Event to honor Charles Jones for his award-winning book, 'Chopper Blues'

NACOGDOCHES, TEXAS - The SFA Press will honor Charles D. Jones and his award-winning book, "Chopper Blues," at a reception at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 17, at The Fredonia Hotel on the patio.

"Chopper Blues" is winner of the 2013 International Book Award for History: Military and the Texas Association of Authors 2013 First Place in Autobiography.

Jones' "Chopper Blues," published by SFA Press in 2012, is an award-winning illustrated memoir of first combat experiences in Vietnam of the men of Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th U.S. Marine Corps (Suicide Charley). The collection features Jones' account of early military action in Southeast Asia in writing, photography and art.

"The combination of all these observations creates an unforgettable portrait of the dark tragedy of war, the loss it incurs and the indelible memory its survivors carry forward into their lives," said Kimberley Verhines, director of the SFA Press. "Jones' sensitive immersion into this difficult work has rightly won the book an International Book Award for Military History and a Texas Authors Award for autobiography. "

Jones is professor emeritus in the School of Art at Stephen F. Austin State University, a Regents Professor and director and co-founder of the LaNana Creek Press in the College of Fine Arts.