Novels & Non-fiction

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Perry L. Shepard has had varied career.The visual art and written arts have been a big part of his life. He has written two novels entitled The Hero versus Me & Monkey Jo and Hard Love. He is in the process of writing a third novel: Wolfgang.

The Hero versus Me & Monkey Jo deals with the adventures of a young man and his monkey during the Vietnam War and was published in 2019 through Amancara Press, LLC. A Rhythmic Electric Circus of Sound Part 66 is his first compilation of poems.

Shepard has been published in newspapers, college poetry collections, and fanzines. He won second place award for one of his poems, Conversing, in a national poetry contest and published in the Eber and Wein’s Best American Poetry of 2013, and they are publishing one of his poems in their 2020 anthology. Shepard won an honorable mention in Writer’s Digest’ 84th annual poetry competition in 2015 for the poem Harbor Moods. In 2019 He won an honorable mention in the 2019 KAC state writing contest for a short story and a play. In 2020 he won 1st place in the Kansas Author’s Club state wide witting completion for a play and a short story. He is the President of the Kansas Author’s Club Dist. No. 2. He has been a member on the board of directors on a Community Radio Station in Salt Lake City (KRCL), and one of the founders of the Utah Music Association. He is a board member of the South Mass Art Guild. He was the Mayor and President of Harveysburg Village Council in Harveysburg Ohio. Shepard owned and operated the Painted Word Emporium in Salt Lake City, a performance studio and restaurant He was Director of Educational programs in Job Corps for 25 years. He has also worked with youth in crisis for the past 29 years. Shepard lives with his wife and they are raising two grand children.

The Hero Versus Me & Monkey Jo by Perry Shepard is one of the most emotionally shattering novels about the effects of the Vietnam War. It tells a story of how the war has disrupted the well-being of Specialist Four Henry Neis from Kansas. Returning from his tour of duty, Neis deplanes at Fort Lewis, only to be handcuffed and arrested by an MP for smuggling drugs onto American soil. Here he begins to look back at the scenes that led to his tragedy. He tried to settle into the rhythms of Da Nang while attending to his rank and file duties. But a hostile, alien environment proved too much for Henry, as his 201 file piled up with reprimands from his commanding officer. He kept a monkey for a pet, hung out with known drug addicts, assisted a fellow soldier to go AWOL, and engaged in drug dealing. But what his file reveals is a mere fraction of his response to the insanity of war.

Perry Shepard writes in the first-person because it is important that we not only come to know the protagonist but feel absorbed and sympathetic to his trauma. The narrative is detailed enough to transport you into the local color from the mosquito-infested jungles to the alcohol-reeking stench of drinking bars. The cacophony of Vietnam dominates the plot so that you cannot judge Henry for finding refuge in shooting up heroin. The Hero Versus Me & Monkey Jo can very well be about many subjects, but the top of it would have to be the dehumanizing effects of war and how the state repays your service to the country. Many of us are against going to war, which makes this story even more powerful and compelling. It reminds us that we cannot stop our country from competing in a contest of arms, but we similarly cannot stop ourselves from remembering its after-effects. This is the type of human drama that you will enjoy reading not just once.
— Vincent Dublado, Reviewer for Readers’ Favorite