The only year in history that professional golf canceled its season was the same year that a unit of the US Army took over and occupied a golf course near Hollywood, California. The year was 1943, the unit was the 170^th Field Artillery Battalion, the place was the El Rancho Golf Course in Los Angeles, and I combined these recently discovered facts of history into the setting for my first novel, Shooting an Albatross (Genre-era fiction).

An Army general challenges an admiral in the Navy to play an unauthorized round of golf but, due to their inabilities at playing the game, both commanders agree to partner with the best player each can find in his own branch of the military. The general chooses Evan Wilkins, and the private from McCall, Idaho, described as athletic, handsome, quiet, and confident, is then relieved from artillery duty so he can prepare for the big game. He is given the entire month of August, 1943 to practice alone on the big empty golf course. Evan is, however, never alone.

The mansions bordering the back side of the golf course belong to Hollywood film industry moguls, one of whom is the father of Amanda Nichols. When Amanda meets Evan, she introduces him to the life of opulence—one lacking nothing at a time in the war when everything lacks—and she secretly joins him on daily practices alone on the golf course. What they practice, though, is much more than golf. Their wartime romance could last forever, and might have, except for the mental instability of Evan’s commanding officer, Major Floyd Akerly.

Floyd’s annoyance with Evan’s golf privileges starts as a flicker of frustration. When he is told he cannot give orders to his private, Floyd adds the fuel of offense. Once he understands that Evan is allowed to play golf while Floyd and the rest of the men spend their days training for the upcoming fight in Europe, Floyd burns with the uncontrolled rage of a wild fire. At a next-door dinner party at Amanda’s home, where Evan is honored by over one-hundred dinner guests, Floyd discovers his need for the ultimate fuel for his anger. Jealousy for Amanda incinerates his sanity.

The golf game is played on the last day of August, 1943. Among the spectators are newsmen from Los Angeles, film industry executives, members of the UCLA golf team, actors, actresses, soldiers, sailors, and everyone longing for golf during its war year of silence. No one noticed until it was too late, however, that Floyd was nowhere to be seen. By the time he appears on the final hole of the game, it is too late. Floyd acts. Surrounded in the middle of the eighteenth fairway, Floyd is caught and beaten, the general tears the rank insignia from his uniform, and two MPs drag him to where they lock him in a makeshift stockade—right there on the golf course. Floyd is left alone in his cell with nothing more to do than think about getting his revenge.

Following the golf tournament, Evan and Amanda spend their final night together alone out on the golf course, where Evan proposes. They plan to marry the moment he returns from Europe. Unfortunately, Evan and his battalion depart the El Rancho so quickly that he never gets the opportunity to say goodbye to Amanda. Fortunately or unfortunately, he goes without leaving her alone.

As relief against heartache, loneliness, and uncertainty, Evan writes countless letters to Amanda. She does the same to him, but he never receives a single reply. Fifteen months after leaving the golf course, the 170^th departs Pier 90 in New York for the war in Europe. To understand why he is receiving no mail from Amanda, Evan enlists the help of his battery’s mail runner. Down deep in the battleship’s mail room, the runner discovers the demoted Floyd with a box full of Amanda’s stolen letters. Floyd surprises the runner with the darkest side of his soul.

The battalion reaches the continent where it experiences its first two combat losses in France, on the same day, and as a result of artillery coordinates that were delivered to the gun crews by the exact same runner—the demoted Floyd Akerly. Is there such a thing as friendly fire murder?

To shoot an Albatross is, on a golf course, to shoot something as rare as it is beautiful—a double eagle. Alternatively, when you shoot an albatross, you hit a sea bird or, worse yet, a person or thing that greatly hinders your achievement. An albatross is shot, but which of the three? why? and by whom? The answers are found with intrigue, suspense, mystery, romance, a touch of comedy, the game of golf, and a recently discovered history near Hollywood. They’re found in my first novel, Shooting an Albatross.