Never Get Off The Train

This novel is a semi-fictional account of the war in Ukraine, during the early months of the conflict in March, April, June, July, and August 2022. In all honesty, ninety-nine percent of the people and events that are depicted are based on real encounters! Although it may sound fantastic, the stories surrounding these occurrences did happen! The attitudes of many of the Ukrainians are genuine, as I witnessed! The descriptions of the craziness and abstract behaviour of some of the principal foreign and Ukrainian characters is authentic! The utilisation of any form of literary license resided in the creative need to thread the 'reality' of all my experiences into an engaging, yet faithful storyline. The names and some of the places have been altered to protect many of the Ukrainians and foreign volunteers still fighting for the Ukrainian homeland as well as for OPSEC (operational security) reasons. It is also for the protection of the gallant volunteers who returned home.

The sole intention of this book is to illustrate untold aspects of the fight against Russian tyranny through the eyes of a volunteer who travelled from distant Australia to a country at war, thousands of kilometres away in Europe. I have endeavoured to truthfully describe the people I came into contact with, the opinions I discovered and a remarkable side of the war that certainly wasn't being articulated in the mainstream media narrative. For this, I make no apologies for any outlandish comments or positive or negative scenarios that have been vividly presented, as this was my Ukrainian war experience - warts and all! No doubt, discerning and thoughtful academics will eventually compose lengthy treatises on the Russo-Ukrainian War, but I hope this novel will also assist with the construction of a complete and therefore, 'total history' of the bloody clash between Russia and Ukraine and, if nothing else, provide the reader with a uniquely informative and compelling insight into such a bloody and senseless conflict!

Vince Craig