About American Andarte
American Andarte will launch on January 30, 2026. It’s a long book, roughly 430 pages, minus endnotes, photographs, bibliography, maps, and an acronym key. I apologize to anyone expecting the industry standard 230-page issue. It’s a big story to tell.
The first part of the book will introduce you to Stavros, the protagonist, and his family. It’s 1957, and the family is parsing an obligation of honor carried forward from a generation before. When Stavros returns to his home, his thoughts and the storyline flash back to World War II. Stavros is a babe in arms during the first book of the series, The Greek Boxer. When Pearl Harbor strikes, he’s of military age but deferred because of his teaching position at Park College in Kansas City, Missouri. He relinquishes his deferment and enlists in a special US Army unit called the Greek Battalion.
Stavros is off to training, first in the Greek Battalion, then as an Office of Strategic Services (OSS) commando. You can easily access the sources in my notes and bibliography, documenting this section. The government kept OSS operations in Greece during World War II top secret until recently. Also, only a few OSS veterans wrote or spoke about their experience. You’ll find these sources listed in the bibliography. Thus, their training in the US Army, OSS, and transport to theater is largely nonfiction.
Speaking of nonfiction, American Andarte backgrounds the reader in events that happened before the Americans arrived in theater in 1944. The Greeks began resisting following the Italian invasion of 1940. The Greek army and andartes defeated the Italians, pushed them back into Albania, and that’s why the Germans came to the Italians’ rescue in the spring of 1941. British commandos parachuted into Greece in the fall of 1942 and began operations and coordination with local andartes. They were successful in critical sabotage missions and political juggling among the Greeks well before the Americans arrived. Most importantly, for American Andarte, the two British commanders, Eddie Myers and Christopher Woodhouse, wrote compelling books about their time in Greece. Amazing stories.
Once Stavros and his Operational Group (OG) land in Greece, the story moves on two axes. The first is military, how the OG operates, how they coordinate with the local andartes, tactics, weapons, and strategy. The fictional missions in the book are composites of real-life missions. The second storyline is more personal. It is less about Stavros the leader and more about Stavros the man. The Americans work with the Greek andartes, led by a captivating woman named Dimitra. Slowly, perhaps awkwardly, a relationship develops between the two leaders, two very different people with unique backgrounds. The story of Dimitra illustrates much about the role of women in Greece during the occupation. Dimitra and Stavros are both educated, and their dialogue and relationship let the reader glimpse a complex world.
And here’s a note on the dialogue, especially the common usage dialogue among the Greek locals and andartes. It may seem stilted, but the style of speech comes straight from the two books by Woodhouse and Myers, who captured the Greek informalities and idioms, and I trust the reader will catch on.
The ending, well, you can judge for yourself. Please remember that there are two more books in the series: Wolf Pelt and Fifty-Seven. – SJ Hantzis
