestone along the way.  Only the very best made the grade to progress through the training pipeline and of those who did qualify to fly, fighter training slots were reserved for the best of the best.

Had I known how astronomical the odds were of succeeding at my quest, I might have reconsidered, but I pressed on undeterred like Don Quixote tilting at windmills.  The only advantage I really had was the fact I’d come from a background of adversity and hardship forged in ‘The School of Hard Knocks’ for many years, and the one thing I’d learned was to never say never and never give up no matter the odds.  This, in the end, was the best skill I had in my proverbial tool kit at the time, and it was this attribute of mine I had to draw from time, time, time and again.   Never give up on ‘your’ dreams either, for dreams are given to dreamers, and your dreams are worthy for the simple reason they’ve been given to you – not to remain dreams – but to be turned into your reality!  Carpe Diem, seize the day and live your dreams!  Don’t be discouraged, never give up and one day you’ll live your dreams just as I did all those years ago!  Cheers!  Mark”

Here’s the Kindle link:

Here’s the paperback link:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/1096659875/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0

Author Page – Mark D. Jones:

https://smile.amazon.com/Mark-D-Jones/e/B078RRS631?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_2&qid=1559073598&sr=1-2

Cheers,

Mark