WRITER STARTS IN MILITARY, ENDS UP FAMOUS

SIKESTON -- It's a warm May day, but not too warm, and author Robert Vaughan sits on the back porch of his old, brick home near downtown Sikeston.

He receives guests there, cordless phone in hand should publishing or production company execs call. His pace is calm and comfortable -- an interview with Vaughan is more like a chat between acquaintances.

The 58-year-old writer prefers his small-town life to the big-city jet-setting of some of his peers. Thirteen years ago, he told an interviewer he had 80 "good sellers" under his belt. Now Vaughan won't even estimate how many books he has written and sold.

"Just say lots," he said. "I find it counterproductive to tell people how many books I've written. Then they want to know why they haven't heard of me and why I'm not rich and famous."

Even if people haven't heard of Robert Vaughan, they may know him by one of 31 pen names. His forte is historical fiction, and anyone who regularly looks through a bookstore's paperback section is bound to find one of his titles.

He got his start penning training manuals for the U.S. Army. It was Vaughan's knack for writing that eventually lead to his 1972 discharge -- some of the officers parodied in one of his books about Vietnam took offense.

He credits his remarkable productivity to discipline in writing. Every day he isn't on the road speaking or promoting his books, he sits at his computer from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

"I don't have any discipline in anything else, but I'm a disciplined writer," Vaughan said.

Currently, he has six books in print under his real name and two more coming out soon. Among the titles are "The Iron Curtain," "Yesterday's Reveille" and "Legacy."

His book "Survival" won a Golden Spur award in 1995.

"The Flower Children," a story dealing with Vietnam and other issues of that era, will be out in two weeks. "Texas Glory," which deals with the state's revolution, will be out in September.

Perhaps his best-known current book is "Andersonville," which was also a TNT mini-series in March. It deals with a Georgia prisoner-of-war camp for Union soldiers in the Civil War.

"The fiction is in that there are characters who are not real and they do things that didn't happen," Vaughan said, "But it is set against the very factual background of the prison and its conditions."

He will be at Barnes & Noble at 3 p.m. Saturday to sign copies of the book.

Vaughan also writes screenplays, including "Colorado's Raid." The movie, set for theatrical release, will star Robert Mitchum and Dale Robertson as two feuding grandfathers who join forces to rescue their granddaughter. Filming is under way south of San Antonio, Texas.

Vaughan has a small part in the film -- as a "crusty old cook on the range" who utters 13 lines before he is killed. He will film them in June.

"I only had three lines until I learned I got the part," he said. "And I intend to die gloriously. The audience will be moved to tears."