Can you tell us a little about yourself?
I’m an award-winning writer of novels and plays which often touch on social issues without overshadowing the flawed, sometimes broken characters looking for a way forward in the darkness. Writers should provide hope. My mantra has always been that there’s more that unites us than divides us. My seven novels also include the dystopian trilogy The Dark Depths, comprised of A Mound Over Hell, A Fastball to Freedom and A Dugout to Peace, which begins in 2098 after America and the West have lost World War Three to the Islamic Empire. My plays, which range from Dancing on Glass, A Black and White Cookie and AOC and the Untold Story of the 2028 Election, have been performed throughout the country.
Can you tell us about your latest book, Jesse’s Girl?
Jesse’s Girl is an emotional thriller, combining the fast pace of a thriller with the heart of a family drama, about Teddy Mentor, a single father searching for his adopted son Jesse who has run away from a substance abuse program. But Jesse hasn’t vanished. He’s looking for his biological roots. Their journey takes them on a dangerous path laden with secrets, ultimately confronting Teddy with the question: How much should a parent sacrifice for their child? In Jesse’s Girl, the answer is: Everything.
Is Jesse’s Girl your only book?
No, I’ve written six other novels.
Can you tell us a little about the main characters in Jesse’s Girl?
It’s a father-son story. Teddy’s divorced, then his ex-wife died, so he has sole custody of Jesse, who’s battling substance abuse. They love and hate each other, accent the hate when Teddy sends Jesse to a wilderness program in Montana because he can’t control him anymore. But when he gets the call that Jesse has run away, what is he supposed to do? He should let the authorities handle this. But then again, Jesse is all he has left.
Do you see a little bit of yourself in your main character?
Jesse’s Girl was originally published in 2009. My son, my only child, was batting through addiction. I thought by writing this story, 99 percent fictionalized, it might spark him to try and get clean. He never read the book. Several years later he passed, and I put the book into an emotional vault. Then a friend read the book out of nowhere and insisted I revisit it. She said, “These characters are more real than most of the people I know.” So I did a number of drafts, editing, updating, and digging deeper into the story. I hope Jesse’s Girl will touch people, maybe even help those in similar situations.
Where is this book set and why did you choose that location?
It begins in Brooklyn, where I’m from. That’s why I talk like this. Primarily it’s set in Kentucky. I worked once upon a time as a reporter for the Cincinnati Enquirer Kentucky bureau in Covington. A good friend from college also lived in Kentucky and I visited him many times. I really liked the people I met. I thought sending the main characters from New York there would be interesting. Ultimately, people are people, no matter where they live. Something we often forget.
What’s the best advice you can give to aspiring authors?
Don’t talk about writing. Write. Be prepared for the hard work, the seemingly endless edits. Be honest in what you say. And don’t be afraid to push the envelope without being gratuitous. And remember there’s nothing quite so entertainingly complicated as a human bring.
Thank you so much for this interview, Gary. What’s next for you?
I’m wonderfully obsessed working on a new novel. Early in 2027, my bi-partisan political satire AOC and the Untold Story of the 2028 Election is scheduled to premiere in Washington, DC. We make fun of everyone!
BLURB
Teddy Mentor finally thought his troubled
teenage son was safe. No more drugs. No more police. No more fear. Only guilt.
Then came the midnight call from the wilderness program. Jesse had run
away.
But what can Teddy do? Risk his shaky job
and head to Montana to search for Jesse?
Let the authorities handle this. They know what they're doing. That's
why Teddy sent Jesse away. Because he already failed. No. Teddy can’t
jeopardize what little he has left for the adopted son who said Teddy wasn't
his real father. But Teddy is a parent. A single parent. And Jesse is all he
has left.
The
novel asks the question how much should a parent sacrifice for their child? In Jesse’s
Girl, the answer is: Everything.
BOOK EXCERPT
Ever
since he’d received the call in the middle of the night that Molly had died,
Teddy Mentor had moved the phone away from the end table by the bed. Here in
this bedroom, once theirs, then hers, now his, it sat on a pea- green marble
table just beneath the window. Even across the room, six feet away, the phone
still jolted him. On the second ring, he stiffened like some zombie coming to
life.
It was about Jesse. It was one
of his dealers calling about money. It was a desk sergeant. It was the morgue.
On the third ring, he remembered: Jesse was safe. Let it ring. He had no one
else to lose.
He stumbled toward the phone and
stubbed his toe on the end table. Down he went to one knee. At fifty-four,
stubbing your toe was like being shot. He scowled at the digital clock that
he’d also moved so he wouldn’t count the sleep lost, the hours ticking off into
the ozone, never to be retrieved.
Slamming down the clock because,
of course, that was to blame, Teddy grimaced and answered the phone on the
fifth ring. One-eighteen and he had to pee for the second time that night.
