The Innocent and the Others is a collection of stories that range from uplifting to menacing with characters that are innocent and not-so-innocent.

East Texas native Jerry Whitus has released his first book, “The Innocent and Others,” a collection of 13 stories.

The characters, both innocent and not-so-innocent, are confronted with events that range from uplifting to menacing. Many are seeking solace or “Restitution,” which is the title of the first story.

In another story, “A House in the Woods,” a young hunter comes upon the body of an old man, sending the boy on a dark journey to a strange house and an even stranger ending.

Meanwhile, in “We Recruits in Granny Pearl’s Army,” a great-grandmother employs charm and a kind of sorcery to turn her six step-grandchildren against their parents.

In “Bible Music,” a Las Vegas musician, summoned by his vulnerable father, travels home to find the beloved man entangled in a dangerous old-time religious sect.

Set in small towns of Texas and Louisiana, the tales in The Innocent and Others portray a landscape of bayous, slow rivers, swampland, and thickets. Whitus’s lyrical yet economical prose conjures an atmosphere of mystery and witchery.

Born and raised in Tyler, Whitus graduated high school when it was Robert E. Lee High School. He then went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in international business and studied American literature and fiction writing in the graduate program at the University of Texas in Austin. Many of his stories have been published in major literary journals like Ploughshares, Chicago Quarterly Review, Potomac Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, and others.

Before turning to fiction, he spent years as a freelance writer specializing in film and video for education, industry, government, and entertainment. After receiving a master’s degree in English as a Second Language, he has been a classroom teacher specializing in writing for international students, an administrator, and a teacher-trainer in colleges and universities in the USA, Japan (where he also served in the U.S. Marine Corps), Singapore, Vietnam (on a USAID grant), and Colombia.

Starting with Tyler, Whitus plans to embark on a reading tour in bookstores and other venues. Visit his website for more information, jerrywhitus.wixsite.com/author.