The Story Behind Eternal Graffiti by Peter Marlton

 

 

 

The Story Behind Eternal Graffiti

Many years ago, I had a vivid image come to mind of a building on fire on top of a hill in rural Northern California. The building is a barracks, part of a larger prison for teenagers. A 15-year-old inmate watches from the bottom of the hill. It is magnificent, this inferno, biblical in its power and proportion. It lights up the night sky, a high wind creating spectacular configurations of wanton destruction. The kid is living the moment fully, awestruck at the rightness and justice of it. The devastation is long overdue, and any minute it’s going to offer him a rare opportunity to escape. 

I wrote that note down and kept it in my files. Every now and then I’d come across it while I was snooping around for ideas, but it never took off until I saw the movie Shame, and somehow out of that gritty, intense film my protagonist Owen Kilroy was born. I think it was the brutal honesty of the film that inspired this character to come to life. I didn’t understand the connection to the fire image until a long time after that. Then it was a matter of sitting down for ages and writing it, discovering who he was, who the other characters were and what it was all about. I spent years writing it, off and on.  The last three years before submitting it I did nothing but “finish” it about twenty times.

I never work from an outline so there were a lot of blind alleys in the process, a lot of scenes that I thought were essential that weren’t. Thanks to my independent editor Marlene Adelstein, I cut 16,000 words before submitting it anywhere. That’s roughly 65 pages, and some of that may end up in another book, although not the one I’m currently writing.

I submitted it to agents and indie publishers, entered it in contests, getting almost nothing but silence in return. Finally, after two years of futility, I submitted it to Lou Aronica at the Story Plant. He read it and signed me to a contract. 

In just about every art form, whether it’s literature, music, sculpting, or painting watercolors, you just need one person to believe in you to get things off the ground. Lou turned out to be that person, and I am thrilled. 

 

 

“I don’t know if this is a confession or a purge, a scream or a lullaby,” begins twenty-seven-year-old Owen Kilroy’s journal, in which he writes about the remarkable women—friends and lovers—who’ve come and gone and who have shaped his life, as well as the many varieties of heartbreak he’s experienced.

Owen revisits himself as a seventeen-year-old guitar player, songwriter, and drug dealer in a small, fictional California desert town. He relives being arrested, violently, by half the town’s police force and sent to juvenile prison. He faces the pain of being disowned by his mother and having his father disappear. And he re-experiences inadvertently killing his girlfriend by providing her with drugs.

After escaping from juvenile prison, ending up broke, desperate, and homeless in Venice Beach, he eventually meets Kiera, a nineteen-year-old Irish student at UCLA. She is the great love of his life, a love that he knows would cripple him if he were to lose her. Now, ten years later, Owen discovers that writing about her and all that came before isn’t enough. If he is to move on, he realizes he must go back to California and face his ghosts directly.

“Marlton’s prose mixes lyricism with grit, which often results in evocative images. The author has an eye for nuance and detail, and he manages to evoke the era and the youth culture of the time.” ― Kirkus Reviews

Book Information

Release Date: September 6, 2022

Publisher:  The Story Plant

Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1611883329; 352 pages; $16.95; eBook $7.99

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3brycU7 

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/3oOBns2 

Indigo: https://bit.ly/3zVhXbf 

Indiebound: https://bit.ly/3OZeLPY 

Book Depository: https://bit.ly/3BIRLlo 

Chapters: https://bit.ly/3QfBpVt

Peter Marlton is a pseudonym for Pete MacDonald, both as a fiction writer and as a musician and songwriter. He was born in San Francisco and has lived in Los Angeles, New York City, Seattle, and in three European countries. He’s published short stories, a novella, and essays in various literary magazines and The New York Times.

His latest book is the adult literary fiction, Eternal Graffiti.

You can visit his website at www.petermarlton.com or connect with him on Twitter.

 

The Story Behind I Buried Paul by Bruce Ferber

 

The Story Behind I Buried Paul

I’ve long been fascinated by the lengths to which people go to express their creativity. The old canard that everybody has a story to tell couldn’t be truer. Yet, it takes a special kind of individual to make sure that story (or painting, or song) doesn’t get smothered in the muck of everyday life. As for the people who manage to see the fruits of their creativity make their way into the world? I have nothing but admiration for what it takes to make that happen. Probably because I’ve been in those trenches myself.

