Karen Ross Epp

Author Karen Ross Epp

I am currently putting the finishing touches to my next book..."Corn Rose" a historical fiction.

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Synopsis

 Rose Calamia is a first generation Italian American working girl in a 1945 aircraft plant, when she meets Iowa farm boy, Jack Conner. Jack has recently been discharged from the Army and is still licking his wounds from, an all too familiar, war time casualty— a “Dear John” and divorce. When the two start dating and fall in love, Rose is totally unprepared for the life that awaits her in rural Iowa. Ever the sheltered daughter and sister in a family steeped in old world traditions, Rose is exposed to Jack’s world which is the polar opposite. Living with her in-laws for the first few months of marriage, Rose is homesick and unsure of her hasty decision to move back to the Midwest with her husband of three month. On top of all the other adjustments (no modern conveniences like electricity and indoor plumbing) Rose harbors a secret, her pregnancy. Her mother-in-law, Bess, is determined to sabotage Jack’s marriage to this skinny, foreigner and “city gal,” whose skin is dark and ways unlike any she’s familiar with. Rose’s determination to endure and love her husband is tested when she is called home for her mother’s funeral. Once back in warm and sunny California— Iowa, Jack, and its harsh people seem worlds away. Rose has to decide if what she wants is in Iowa with her husband or in the comfortable surroundings of California with family— and an old flame who awakens her heart in ways she thought were dead. Rose’s struggle, like so many women of her generation, is a tug-of-war between what is expected and what desires are left over for her in the ash-heap of duty and subservience. Rose’s final decision will test her character and surprise her harshest critiques.

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CORN ROSE

Prologue

Twenty-one year old Jack Conner took a long drag on his cigarette and then flicked it into the receding tide. He’d get a royal ass chewin’ if the Army brass caught him smokin’ out here on patrol. His rifle leaned against his shoulder like an old friend as he walked the stretch of Venice beach he’d been assigned. Like I’m gonna’ stop any fuckin’ Japanese sub, if they’re really out there! Everyone was on edge. The Japs had been blowing up ships along the coasts, and no one was to swim or even wade on the beaches these days. The salty air stung his nose as he inhaled the surf’s breeze. He took out another cigarette. I should quit, he thought, as he lit up again and looked around suspiciously for anyone who’d snitch. Mist and fog were rolling in— the sound of the surf was his only company tonight. Jack always dreamed of seeing the ocean, but this wasn’t what he had in mind. No, this is a far cry from lounging in the lazy California sun, watchin’ good-lookin’ dames walk by in their swimsuits. He’d ship out in a few days, probably to France, or Italy. Damn, how’d I git this far? His brother Carl was already in Europe, assigned to an Army Ordinance Unit. He’d been there for three years. Maybe they’d cross paths somewhere, but he doubted it. It was going to be hard on his mother, with both of them gone and in harm’s way. Jack had lost the sight in his right eye when he was seven— a freak accident. A school chum retaliated when Jack teased him about having a crush on his sister Betty. A hard-packed snowball with a rock in the center that bitterly cold January morning cost Jack dearly. His right eye had swollen until it bulged out of its socket. His mother did her best, but without adequate medical attention, his vision in that eye was lost. I shoulda beat the shit outta that little son of a bitch! Jack ground out his last cigarette in the sand. It still pissed him off to think about the accident. Even with the disability, the draft board chose not to believe his story and proclaimed him “fit for service.” So… here he was, two thousand miles from home, missing his young wife, on this quiet night, on this lonely beach, protecting his country.

On November 15th, 2008 the Sullivan Brother's Iowa Veterans Musuem was dedicated in Waterloo, Iowa. The musuem is a new addition to the Grout Musuem District. It is dedicated to the five Sullivan Brother's who were killed on board the USS Juneau during WWll. All were from Waterloo, Iowa. My brother Stan was picked to represent the Vietnam section of the musuem. Our family donated artifacts to be on permanent display at the museum. Several of Stan's photos, personal effects, and a clip from an 8mm movie can be viewed in a Huey helicopter display. We are honored and humbled to be part of this wonderful musuem.

 Stan's exhibit with artifacts

Sullivan Brother's Iowa Veterans Musuem, Waterloo, Iowa

Me with Roger Heineken, Vietnam Roundtable, Emporia, Kans Oct14,08             

Stan.. bottom-left with Charlie Co. Vietnam 1969

                        Stan in country, 1969 

Welcome to my web page. I have written a very personal primary source book about my brother Sp4 Stanley D. Ross. This is my first book and it was something I thought about doing for a very long time. 

 With Love Stan: A Soldier's Letters From Vietnam To The World, is a story about my brother and a family trying to cope with the lose of a son, brother, and friend.

My book is a compilation of Stan's letters home to family and friends, recollections from friends he grew up with, the men who served with him in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade, Charlie Co, 2/3, and quotes from authors, Bernard Edelman,Dear America, Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried, and Michael Lanning, The Only War We Had, who experienced the Vietnam conflict. With Love Stan: gives the reader a true picture of what a "grunts"  (Infantryman of the ground) life was like in the the rice paddies and jungle of southeast Asia.

Educators and students will find it a wonderful primary source for studying those turbulent years of our history, the 60s. Where slogans like, "Make Love Not War, America, Love It Or Leave It!" were anthems for the counter culture and silent majority.

I wrote With Love Stan as a tribute not only to my brother but all the brave men and women who fought and died in Vietnam. I have always felt it important to preserve the past by securing artifacts such as letters and photographs, which hold the key to who we are and where we've been.

I hope you'll read Stan's story and share it with others.

Member of the Kansas Authors Club Distrist #5

You can order my book online at www.authorhouse.com,  www.amazon.com, www.borders.com and by contacting me at krepp1@powwwer.net

My husbands sites, www.philepp.com

Also check out the "Rail"

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