Author: John Biscello
Genre: Erotica, Sci-Fi
Length: 341
Release Date:March 10, 2016
ISBN:978-1-943549-54-2 ($14.95)
Publisher: Zharmae Press
Cover Artwork:Cris Qualiana Basham
Synopsis: In this rogue’s tale, full of sound, fury and erotic surrealism, we meet Alex Fillameno, a writer who has traded in the machine-grind of New York for a bare bones existence in the high desert town of Taos, New Mexico. Recently divorced and jobless, Fillameno has become a regular at The End of the Road, the bar where he first encounters the alluring and enigmatic D.J, a singer and musician. Drawn to her mutable sense of reality, the two begin a romance that starts off relatively normal. When D.J. initiates Alex into the realm of sexual transfiguration their lives are turned inside-out, and what follows is an anti-hero’s journey into a nesting doll world of masks and fragments, multiples and parallels, time-locks and trauma; a world in which reality is celluloid and what you see is never what you get.
____________________________________________
What drove and inspired you to write this particular book?
I moved to Taos, New Mexico from New York in 2001. It was quite a dramatic change in culture, tempo, and way of life. I never would have imagined fourteen years later I'd still call this "black sheep" of a high-desert town home. The energy and character of this place is rich and challenging; its vibe eclectic. It was only a matter of time before I tried to capture and reflect its spirit (or how it has impacted and influenced my spirit in myriad ways) in a book or collection of stories.
Most of my novel is set in Taos–with strains of autobiographical fiction. Yet it veers into the realms of the mythical and surreal. And one of the driving catalysts behind that is the character, D.J.–who becomes the love interest of Alex (the protagonist). D.J. was supposed to be the main character in a play I was writing, but she disappeared when no one was looking and reappeared in this novel. Here, she has found a home of sorts.
Which were the hardest areas to write?
Perhaps the last section, where the novel changes locations from Taos to San Francisco. In a sense, it almost become a different book. A new setting, a new set of characters (with D.J. and Alex still at the heart of it all); and having to trust in the strange or surreal directions inspired by Les Etoiles de Diables ("Stars of the Devil"). Which is the name of a mysterious club on San Francisco's Embarcadero waterfront.
This summer, when rewriting the novel, I rewrote the S.F. section in trying to streamline and concentrate the storyline. Furthermore, manage the intense build-up or break-down between D.J. and Alex.
What makes your book standout?
Well, an urban-bred Brooklyn boy's perspective of high-desert living is one slant. Also–about a quarter of the way into the novel–what seems like a "straight" love/obsession story between an alcoholic writer and mercurial musician takes a sharp, unexpected turn. Into a playscape that could be called ... anatomically reconfigurative (Cue old-time-radio suspense music).
What advice do you have for the struggling writer?
If this is your deep-down passion, if you truly love words and stories and your relationship with them, then putting them down and getting them out means you are actively living your dream. There will always be a million and one alibis ready to sidetrack and derail us. Ignore them. Live the yes. Stay the course.
Author Information & Links
John Biscello is the author of the novel Broken Land, a Brooklyn Tale, which was named Underground Book Reviews 2014 Book of the Year, and a collection of stories, Freeze Tag. His fiction and poetry has appeared in numerous publications, including: Art Times, nthposition, The Wanderlust Review, Ophelia Street, Caper, Adobe Walls, Yuan Yang, Kansas City Voices, and the Tishman Review. A poet, performer, author, playwright, and drama teacher for young people, he is originally from Brooklyn, NY, and now lives in Taos, NM.
____________________________________________