“Yeah,” he said hoarsely.
A faint crackle like a
connection from space hummed, followed by a cheerful voice with a Western
tinge.
“Hello Mr. Mentor, this is Paul
Jennings at the Mountain Wilderness Center.”
Teddy
flinched. Oh no.
“I’m
so sorry to bother you so late.”
“What
happened?”
“Well
sir - ” Paul hesitated. “We had a little
incident with Jesse last night.”
He
closed his eyes, as if that’d help. “Is he okay?”
“Nothing like that. He wasn’t
hurt or anything.” Pause. “He left the premises during the night.”
Teddy rubbed his eyes hard,
trying to wake up because this wasn’t supposed to happen. This was supposed to
be when the nightmare started ending. But from the window came the smell of
bagged garbage drifting up the courtyard two floors below, carried on a warm
late July breeze, so he knew it wasn’t a dream;
it was real and it sucked. “Great. Why?”
“We
don’t know for sure.”
“Did you try asking him?” Teddy
couldn’t remember if Paul was the fat one with glasses or the thin one with a
red beard. He had only seen their pictures from the staff page on the website.
“Well
that’s the rub, sir.” Paul cleared his throat.
“Jesse hasn’t returned yet.”
Teddy sat cross-legged on the
floor and wished he hadn’t quit smoking. “How long has he been gone?”
“We’re
not really sure, sir.”
“What the hell do you mean? I
just paid you ten grand and you lose my son after two weeks?”
“I
understand you’re upset.”
“That’s
one word for it.” How late was the mini-mart on Seventh Street open? He could
get cigarettes there. “He disappears in the middle of the night, and you just
discovered that now?”
“Oh
no, sir,” Paul chuckled, eager to deliver reassuring news. “We saw he was no
longer in the cabin around seven this morning when the residents gathered for
breakfast. He’d tucked a pillow under his blanket, darn old-fashioned trick but
seemed to work…”
“He’s a clever boy,” Teddy
said. Here we go again. Here we go
again.
“That’s one word for it,” Paul
answered slowly. Right. Paul was the fat one -- Teddy remembered now.
“One of his roommates contacted the tech on duty and
we
then set out looking for him. The group just returned a few minutes ago, and
that’s when I called you.”
“So
where do you guess he is?” His armpits
were drenched.
“That’s the good news. Nearest
town is Morton, that’s more than twenty-two miles away. Twenty-two point three,
actually, sir. So it’s unlikely he would’ve made it that far.”
“He
could’ve hitched a ride.”
“Folks around here know better
than to pick up one of our kids. We’ve got the sheriff on this; he’s sent out
an alert. Not many places for Jesse to hide, doubt he had any food. He’ll come
back hungry and thirsty. They usually do.”
“Or
he won’t because he’s hurt.”
Paul chuckled again. “I don’t
think so, sir. Like I said, this happens sometimes. Kids get anxious,
frightened, and think running away is an option.”
“But you don’t know for sure
he’s okay. You don’t know for sure where he is.” Teddy’s lower back ached. He
wanted to lie down and close his eyes and make it all go away.
Paul’s voice hardened slightly.
“We know these kids, sir. Just wanted to give you a shout and let you know not
to worry.”
“You don’t think I’m going to
worry that my sixteen-year-old son is missing somewhere in the middle of
Montana?” Teddy shouted.
“Sir, it sounds far worse than
it is.”
“Silly
me for over-reacting.” Teddy’s chest
tightened.
“When will you call me back?”
“When
we find him, sir.”
“When
do you think that will be?”
“Hard
to say.”
“Few
hours, few days, few weeks, what’s the
standard time frame when you misplace an
adolescent?”
“Is
none. Don’t worry. We’ll find him. Just hang tight
And stay in touch.”
Teddy sat there for a moment, his head throbbing. Damn you, Jesse,
he muttered. Damn you for doing this. For saying screw you, Dad, once again.
– Excerpted from Jesse’s Girl by Gary
Morgenstein. Reprinted with permission.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Including Jesse’s Girl, Morgenstein’s
seven novels include the critically acclaimed trilogy The Dark Depths
comprised of A Mound Over Hell, A Fastball for Freedom
and A Dugout to Peace, which begins in 2098 after
America and the West have lost World War Three to the Islamic Empire and
baseball begins its final season at Amazon Stadium.
Morgenstein’s stage dramas, which have been
performed all over the country, include A Black and White Cookie, A
Tomato Can’t Grow in the Bronx, Dancing on Glass, Walking Charlie, The
Silence of Our Friends and the bi-partisan political satire AOC
and the Untold Story of the 2028 Election.
Connect with him on social
media at:
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Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/gary.morgenstein/
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/garymorgenstein
