The Shawn Ryan Show

Podbit · The Shawn Ryan Show

#317 Johnnie Clark - Surviving One of the Deadliest Jobs During the Vietnam War

Explore episode Jun 29, 2026
Arts
Guns Up!: A Publishing Miracle

#317 Johnnie Clark - Surviving One of the Deadliest Jobs Du… · Jun 29, 2026 Arts

Guns Up! was rejected by every publisher in America for over four years. Clark stripped all profanity as an act of faith. The morning after finishing the rewrite, Soldier of Fortune called about a story he'd submitted four years earlier — which had just 'turned up in the slush pile.' Then Eagle, then American Legion. Within one month, nine publishers wanted the book. Random House — the biggest in the world — bought it, then asked him to put the profanity back in. He refused. The book has been in print for 42 years.

16m 20s

Where this was said

The Miraculous Publication of Guns Up!

At 4:01:40 · chapter starts 3:35:00

The Guns Up! publication story is the episode's triumphant third act. After four years of wallpapering his rooftop writing office with rejection notices — including one from Pam Strickler at Random House who had actually read the manuscript — Clark was spiritually convicted by the verse 'for those who honor God, God will honor.' He and his wife Nancy popped champagne the night he finished the six-month profanity-free rewrite, declaring 'the anchor's off my back.' The next morning, Soldier of Fortune called about a story submitted four years earlier that had 'just turned up in the slush pile'. Three more magazines called with the same story and the same explanation within days. Nine publishers then competed for the book within a month. Random House acquired it, but Pam Strickler — who had rejected it a year earlier — asked Clark to restore the profanity, arguing no one would believe a Vietnam War book without it. Clark's reply: slim and none. The book has been in print 42 years, published in Lithuania, and still generates letters from soldiers whose families discovered how their fathers died.

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