Land

About the Book

This story revolves around a returning Vietnam Veteran's desire to own his own land and establish a fish farm in Montana. Returning home he finds that there was a revolution in America - and he missed it. From his ETS to trying to get re-established in the so-called normal world, John Manion finds himself more and more pulled by the urge to leave it all, go to Montana and fulfill a lifelong dream of raising fish on his own fish farm.

Through a series of events, from meeting and falling in love with an attractive stewardess, to his decision to work for her brother in Northern California and getting talked into the biggest poker game of his life, to his finally venturing out to Montana to realize his dream, John Manion encounters unforeseen twists and unexpected turns as he tries to find LAND that is to his liking.

With determination he finally gets established in Montana only to be challenged once again to the rightful ownership of his LAND.

Against all odds John Manion defends his land from those who try to steal it from him - resulting in an ending that will leave the reader startled at the outcome - but nodding in approval at the final, totally unforeseen, outcome.

About the Author

After serving 26 months and 11 days in Vietnam the author, Lawrence Klepinger, came back to a country bitterly divided regarding the war in Vietnam - and those who served in it. Upon graduation from San Jose State University with both a BA in political science and an MA in education, Mr. Klepinger traveled to Japan and ended up staying there for over 20 years, during which time he wrote LAND while teaching English at various universities in the city of Nagoya, approximately 350 miles south of Tokyo.

While in Japan he met many Japanese veterans of WWII and discovered that, to some degree, all veterans are brothers - especially those who return home branded as losers. It was this insight that helped him construct the parameters that he so intricately sets up in this gripping novel that not only depicts the hardships that all veterans go through when returning from war but also the hidden, societal hypocrisy that plagues every veteran no matter what rank or color.

In addition, Mr. Klepinger draws on the very personal experience of having not one - but two - childhood homes condemned by California's eminent domain law and to this day still remembers his father receiving the eviction notice from a state employee, then turning around and walking outside to his backyard and starting to cry.

Lawrence Klepinger has lived LAND. Now he has written about it.