Author Wes Oleszewski Releases Second Edition Of 'Apollo, Part 1'
There has understandably been a lot of interest in the Apollo program leading up to the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing in 1969. Aero-News has a unique resource to provide insight into all things space-related in the person of author Wes Oleszewski who, along with being the creator of the 'Klyde Morris' cartoons which appear twice each week on our website is also our Spaceflight Analyst. It may seem an odd combination, but it works for us.
We recently chatted with Wes about his book, “Apollo Part One.” Wes, let’s get into it.
Wes: Works for me, I’m always up for shameless self-promotion.
Aero-News: And we’re just the guys to do it. First off is this a new book?
Wes: No, actually it’s a second edition of one of the books that I wrote in the “Growing up with Spaceflight” 6-book series. I had it re-edited and re-formatted, added a few new tidbits and then had the publisher, Elite Online Publications, do a new cover.
Aero-News: Seems like a lot of work for a second edition.
Wes: Well, we timed the release to coincide with the wave of re-kindled Apollo fever. I couldn’t afford to have all six books re-done, so this volume got the nod because it covers Apollos 1 through 13 and would fit in with the public’s renewed interest.
Aero-News: This isn’t actually what I’d expect for a book about Apollo.
Wes: That’s right. My previous books have nearly all been written as historical narratives. I think that the best way to teach history is through narrative. I have a reputation for digging out the most obscure facts and placing them in context. Deep research is my thing and readers seem to love it.
Aero-News: Previous books? How many have you written?
Wes: 24 in total since 1990 and I’m working on numbers 25 and 26 right now.
Aero-News: All on spaceflight?
Wes: No, actually I have 18 on Great Lakes history- shipwrecks, lighthouses and World War II, and these 6 books on spaceflight plus one novel.
Aero-News: That’s a lot of writing.
Wes: Well, I sort of cheated the clock on the spaceflight books. I wrote the entire series, Mercury, Gemini, Apollo Part One, Apollo Part Two, Skylab/ASTP and Space Shuttle concurrently. Plus I wrote my 16th shipwreck book at the same time. That way if I got bored with Gemini I could turn to doing some Apollo and when that got dull I’d write about the Shuttle and when I got tired of space I’d write about the shipwrecks. In all I wrote 7 books in about three and a half years and saw them all published in a two year period.
Aero-News: That’s pretty amazing.
Wes: Not for me. When I boasted to my wife that I was going to have 7 books published in two years, she just shrugged and said “So what?” It’s just me going AD/HD.
Aero-News: Okay, give our readers an idea of what this book is like between the covers.
Wes: I wanted to approach the subject quite differently and rather than reading about the space program from the point of view of someone who was hands-on and on the inside, I put it into the perspective of those of us who were kids growing up in that era.
Aero-News: So it’s a kid’s point of view.
Wes: Actually it’s my own point of view as the always out the school room window kid who is captivated by the space program and inspired to actually learn about it. That’s the vehicle upon which the facts and details ride, so as the reader is following this kid along, they are also learning about the hardware and mission facts.
Aero-News: Sounds like me.
Wes: That is the exact comment that I hear all the time. Readers tell me “I did that too!” or “Our TV was just like that!”
Aero-News: So you know you’ve hit the target.
Wes: Right. One of the best things I heard was from the wife of one of the rocket nuts in my model rocket club. She bought the book just to have something to read while her husband ripped holes in the sky. Half way through she told me that when she reads the book she “…hears the voice of that guy who narrated that TV show, The Wonder Years (Daniel Stern)…” That knocked me out.
Aero-News: Tell us again… which missions are in this book?
Wes: It covers Apollo’s 1 through 13.
Aero-News: And what ages is this intended for?
Wes: 10 through 99. Although Cernan’s Apollo 10 “Son of a bitch” is in there it’s all pretty clean. I also avoid the personal lives of the astronauts and controllers. I don’t do tell-all books, I do historical narratives.
Aero-News: Will we find anything new in there?
Wes: Oh yes, I had four guys, huge space historians and researchers do the proofreading, and each one found at least one piece of solid history that they didn’t know before. So, if you are a raving space geek or just someone whose interest has been re-kindled lately, this is a book for you.
Aero-News: I hear some shameless self-promotion.
Wes: Yeah, notice how I just slipped that in there.
Aero-News: Since we’re on that track- where can our readers find “Apollo Part One?”
Wes: It’s on Amazon and IngramSpark. It’s in both print and kindle. If you go to Amazon and click on “Books” all you have to do is search “Oleszewski” and most of my work comes up. I’m the only Oleszewski in there.
Aero-News: Thanks for being here Wes and I hope our readers will check out “Apollo Part One.”
Wes: I hope so too… my daughter’s in orthodontia and I need the money.
(Images provided by the Author)
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