Living in Los Angeles, I’ve had the opportunity to meet many studio-quality musicians who struggle to make a living doing the thing they do best. I wanted to write a story about this “proletariat” class of artists, and the ingenuity they employ to pay the rent in a competitive, streaming world. One day, I happened to see an excellent Beatles Tribute Band comprised of sixty-year-olds in wigs and collarless suit-jackets, and it all came together. My protagonist would be a guy who does whatever it takes to keep playing music, and being Paul McCartney in a tribute band would be one of those things. This begged the question of what compelled him to become a musician in the first place, and what his life is like outside of playing music. How does one navigate a career that offers fewer assurances than most, even in today’s complicated world? Is there room for family? Real relationships? Once it becomes clear that big money will never enter into the picture, what are the priorities?

As the story elements of I Buried Paul unfolded, what started out as an interesting premise blossomed into a fun and compelling ride. Just as these tribute bands honor the Beatles, my hope is that this novel honors all the musicians who live for their craft, and make countless sacrifices in service to its magic.

Jimmy Kozlowski has a regular gig playing Paul McCartney in the Beatles tribute band, Help!. The band is part of a cottage industry built around mimicry, where each group strives to be the ultimate Fake Fab Four. And none strives harder than Help!, thanks to Gene Klein, its John Lennon and leader. Gene’s just gotten his Medicare card and spends much of his time caring for his ailing mother. But he hasn’t lost a step on guitar or vocals, and is determined to take Help! to the top, his goal being to perform in Liverpool one day. Though the notion of the UK clamoring for a group of Long Islanders with fake British accents seems far-fetched, Gene has a plan.

Unlike his boss, Jimmy has limited bandwidth for high-quality Beatle wigs or bespoke Nehru jackets. He works a straight job, entertains at a nursing home, and yearns to connect with the daughter he’s never met. He also wants a shot at recording and performing his own original compositions. No matter the odds, Jimmy is determined to realize his creative dreams, even if it means “burying Paul” in the process.

I Buried Paul is a love letter to the power of music, a humorous yet moving exploration of the sacrifices its disciples are willing to make in service to its magic.

“Funny, heartfelt, and unafraid… A book for anyone who loves music or has ever tried to keep a dream alive.” — Ben Loory, author of Tales of Falling and Flying

“First, the good news: Paul isn’t dead, and this isn’t an autopsy. Rather it’s a funny, moving novel about trying to find your way home from the Abbey Road of your teenage fantasy life, while simultaneously escaping the shadows cast by your father, your older brother, many failed relationships, and a world that doesn’t like to see people doing what they love – such as making their own music. Reminiscent of Anne Tyler and Richard Russo (if either could keep a steady bass beat), Bruce Ferber writes humorous fiction for grown ups.” — Scott Bradfield, author of The History of Luminous Motion

“In his touching and funny novel, Bruce Ferber comes not to bury Paul McCartney but to celebrate his true believers, the dreamers who carry the torch of their youthful rock dreams well into pension age, and who refuse to sacrifice their passion despite high cholesterol counts and the possibility of embarrassing themselves. I Buried Paul is a tender paean to the music that changed us all, its revivifying and enduring power.” — Marc Weingarten, author of The Gang that Wouldn’t Write Straight: Wolfe, Thompson, Didion, Capote, and the New Journalism Revolution

“Funny, deep, and compulsive, I Buried Paul is a tribute to family, lifelong friends, and the Beatles tunes that unite them. Told with Ferber’s trademark wit, literary verve and big-heartedness, it’s a veritable magical mystery tour of growing up and finding love and meaning in a complex world.” — Michaela Carter, author of Leonora in the Morning Light

“Reading Bruce Ferber’s latest novel is like being told a great tale from your favorite and funniest pal ― the one who really seems to know stuff―the one you trust―the one who gets you when nobody else does. Long live Paul.” — Jason Alexander

“Bruce Ferber’s prose is music to my ears. I Buried Paul is very funny, and very insightful.” — John Densmore

“Bruce Ferber has captured lightning in a bottle, chronicling a generation’s obsessive attachment to The Beatles. His love for their music and legacy is evident on every page. And as the poets said, ‘With a love like that you know it can’t be bad.’ (Yeah-yeah-yeah.)” — Bob Spitz, New York Times bestselling author of The Beatles

Book Information

Release Date: June 14 2022

Publisher: The Story Plant

Soft Cover: 978-1611883282; 329 pages; $16.95; E-Book, $7.49, Audiobook, Free with Audible Trial

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zeFK68

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/i-buried-paul-bruce-ferber/1140012044?ean=9781611883282

