Military Author Receives National Recognition Through the Eighth Annual Indie Excellence Awards

NEW BERN, N.C. - May 20, 2014 - PRLog -- The Eighth Annual National Indie Excellence Awards recognized The Unbeliever by Zachary J. Kitchen of New Bern, North Carolina in the cross-genre category as a finalist.

This national award, based in Los Angeles, CA is open to all English language books in print.

The competition is judged by experts from all aspects of the book industry, including publishers, writers, editors, book cover designers and professional copywriters. They select award winners and finalists based on overall excellence.

The Unbeliever is a novel about Major Max Bradley, a Marine veteran, back from Iraq, missing his leg, and settling down to the life of a hermit along coastal North Carolina. Even the Marine Corps, the only thing that mattered to him, thanked him for his service and sent him on his way. Feeling abandoned, left adrift and without purpose, scotch and oxycontin became his only friends. He only just exists, caught between pain and despair, until one night his world and his perceived place in that world are turned upside down.

A call for help snaps him out of his drug laden fog and a chance midnight rescue brings him together with the woman who will pull him out of himself and will show him that he is more powerful than he has ever imagined.

The Portland Book Review recently stated, “The Unbeliever is a tale that readers will enjoy and remember. Fans of the genre should know that there are great vampire stories still available.”

“We are so proud to announce the winners,” said awards sponsor Ellen Reid. “These books will be a favorite on bookshelves for years and years to come.”

About the Author

Zack Kitchen has had a diverse life to say the least. The third son of ten children in a poor farming family, he found that there was no money for college so, at the age of 17, he enlisted in the Marine Corps. A year later he earned an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. After graduating with a B.S. in English Literature from the Academy, he went to flight school and flew for the Navy for five years as an NFO. After fulfilling his active duty obligation, Zack received a Navy scholarship to attend medical school and graduated from the University of Michigan School of Medicine in 2000. He trained at the Walter Reed Medical Center and the Bethesda National Naval Medical Center for internship, residency, and fellowship. His training completed, Zack deployed to Iraq with a Forward Resuscitative Surgical System team and, often under fire, gave life and limb saving surgical and resuscitative treatment to American military, allied military, civilians, and enemy combatants alike. He holds the Combat Medic Badge from the Army and the Combat Action Ribbon from the Marines.