A Pot of Coffee & a Fistful of Aspirin: March 2014

So what is Cat & Cat really about? Family and friends who've read my novel over the past year have all asked me this question in one form or another. Of course, I understand their curiosity. The narrator, Chris Telamon, is a lot like yours truly, and his biographical details - strong-willed wife, mercurial step-kids, poor career choices, anger issues and addiction to coffee - mirror major aspects of my life to the proverbial tee. So to lay some Frequently Asked Questions to rest, I've decided to do a little Q&A below.

Q: What the heck does the title Cat & Cat mean?
A: Cat & Cat is a play on the expression "cat and mouse." In the book's opening, Chris Telamon gets some sage advice from a veteran musician: "Always remember, no matter how good you are, there's always some cat out there who can still cut you .." Unfortunately for Chris, he neglects to remember this adage when he crosses paths with Ron Barnes and veers into a series of events and circumstances far beyond his control. Thus, cat and mouse is in reality cat and cat.

Q: Is the novel autobiographical?
A: I write what I know, and I use elements of my life whenever they add something to the fiction. For example, I'm a frustrated musician obsessed with jazz music, who's also been known to demonstrate some anger issues. Throughout my life, I've also been fascinated with missing person's cases in general and two local Cleveland-area cases in particular: Amy Mihaljevic & Yvonne Regler. About a decade ago, I even toyed with the idea of writing a true-crime book on the Mihaljevic case. But then James Renner came out with his magnum opus, Amy, which stands as the definitive work on the case not to mention one of the best true-crime books ever written. Naturally, the Mihaljevic and Regler cases resonate throughout Cat & Cat, especially in the tragic stories of Tamara Beckley and Bobbi Jo Retskin.
As far as people from my real life showing up in Cat & Cat, I consciously tried to avoid fictional doppelgangers for my family and friends. For example, my wife, Jennifer, isn't Marie Telamon, although aspects of Jen's life and personality certainly inform Marie's character. The same can be said for my step-sons Jeff & Corey and Chris' step-kids, Darla and Jason. On the other hand, Chris' brother, Charles, is purely a fictional creation with no similarity to either of my real brothers, Bob &/or Mike. The same can be said for Ryan Leach, Ron Barnes, Cindy Calabrese, Manny Marcovich, Bonnie Reager, Lena Drajan, Wormwood and the rest of the novel's cast. Probably the only character that is truly autobiographical is Lady, who clearly manifests the essence of my late dog-ter, Girl-Girl, at least as I perceive her.

Q: What's up with all the musical terminology and jazz references? Not to mention T.S. Eliot and the Anglo-Saxon language?
A: When I started writing the novel, Chris Telamon's voice slowly took over, and these aspects of his intellectual life spoke aloud in the narrative. My editors trimmed what was extraneous and left the rest, for better or for worse. As stated above, I write what I know, and I guess I just happen to know some obscure stuff.

Q: What are your future plans for Cat & Cat?
A: I finished the book in summer 2012, and I've basically sat on it for well over a year. Now that Cat & Cat is finally "out there" on Amazon.com ( http://www.amazon.com/Cat-Novel-three-movements-ebook/dp/B00JAQXIUE ), I'm in the process of establishing this blog and a website dedicated to my writing. After that, I'll see what if anything the future holds. Some time this summer, I hope to have hard copies of Cat & Cat available, and I'd love to record an audio version of the book. Currently, I'm working on a new novel, working title Stalking Mule, which features most of the core characters from Cat & Cat and revisits Chris Telamon and Ryan Leach life several years after achieving a modest dose of notoriety.

A Pot of Coffee & a Fistful of Aspirin

Sunday, March 30, 2014

Behind Cat & Cat

Greetings & Salutations