Death in the Family by

Please welcome  author of Death in the Family

Lanny Larcinese will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Death in the Family

by Lanny Larcinese

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GENRE: Crime thriller

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INTERVIEIW:

1. What or who inspired you to start writing?

I have been an expressive person all my life, and from the time of boyhood, cultivated vocabulary, read profusely, and was taken by eloquence. So, I always enjoyed expressing myself verbally, and unusual for most men, given to understand and express the inner emotional landscape.

2. How did you come up with ideas for your books?

Being conscious of the human condition and the struggle between civilization and people’s inner demons, I always begin with a character caught in the throes of such a struggle. I give him a need – psychological, emotional, spiritual, etc. – then create plot events designed to bring out his need and navigate him toward redemption.

3. What expertise did you bring to your writing?

Other than general education and being widely read, I began my fiction writing career by arrogantly deciding, “Hell, I can write a novel.” So I did and it was a total mess. My first (independent) editor’s 20 page, single-spaced analysis eviscerated it; however, buried in her write-up was, “…but you have good writing chops.”I then set about to become educated in the difference between mere facility with language vs. story telling technique and craft.

5. As far as your writing goes, what are your future plans?

My plans are to continue the path I’m on. I have a novel in progress (see # 14 below); I enter frequent contests; I am asked to submit work; I write for promotional purposes, etc. For this fiction writer, I find that all writing, including non-fiction, tends to hone skill, e.g., effectiveness in conveying thought, creative expression, succinctness when required, etc. Also, I am currently developing a crime writers’ speakers bureau called Crime Writers Caravan, which will match crime writers hand-picked for superior presentation skillsvenues such as libraries, bookstores, etc.

8. Do you belong to a critique group? If so how does this help or hinder your writing?

I purposely do not belong to a critique group, however would never consider tendering work for publication without copy, line, and developmental edits – and at that – expect further edits by the publisher. I have two thoughts about critique groups: 1) they are like seeking effective tennis partners — better than you but not so much better that you are out of their league; and, 2)My work is often theme-driven, meaning an underlying moral issue or dilemma for which plot events, character development, etc. are calculated to explicate. I don’t write morality tales per se, but the theme will always be a sub-text of the mystery, crime, etc. This type of writing is usually out of the box – not necessarily above, but also not typical—of most other genre writing.

9. When did you first decide to submit your work? Please tell us what or who encouraged you to take this big step?

I always liked to write and express myself, and believed I could do it creatively. The provenance of my fiction writing career began about eight years ago, when a simple image inexplicably popped into my head: two high school boys, one a bully the other a fed-up victim, met “behind the gym.” The image was so compelling I went to the keyboard and wrote out the scene. Then I asked myself, “Who are these boys? How did they get there?” I kept writing, kept going, with no idea where I was headed or how to tell a story. It turned into 80,000 words of the work discussed in #3 above. After a year or two of re-writes, I shopped it with no luck, put it in the drawer, and began writing another novel (“I Detest All My Sins”) which got published. Meanwhile, I wrote short pieces and entered them into contests at the Philadelphia Writers Conference, and won three successive first prizes, as well as others from other contests. By then, I concluded, “I can do this.”

10. What is the best and worst advice you ever received? (regarding writing or publishing)

Part of my writing and publishing journey included networking with other writers at informal gatherings at which all aspects of writing or publishing might be discussed. Almost always, some part of the discussion would provide insight to whatever I was working on. But also, I bought many “how to” books on all aspects of storytelling craftby highly touted writers and craft mavens. I read so many of these that I began to discern they did not always agree with one another, e.g., 3-part story structure vs. 4-part, etc. I took this dilemma to a friend who was an experienced novelist, upon which I got the best writing advice I ever got: “Just write your damned book.” Moral? We can get so caught up in “how-to” that we get bollixed, and the best advice is to write, write write. But  a good editor really helps too!

11. Do you outline your books or just start writing?
    I am a so-called pantser. I write by the seat of my pants. I can no more stare at a blank legal pad to outline than look at a blank Word page to start my story—the common denominator being “blank.” However, unlike many other crime writers who envision a plot circumstance then populate it with suitable characters, I begin with character, his needs, dilemmas, and some back story, then create plot events to bring those out.

12. Do you have any hobbies and does the knowledge you’ve gained from these carry over into your characters or the plot of your books?

Not current hobbies, per se, but as an elderly man, have had much life which involved risk-taking, travel, various business pursuits, two marriages, lived at length in 4 cities, had wide and varied interests and hobbies along the way, and you betcha, my life experience informs all of my writing. However, such a resume is not imperative for writing since insight into the internal and external milieu in which one exists can always be fodder for interesting writing, as long as it’s supported by a knowledge of craft.

14. Have you started your next project? If so, can you share a little bit about your book?

My work in progress is a novel called, “Fire in the Belly,” a fictional treatment inspired by the MOVE cult disaster in 1985 Philadelphia in which the police dropped a satchel bomb on a house and fourteen people burned to death while sixty-two row houses burned to the ground. The story involves cult leaders and followers, cult dynamics, racial enmity and dilemmas between police and African Americans, and, as in all my work, relationships.

BLURB:

Donny Lentini is a talented young man hungry for his mother’s love. To please her, he becomes guardian angel to his mob-wannabe father. When the father is murdered and found with his hands hacked off, Donny is dealt a set of cards in a game called vengeance. The pot is stacked high with chips; the ante, his soul and the lives of loved-ones. With the help of friends—ex-con, defrocked Jesuit Bill Conlon along with former high-school nemesis, Antwyne Claxton—he digs for whether the murder had anything to do with the mob’s lust for a real estate parcel owned by the family of Donny’s lover. He’s new at this game. He doesn’t cheat, but plays his cards well. And he gets what he wants.

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EXCERPT:

There is a purity to poker, moments of truth free of the ambiguity of motive or morals, moments philosophers never examine—clean moments—as when a Great White draws back its lips to embrace somebody’s neck with its four-inch serrated teeth—moments German Kruger never understood and might put his head at risk .

One by one I looked them in the eye. They all dropped except German, who raised and called. I flipped my hole cards. “Three cowboys.”

I raked in the seven hundred dollar pot. Any day I stuck a pencil in German’s eye was a good day. “What is it with you?” he said. “You win four, five pots every Friday.”

Dad kicked my shin under There is a purity to poker, moments of truth free of the ambiguity of motive or morals, moments philosophers never examine—clean moments—as when a Great White draws back its lips to embrace somebody’s neck with its four-inch serrated teeth—moments German Kruger never understood and might put his head at risk .

One by one I looked them in the eye. They all dropped except German, who raised and called. I flipped my hole cards. “Three cowboys.”

I raked in the seven hundred dollar pot. Any day I stuck a pencil in German’s eye was a good day. “What  is it with you?” he said.  “You win four, five pots every Friday.”

Dad kicked my shin under the table.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Lanny Larcinese ‘s short work has appeared in magazines and has won a handful of local prizes. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s a native mid-westerner transplanted to the City of Brotherly Love where he has been writing fiction for seven years. When not writing, he lets his daughter, Amanda, charm him out of his socks, and works at impressing Jackie, his long-time companion who keeps him honest and laughing—in addition to being his first-line writing critic. He also spends more time than he should on Facebook but feels suitably guilty for it.

https://www.facebook.com/lanny.larcinese

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Lanny Larcinese will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

RAFFLECOPTER:

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/28e4345f3241