U.S. Army veteran Ron Roman of South Korea, seen here in an undated photograph, has authored a survivalist novel, poetry and a children’s book. (Ron Roman)
Unidentified flying objects, time travel and microchipped super soldiers are some of the provocative ideas that spring from the mind of a former American soldier and published author who works with fellow veterans in South Korea.
Ron Roman was a U.S. Army ambulance driver on the Korean Peninsula in the 1970s and spent decades teaching English and humanities for the University of Maryland Global Campus at Pacific bases before he retired in 2020.
These days he writes fiction and helps other veterans and their families at the Retiree Activities Office on Osan Air Base.
In November 2022 Roman published “Of Ashes and Dust,” an alternative history and apocalyptic thriller about a militia member dealing with the breakdown of society.
Youngsters might find aspects of this story a little dated since it’s set in a world before smartphones, artificial intelligence and other changes that have gone on in recent years. But it’s not hard to imagine someone adapting this tale, available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, to the screen.
Online reviewers generally liked the book. “It’s the kind of book that rewards careful reading and stays with you in unexpected ways,” wrote Tiffany, who gave “Of Ashes and Dust” five stars on Amazon. Even the lone one-star reviewer, Avid Reader, had something positive to say: “An enjoyable read. Looking forward to finding out what happens next.”
“Of Ashes and Dust,” a dystopian thriller by U.S. Army veteran Ron Roman, is available from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. (Ron Roman)
The novel was decades in the making. Roman started writing it while he was teaching on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean in the 1990s, he told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday.
The main character — Vietnam veteran turned New England college professor Will Watson — is based on veterans Roman has known, he said.
The alternative history set at the turn of the millennium should appeal to anyone with an interest in suspense and mystery, he writes on his website — www.writerronroman.com.
“Those inclined to lean toward a plot bubbling with a military and apocalyptic undercurrent, would enjoy this tale of mesmerizing and gut-retching intrigue: PTSD, betrayal of fellow militia comrades, combat veteran alienation, government conspiracy, secret vigilantism,” he wrote. “Also, I always had a deeply ingrained interest in UFOs, and the U.S. Government’s conspiracy of silence about them.”
Current events provide some of the ideas for Roman’s work, he said.
“I pretty much wing it,” he said of his writing technique, which includes listing his characters and thinking about the emotions they are experiencing.
Great American novelists such as William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald are inspirations, he said.
Roman moonlights as an actor in South Korean films and television shows. He played Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Forrest Sherman opposite Hollywood star Liam Neeson as Gen. Douglas MacArthur in the 2016 South Korean film “Operation Chromite” about the Incheon landings.
“Of Ashes and Dust” entertained former Marine and retired Defense Department civilian George Whitfield, of Seoul.
“It kept my interest,” Whitfield, who came to South Korea in 1986 and worked for the Army as a civilian until 2004, told Stars and Stripes by phone Wednesday. “It tied together generations from the Vietnam War up to the millennium.”
Roman also produced a book of poetry — “A Poetic Rhapsody of the Soul” — and submitted a manuscript to publishers for a children’s story about a lost racoon-like dog.
“The Journey,” a short story about an American combat veteran lost in a time warp, is available free on Roman’s website, he said.
