West from the Fallen Wall

From debut author Ryan Lucas Henderson comes West from the Fallen Wall, a collection of short stories set in Europe, just before coronavirus and the Russian invasion of Ukraine—just before the post-Cold War era changed forever.

“And when my generation grows old and passes away, the memories of Pax Americana in Europe will pass away too. But at least there will be this book.”

— Ben Braddock, author of the book’s introduction

One almost never plans to ram a car through a makeshift barricade at a military training area, but Croatian First Lieutenant Kovač hadn’t expected to find himself between a U.S. Army live-fire exercise and a sleepy, Croatian village, either. Neither had a young, American paratrooper imagined he’d join an eccentric band of retired, Italian mountain soldiers on a hidden trail through the southern Alps. Nor, of course, was explosives expert Colonel Anderson prepared to team up with a group of archaeologists for an excavation in Normandy, much less prepared for what they'd find.

Nor did most Americans expect their country to station soldiers in Europe decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union. When vets return home from Europe, their countrymen, some surprised, some sneering, some earnest, some thumping their chests, often ask, “What’s the U.S. military doing in Europe, anyway?” There are as many answers to that question as there are soldiers and civilians. Here are nine stories. They’re fiction, and they’re a start.