The Three Lives of Richie O’Malley follows a mob hitman who must come to terms with the death of his friend, a government investigation, and betrayal. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?

I knew a guy who was a CIA spook in the 60s and 70s. He introduced me to the world of American involvement in the cocaine trade in Central and South America during that time. It was not hard work to write a story following the money from this time and place to present day government entanglement at the highest levels. In many ways, sadly, this part of the story almost wrote itself.

Richie is an intriguing and well developed character. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?

As a young man, my best friend was this guy Hector Luis, a Puerto Rican Kid from the Bronx, NY. Luis was the model for Juan Carlos. I truly loved this guy as my brother. Luis came from a very bad environment and did some bad things, but he had a good soul. Many, most, didn’t see that. I was as bad a kid as Luis any day of the week, but as the clean-cut white guy, I got away with a lot more than Luis. I always thought that was unfair.

Under the hood I think we are all capable of good and evil, regardless of the label we are given. Richie, like Juan (Luis) were good guys who were swept into ruined lives by circumstance and bad choices. I guess my ideal, in this case, is to try to always not see people at face value. There is more to them than we can ever truly know or understand. There are few truly bad people, and we should not look too hard at others without first examining and knowing ourselves.

What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?

Friendship and loyalty were very important themes in this book and in my life. These and the old cliché don’t judge a man until you’ve walked a mile in his shoes.

What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?

The title is The Berry Pickers. There is an area a few miles north of me where in the 1920s to the 1950s people lived and subsisted picking and selling wild blueberries. A fascinating collection of personalities. I read a book on these people once and it was dry as toast. I’ve long been saddened that in the hands of someone like Steinbeck what a great story this could be, in line with the Grapes of Wrath. Sadly, Mr. Steinbeck never wrote this story, and while I don’t think myself worthy to sharpen his pencils, I thought I’d give it a go.

I am hoping to have the editing and writing process completed by mid-summer. I’d like to publish in the fall. I’ve still not decided if I’ll query agents or not. I had two agents very interested in Richie, but they said they couldn’t find a market for it. I know my stuff isn’t mainstream, no bare-chested vampires with wings, but that aint my jam. I just write what I think needs to be written and hope someone reads it.

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