I don't even know where to start with this one.

A few days ago I got a message from a guy named Daniel C. Now, I don't know Daniel personally. He's not fire service. No family in the fire department. He's just a guy who picked up On the Hook off Amazon because he thought it might be interesting.

Here's what he told me: he wasn't prepared for it.

He thought he was getting some stories about a fireman. Instead, he said he got the laughter — the jokes, the camaraderie, the stupid stuff we did to stay sane. And then he hit the chapters about the X on the asphalt. Life and death. The stuff that changes you, whether you want it to or not.

He told me the book changed the way he looks at firefighters and first responders. Not as a headline. As people.

Then Daniel did something that honestly kind of stopped me in my tracks. He said leaving a 5-star review didn't feel like enough.

He's a younger guy, messing around with AI and content creation, and he took the time to put together a little video clip about the book — as his way of saying thank you, and as his way of telling other people, "hey, if you want something that'll make you laugh, make you cry, bring back memories, or just remind you how precious life is… this is worth your time."

He sent it to me and said, "You can use it if you want, or not. I just wanted you to have it."

Let me be real about something. When I wrote this book, part of it was selfish. I thought maybe someday a grandkid of mine might wonder, "What was it like when Grandpa Bill was a fireman back in the day? What kind of crazy stuff did they do? What did it do to him?" And I wanted those answers on paper, in my own words.

I never imagined a complete stranger — a guy with zero connection to this life — would read it and feel like he owed me something. That's backwards. If anything, I owe him.

Daniel, thank you, brother. You have no idea what that message meant. And to everyone else — this isn't my sales pitch, it's his. Watch the clip, and if it hits you the way it hit him, the book is on Amazon. Link below.

[Amazon link] https://www.amazon.com/HOOK.../dp/B0G7D2FYNT/ref=sr_1_1...

[Daniel's video]

#OnTheHook #LAFD #FirefighterStories #FirstResponders #memoirwriter

@followersBill Siemantel's Big Bass Zone