THE HERO versus Me & Monkey Jo: a novel

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.~ John Bodle, fmr. USAF (JAG)THE HERO Versus Me & Monkey Jo 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. Henry’s story describes his rescue of a baby monkey, while on a dangerous mission, 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 wanted the name of their next of kin, given their likelihood of dying in battle, and it is Henry’s job to find and convince them. Henry’s travels allow him, and the reader, to see how soldiers may cope with self-doubt, fear, loneliness, distrust of the Army and the government, and questions of morality. Henry takes us to a place we likely haven’t seen as we trudge with him and Monkey Jo through the jungle into enemy territory, surviving the devastated landscape created by Agent Orange, and visiting the makeshift compounds put up for the American soldiers to camp in. Most of all he takes the reader on a ride of addiction, giving a firsthand journey into the Army’s counter culture and how it affects the young men—saving some, destroying others. This is a story of awakening; of reaching rock bottom and finding redemption. It explores the depths, as well as the renaissance of coming of age and coming to know one’s true self regardless—or because of—the crazy and uncontrollable surrounding turmoil.Perry L. Shepard is a Vietnam veteran who has written two novels: The Hero versus Me and Monkey Jo, and Hard Love. He co-wrote two plays in the anthology titled Annabelle. He won a second place award in the Eber and Wein’s Best American Poetry of 2013, an honorable mention in Writer’s Digest’ 84th annual Poetry Competition. He has been published in newspapers, college poetry collections and fanzines; He was a board member of (SMAG) South Mass Art Guild in Lawrence Kansas, and is the Vice President of the Kansas Author’s Club District No. 2. you can reach Perry at: www.perrylshepard.com & https://anamcara-press.com/contact-us/.