MWSA Review
Have Snakes, Need Birds by Travis Klempan is an exceptional story that depicts our American service members during a deployment to Iraq. It is exceptional not only in the voice he gives his American and Iraqi characters, but also for the depiction of ghosts, a demon, and an elemental. While snakes, coyotes, jackals, and birds show up sporadically in the beginning chapters of the book—harbingers of nonhuman intervention—the noncorporeal characters do not arrive until after the main character’s mid-tour leave, about halfway through the book. Prior to Mackenzie’s leave, soldiers and Iraqis hold a storytelling contest involving ghost stories, unleashing an unsettling feeling around the FOB and setting the stage for horrors to come.

While most of the action takes place in Iraq, Mackenzie’s leave takes place in America, beginning at an outdoor concert festival in Texas and ending in a small town in Louisiana. Descriptions of places and events are vivid and compelling, and the dialogue is enjoyable (keeping in mind that military members under stress will be using words that some readers may find offensive). More than the ghostly plot line, I found the details and circumstances of what our military forces face during a combat deployment to be enlightening and important.

Review by Betsy Beard (February 2021)
 

Author's Synopsis
Sergeant John Mackenzie is on his third deployment to Iraq at the height of combat operations. His overriding goal: get his soldiers home safely. That mission is difficult enough when every day is a fight against snipers, roadside bombs, or just plain old boredom--it becomes impossible when John accidentally awakens two ancient spirits, each bent on destroying the other, collateral damage be damned.

A soul-collecting demon named Moonlit Samuel wants to move up in the hierarchy of evil; a malevolent force of nature known only as taliment destroys everything it touches; and John still faces local insurgents, foreign fighters, a belligerent battalion commander, a greenhorn lieutenant, and questions of his own sanity.

John must find a way to protect his men, save the city, and return to the woman he loves before she becomes just another victim of supernatural combat.

ISBN/ASIN: Paper: 978-1646631735, Hard: 978-1646631759, Kindle: B08G5VLLWR

Book Format(s): Hard cover, Soft cover, Kindle

Review Genre: Fiction—Horror/Fantasy/Sci Fi

Number of Pages: 360