<P> In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash was the first book Shepherd wrote, and contained his most popular radio stories . These stories were also some of the earliest of Shepherd's work to appear in Playboy . Although they are often described as nostalgic or memoirs, Shepherd rejected these descriptions . He argued instead that they were fictional stories about childhood . Shepherd claims it took him three years to write the novel . </P> <P> Whether the stories are truth or fiction is not entirely clear . Shepherd denied that he was merely remembering his childhood, and repeatedly asserted in interviews that his stories were entirely fictional . Scholars Penelope Joan Fritzer and Bartholomew Bland agree that the stories are entirely fictional . However, at least some elements of the novel draw on the real world . For example, the names of many of the characters in Shepherd's book can be found in Shepherd's high school yearbook, "Hohman" is the name of a major street in Hammond, Shepherd's younger brother was named Randy, and Hammond has a Cleveland Street and a Warren G. Harding elementary school . The truth may lie somewhere in between, as Mark Skertic for the Chicago Sun - Times put it: "Hohman doesn't really exist, but the sights, sounds and events Mr. Shepherd described happening there grew out of his experiences growing up in and around real - life Hammond, Ind ." </P> <P> The title of the novel is a play on words, primarily the motto "In God we trust". "In God we trust" became a common motto in the 1800s in the United States, and was used on American coins frequently after 1864 . "In God we trust, all others pay cash" was a common phrase in America in the early decades of the 20th century . </P> <P> Shepherd specifically denied that the work is a collection of short stories . As he said on his radio show shortly after the book was finished: </P>

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