Chapters: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/i-buried-paul-a-novel/9781611883282-item.html?ikwid=I+Buried+Paul&ikwsec=Home&ikwidx=1#algoliaQueryId=96d8ff50907af587efe58127490ab077

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/i-buried-paul

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/I-Buried-Paul-Bruce-Ferber/9781611883282?ref=grid-view&qid=1642224849678&sr=1-3

Bruce Ferber built a long and successful career as a television comedy writer and producer. A multiple Emmy and Golden Globe nominee, his credits include Bosom Buddies, Growing Pains, Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Coach, and Home Improvement, where he served as Executive Producer and showrunner. In addition to being recognized by the Television Academy, Ferber’s work has received the People’s Choice, Kid’s Choice, and Environmental Media Awards. He is the author of two previous novels, Elevating Overman and Cascade Falls, along with the nonfiction book, The Way We Work. He lives in Los Angeles, CA with his wife, large dog, and assorted musical instruments.

I Buried Paul is his latest release.

Visit his website at www.Bruceferber.net or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

The Story Behind Mendel by Damone Bester

 

The Story Behind Mendel

I love track and field. And, I love movies. The inspiration for Mendel came about after one of my best friends from high school and I were reminiscing over our “glory days” running track together. We discussed how there were so many movies and books about baseball, football, basketball, even hockey, but there weren’t any that we could think of about track. One of the most popular sports on the highest stage of the Olympics was track and field and we couldn’t readily name one movie or book about it. The closest we could think of was the awesome film, Cool Runnings that had a sliver of track scenes. So, from that conversation, the idea of Mendel came about in the year of 2009. And, what most don’t know is that Mendel was a real high school. That’s where my friend and I ran track. Mendel was founded in 1951 and closed its doors in 1988. Mendel is not a memoir about my life as some have wrongly guessed. It is a fictional story with a real setting. What also inspired me to write Mendel is that I wanted to pen something dealing with forgiveness and love. The overarching message of Mendel is that love is sacrificial. This book deals with topics of forgiveness, redemption, manhood, family and teamwork. None of these come easily. We must work hard for them. To keep with the sports theme, some would say you have to have “some skin in the game.” If we are to be a society that loves one another, willing sacrifices are the only currency. We have to be willing to lose something, to put ourselves out there in order to love one another, forgive one another, live with one another.

Imagine the mid 1980’s, last day of school, summer break. A teen rushes to meet his mother, who is being released from the hospital after cancer surgery. When the teen arrives, he finds out his mother is dead, but his ex-gangbanging dad, who has been in jail the last seven years, is at the hospital ready to take the teen home.

Mendel, is a coming-of-age story about a senior at Chicago’s legendary Mendel High who must learn how to forgive as he navigates life without his mother. Things come to a head when the teen accidentally finds his mom’s diary. In the journal, he discovers his mother’s dreams of becoming a collegiate track star were derailed due to getting pregnant with him. To honor his mother, he joins Mendel’s track team and excels, but before he can cash in on any scholarship offers, his father’s thuggish past catches up with them when a gun toting nemesis comes seeking revenge. The teen must decide between saving his own life or sacrificing it all to save his estranged father.

Book Information

Release Date: April 26, 2022

Publisher:  The Story Plant

Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1611883268; 288 pages; $16.95; E-Book, $7.99

Amazon: https://amzn.to/37qfkCC

Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/3NYZ0cS

Indigo: https://bit.ly/37qF69y

Indiebound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781611883268

Book Depository: https://www.bookdepository.com/Mendel-Damone-Bester/9781611883268

Damone Bester was born and raised on Chicago’s Southside to blue-collar parents who were married 49 years, and one older brother, whose backyard scuffles taught Damone one lesson: “Never quit.” He wasn’t just a student at Mendel; he lived and breathed “Blue Smoke,” the mantra of his track team brethren. A brief conversation with another Mendel alum stoked the fire to pen his first novel about the school he so loved.

Damone is an author, poet, aspiring screenwriter, and voiceover artist. He has a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Illinois State University and has spent most of his profession in the Social Services sector. He currently lives in the Twin Cities area and enjoys fishing, bowling, basketball (watching, not playing), bean bags, and bragging about his nephew and nieces.

