Category Archives: Life and Other Odds & Ends

November 2023 Blog/Newsletter

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Hello Faithful Reader,

So, in the interest of humor, progressive love, and activism, I am joining the disenfranchised at great institutions such as MIT, Yale, Harvard, etc. and declaring my pronouns. (I didn’t say they were disenfranchised of money, just some other things.) But not to worry, if you do not demand, claim, or otherwise declare your pronouns, you mustn’t be bothered with mine, ‘cause frankly I’ll answer to almost anything. And those of you who know me and my writings, will likely continue calling me by whatever pronoun/appellation you choose anyway. As most of you know, I readily answer to “hey you, Rick, Dad, Dee, asshole, supper’s ready,” and too many others to list.

However!  For those of you who demand exclusive pronoun references, I must from this day forward reciprocate with my own demands and insist you use my pronouns of choice as well. These are “Master and Commander.” Yep, it’s that easy. Pretty simple, right? Again, not to worry. You’ll grow accustomed to it, but as a result, should you experience hot flashes, indigestion, queasiness, headache, fear of goats, fallen arches, out of body experiences, or other unexpected reactions, you may scurry to your nearest safe place and request milk and cookies from the college professor of your choice.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch…the boss (my wife) and I just returned from an extended weekend in the Arkansas Ozarks at the Mountain View Blue Grass Festival. We met some wonderful people there and enjoyed some great mountain music. We were the guests of Chris Smith at his Wildflower Bed and Breakfast, and I am now officially overweight. That guy can cook!

Updates on the writing world: I am almost finished with the first draft of Specter of Betrayal, Book II of The Ghost, and currently I’m working with someone translating one of my first books The Gomorrah Principle into German. I’ve done relatively well in Great Britian and figured I’d test the non-English speaking European market. We will see.

I need a couple Beta-readers. I’ll post more on that in a couple weeks on the December blog.

Also, in the interest of finding more readers, I will be doing a 5-day price reduction sale of one of my twelve Kindle books on Amazon. Again, there will be more on that in the blog post next month.

As always, I want to remind you to register on the website, so you won’t miss these updates. I send them out once a month.

Best Wishes and Happy Thanksgiving.

Rick DeStefanis

www.rickdestefanis.com

A Newsletter Update From Rick DeStefanis

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If you received this email letter, it’s because you signed up on my website. Or it could be just because I love you and added you myself. Anyway, as always, you can simply unsubscribe below if you no longer wish to receive my newsletter.

I’ve been MIA (missing in action) for quite some time and apologies are probably warranted. Consider them offered. My goal is to do better in the future while continuing to avoid flooding your inbox with unnecessary emails. Right now, I want to update you on the last year or two and my most recent books for those who may have missed their publication.

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The Ghost, Rumors from the Highlands of Vietnam

In 2022 I wrote and published the seventh book in my Vietnam War Series. Titled The Ghost, Rumors from the Highlands of Vietnam, it is more of an adventure/war story than my past works. With a current Amazon rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars it has been well received. You can read more about it on Amazon at  https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Rumors-Central-Highlands-Vietnam-ebook/dp/B0BBDF4YZS.

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The Road to Yellowstone

In 2023 I changed the Rawlins Trilogy to the Rawlins Saga and published a fourth book in the series titled, Rawlins, The Road to Yellowstone. And, as an aside and in answer to a reviewer who mentioned similarities of Book #1 of the Rawlins Saga (No Longer Young) to the Yellowstone 1883 television series: My works were written and published well before the TV series. The similarities, however, are uncanny. I’d go on strike too if my television series was so well copi…excuse me, I mean written. You can read more about Book #4 The Road to Yellowstone at: https://www.amazon.com/Rawlins-Road-Yellowstone-Saga-Book-ebook/dp/B0C5W9HVX1.

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Coming Next Spring 2024

Specter of Betrayal

Book #2 of The Ghost

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I’m working on a sequel to The Ghost, Rumors from the Central Highlands. This is Book Two and titled for now as Specter of Betrayal. The sub-title is yet to be determined and may be announced only when the book comes out in the spring of 2024. However, the cover image will not change, and here it is.

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If you’ve read any of my books, liked them, and haven’t written a review on Amazon or Goodreads, I would be especially appreciative if you did. It doesn’t have to be War and Peace, but a few lines on why you liked it would help both me and other readers. Each book review on each book that you read builds readers’ confidence in how they spend their hard-earned money.

I’ll try to act with more diligence and send another update next month. Thanks for reading my stories, and please remember our military veterans. They’ve earned a special recognition that we should award them all. And to my fellow paratroopers, “AIRBORNE, ALL THE WAY!”

Tornado Repairs, A New Audio Book and Other News

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This update is to let everyone know what’s been happenning around here in recent months: The tornado cleanup, the Covid-19 sequesture and YES, finally my new audiobook. And, oh yeah, the fifth book in my Vietnam War Series is soon to be published.

My wife and I live in rural Mississippi. Unlike our neighbors up in Tennessee, our area suffered no deaths during the recent tornado outbreak. Despite a massive amount of property damage there were only some pets and livestock killed in DeSoto County Mississippi. We send prayers to those who lost loved ones up around Nashville and Cookville. As for the local scene: The roof and gutters have now been replaced on the house, courtesy of Liberty Mutual, and all the big oak trees have been chain sawed into pieces and bulldozed away. Even after two months it promises to be a long cleanup effort.

Although Janet is required to work, we are minimizing our trips outside the house with the COVID-19 threat. There has also been a record amount of rainfall in the last month, restricting me to mostly indoor activities, and thus bringing long delayed projects to the top of my “to-do-list.” I’ve been cleaning out the barn, cleaning the shop, changing the oil in every mower, trimmer and machine I own, making and freezing six quarts of spaghetti gravy, opening the desktop computer and vacuuming the dust. Hell, I even made a failed attempt to till the muddy garden….I could go on, but I believe you get the idea.

So, what’s next?

A New Audio Book

The Gomorrah Principle is now available as a new audio book.

 

How about an audiobook?  Yes.  My award-winning novel, The Gomorrah Principle, is now available as an audiobook through Amazon audible. Most of my faithful readers prefer print or ebooks, but some have said, “I don’t have time to read books. Let me know when it’s out in audible.”………Well:

IT’S OUT!!

Click the link below to order your copy:

https://www.audible.com/pd/B0868DR925/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-185568&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_185568_rh_us

COMING SOON.

My next book, The Birdhouse Man, will be the fifth in The Vietnam War Series and is a story about an aging Vietnam War veteran telling his story to a young journalism major for her senior thesis. It will be out in the next couple weeks.

 Check out more books at: www.rickdestefanis.com