Mamma's
Moon
by
Jerome
Mark Antil
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE:
Literary
Fiction
Jerome Mark Antil will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. - scroll down to enter!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
A
bond that can only happen on a dance floor happened in a cafe off
Frenchman Street among four unlikely characters: a man who was about
to die; his friend, an illiterate Cajun French yardman; and two of
the most successful women in New Orleans.
Aging Captain Gabriel Jordan, retired, was given two months to live, three months before he met "Peck"--Boudreau Clemont Finch--a groundskeeper on the back lawn of his hospice on Bayou Carencro, Louisiana. It was at the hospice that Gabe told Peck his dream of seeing the Newport Jazz Festival before he died. They became friends, and Peck offered to help grant his wish by taking him there.
And they began their journey.
It quickly became a journey with complications and setbacks. They saved each other many times, but they were in turn saved by two extraordinary women: Sasha (Michelle Lissette), a real estate agent in New Orleans's posh Garden District, and her best friend, Lily Cup (Lily Cup Lorelei Tarleton), a criminal attorney.
Less than a year before the events in Mamma's Moon, Gabe and Peck wandered into Charlie's Blue Note, a small jazz bar in a side alley just off Frenchman Street, where the music was live and mellow and the dancing warm and sensual.
Here they encountered Sasha and Lily Cup, and amid the music, the dancing, the food, the flirting, and the cigar smoke, the four formed an unusual and lasting friendship that would see them each through a series of crises, disappointments, life-threatening situations, and moments of great joy and satisfaction.
Aging Captain Gabriel Jordan, retired, was given two months to live, three months before he met "Peck"--Boudreau Clemont Finch--a groundskeeper on the back lawn of his hospice on Bayou Carencro, Louisiana. It was at the hospice that Gabe told Peck his dream of seeing the Newport Jazz Festival before he died. They became friends, and Peck offered to help grant his wish by taking him there.
And they began their journey.
It quickly became a journey with complications and setbacks. They saved each other many times, but they were in turn saved by two extraordinary women: Sasha (Michelle Lissette), a real estate agent in New Orleans's posh Garden District, and her best friend, Lily Cup (Lily Cup Lorelei Tarleton), a criminal attorney.
Less than a year before the events in Mamma's Moon, Gabe and Peck wandered into Charlie's Blue Note, a small jazz bar in a side alley just off Frenchman Street, where the music was live and mellow and the dancing warm and sensual.
Here they encountered Sasha and Lily Cup, and amid the music, the dancing, the food, the flirting, and the cigar smoke, the four formed an unusual and lasting friendship that would see them each through a series of crises, disappointments, life-threatening situations, and moments of great joy and satisfaction.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
“Close
the door, honey, AC’s on,” Gabe said.
In
a tight, black skirt with a tailored matching waistcoat and white
Nike walking shoes, she leaned and propped a black leather briefcase
against the wall by the door. She stood like an exasperated tomboy,
adjusting and refastening the diamond brooch on her lapel.
“I
heard you’ve been walking with a cane, dancing man. What’s
that all about? You’ve never carried a cane. You jazz dance for
hours a couple of nights a week and Sasha tells me you started
carrying one everywhere you go when you don’t need one. It’s
smelling pretty premeditated to me, Gabe. What’s up with the cane
thing?”
“Does
Sasha know about this morning?”
“I
haven’t told her anything. She’d have a canary.”
Gabe
lifted the paper again to read.
“I
need to know if it was murder,” Lily Cup said.
“I
don’t want to talk about it,” Gabe said.
He
closed the paper, folded it in half, and in half again. Dropping it
on the arm of the chair, he stood and left the room.
“Define
murder,” he said from the kitchen.
She
tossed a handbag and white driving gloves onto the other chair,
lifted Chanel sunglasses to the top of her head.
“Gee,
I’ll have to think on this one. Hmmm…Oh, I know. How about the
police have a cane with blood on it and there’s a dead man.”
“It’s
a walking stick. My cane is over by the door.”
“Well
now it’s a goddamned murder weapon. They checked for prints, and
yours are the only prints on it, and their guess is the lab will say
the blood has his DNA.”
Gabe
came out with a coffee urn in one hand and his finger and thumb
through two empty cup handles. He held the cups out for her to take
one.
“No
more,” Gabe said.
“You’re
rather nonchalant for the spot you’re in. Why’d you clam up on me
like that at the precinct? It didn’t set well with any of them. The
DA entered a charge of second-degree murder. The police chief put out
a warrant for you from lunch at Brennan’s.”
He
held the empty cups closer to her.
“Just
made it. Chicory and cinnamon.”
“If
you had television you’d have seen it—‘Daylight killing on St.
Charles Avenue.’ It’s all over the news, freaking out the DA and
the Visitors Bureau. No telling how many videos from streetcars going
by will wind up on You Tube.”
“That’s
enough,” Gabe said.