You can visit his website at www.DamoneBester.com or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

The Story Behind Triangle of Hope by Michael Meyer

 

The Story Behind Triangle of Hope

After my wife died of leukemia, I was close to a basket case. I blamed myself for her untimely death, much as Clint Westerly does in my book, although both of us are totally blameless for the terrible disease that took our spouses.  Since I simply could not get around this unwarranted rumination, one day I just began putting some thoughts onto paper, and, as the cliché goes, TRIANGLE OF HOPE just evolved from that point. I was a college/university writing professor for over forty years, teaching at universities in Asia, the Caribbean, Saudi Arabia, and here in the United States, so writing has always played an enormous part of my life. I lived my book as I wrote it, captivated by the downs and ups of the characters.  I am delighted to say that I was able to come up with an ending that I only wish could jump off the page to become reality for the world in which we find ourselves today.

Since I am a diehard international traveler, I was able to incorporate a wide variety of experiences I have had while traveling as well as giving written birth to a couple of my own long held, dreamlike fantasies, such as taking out all of my retirement funds and traveling the world in luxury for as long as my money lasts.

People often ask me why I decided to self-publish my own novels. The answer is simple, and yet there is some complexity to it. I wanted my work to be read right away. If I had gone the traditional publishing route, COVERT DREAMS, DEADLY EYES, THE FAMOUS UNION, THE SURVIVAL OF MARVIN BAINES, TRIANGLE OF HOPE,  SAVORING THE WORLD: HIT AND MISADVENTURES, and THE THREE KITTTIES THAT SAVED MY LIFE would still be somewhere along the lengthy publishing route, lying there not yet ready to be put into readers’ hands. It takes months, sometimes years, to get one’s work published the traditional way. I am so delighted that Amazon Direct Publishing came onto the scene. My books have already sold thousands of copies since their birth at their new home at Amazon. And in that short time, my books have made me an international author. Copies of them have already been bought in England, Germany, France, Australia, and Singapore, in addition to wide distribution throughout the United States and Canada. In addition, they are also now available in paperback on Amazon. None of this would have been possible, in such a short time, if I had chosen to pursue the traditional publishing route.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, the highly acclaimed international author, often complained of having to change parts of his books, especially endings, to satisfy his publishers. He is not, by far, the only author who has had to adhere to someone else’s editing in order to be published. In my case, the case of a self-published novelist on Amazon Kindle, I have complete control over every single aspect of my book, every word, every punctuation mark, and even to the appearance of the cover. It is my choice, and mine alone, how to begin and how to end my own book. I have complete control over all of my characters’ actions, thoughts, and words. In a nutshell, as a self-published author, I am the true writer of my own work. No editor has had a hand in changing even a single word of my original work. The book is mine, and mine alone, and it is presented to the reading public exactly as I want it to be, nothing changed to satisfy a publisher’s whim.

-- Michael Meyer

 

If one person can make a difference, just think what three can do. A tender story of love. Three strangers, each harboring a dark secret, become united by chance in a small Irish village, and the wonderful power of the human spirit comes alive.

If you believe that love and romance can happen in unusual circumstances, then this book is for you.

“From page one, I found myself mesmerized at just how powerful the book was going to be.” – A Girl and Her eBooks Blog

“Meyer did a great job in weaving the story lines of the three main characters into a conclusion which was exactly what the title suggests. Triangle of Hope is a compelling read from start to finish.” – Jade Diamond Book Blog

“I absolutely adore this story.” – Lauren Alumbaugh, Goodreads Librarian

“A book that will stay with you forever.” – Wanda’s Amazing Amazon Reviewers

Book Information

Release Date: December 1, 2014

Publisher:  Pacific Books

Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1611883251; 176 pages; $5.99; E-Book, $2.99; Kindle Unlimited FREE

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HPk95L

Book Trailer:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uXCv7wp3go

Michael Meyer is the author of mysteries, thrillers, humorous fiction, and non-fiction: Love and romance, laughter and tears, thrills and fears.

He has resided in and has visited many places in the world, all of which have contributed in some way to his own published writing. He has literally traveled throughout the world, on numerous occasions. He has lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. He gained the wanderlust to see the world, to experience other cultures, at an early age, and this desire has never left him. If anything, it has only gained in intensity as he has aged.

Among the many unique things that have happened to him in his world travels, he has walked the streets of Istanbul with a detective, searching for a pickpocket who got him good. He has ridden on the back of a motorcycle in Tehran while the driver, who spoke not one word of English, pointed out all the sights to him. He has wrestled an Iranian soldier who tried to break into his hotel room in Tehran. He has had the paint completely stripped from his car as he drove across Saudi Arabia in a sandstorm. He has stood on the stage of a busy nightclub in Tokyo, singing “She’ll be Coming Round the Mountain When She Comes” to an audience feeling no pain from the Sake they were drinking. He has been chased by a family of mongooses (yes, that is the correct spelling) on the idyllic Caribbean island of St. Croix. And that is just the beginning of his long list of worldly adventures.

