Berkeley, CA: El Leon Literary Arts, 2009. SIGNED first edition - The true softcover first edition of the author's first novel, a highly praised and powerful picture of the Vietnam War, based on Marlantes' own experiences as a young Marine, one which reveals the complexities of combat, camaraderie, and sacrifice during war. Sticker on back cover noting that this "was edited and printed prior to the hardcover edition published by Atlantic Monthly." Marlantes talked about his difficulties in getting this published over the decades when it was consistently rejected as 'unpublishable' because no one cared about Vietnam any more. "El Leon exists with the purpose of getting grants for literature so they can produce a small run - in my case, 1200 copies - so the author has a chance of breaking into a more commercial market... My friend mentioned Matterhorn to Tom, who told him - reluctantly I'm sure - to send it to his senior editor, Kit Duane. I thought it was crazythis is a book about Marines in Vietnam, a war setting, and you want me to send it to a woman in Berkeley, California? But Kit loved the book. At the same time, my wife had the idea of entering it into a Barnes & Noble first novel contest. . . They pushed it up the line to the top at Barnes & Noble, who were going to make it a Discover Great New Writers pick. But they knew if they did it would overwhelm El Leon. 1200 copies wouldn't be enough. So they took it to the New York publishers, and Grove Atlantic jumped right on it. They became a co-publisher with El Leon." An undisclosed number of these El Leon copies were released SIGNED by Marlantes.