The Vietnam Experience, the Domestic Life and More

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The Vietnam Experience, Exploding Clothes Hangers, and…

It’s time to write something. Yes, it’s been a while. Sorry, kind readers. I was busy doing all those macho things ex-paratroopers

Shoulder Patch 82nd Airborne Division

do, like hanging the wife’s laundry. She bought all these fancy high-dollar clothes hangers coated with sticky felt or something. It takes me five minutes just to get a blouse and all its little strings, linings, shoulder pads and other weird accouterments straightened out to go on the hanger. Then there comes that hanger. That precipitates another two or three minutes spent fighting to get past all that clingy felt.

Me, I like the simple white wire hangers that come from the dry cleaner. Slap a shirt on one and shove it in the closet. When you’re ready for it, you grab the shirt and pull. If the hanger comes off the bar, no problem. Bend and reshape it, and put it back. Don’t try that with one of those fancy hangers. It’ll explode. Then you have to hide the remains at the bottom of the trash can in order to maintain marital bliss.

So, you guys are burning through my books faster than I can write them. And to answer the question that’s already been asked several times: No, I haven’t started the next one yet. The problem is deciding which genre to go with. The Vietnam War Series is doing very well, while my first shot at Southern Fiction, Tallahatchie, isn’t exactly lighting up the best-seller lists. All the Tallahatchie reviews have been very positive, so I am hoping in time it will find its audience. With some luck, maybe late next summer I’ll have a new one for you, perhaps two. I do very much appreciate your reviews and say “thank you” many times over to those of you who have taken the time to go on Goodreads.com and Amazon.com to write your comments.

As it is with most writers, your words often serve to validate the hope that I am producing something worthwhile. I hoped to accomplish that with the latest Vietnam War Series novel, Valley of The Purple Hearts, but some readers miss the point that I refuse to write “war” stories simply for entertainment. My intent is to show the entire Vietnam experience as those veterans saw it. This includes some of the life back home and the element of Post-Traumatic Stress and its effects on veterans after the war.

One particularly notable effect of Vietnam on most vets was that of going from an adrenaline-driven high at Mach-II to ZERO inside of a few days. There was no “decompression” time, no buddies to ride home with, just an almost instantaneous return to a world that they could no longer relate to, and one which could not relate to the experiences they had been through. Most compartmentalized their pain. Many couldn’t.

In other news: I have a book-signing at Novel Memphis next Tuesday (10/17) at 6:00 p.m. Please, stop by and say hello. Two more events for next spring are in the works. One is a show for my photography at a local art venue. I’ll let you know more about that after we get through winter. I’ll try to write another post sooner next time.

Rick

You may also enjoy: Rawlins: No Longer Young and Raeford’s MVP

The $200 Dollar Jeans

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Jeans for the Hollywood Elite

I put on my old jeans the other day to go out and work in the yard. As I headed for the door the wife said, “You aren’t going to wear those outside are you?”
“Yeah,” I said, “Why?”
“They look horrible!”
“Who cares?” I said.
“The neighbors might see you.”
I stopped, looked at her and sighed.

“They’re covered with paint, and the knees are ripped,” she added.
“Honey,” I said. “Do you know there are people in San Francisco and Los Angeles who pay hundreds of dollars for jeans like these?”
She rolled her eyes and we lived happily ever after.

I have joined the Hollywood elite. I now wear $200 dollar jeans.

 

 

 

By the way: if you’ve read any of my books and haven’t written a review on Amazon, will you do that for me? Please? Your review is important to me, and it helps other readers determine if my books are worthwhile. Just click on the current number of reviews for the book on www.amazon.com and click on the button “Write a Customer Review.” It doesn’t have to be lengthy or some great literary work, just your honest comments. I will appreciate it.

 

You may also enjoy: The Nature of things in Mississippi and How about a Western?

Valley of the Purple Hearts is Out!

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Valley of the Purple Hearts

Book #4 in the Vietnam War series, is now available in both print and Kindle e-reader formats on Amazon.com at http://amzn.to/2tQzJIa. Classified as historical military fiction, Valley of the Purple Hearts is a story about a squad of paratroopers with the 101st Airborne in Vietnam in the months following the 1968 Tet Offensive. Buck Marino, a naive boy fresh off the farm, quickly finds his yearning for adventure becomes a struggle for survival as he faces the horrific realities of war.

Valley of the Purple Hearts, The 101st Airborne in Vietnam

The story of an infantry squad in Vietnam.

I have addressed the inevitable cliches of such a story through the deeper development of the characters, their psyches, and relationships. And, as with Book #3 in the series, Raeford’s MVP, Valley of the Purple Hearts explores the aftermath of war and its effects on the individual combat veteran. Be sure to read the review comments by Army Brigadier General (retired) Robert Enzenauer, a paratrooper surgeon who served two tours in Afghanistan with the 19th Special Forces Group. Not even officially recognized by the military until 1981, “Post Traumatic Stress is,” as Doctor Enzenauer explained, “not a disorder, but a very normal human reaction.” Great effort was taken to embed this reality within the story.

There is also included in the story a strong underpinning of the “Vietnam experience” depicted through both allegorical and direct reference to Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, primarily as seen through the eyes of squad leader Sergeant Rolley Zwyrkowski. I feel this helps a reader better understand the bizarre nature of what was the Vietnam War, its lack of coherent strategy and the actions of the military leaders during that time. It also adds a certain much needed comic relief to the story.

Because of its current relevance, Valley of the Purple Hearts is not a light read, but I have taken care to make it a rewarding one. As with my other novels, Valley of the Purple Hearts has a strong female secondary protagonist represented by Army nurse Janie Jorgensen. And, as it seems to be my unavoidable nature, I have written a romantic thread into the story. After all, where would any veteran be without the strong support of a mate?

For those of you who have read this far into this blog post, I am also making a special offer effective through Saturday, August 5th, 2017. Anyone who will commit to writing and posting an honest review of Valley of the Purple Hearts on Amazon and Goodreads.com can receive a free copy of the Kindle e-reader edition of the book. Simply send me your email address via the “contact” screen on the www.rickdestefanis.com website. I will purchase a copy (not even I get them for free) and have it emailed from Amazon to you or your Kindle device. Amazon also offers free downloadable e-reader apps for other devices, including cell phones, thus enabling Kindle books to be read in virtually any format.

 Valley of the Purple Hearts

Best Wishes,

Rick DeStefanis

You may also enjoy: Melody Hill and Rawlins: No Longer Young