January 2026 Newsletter and Blog Post
I’ve often been asked, “Why do I write fiction instead of non-fiction?” It’s an understandable question, especially since it most often comes from my most prolific readers: active military, military veterans, and those in military families. I believe their questions arise from reading novels that are little more than pulp fiction war stories. Romanticizing combat is no better than romanticizing pornography. That is to say readers expect more facts and less sensationalism, but there’s more to it than that alone. In order to provide a better answer, I will reference another author, one of the first Americans to write about the combat experience using the format of the novel.
That author, Stephen Crane, was one of the first to write a novel about the combat experience, not in glorified terms of noble flag-waving charges, but from the common soldier’s perspective. In his novel, The Red Badge of Courage, Crane took his readers beyond casualty reports, tactics, and surface responses of soldiers in combat by probing the depths of the soldiers’ hearts and minds. He rejected the romanticization of American Civil War battles for a more realistic perspective as seen through the eyes of his character, a Union Soldier named Henry Fleming. He portrayed the fear and confusion that accompany combat by exploring the inner emotions and psychological reactions of men facing the moral ambiguity of battle. These aspects are lacking in most non-fiction books, AARs (After Action Reports), and even in personal journals.
As I have with many of my characters: Brady Nash, Buck Marino, Billy Coker, Sam Walker, and others, Crane used Henry Fleming to represent the real soldiers he met and interviewed. He did this so well, veterans later praised his novel for its realism, and some even refused to believe Crane hadn’t fought. Crane never served in the military, something that makes The Red Badge of Courage all the more remarkable. His ability to show common men in uncommon circumstances is what made veterans come to appreciate the power of the novel.
This is why you learn about my characters, before the war and after. You will also find a love interest in the form of a strong woman in almost every story. Yes, some of the stories are somewhat fanciful, but never do they sensationalize the combat experience. They don’t depict grinning men with an arm in a sling, a rifle jauntily propped on a knee, or trading high-fives, but instead peel away the facades of glory by showing men quietly returning home to pick up the pieces of their lives.
As many of you already know, going home is a significant element in several of my novels, especially Raeford’s MVP, Valley of The Purple Hearts, and The Birdhouse Man. If you’ve read one, send me your comments. I’d like to know if you found them worthwhile. Your comments and written reviews are what keeps me writing.
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Next month, I’ll send an update on Book #5 of the Rawlins Saga. I hope to have it published by this Spring.
–Rick DeStefanis
