A bleg for a former Marine and fellow author

Jonathan LaForce is a former Marine and current Army National Guardsman living in Ogden, Utah.  He’s also a part-time author.  Here’s his bio from a short story about his war experiences that you’ll find on Baen Books’ web site.

Jonathan LaForce is a Utah Army National Guardsman and former USMC Field Artilleryman. He prefers 1911s, listening to Elvis, playing Blood Angels in Warhammer 40K, and reading Rudyard Kipling to his infant son for bedtime stories. His wife says he needs more therapy; he says he needs more Dr Pepper and .45 ammo. They have yet to agree. He is currently completing his education at Utah State university.

There’s more at the link, including his short story, which I recommend to you.

He’s trying to set up a truck-based barbecue business to support his family and himself while he continues to write part-time.  He calls it the Aloha Snack Bar (and if that reminds you, phonetically, of a common phrase from the area where he served, that’s hardly surprising).

Here’s a snippet from his Kickstarter campaign.

Create a BBQ food truck that not only serves plate lunches, but provides catering and e-commerce upon request.  We always think of barbecue as being something that only happens in the summer.  I intend to prove otherwise – I barbecue year round, rain, snow or shine, and I think people want barbecue all year.  It’s just a matter of where to get it. 

. . .

In the long-term, after enough capital has been raised, I intend to:

1. Start an e-commerce based business which operates 5 days a week year-round, in a properly outfitted warehouse, shipping items such as rib racks and matambre rolls to customers in the Continental US; 
2. Open a second branch of the Aloha Snack Bar in Texas, serving the Midwest and Southern US.

The funding I receive now is to help defray the cost of starting my business, as well as support my family.  I had to walk out of my last job due to severe depression brought on by the job.  I worked 55+ hours a week for over 7 months to try and provide for my family.  I can’t keep doing so in that fashion without risking further injuring myself.  Now I mean to work for myself and make money doing what I love – cooking quality barbecue that makes you want to come back.  All day, every day.

There’s more at the link.

Although we haven’t (yet) met in meatspace, I consider Jonathan a friend in cyberspace, partly through shared friends, partly through our shared membership of the combat veterans’ club, and partly because I like his writing (what I’ve read of it so far).  Miss D. and I are going to back his Kickstarter campaign, because we’d like to see him make a great start to his business venture.  We thoroughly approve of someone trying to stand on his own two feet, working hard to make a living rather than relying on government handouts and living as a parasite on society.

May I appeal to you, dear readers (particularly the military veterans among you) to please support Jonathan LaForce in this venture?  The campaign runs until August 29th, so time is limited.  He’s raised a third of his objective of $15,000, and I’d love to see all of us work together to help him get the rest of the way to his goal.

Thanks in advance.

Peter