Author Dan Mulvagh is pleased to announce that his historical novel, Ballot: When Fate Called Their Name, has received the Literary Titan Book Award, recognizing the book’s compelling storytelling, vivid sense of time and place, and emotionally resonant exploration of fate, loyalty, and identity.
Set in 1969 against the backdrop of the Vietnam War, Ballot: When Fate Called Their Name opens with a moment that changes everything: Australia’s conscription lottery. Birth dates are drawn, and the lives of four young men are abruptly redirected from ordinary dreams into extraordinary danger. Mitch Masters, a rising motorcycle speedway talent; Jay Petrovitch, the son of Russian refugees; Greg Sunderland, a dentistry school dropout and aspiring rock musician; and Kiwi, a New Zealand construction worker, are sent from Sydney’s inner suburbs into the war-ravaged jungles of Vietnam, where combat, politics, and survival collide.
As the story moves beyond the battlefield, it confronts the unsettling aftershocks of war and the rumors that haunted Australian veterans for decades: whispers of prisoners of war allegedly shipped to the Soviet Union, and official denials that only fueled suspicion. The novel spans continents and decades, tracing fractured lives through the moral fog of war, political duplicity, and the enduring weight of unanswered questions. It asks what mateship can survive, and what allegiance means, when history offers no clean endings.
In a recent author interview, Mulvagh shared that the story’s premise is rooted in lived experience. As a teenager in Sydney, he sat with friends and watched birth dates drawn from the conscription ballot. His date was not called, but a friend’s was. That moment, and the divisive era surrounding it, stayed with him. Years later, the memories returned unexpectedly while traveling in Vietnam and seeing remnants of the war that brought the past sharply into focus.
In its review, Literary Titan praised the novel for its immediate, visceral opening, its grounded depiction of training and jungle patrols, and its confident voice. The review highlights the book’s “plain and punchy” prose and strong dialogue, noting how the story sustains tension from Vietnam combat to later Cold War intrigue while keeping the characters’ camaraderie and moral complexity at the center.
Ballot: When Fate Called Their Name is available now. Order your copy on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and discover the award-winning novel that brings the Vietnam era to life while confronting the questions that followed so many soldiers home.
About the Author
Dan Mulvagh is an author based in Auckland, known for rollicking, historically grounded novels that entertain, inspire, and keep pages turning. Born in Cornwall, England, and raised on the Channel Island of Guernsey, he relocated to New Zealand as a teenager and has spent much of his life traveling internationally for business and pleasure, including time living in Australia, Hong Kong, and Papua New Guinea. A self-described lifelong daydreamer and storyteller, Mulvagh draws on real experiences and historical fact to craft character-driven narratives, often with military themes and moral complexity. He lives on the rural fringe of Auckland with his wife, surrounded by native trees and birds, and remains dedicated to writing high-quality fiction that engages readers and sparks reflection long after the final page.
Media Contact
Company Name: Literary Titan
Contact Person: Dan Mulvagh
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Country: New Zealand
Website: https://www.danmulvaghauthor.com/
