How
would you describe yourself using only five words?
Rational,
loyal, egocentric, and concise
(that’s why I used only four words)
If we asked your muse to describe you using five words, what do you think they would say?
Difficult
to get through to. (that’s five words)
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I
believe one’s residence should match one’s stage of life. I regard my present
life in Brazil as my reward for almost 50 years of hard work in New York City
If someone hasn't read any of your work, what book would you recommend that they start with and why?
That’s
easy to answer: Slipping on Stardust, my debut novel, just published by Secret
Cravings Publishing. My first book, So You Think You Know English—A Guide to
English for Those Who Think They Don’t Need One is strictly for English
teachers and language mavens. It’s along the lines of Eats, Shoots & Leaves.
My second book, Wet Firecrackers, is a personal memoir and may also have a
limited audience. On the other hand, Slipping on Stardust is a highly
accessible page-turner that is easily stuffed into anyone’s beach bag or holiday stocking.
Are your characters able to love or do they need to be taught?
They
all have a fairly easy time loving, themselves if no others; however, some of
them have considerable difficulty being loveable.
Do
you have a book that was easiest to write or one that was the hardest?
My
“unauthorized autobiography,” Wet Firecrackers, was the most
difficult not because of any reticence to disclose details of my life, but
rather because of what and whom I didn’t write about. Friends and family
members who would have appeared on almost every page of a diary, appeared only
if, when, and to the extent that their presence contributed to the various
themes of the book.
If
you could collaborate with one author who would it be?
No one.
I’m highly skeptical of the value of artistic collaboration between or among
writers of fiction. Individual writers are like fingerprints and snowflakes;
let’s preserve their uniqueness. The same is true of other art forms. Homages
aside, can anyone name a significant painting or musical composition that was
the result of collaboration?
Coffee,
tea or other drink to get you moving in the morning?
I’m a
morning person and tend to wake up moving. However, I have nothing against
starting the day with a brilliantly chilled glass of champagne. If it’s cheap
champagne, chill it more.
If
you had a reporter follow you around for the day, what would the readers get to
see in your daily schedule?
A
determined effort to get rid of the reporter.
Is it
hard coming up with titles or characters names?
Yes,
because both are so important. Character names have subliminal influences on
audiences. The protagonist and antagonist of my first play were named Ben and
Mal, respectively. Had the names been reversed, I believe the audience would
have been confused. It’s also useful to keep in mind that characters’ names
express a great deal about the characters’ parents and their parental
expectations since that’s where the names came from.
Are
there any books coming that you are itching to read (either electronic or
print) from your favorite authors?
Most
of my favorite authors are dead, so nothing is “coming” from them. I am eager
to read Stalked, by James Broderick, being released later this year.
Broderick and Woody Allen are my favorite living authors. I might mention that Broderick has much the
more wholesome personal life, but then, who doesn’t?
What
makes your characters so vulnerable yet strong? Can you describe them
to us? What do you do when characters stop talking to you when writing?
Whether
my characters are vulnerable and/or strong is really for the reader to decide
and they are all capable of speaking for themselves. When they stop talking to
me, I send them to their room without dinner.
Teaser from Slipping on Stardust
After only two months on the market, Slipping on Stardust, has already garnered five, 5-Star Reviews on Amazon--three from professional sources.
The ultimate guilt-free beach read, Slipping on Stardust is a riveting tale of small-time life, adolescent rebellion, community theatre intrigues, and legal scandals, with a kidnapping demanding suicide as ransom thrown in for extra spice.
It all starts when Adrian Conway, an aging Hollywood movie star, arrives in Johnson, Ohio to star in a community theatre production of a classic play opposite the reigning drama queen, who is the wife of the town's leading lawyer and the mother of a handsome, but sexually undecided son. To say that all hell breaks loose thereafter is not to do justice to hell. The conflicts that follow fling family members to New York City and to Hollywood in a trail of betrayal, scandal, and crime.
The writing style of Gordon Osmond's debut novel has been likened to Kurt Vonnegut, Oscar Wilde, Preston Sturges, and George Cukor.
Read the reviews and then read the book!
Excerpt:
The unexpected cab ride from All-Dance was a short one, but it carried Adrian and Kyle to a part of Johnson that was a long sociological distance from the normal rounds of the Brockways. As Adrian and Kyle entered the Rex Hotel, Kyle noticed a sign that read, "OPEN 24 HOURS!"
"Isn’t that sort of in the nature of a hotel?" Kyle asked, but Adrian was too busy talking to the hotel’s desk clerk to answer.
"Kyle, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about the play and your career—not just here in Johnson, but perhaps elsewhere. Here we can do it without distraction, we can have some refreshments, which I’ve already arranged, and you, you sweaty thing, can take a shower." In the trio of inducements, there were two that appealed, so Kyle willingly followed Adrian to a second-floor room.
"You’ll have some vodka, won’t you?" Adrian asked perfunctorily. When Kyle hesitated on his way to declining the offer, Adrian quickly added, "Why don’t you think it over while you’re showering."
"Okay," Kyle said quietly as he entered the room’s bathroom fully clothed.
Adrian downed a couple of neat shots and then prepared two well iced and appropriately garnished drinks in tall glasses. With that done, Adrian sank into a somewhat grim easy chair and listened to the sound of Kyle’s shower as if it were a Hawaiian waterfall.
When the shower was turned off, Adrian waited for the question he knew would shortly come from the bathroom. "Adrian, have you seen my clothes?"
"They’re right here, Kyle." Adrian answered the question with the assuredness of one who had removed them from the bathroom and put them at his feet at the first flow of Kyle’s shower.
"Oh," Kyle answered flatly as he emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a shortish towel. "I thought I took my…"
"Does it really matter?" Adrian asked. "They’re right here."
Kyle was being pulled in opposite directions. He wanted his clothes, but without them, he wasn’t keen about approaching their temporary custodian.
"Weren’t we going to talk about the play and…"
"Absolutely," Adrian interrupted." The play and your big prop."
"My…" Kyle stammered.
"You know, the javelin. Why don’t you show me, right now, what you can do with yours."
Kyle was clearly shocked.
"It’s no big deal, Kyle, It’s all the rage in Hollywood; it’s called a ‘private show’. You move, I watch. Nothing to it. And you can be sure that private it will always be."
About the Author:
A graduate of Columbia College and Columbia Law School , Gordon Osmond is a retired Wall Street lawyer, a produced playwright, a published author, an online play and book critic, and a lecturer.
Osmond's plays have been professionally produced throughout the United States , where they have received rave reviews and many awards including First Prize in the John Gassner Memorial Playwriting Competition sponsored by the New England Theatre Conference.
Osmond’s published non-fiction works include So You Think You Know English—A Guide to English for Those Who Think They Don’t Need One and his “unauthorized autobiography," Wet Firecrackers.
Slipping on Stardust is Osmond's debut novel. He is currently loving life and language in Brazil .
Author and Book website: http://i-m.co/GordonOsmond/SlippingonStardust
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