As summer starts winding into fall, our minds drift to thoughts of warm days, cool nights, and how much fun we could be having.
Oftentimes, people find that in the pages of a good book. Recently, we partnered with Waldorf Publishing to bring you insight into the people behind the publications, if you were.
Today, we offer you a glimpse into the mind of Rocco LoBosco, author of ‘Staying Sane in Crazy Town.’
How did you get your start in the literary world? I began to write in earnest in my twenties. At first, it was something I did for fun. I’d climb into a steaming hot bath, smoke a joint, and scribble what I thought were brilliant poems in a notebook. Later I’d try to read what I’d written and either found it was illegible or not the radiant fragment of mentation I originally imagined. Writing and eventually publishing poetry led me to writing and publishing fiction. By the time I was in my thirties, writing had become an obsession. My very existence depended on it. I write; therefore, I am.
Can you tell us a little more about what you do? Aside from writing, reading and studying, I do life coaching. People come to me because they are hurting in some way, and we kind of take it from there.
What is your favorite part about being an author? Writing something for the first time, feeling that wave flow through me that washes away time, place and self.
How do you get your inspiration? I do not know. It just comes. I could make up a fancy story about it, to make myself seem more interesting, but I’ve reached an age where I can’t do that anymore. Do you know exactly what you are going to say before you say it? No, of course not. Our thoughts and words come from a place that we do not have access to, a sub-terrain where our dreams crawl, walk, run and even fly. Inspiration comes from that place. Whatever stories we might tell ourselves about how that works are no more than self-biased flatulence.
Of all the characters you’ve created, which one would you like to see come alive on the silver screen? Dante from my novel Ninety-Nine, a young teenager fighting desperately to survive in Brooklyn in the early 1960s. He and his stepbrother Bo live in a family threatened by psychological fragmentation and poverty. Added to their worries is the threat of two vicious loan sharks who will have no trouble killing their father if he doesn’t find a way to pay up. In the summer of 1963, the boys take their minds off their troubles by running with the Decatur Street Angels, a private gang led by Dante’s cousin Waldo. A dark-minded genius, Waldo invents imaginative and daring exploits for the group that become progressively more dangerous—with inevitable consequences. Meanwhile, Dante is involved in his first (and secret) love affair with an older woman while Bo slowly loses his mind as he attempts to come to terms with being abandoned by his mother. The event streams of the story culminate in a gut-wrenching climax.
What is the funniest thing to happen to you in your career? In college I submitted some poetry to the campus literary magazine and forgot about it. A friend later told me the mag had come out, and he saw that my poetry had been published. I ran across campus to get a copy of the magazine, only to find that the sole thing that had been published was my name, attached to poetry I had not written. Someone lifted my name. I guess he thought it was poetic.
Can you tell us a bit about your book? This book, published by Waldorf Press, is titled Staying Sane In Crazy Town: A Monologue of Ride Wisdom. A humorous mix of memoir and tough-love philosophy, Crazy Town is for those who have suffered betrayal, abandonment, and loss; have entertained depressing, despairing, and nihilistic impulses; and have sometimes felt sickened over the state of the world. It is an especially excellent read for those who will age and die. Crazy Town gracefully moves between the abject and sublime, entertaining the reader with witty stories that challenge their preconceptions.
What is your next big project? A co-authored (contracted) book on sex and technology that examines the sea changes in our sexual, relational and cultural lives wrought by the tech revolution that began with the Internet and has now branched off into new areas, such as virtual and augmented reality and advanced A.I. and robotics.
For more information about this and other books by Waldorf Publishing, visit their Facebook page.
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