Rick Florino is a writer that can be compared to Stephen King. He is only twenty-five years old, but his resume is impressive to say the least. He graduated high school at the age of fifteen and graduated from Boston University Magna Cum Laude at the age of nineteen. He moved to Los Angeles immediately after graduating college and embraced his passion for writing. As he says, “All I ever wanted to do was to inspire one person the way that I’ve been inspired by my favorite artists.” He was put on this earth to tell stories and that is exactly what he is doing. He goes on further to say, “The toughest things in the world are to scare people and to make them laugh. I try to do both.”
He is currently writing a series of ten illustrated mystery/horror novellas entitled ‘Book of Dolor’ where the title of each book is the name of a character in that story; eight are names of female characters narrated by males, and two, 'Decker' and 'Orestes' are males narrated by females. He has released the first two and the third, ‘Arielle,’ will come out later this year. These stories all revolve around a fictitious town, Dolor, where absolutely anything can happen. Per Florino, “Dolor exists in the space between how heinous and evil people can be, and how terrifying the unknown and the supernatural are. These stories cover everything you could possibly be afraid of.” In the vein of the X-Files, the boundaries of hell do not apply here.
Book I is entitled ‘Dolor: Lila,’ and Book II is entitled ‘Dolor: Chrissy.’ The titles in sequential order for books three through ten are as follows: Arielle, Decker, Cassie, Olivia, Orestes, Lucia, Sage and Helen. Each book has a theme that all of us can relate to. For instance, ‘Lila’ is about loving someone who will never love you back; ‘Chrissy’ is about loving someone that you shouldn’t love; and 'Arielle' is about the dissolution of love.
Book I, ‘Dolor: Lila’ was written in just three days. Florino says of the inspiration for Lila, “I wanted to find a name that would evoke the thought of fragility. I thought of a flower, a lilac, which is so fragile and beautiful, and from that I came up with the name, Lila.” Writing these books is his life at this time and he has devoted everything to them, and given up sleep in the process. He wrote ‘Chrissy’ in five days, ‘Arielle’ in just two, ‘Decker’ over the course of a month and ‘Cassie’ in four days.
These works of fiction all follow the common theme of pain. I wanted to get into his head and find out where all of these stories come from. He was happy to let me probe.
Dana Feldman – These books are not just stories, they are an experience like no other. You said the theme for these stories is pain. Why the theme of pain for these novellas?
Rick Florino – Pain is a common denominator that everyone experiences. And fear, as well. If you can understand what you’re afraid of, you can beat it.
DF – Tell me about the first book, ‘Dolor: Lila.’
RF – ‘Lila’ is an homage to one of my favorite books, “Lolita,” written by Vladimir Nabokov. This book is an amalgamation of Vladimir Nabokov, Stephen King, the bands Pantera, Stone Temple Pilots, Staind, Korn, Slipknot, Hollywood Undead, The Crow, Alice in Chains, Metallica, and there are definite influences of Martin Scorsese and Clint Eastwood in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.”
This may be a good time to mention that Florino is also a celebrity interviewer and writes for several websites. He writes for and is the editor of www.ARTISTdirect.com which is owned by Relativity Media. He has interviewed over 1,200 celebrities and says of his job, “I am the luckiest guy. I get paid to hang out with celebrities and rock stars and interview them. Then, I get to go home and write about psychos and the devil in my spare time!”
How much spare time Florino actually has is left to question. On an admitted four or five hours of sleep a night, he is constantly writing. When asked to just name a few of the people he has interviewed and written about, he says off the top of his head the following names: Quentin Tarantino, Robert Duvall, Jude Law, the cast of the film ‘The Hangover,’ Lady Gaga, Scott Weiland, the bands Metallica and Korn, Slash and Snoop Dogg just to name a few! With so many stories swirling around in his head, Florino says, “I knew that I didn’t always want to write about other people. Though my job is a dream come true! I just always knew that I wanted to create my own world.”
He has done that in the town of Dolor. He explains how he came up with the fictitious town of Dolor. “Dolor is a Latin word that means pain. I wanted to create a town that would conjure up imagery and emotions about this place where the reader would ask themselves, ‘What can happen there?’ The name is somewhat ambiguous in itself and the answer to the question is really that anything and everything can happen in Dolor. The story can go anywhere as the town’s name itself has a deep meaning.” Dolor can be described as creepy, unforgettable, a place where nightmares are born to live forever…
Each book has a narrator, and each narrator goes through a paranormal or natural painful life-changing experience. He takes the reader into a dark dream state and the reader is consistently on edge as you are taken on a journey with a person who is living their last days on this Earth. He feels that the narrators are writing their own stories here. In ‘Lila’ he says that Caleb Taylor has written this tale. All are written in first person so the reader is truly inside the head of the character. These stories each have themes that cover demonism, possession, Satanism, drug addiction, witchcraft, murder and of course, a lot of deception.
In this book series, the stories actually go backwards which further adds to the mystique. Hence, the first book, ‘Dolor: Lila’ is actually the end of the story as to how the town of Dolor came to be the way that it is.
DF – What advice would you give to aspiring writers out there?
RF – Just write. Constantly write and write about anything. Write between two and three thousand words a day. That’s the only way to get better at it. And read. I read at least a book a week. I truly believe that anything is possible if you’re willing to work hard for it.
DF – Read and write, the best advice!
RF – Yes and constantly keep learning new things. Learning is living, and as long as you are learning, you will continue to grow. You can always learn something new. Constantly be open. I am always writing down ideas, mostly emailing myself notes and sentences that come to mind on my blackberry. And, don’t think that you can truly create something new unless you understand everything that came before it.
DF – You have the ultimate writing career and have accomplished so much at such a young age. Was this the ultimate goal?
RF – I was always writing because I always had something to say. So, when I came to L.A., I didn’t pursue writing for the money or fame, I just had things to say and I had ideas for this world of Dolor that I wanted to create and explore. And, I never considered myself to be a journalist. I’m just a guy who likes movies and music. I am a very lucky fan and I’m the happiest I have ever been!
He is a man who is willing to work hard to make his dreams a reality. Most certainly on his way, Florino is not stopping anytime soon. He is also working on a few other novels including “Eyes Lie” which he describes as a western, film noir, fantasy and horror story. Another is entitled, “Lullabies for the Insane & Crooked Fairytales for the Depraved.”
How he has the stamina? He boxes himself and is a big fan of the sport that he describes as a sport about people pushing themselves to the limit and that proves that anything is possible. This inspires him to constantly push forward. A few of his favorite boxers are Shane Mosley, Evander Holyfield, Rocky Marciano and Manny Pacquiao.
He gives a special thank you to the band ‘Hollywood Undead’ who have supported him throughout his journey. Of the band, he says of them that they are one of the most creative and interesting bands out there. Their first album, ‘Swan Songs’ has sold over 700,000 copies and Florino wrote their band bio as well as several articles on the band. To thank him, they honored Florino with a gold record. This experience was a highlight in Florino’s career.
To learn more about Rick Florino please check out his websites: www.BookOfDolor.com , www.ARTISTdirect.com and www.rickflorino.com. Florino has also written a book entitled, “Do the Devil’s Work for Him” and he is the founder of Ruin Magazine. He and his New American Deities production company continue to bring intoxicating material to readers everywhere. And, look for ‘DOLOR: Arielle’ Book III later this year. Florino says of his third installment, “Arielle doesn’t fit into any genre; it truly stands out in several ways. It covers the destruction of a marriage, the realization that the main character’s life is a complete lie, and at the very end is the scariest, evil occurrence that anyone could ever imagine…”
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