“People
can live with violence after dark. That’s expected in any city, but
when it’s in broad daylight, forget it. The DA pushed for an early
docket with a magistrate and it’s Tulane and Broad for you at nine
a.m. tomorrow.”
“What’s
Tulane and Broad?”
“Magistrate
Court. Congratulations, Gabe, you made the big time. You have to
appear before a magistrate to hear the second-degree murder charge
against you.”
She
took an empty cup in one hand, pinched his arm with the other.
“Look
me in the eye and swear it wasn’t murder,” Lily Cup said.
“This
some kind of technique they teach at Harvard Law, Miss Tarleton?”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Author Q & A
Hello, Jerome, and welcome to my blog! Can you tell me a little about yourself, and
how you became an author?
My
name is Jerome Mark Antil, a seventh child of a seventh son of a
seventh son. I was born before the Pearl Harbor attack and weened in
my youth on Mark Twain, The Hardy Boys or Sherlock Holmes. My biggest
influencers have been John Steinbeck, Truman Capote and Ernest
Hemingway. Hemingway the most for writing disciplines. I was
encouraged to write by my eighth grade English teacher who was
flunking me in Latin at the time – but giving me As in English
composition. Always want to be a writer I wrote in industry for many
years, marketing, training, manuals, films, speeches. My daughter
inspired me to write my bedtime stories. I did and a month later
Syracuse University named me ‘Writer of the Year’ and a top
executive from Barnes and Noble called me at home and told me to
continue writing, that I was a true storyteller. She got my novel in
their stores – and that was my start.
What is your book about?
My book is about Peck, a once illiterate Cajun French fisherman and lawn boy in Southern Louisiana who befriends an old dying black man who loves jazz and dancing. Young Peck, who ran away from home at nine wants to return to the swamps and bayous he remembers and try to find any family he may have left behind. Mamma’s Moon, is a standalone read but a sequel to One More Last Dance.
Who is your hero/heroine? Is he/she based on someone in real life?
Gabe, is based on two dear friends of mine – Donald Gaffney and Eddie “Ned Reid” – the former gave me my first writing job and when he was ninety four and on his death bed I encouraged him to get up and finish the book about WWII he had always promised. He did – he finished the book and lived a full 19 months longer than the day the doctor said he’d be gone in an hour – and the priest gave him last rights. Eddie “Ned” Reid – taught me jazz in the 60s. One time he pulled off the New Jersey Turnpike onto the shoulder to have me listen for the guitar strumming the rhythm on a Count Basie tune. My Gabe is Don Gaffney because Gabe outlives his Hospice bed…and he is Eddie ‘Ned’ – because he is black and a lover of jazz, blues and dancing.
What are your favorite times for writing? Morning? Evening?
Morning. I am in our kitchen at 6AM making coffee for me and my wife. At 6:30AM I am in my studio with my thermos and I write until 1PM every day without fail. I count my words.
Who are your favorite authors? Did they influence your writing, and if so, how?
John Steinbeck, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ernest Hemingway, Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Yes, they all influenced my writing. Steinbeck for teaching me how to capture one’s soul and thoughts even if they’re only pumping gas in their truck. Doyle for his timing, and fast turnabouts in actions and setups. Ernest Hemingway for his very simple writing rules and disciplines. 1. Only write what you know. 2. Count every word, every day. 3. Rewrite is true writing. – and Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s – to me quite possibly the best set of words ever put together. It is written as if you are he in the novel. Even Norman Mailer said of Breakfast at Tiffany’s – “I wouldn’t change a word”.
AUTHOR
Bio and Links:
JEROME
MARK ANTIL writes in several genres. He has been called a “greatest
generation’s Mark Twain,” a “write what you know Ernest
Hemingway,” and “a sensitive Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.” It’s
been said his work reads like a Norman Rockwell painting. Among his
writing accomplishments, several titles in his The Pompey Hollow Book
Club historical fiction series about growing up in the shadows of
WWII have been honored. An ‘Authors and Writers’ Book of the Year
Award and ‘Writer of the Year’ at Syracuse University for The
Pompey Hollow Book Club novel; Hemingway, Three Angels, and Me, won
SILVER in the UK as second-best novel.
Foreword’s
Book of the Year Finalist for The Book of Charlie – historical
fiction and The Long Stem is in the Lobby – nonfiction humor.
Library Journal selected Hemingway, Three Angels and Me for best
reads during Black History Month.
Before
picking up the pen, Antil spent his professional career writing and
marketing for the business world. In this role, he lectured at
universities - Cornell, St. Edward’s, and Southern Methodist. His
inspirations have been John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, and Ernest
Hemingway.
Website:
http://jeromemarkantil.com/blog/
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GIVEAWAY
INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:
Jerome
Mark Antil will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a
randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeletemy pleasure!
ReplyDeleteI encourage reading so having a family who loves to read I sure support.Thanks for sharing your terrific read with us.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great book.
ReplyDeleteThank you for hosting.
ReplyDeleteWhat is your all time favorite book?
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