SAN DIEGO COUNTY : After 10 Years, New Author Gets ‘Monkey’ off His Back

Ron Argo’s feeling good. Ten years in the no-man’s-land of self-doubt and fear that go with writing a first novel are behind him now.

Argo’s book, “Year of the Monkey,” was released in hardcover last month by Simon & Schuster. Good notices already are appearing in trade journals. Publishers Weekly called it “compelling reading that delivers an important piece of the Vietnam puzzle,” but also “brooding and unrelieved by optimism or humor.”

Bob Asahina, Simon & Schuster vice president and senior editor, who took a chance on the first book by the San Diego novelist, said, “He has a real writer’s voice, and that’s recognizable on the first page. The book has wonderful texture. It’s clearly written by someone who knew what he was talking about, who had been there and observed with a keen eye the details of Army life.”

The novel focuses on the relationship between Russell Payne, a reporter, like Argo was, in an Army public information office in Vietnam, and Willingham, a fighting Green Beret transferred, under mysterious circumstances, into Payne’s relatively calm division.

Payne and Willingham become friends, but things get complicated when Payne’s superiors ask him to secretly investigate his new buddy. They believe Willingham’s former commanding officer to be guilty of serious corruption. And they want Payne to find out what Willingham knows about him.

Argo is well aware of the many other books and movies about Vietnam, but thinks his approach is a fresh one.

“The early Vietnam books were grunt stories,” he says, mentioning “Fields of Fire” by James Webb and “Close Quarters” by Larry Heinemann. “They were random tales of men in combat without much story line.

“I had an idea that there was a lot of suffering on the side of the non-combatant.” Even without fighting, soldiers went through hell, according to Argo, saying they were “psychologically removed from life, love and family. And half of the enlisted men in Vietnam were there against their wills. They had a split feeling of duty and allegiance.

“Allegiance is an important word in the book. Payne is from Texarkana, on the border of Texas and Arkansas. He’s a man of split allegiance. He’s from Arkansas, but he wants to be considered a Texan. That’s the duality and psychological ambiguity of the non-combatant.”

As for Argo, he never wanted to go to Vietnam. Several attempts at getting a student deferment delayed his induction. But, in 1969, his luck ran out, and he was drafted at the age of 25. Fortunately, he landed a job as a wordsmith, first as a clerk/typist, then as an Army reporter, which kept him out of combat.

Just how much action did Argo see? “I don’t have a Purple Heart, let’s put it that way. I saw some death, though.”

Back from Vietnam, he took his first classes in creative writing as an undergraduate at the University of Arizona. His first short stories were set in ‘50s and ‘60s Alabama and Georgia, where Argo grew up. After college, he worked for newspapers including The Sentinel in San Diego. While there, he won an award from Sigma Delta Chi, the professional journalism society, for a series he wrote on animal overpopulation.

Ultimately, though, he decided he wasn’t a journalist.

“I never got to finish stories adequately. I always liked general human interest stories more than hard news. And I like making my own deadlines.”

In 1976, with neither his journalism career nor his first marriage working out, Argo turned his attention to fiction. He started what became “Year of the Monkey” while in the graduate program in literature at San Diego State University. (Argo later did most of the work toward a master of fine arts degree from the University of Arizona.)

The earliest version of the novel was Argo’s master’s thesis at San Diego State, finished in 1980. At the time, he was confident the 160-page manuscript could sell.

“I submitted 46 query letters to literary agents around the country. It was a high-powered letter: ‘You’re gonna buy this sucker, and it’s gonna make big bucks.’ I got 18 responses asking to see the manuscript. Out of those, nine wanted to represent the book.”

By 1981, he had selected Jane Gelfman, based in New York City, as his agent. But, if having an agent and getting such positive feedback launched his ego, Argo was about to experience the real life of a writer. It took another six years before he wrote the version of the book that sold.

In hindsight, he says he actually wrote three books. The first was too ambitious, an attempt to follow Payne before, during and after the war. The second was in “the wrong voice, too abstract,” Argo said, comparing portions of it with Joseph Heller’s “Catch 22.”

Finally, he settled on a third-person narrative, describing Payne and his experiences with little of the introspective spaciness that made the earlier draft hard to follow. His 160-page thesis became a detailed, 600-page manuscript with many subplots.

In 1986, his agent submitted copies to a few publishers, and all had similar reactions: the story started too slowly, and it was hard to follow.

Argo clarified the plot. And, at the suggestion of Asahina, he reworked his final chapter and moved it to the front of the book. In the new first chapter, Payne is in prison for Willingham’s murder. After hooking the reader, Argo spends the rest of the book telling the story of how Payne got there.

“The first house we submitted it to bought it in 1987,” he says. Then came three more rewrites.

“It was solitary, lonely, painful work.”

Argo wouldn’t disclose how much he was paid for the book, which had a first printing of 7,500 copies, but Asahina confirmed that a $10,000 to $15,000 advance against royalties is about average for a first novel.

Already, Argo’s agent has made a deal for Japanese publication rights, and is working on other foreign markets. This month or next, paperback rights will be optioned, and there’s always the possibility that some Hollywood producer will like the book.

“Maybe I’ll make some money,” said Argo, who was financially supported by his second wife, Mary, while he wrote. “The story is good. I can’t imagine it not selling well.”

Now that the book is in most major book chains, and the author has done a few signings, he’s thinking about his next literary effort.

“I’ve stepped on the banana peel of my second novel. The opening scene is a murder at the lighthouse on Point Loma. It’s a murder mystery, so it’s similar to “Year of the Monkey” in that respect. But my confidence is not 100% in the book. It could change drastically.”

Argo’s in no hurry.

“Good books take time to write,” he said, speaking from experience.