Fried…A word of Reverence

A Work of Art

This latest newsletter from www.rickdestefanis.com comes to you with a subject that is of almost religious significance in the South. And before I go further, fair warning and a disclaimer: You may want to avert your eyes if you aren’t from the South, and shield your device’s screen from children and easily offended individiuals such as snowflakes. Yes, you’re about to read words of near obscene description. This article may include such offensive language as bacon, dipped in egg, or rolled in corn meal.

Yes, we here in the South tend to put a number of things in that quasi–near religious catagory, including college football, NASCAR, deer hunting, and well maybe a few others, but one of them for sure is fried food. If you’re a vegan, or from California or one of those other third-world states, you may wish to go now, but we have many converts, perhaps even your next door neighbors, who have seen the light and realized it’s the one on the electonic thermometer telling them the grease has reached that perfect 350 degree temperature.

Fried is a word spoken with reverence in hallowed kitchens from Wilmington to Waco and everywhere in between. Fried is a word that emotes culinary dreams of near orgasmic delight. We can begin with the simple and the obvious: fried chicken, French fries, fried eggs, but like Forrest Gump’s army buddy, Bubba, when he described the ways to fix shrimp, a near endless litany of other fried foods can be named: fried okra, fried green tomatoes, fried catfish, fried oysters, fried venison chops, fried pork chops, fried bacon, fried sausage, country fried steak, fried corn, fried egg-plant, fried….I think you get the idea. 

The problem with frying is that it is as much art as it is science. Which is to say, don’t go buy your fried chicken just anywhere and expect it to be good. If it’s from any of the major fast food chains it’ll be greasy and tasteless. The best way to get top-notch fried food is to find you a good fry-cook and marry her. Anyway, I’ll leave you with a quote from one of the best fry-cooks I’ve ever known, my old pappy-in-law: “A good fry-cook can make a huntin’ boot taste good, but fast food restaurants have ruined the art.”  

The latest from the writing world is that Valley of the Purple Hearts broke a thousand reviews on Amazon, and I finished the first draft of Ghost II–Specter of Betrayal. I am working steadily in hopes of getting it out by late Spring. There are a couple of knee replacements coming that may slow me up a bit, but soon as my pit crew at Campbell’s Clinic in Memphis get my new tires installed, I’ll be back in the race. I hope all my readers had a good Christmas, and I wish you all a happy and prosperous New Year. 

Award-Winning Novel Valley of The Purple Hearts

A Newsletter Update From Rick DeStefanis

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!

Valley of the Purple Hearts is Out!

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