As a recent retiree from a forty-year career as a professor of writing, he now lives in Southern California wine country with his wife, Kitty, and their two adorable rescue cats.

His latest book is the contemporary fiction, Triangle of Hope.

Visit him on Facebook.

The Story Behind I Am Not Brad Pitt and Other Stories by Ross Dreiblatt

 

The Story Behind I Am Not Brad Pitt and Other Stories

By Ross Dreiblatt

I have always been a little stumped by the world’s obsession with celebrities.  Famous people spend an inordinate amount of resources on projecting an image for the public to buy.  And we do! 

 

This book began to germinate after Tom Cruise’s famous couch-jumping moment on Oprah.  There he was, trying his best to earnestly manipulate tell us how he was falling in love with his now ex-wife, and then he set off on Oprah’s famous couch.  However, instead of inspiring us with his passion for his fiancée, he opened the curtains a little too wide on exactly who he is.  He was trying his best to be one of us.  But we found out, he was not like us. Not at all.

 

I began to think how celebrities are really our modern Gods of Mount Olympus living lives of privilege that none of us could ever relate to.  In the book, I wanted to use a little dark humor to explain the mythology of modern celebrities who try so hard to shape their image so we can feel that we know them.  But we really don’t know them. In the book, I explored that space between who we think they are and who they really are.

 

Why do they have such a hold on us?   On one level, I understand that everyone wants to be them, even look like them!  But aside from the aspirational aspect, I couldn’t find any earthly reason why we admire these privileged people.  So, I took the liberty of using some unearthly reasons.

 

When I finished the book, I showed it to an old friend who is an agent and he thought it was terrific.  He warned me that it would be a tough sell, mainly because it defies categorization or rather it crosses so many categories.  It’s humor, it’s science fiction, it’s a thriller, it’s a mystery and a drama.  The big publishers all had nice things to say about the book, but no one knew how to sell it.  Finally, we found a small Indy publisher, Stone Tiger Books, that agreed to take it on.  I hope you enjoy the read!  The book is chock full of surprises.

 

 

I AM NOT BRAD PITT is the first of three riotously absurd tales in Ross Dreiblatt’s debut short-story collection sending up America’s sometimes-fatal celebrity obsessions.

“I Am Not Brad Pitt” opens in a prison cell in which Mr. Pitt’s clone-like doppelganger, Tobey Crawford, remorsefully recounts the sequence of unlikely events that resulted in his wrongful conviction for murder.

The second story, “Please Allow Me To Introduce Myself,” considers the possibility that Keith Richards (along with, for good measure, Dolly Parton) is, indeed, a vampire. Nobel-Prize laureate Bob Dylan, the story’s vampire-killer, is equipped with more than just a harmonica and tambourine.

The final work in the collection, “Keeping Compliant With The Kardashians,” examines whether Kardashian family members are, in fact, aliens from another galaxy and what precisely is their interest on Earth.

Each of the stories are told with engaging humor, and each pokes fun more at American culture than they do, generally, of the celebrities themselves.

“Ross’s stories stay with you long after you’ve read them. The main characters have a relatable humanity that pull the reader in as they face an array of absurd situations. Every story is a guaranteed good time.” – Pat Griffith, author of THE DPA TRILOGY

Book Information

Release Date: November 14, 2021

Publisher:  Stone Tiger Books

Soft Cover: ISBN:  978-1735667683; 391 pages; $11.00; E-Book, $2.99; Kindle Unlimited, FREE

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/59610948-i-am-not-brad-pitt-and-other-stories

Amazon: https://amzn.to/3mBsxgF

You can also purchase book at the author’s website at www.RossDreiblatt.com.

Ross Dreiblatt is an author who was born and grew up in New York. His father was a truck driver and his mom was a retail manager. He attended Hofstra University and moved to Los Angeles where he attended Cal State Northridge. While in Los Angeles, he studied under John Rechy’s master writing workshop at UCLA.

He has worked in the corporate offices of major retailers in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City, and Florida toiling on spreadsheets by day, and the imaginary lives of celebrity monsters by night.

He loves to travel and will get on a plane going anywhere, as long as it eventually lands safely. Despite the dour photo, he is kind of a happy guy.

He currently lives in South Florida.

His latest book is the literary fiction / humor / satire novel, I AM NOT BRAD PITT AND OTHER STORIES.

You can visit his website at www.RossDreiblatt.com or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.