Richard Crasta, Author

The story is told in EATEN BY THE JAPANESE, which is now also available in paperback from amazon.com and as an e-book from many different platforms. The joy of seeing my father do this (yes, I was the photographer): That's my father on the left, and he is signing the first edition. (The new paperback, with this photograph, is the third edition). The book is available at: www.amazon.com/Eaten-Japanese-Memoir-Indian-Prisoner/dp/1480034053/ and more links here: http://richardcrasta.com/products/eaten-by-the-japanese/

At last, a web site that doesn't look like Baghdad or Fallujah after Donald Ducksfeld, I mean, Rumsfeld was done with it: for years, I was stuck with a godawful mess that claimed to be my web site. I have no web design capabilities, and could not afford a professional designer. Until I met Frits Mulder of Cambodesign (frits@cambodesign.com) who has come up with a gorgeous design, and did it purely out of his humanity and the goodness of his heart. http://www.richardcrasta.com Of course, as it's new, there are still more than a few things to do to make it better and worth your time. Please don't hesitate to write to me, at the contact form on the website, telling me of any problems that you encountered, or any suggestions to improve the site. I now have access to the Wordpress software for running the site; it is mega-easy and smart, compared to the FrontPage that I was using all this time. God bless Wordpress. (I mean "God" as a figure of speech: goodness, ...

Not many people understand how tough it is to be a writer on the edge of survival with seven serious books in progress. Many offer me free advice. But here is a link to a post by a creative soul who expresses how complicated it all is: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/making_things Of my many challenges, one is finding the right covers for my books, and getting people to comment on which they like better, or getting people to leave reviews for my books. This spectacular cover, for example: in addition to the artist's effort, it took nearly 2 months for us to get it right; it was also partly the resulte of my insistence on a high standard of quality, and the designer's (Chandan Crasta, no relative) understanding and talent: It is the HarperCollins India version, one of around 15 covers in existence (unfortunately, I did not receive permission to use the design on my other editions). So it goes.

Wishing my readers a Happy Diwali, and here's some news from my side: I just completed two long-planned, semi-completed projects yesterday and today: 1. Published a new paperback of EATEN THE JAPANESE: THE MEMOIR OF AN UNKNOWN INDIAN PRISONER OF WAR, a World War story: a picture of events that have received little publicity. It is available for purchase on Createspace right away, here: https://www.createspace.com/4014767 and on Amazon here: www.amazon.com/Eaten-Japanese-Memoir-Indian-Prisoner/dp/1480034053/ It is the latest edition (with some corrections, extra explanations), of a book that was praised by General V.P. Malik, Khushwant Singh, and others . The second piece of news is a book I also have waited to complete and publish for 8 .5 years. It is a short, short book, but meant for a special audience (and a small one), so needs to be priced accordingly, and is:  I wish you good luck on Diwali and for the new year, and hope you will both consider these books, a...