The events on which this novel is based took place in the South Pacific during World War II. The 200th Coast Artillery, a regiment of the New Mexico National Guard in the 1940s, was activated into the U. S. Army in January of 1941 and sent to the Philippines, where, along with thousands of Filipino troops and units from other American military groups, the men of the regiment were surrendered to the Japanese in April of 1942 by their commanding officer. After being forced as POWs to march their way to their camp of imprisonment in what was to become known as the infamous Bataan Death March, they were imprisoned for some two and a half years and subjected to horrific cruelty and inhumane treatment. Of the 1,841 men of the 200th who began the March, almost half, 819, wouldn’t survive imprisonment. During their imprisonment, 750 American POWs, many of them members of the 200th, were placed in the two holds of an unmarked Japanese ship for transport to Japan to work in factories or farms. The ship was soon torpedoed by an American submarine, believing it to be carrying Japanese troops. Of the 750 prisoners on board, only 82 survived the sinking. The prisoners who survived the brutalities during their imprisonment were a living testimony to human tenacity and the will to survive. Their story is one of triumph over adversity. It is a story of human frailty, strength, and forgiveness. There are some horrific experiences in life that cannot be softened without diminishing the lessons and values we take from them. Rudy Apodaca's historical novel, A Life Uninvited , is an illuminating and brutally honest rendition of the horror of war. Apodaca's account of the atrocities, indignities, indiscriminate deaths, human suffering and sheer terror experienced by his literary characters is overwhelming. The clear message from Apodaca's detailed account of the men who fought and were surrendered as prisoners of war at the battle of Bataan is that their story must be told just as it occurred if the commemoration of these courageous soldiers is to have a true and meaningful purpose. A Life Uninvited relates the story that its heroes were unable to express for themselves. God bless them, everyone!—Arturo L. Jaramillo, author of Conversations with Quijote and other anthologies of poetry published by Sunstone Press. Rudy Apodaca has done readers (and history) a service by writing an unblinking, highly readable, and well-researched novel about an important and terrible moment in our history. By presenting his protagonist both before his participation in the Bataan Death March and long afterward, as he confronts with his family the inner trauma caused by years of brutal and inhumane treatment as a prisoner under primitive conditions, he greatly enriches our understanding. Through Apodaca's vivid prose, we share the thoughts of the protagonist and the other prisoners and understand the incredible perseverance and strength demanded of them. The novel's narrative will move general readers, and the wealth of accurate detail will satisfy the experts.—Peter Goodman, newspaper columnist and author of The Moonlit Path . This is a marvelous novel, beginning with the account in the foreword of the Bataan Death March. Rudy Apodaca's exceptionally well-told story of a captured New Mexico national guardsman's struggle to survive the horrors of a Japanese prisoner of war camp in the Philippines, as well as the sinking of a torpedoed Japanese naval vessel by an American submarine during World War II. The narrative grips the reader early and refuses to let go until the end. --Bert Goolsby, Author of Sweet Potato Biscuits and Other Stories , published by Adams Press. Rudy Apodaca, a native of New Mexico, lives with his wife, Nancy, in Austin, Texas. A graduate of New Mexico State University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics, and of Georgetown University’s law school, with a Juris Doctorate degree, he began his career as a trial attorney, practicing for twenty-two years before serving as a judge on the New Mexico Court of Appeals for almost fourteen years, over two as Chief Judge. He is the author of four previous novels: The Waxen Image, Pursuit, A Rare Thing, and When the Angels Came, and many essays, most of which were published as commentaries in daily newspapers, the Austin American-Statesman, the San Antonio Express-News, and the Houston Chronicle. When not writing, he enjoys spending time with his wife, his four grown children, eight grandchildren, and a great-granddaughter. For additional information, please visit his website, www.rudyapodaca.com.