The Legend of Ma Qui

The Legend of Ma Qui - The American Phantom of Vietnam is a historical novel of love, war, loss, faith and redemption. It tells the story of an American soldier who loses his love and his sanity in the killing fields of Vietnam. Will he recover his humanity, find love and defeat the assassins sent to kill him?

When First Lieutenant Hugh Jones, an American Infantry officer, and Captain Debbie Stittsworth, an Army nurse, meet in Vietnam, the mortar rounds and bullets are flying. Wishing only to do his job in Vietnam and go home, Jones finds himself in love with the spunky nurse. Her death, at the hands of the enemy, drives him to the verge of insanity and beyond. Ma Qui, the phantom, is born seeking revenge on those who took his love from him. His enemy tries to kill him on the battlefield and follows him home to America. He questions if a man can move on from loss and survive the horrors of war. Other women in his life: Chantell, a Viet Cong soldier, Margaret, a librarian in the Montana Historical Library, Doctor Francine Harder, an Army Psychiatrist and Mrs. Ethel Kimble, a World War II widow, seek to bring him peace even as he saves their lives. Along the way: he leads men in desperate battles, rages in the jungles of Vietnam as the feared American soldier, Ma Qui, saves several peoples lives, including that of President Richard Nixon, excels at the first Army Ranger School for General Creighton Abrams new Ranger Battalion, finds himself leading the life of a spy in North Vietnam and is himself buffeted by the storms of living as he thinks deep thoughts about his life, love and loss. But it isn't until the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that Jones finds the peace he has sought for a decade. He finally reconciles with his violent past when he returns to Vietnam, twenty years after his first trip to the embattled nation.

Len Hudson is a retired Army Captain. He spent the Vietnam years training artillerymen, many of whom fought in Vietnam. After active duty service, he completed his career in the Army Reserve and the Kansas Army National Guard. He served as the Executive Officer in the 971st Medical Company, the Commander of the 469th Medical Company and as a Fire Support Team Leader for the Field Artillery attached to the 35th Infantry Division. Len has spent most of his life in small town middle America raising a family, managing two careers, serving his community and writing. Much of his civilian career was spent honing his writing craft in Kansas newspapers. He retired as Publisher of the El Dorado Times and the Augusta Daily Gazette in 2007. Len and Sandy, his wife of 56 years, live in Augusta, Kansas. Since retiring, he spends much of his time on the golf course, either playing or teaching junior golfers, both sighted and sight challenged. In 2014, he was honored as Volunteer of The Year for his Service to The Envision Blind Golf Program. Other interests include grandchildren, travel, writing and reading. His first book, The Legend of Ma Qui, brings to life many of his Army friends and their experiences. "I really enjoyed writing Ma Qui because almost all of the named people in the book are real people in my life. I used their names and personalities and wove them into the story." It tells the story of a man, a woman, a war and the birth of a legend – The Legend of Ma Qui.