THE HERO Versus Me & Monkey Jo

by Perry Shepard, Shepard Max (Illustrator)

Overview

1968. Henry's just turned 18 and his birthday present is a 2nd class ticket to the Vietnam war. The Vietnam war you've never heard about.

"Henry and his attention-loving orphan monkey play the lead roles in this wartime comedy/action/drama. Everywhere they go they make new friends and new enemies. By the time Henry boards the plane back to the States, he has experienced the absurdities of military life, the atrocities of war, unexpected friendships, unrequited love, betrayal, and loyalty." -L, A, Harder

Shepard chronicles the adventures of Henry Neis who arrives in Vietnam an innocent youth from Kansas, and quickly falls in with addicts and lost souls. Shepard's prose pulls us into the "scene" immediately, and propels us on a journey that is at times exhilarating, shocking, and moving. A rollicking read and an eye-opening look at the Vietnam War.

While on a dangerous mission, Harry rescues a baby monkey, who becomes his faithful companion. Henry volunteers to leave the relative safety of his camp and travel from DaNang to the DMZ on a mission to get active-duty soldiers to put their signatures on insurance paperwork required by the US military. Many of the soldiers had left their Notification of Next of Kin forms blank; some put Mao Zedong and Ho Chi Minh down as their beneficiaries. Military command insisted on getting the proper names of their next of kin, given their likelihood of dying in battle, and it is Henry's job to find them.

Henry and Monkey Jo travel gathering stories and dispensing drugs. They interact with hooch-maids, waitresses, drug dealers, remnants of the French colonizers, the Viet Cong "Hells Angels," and the North Vietnamese Regular Army. Along the way Henry records the stories of fellow GI's and works to supply what he feels his fellow soldiers need to survive in the surreal environment during the Vietnam War - including their next fix.

A story of redemption.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781941237168
Publisher:	Anamcara Press LLC
Publication date:	02/04/2019
Pages:	326
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.73(d)

About the Author

Perry L. Shepard is a Vietnam veteran who has written two novels: The Hero versus Me and Monkey Jo, and Hard Love. He is working on his third novel called Wolfgang about a truck driver who sells his soul to the devil. He recently compiled his only poetry collection to date titled, A Rhythmic Circus Of Sound Part 66: ARECOSPart 66. He has co-written two plays in the anthology titled, Annabelle. He has also been published in newspapers, college poetry collections, and fanzines. He was a board member on a Community Radio Station in Salt Lake City (KRCL), a radio music programmer, and one of the founders of the Utah Music Association. He was the Mayor and President of Harveysburg Village Council in Harveysburg, Ohio. He owned and operated the Painted Word Emporium in SLC, Utah-a restaurant, art and performance space. He drove trucks, and shrimp fished out of Arransas Pass, Texas. Shepard won second place in the Eber and Wein's Best American Poetry of 2013, and an honorable mention in Writer's Digest' 84th annual Poetry Competition. Shepard is a board member of (SMAG) South Mass Art Guild in Lawrence Kansas, and is a visual artist. He has work with youth in crisis for the past 29 years. You can reach Perry at: https://anamcara-press.com/

Table of Contents

Prologue xiii

1. In Country 1

2. Fitting In 15

3. The New Digs 22

4. Finding My Place 38

5. Becoming A Head 53

6. The Road To Addiction 64

7. Travel Across Country 78

8. Black Market Love 92

9. Monkey Jo Plays With Neis 107

10. This Mortal Coil: A Junkie Goes Home 124

11. Saving Chavez 136

12. Death & A Near Deathly Thanksgiving 147

13. Getting Clean 162

14. Vietnamese Hells Angels 178

15. An Altered Life 193

16. Hopalong Cassidy to the Rescue 206

17. An Altered Life Revisited 216

18. Camp Lizard & Into The West 226

19. Sad News & Revenge 237

20. Oh! That Bangkok 247

21. Falling In Love 259

22. So This Is What Heaven Is Like 266

23. Returning to Complications 276

24. A Plan Executed 287

Epilogue: Closing Time 293

Glossary 301

Editorial Reviews

Henry Neis, fresh out of high school from Kansas, is drafted and sent to Vietnam. Trained as a helicopter mechanic, he is promptly assigned to a personnel unit, a fitting introduction to the insanity of this war that makes no sense to him. Henry falls in with the company misfits and drug users, becoming an addict and dealer himself, yet his fundamental innocence shines through to the final page. Henry’s account of his year “in country” is, by turn, fascinating, hilarious, terrifying, wondrous, and enlightening—sometimes all at once. I couldn’t put it down, and when I got to the end I only wished there were more. A rollicking read, and an eye-opening look at the Vietnam War.

~ John Bodle, fmr. USAF JAG

Shepard provides the reader with an intriguing journey into the minds and hearts of American soldiers in Viet Nam who are forced to deal with the moral and psychological paradigms of their wartime experience. Throughout the book, the protagonist, Henry Neis, and his cohorts struggle to survive, by any means necessary, their time in country. Every chapter kept me riveted to each characters’ development, the predicaments they created for themselves and how they circumvented the military consequences for their actions. Henry’s character development and his survival skills kept my attention throughout the book. I could not wait to see what trouble he was going to get himself into and how he would get himself out of it.

The descriptions of the jungle environment are vivid and the explanation of the plight of the Vietnamese people and their perception of the conflict that surrounded them is compelling and soulful. I was particularly enthralled with the Monkey Jo character and how he brought enemies together via his typical monkey behavior. In the final chapters, Mr. Shepard provided closure to all the characters final days in Viet Nam and the end results of their adventures.

I look forward to the sequel telling the story of Henry’s return to “The World” and how he dealt with it after his Viet Nam experience.

~ Robert Rosti, Jr.

The Hero versus Me and Monkey Jo is an enthralling and honest tale of a young soldier’s exploits in Vietnam. The main character, Henry Neis, chooses to cope with the realities of war, both boredom and terror, by immersing himself in the drug culture. Despite harsh surroundings, he remains steadfastly moral and centered. A story of friendship, addiction, and loyalty that takes you deep into the throes of the Vietnam war.

~ Lacee Hanson Newton

From the Publisher