From a jumble of WWII images and ephemera came THE TAIL GUNNER, a story lifetimes in the making.

On March 1st, 2014, not only will I be launching a crowd-funded campaign for the publication of my debut novel THE TAIL GUNNER, I will begin posting “Mission 31” a set of 31 blog entries that make up the backstory of THE TAIL GUNNER. This “supernatural-historic-mystery” is loosely based on the WWII experiences of my father, Keith B. Lile. He was a tail gunner in the European Theater who flew 59 missions and lived to talk about it. Actually, he never really talked about the war and never seemed to want to. But three years after he died, my sister and I found a box stuffed with his wartime treasures while cleaning out the hayloft of our horse barn. I’ve spent years researching the collection and piecing together where Dad was when. As a result of those adventures, THE TAIL GUNNER became a work of fiction that asks, “What if we could tap the memories of spirits close to us?”

This idea and years of intensive research gave birth to the story that is now the inaugural publication of Bering Street Studio. I urge you to follow the blog to see more of the KBL Family Collection and get the back stories on the many images that influenced and informed various characters and scenes in the book. If you liked the recent movie Monument Men and the classic novel Catch 22, then you’ll love THE TAIL GUNNER. Join us, and bring your friends, on “Mission 31” a behind-the-scenes look at a story lifetimes in the making.