“Creeping Shadows” by Swede Hastings is now available for purchase

AR Press is honored to publish “Creeping Shadows” by Swede Hastings. This book is dedicated to all veterans. The book is now available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and the ARPress website.

The son of John and Viola Hastings, author Swede Hastings was born in 1941 in the small town of Roseburg, Oregon. In his early years, the family moved to the western part of the United States, following the fruit and work available. His family later returned to Roseburg and bought a small farm.

In 1958, Swede joined the US Navy. The next year, there was a major explosion in the city of Roseburg, devastating the town. Swede, age 18, received emergency leave to help his family. While on leave, an accidental hunting tragedy resulted in his 15-year-old brother’s death. Due to the emotional trauma he was suffering, Swede was institutionalized in California, where he had relived details of the accident. It was this tragedy that inspired him to write his first poem, Creeping Shadows.

Once released from the hospital, Swede found that keeping busy kept his mind off the accident. Throughout the different highs and lows of his life, Swede would turn to words as an outlet. As with his first poem, the page seemed to hold the answers for dealing with things in a way that was too emotional to confront any other way.

Swede feels that there is a time and place for each thought to be expressed, and we all have our unique individual ways of expressing our feelings. Since accepting the Lord, Swede believes that the best is yet to come.

“Creeping Shadows” is a collection of poems. With a very special appreciation for the simpler things in life come these poems. Great values were gained from the most wonderful parents any human could have. The author’s dad and mom gave him a precious, memorable, and unequaled childhood filled with love and sensitivity, which is a rare find. They were truly example-givers. Any and all shortcomings throughout his life were because of his own foolishness.

His folks were simple, honest, and hardworking people. They not only gave of themselves, but no one around them would ever have a reason to go hungry or without. They were always helping the less fortunate. In his earlier years, whether living in a fruit picker’s shed or sharing a tent together, there was always a lot of laughter or music around the campfire after working in the cotton, potato, or onion fields.

The poems in this book are collected from dreams, stories told, his experiences, trials, and his own personal perception of life, nature, or family matters, be it heartbreak from the loss of a loved one, the songs of a bird, or the smell of the fir, pine, or juniper. Then, as the years passed, the collection of poems grew. From 1959 to date, more have been burned than saved. As circumstances changed in his life, he found no reason to keep certain poems.

“Creeping Shadows” by Swede Hastings is now available for purchase via ARPress Bookstore:https://authorreputationpress.com/bookstore/creeping-shadows/.