A coming of age story with a twist. Addle-brained Tommy works down at the feed store, stacking Purina and sweeping the floor. A Vietcong rocket scrambled his brains so thoroughly that was all he was capable of... or was it?
Size: 594 KB (111,337 words)
Genre: Historical
Sex Contents: Some Sex
Tags: Ma/Fa, Fa/Fa, Romantic, Harem, First, Slow
Review by olddave1951 [other reviews by olddave1951]
Reviewed:
I just read this jewel, Honkytonk Hero. Short recap: Thomas Bledsoe is injured in Vietnam. The nature of his injury should be quiet devastating but Tommy is able to overcome many of the difficulties. During his recovery and building a new life, Tom meets a lot of folks in the little town where he settles. Due to his nature, most become friends. Especially the women folks.
Joe J. spins a masterful tale part Forrest Gump part Andy Griffith but set in a small Texas town. It combines good character development and some sex while full of references to daily life in that period. Remember Jiffy Pop, the Ford Falcon and Greyhound buses?
For this old man, is was a most enjoyable read and a bit of a trip down memory lane.
I was afraid we'd lost a really good author from SOL. since Joe J. had not posted updates to his latest stories. However Lazeez says Joe J. is still around.
Review by burka_oz [other reviews by burka_oz]
Reviewed:
I do not think that I have read a bad story from Joe J, and I have been reading his stories from a very long time. This is yet another great tale from this great author.
I do not quite know how he does it but he drags the very best qualities out of his characters, even if they are flawed like this Main Character. The writing is first-class, pacey and everything else is very well done or done very well :-)
In this tale, the MC is Second Lieutenant Thomas Bledsoe, with his unit, four klicks from the border between Laos and South Vietnam. Set up to ambush a VC regiment that was expected through. As usual, the so-called 'intelligence' was woefully lacking and they were actually in the middle of a VC trap. During the intense firefight that ensued, Tommy picked up a flying red-hot chunk of the RPG that took out his location and his 2 crew. It entered his skull through his left temple and scrambled some of his brains on the way in.
That is how the story starts and from then on it is how Tommy recovers from his brain injury which surprised the doctors because his brain injury put him back to only having the memories up until he was 12 years old.
How he recovers this and ends up with more than one happy lady along the way is something you need to read but I can tell you is a great story. On his journey to recovery, he meets some great people and a wonderful little town and it seems that he helps bring out the best in people which helps him achieve far more than what you can expect from such a disabling injury.
Never fear, this is a great tale. It is positive. It has some great fun bits. It has quite a bit of romance and along the journey, Tommy is not the only one of his crew that gets healed.
So to the score:
Plot.– Asia start to read this story and the level of injury that he has to recover from you wonder just what kind of ending is in front of you. By the end of it, you are probably wondering why you ever doubted that something good can come out of this tale. Conservatively speaking I would have to give this a 15 out of 10. Unfortunately, we do not have that option so this is definitely a 10. It had me hooked and I could not let it go to read the whole thing and one binge session so be warned.
Technical.– I think I only had spotted one typo in the 24 chapters. That really is surprising but it is about par for the course for Joe J and his stories. the score is of course 10.
Appeal to the reader.– do you have to ask? 10, a very big solid 10. I love this tale even though I first read it many years ago. My enjoyment of it has not lessened over the years. This is still a very good tale and I think you will all enjoy it.
Review by Teloz [other reviews by Teloz]
Reviewed:
I came across Honkytonk Hero by investigating the favourites posted by 'Tedbiker'; I'm so glad I did.
Technically the story's pretty good, just dogged by the odd typo, grammatically it's fine. The plot is fairly unique, the characters are well drawn, and believable, drawing the reader into the world of 'Joe J'.
The 'Country & Western' basis for the story just passed me by, there aren't many cowboys in North Nottinghamshire! Honkytonk Hero however, transcends that, and becomes a good read without having to have any particular cultural roots to have it make sense. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with Country & Western music, I've even been known to listen to it, but it isn't part of my culture.
When all's said and done though, this isn't a good story, it's a great story! Worthy to be placed in the top ten percent of the stories on SoL.
Read, and most definitely, enjoy!
Review by smokeaknz [other reviews by smokeaknz]
Reviewed:
It is a daunting task to prepare a review of a story by "Joe J". Let's face it: the man is a legend. He has written so many excellent stories (and series) that the author name alone should be enough to get any reader on this site to immediately focus on any new chapter that appears with his name.
"Honkytonk Hero" fits the mold entirely. It starts with enough action to grab the reader's attention. The details are accurate for the time and place, no reader will have quibbles with his scene setting. The young captain surgeon learning just how politely but scathingly the colonel nurse can deal with him is superb. Anyone who has had any exposure to the military or small town style country life will know many of the people and events in this story.
The story is one of almost unremitting "goodness": how "simple country folk" can respond to a newly introduced "good" person and how even the outsider city folks will be brought into the fold. If you don't like this kind of story, no problem - go elsewhere. But if you like a lovingly crafted feel-good story (with lots of jolts and bumps to keep up the tension) this is a great one to read.
Every chapter leaves the reader wanting more, and NOW! It's hard to wait for the next chapter, and when it is posted every other task is put aside until the curiosity is sated. Of course reading the chapter leads to wanting the next and so on forward. Sometimes I think I should wait until the story is concluded, then read it all. I have never managed to put off reading a chapter when it is posted, billable time be damned.
There are a few nits to be picked. Life is that way. A very few spelling errors still lurk. I believe that in at least one place a name has been changed between draft and final, and not followed through all the instances. "Zeke"? Who is "Zeke"?
Grammar is impeccable, other than when dialect is intended. Joe is a person who listened to his teachers when he went to school (possibly because in those days corporal punishment still was approved for those of us who failed once too often) and is still able to put lessons into practice.
But the characters make the story, and even the minor characters are well shaped and we almost instantly have an interest in every one. The sex that does show up is good, sweaty and fun. Not totally gynecological in description, and thank you for that! So no, not a stroke story. But some of the hints do leave us lusting for more.
Joe says this story is coming to an end soon in his blog. I can only hope that when the main story ends he will pick up various of the characters and take them along the various dangling threads that he has conveniently left behind as placeholders to be picked up later. There are lots of them: the sheriff's story, the various students' future activities, the sexy Louisiana "cousins", the outcomes of the budding romances, hell: even the past histories of some of the VFW members.
We'd like to hear these stories Joe. But since we know you are continuing to work on other stories that we like equally well, just keep coming as time permits. We'll be here, waiting.
