I believe that fiction often is more real than non-fiction. I also believe that my new book of short stories - “Dress Whites” - is just that.
My book describes what it was like in the tumultuous, tortuous days of and beyond the Vietnam War. “Dress Whites” is a tribute to Americans who served in the war as well as to those who stayed at home. Both groups paid the price for decades - often a very steep price and often in obscurity.
My stories, set on Staten Island, N.Y., Manhattan, Las Vegas and the deep South, feature:
- A 23-year-old snubbed widow of a Marine second lieutenant
- A veteran trying to earn enough money as a boxer to look for the daughter he left behind, forcing him to go to Las Vegas to take on very dangerous fights
- A young man from Spanish Harlem who comes home broken
- Another young man, from Staten Island, grieving his brother and descending into darkness where he exacts random, brutal revenge
- A mother and father, fighting over their son’s decision to enlist

You can find "Dress Whites" at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
For more about the stories and me, please visit my website:
johnphillipsstories.com