Description:
Forged in the American Civil War, Virgil Rawlins heads west in search of a new life-but on the dangerous frontier, he must decide what kind of man he will become.
Brief description: Award-winning author Rick DeStefanis has written fourteen novels spanning military and Western historical fiction, as well as Southern literary fiction. His work goes beyond traditional war narratives, focusing on character-driven stories that explore not only soldiers in combat, but also the lives of others shaped by war's lasting impact. A former paratrooper with the renowned 82nd Airborne Division, DeStefanis draws heavily on his military training in portraying the American Vietnam War. His novels have earned four literary awards. He lives in rural northern Mississippi with his wife and their pets-two dogs and a cat. Learn more at www.rickdestefanis.com.
Review Quotes:
"Fans of Cormac McCarthy will love Rawlins: No Longer Young. The story is tough (and the author's telling of the inciting events might well stir controversy.) But the story is supposed to be tough. It's about war and the imprint it leaves on those who go through it. The Civil War and Western settings are new for DeStefanis, but this theme will be familiar to those who are already fans. DeStefanis makes the impact of conflict personal, as well as showing us how friendships can cross divides. With Tennessee Tories, Rebel bushwhackers, Union and Confederate soldiers, marshals, and trail bosses--there are no assured good guys. Plus, Sarah McCaskey might be the best love interest DeStefanis has written so far. Tucked inside the story are fine passages like this:
"Near their first river crossing, he had seen a half-buried cast iron stove. Flowers and grass grew through its burners as it slowly sank into the prairie--a dream too heavy to bear across a rugged land of raging rivers and snow-capped mountains. A silent testament to the sacrifices and hard times of thousands of immigrants before them, the abandoned stove would soon, like them, disappear forever."
I encourage you to ride along with Rawlins as he negotiates life from the end of the Civil War, through Missouri, and further west on the trail."
-- Ellen Morris Prewitt
"Rick DeStefanis has joined a great lineage of military veterans turned western authors, among my favorites - Ken Farmer, Don Bendell, Buck Steinke, Elmer Kelton, and Louis L'Amour. I think that military veterans have an advantage writing great western fiction, because ever since their youth they were often captivating story-tellers, generally starting with the preamble "No $hit, there I was....." DeStefanis' first western novel is great historical fiction, starting with the fight at Fort Pillow in the west, and follows a wounded/paroled confederate veteran and a young widow, both travelling west to "get as far away from the war as possible." DeStefanis skillfully slips his story into the real history, real locales, and real people of the end of the Civil War, and the early lawman days of Wild Bill Hickock, with the lawlessness of the Jay-Hawkers, bush-wackers, renegade Indians, and ruthless outlaws who all terrorized western Missouri and Kansas. And he definitely understands "the nature of men in wars and the bonds they forged." The author combines plenty of action, suspense, and drama. The action between Rawlins and the Indians and outlaws seems entirely plausible--probably related to the author's experience with small-unit tactics. The characters are colorful. The dialogue rings true to life. The author blends violence with tenderness, and the reader is quickly moved to really care about Virgil Rawlins. Rawlins is most certainly an American western version of Homer's Odyssey."
-- Robert Enzenauer