The Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers Story is a series of stories by Jack B. Rochester, who has made them available as free digital audiobooks.
The Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers Story: Book 1
Wild Blue Yonder is the coming-of-age story of Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers, a smart but sheltered boy from suburban Chicago whose beloved father suddenly dies, resulting in his flunking out of college. Nate receives a draft notice from the Army but after some “encouragement” from his mother, decides to enlist in the Air Force instead. It is 1965. Nate is 20 years old. Airman Flowers goes not to Vietnam but Germany, straight into a military Catch-22. His assignment: writing stories as a reporter for the Stars and Stripes newspaper which will never see print. Nate's adventure deepens as he and his fellow troops try to understand why they're there, the military mindset, and the massive social turbulence of 1960s America. Existential, psychedelic, funny, and laced with rock 'n' roll, Wild Blue Yonder is the story of Nate's quest for personal and spiritual values while discovering the meaning of family, friendship, and the love of the girl he left behind.
The Nathaniel Hawthorne Flowers Story: Book 2
It's 1969 and Nate is out of the Air Force and back in California, in the arms of Jane Chandler, the girl he left behind. Pretty, high-spirited, and totally in love with Nate, Jane takes him back to college with her, the University of California at Santa Cruz, one of the hippest campuses in the country. At first, Nate follows what seems like a set path: college, becoming a good citizen. But it doesn't take long before he sees the system for what it is. And he doesn't like it.
The times are rife with sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, and before long Nate is immersed in all three. Standing at the opposite perspective is Professor Gerald Iron Moccasin, who wants Nate as his student and is willing to stop at nothing to make that happen, and Jane's father Will, who wants a decent, upright man to marry his daughter.
Caught up in all this is Nate, who has only two interests: how much he loves Jane and how badly he wants to be a writer.