Shades of Luz is a whimsical love story with a touch of comedy. Gorman's quirky little novel is certainly entertaining for those with a sense a humor. Packed with suprises, Gorman displays his skill as a writer with this refreshing, yet somewhat unusual coming of age story. I would say Gorman's writing is compatible with Ben Winters and his quirky novels, Pride, Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.
This story centers around Benny, a graduate school dropout. Without his graduate degree, times are tough. While he is selling stuffed animals on the street, he comes to meet Luz. Benny falls for Luz and falls hard. Luz, although periodically in and out of Benny's life, attempts to persuade him to go back to school and finish his thesis. Then there is Mungo. Through a strange series of circumstances, these two become a big part of each other's life, as Benny is forced to work for Mungo, who is an underworld bookie. We are then thrown into the bizarre world of thumb-wrestling, however, with Gorman's descriptiveness, one would think it was an MMA competition. Nevertheless, through it all, Benny's heart is set on Luz. Benny and Luz are subsequently reunited at his family's house, as the two of them share a memorable holiday dinner that neither of them will soon forget.
Gorman manages to keep this story going. Although many of the themes in this novel are a bit peculiar, and at times, a little eccentric, he does a fine job in keeping the interest of the reader. The characters are certainly rich while Benny is on his quest to get his girl. For a quick humorous fiction fix, Shades of Luz delivers!
-written by Jennifer Ochs, www.nybookcafe.com
NY Book Cafe had the pleasure to recently interview Mr. Gorman.
NY Book Cafe: Tell us a little bit about yourself, writing experience, other books available, etc.
John Gorman: Well, before my stories found their way into print I worked for a short time with the Queens Ledger. A weekly throwaway newspaper. I snapped the Eyesore of the Week, I did the roving photographer photos and covered community board meetings. Boy, did I meet some characters in those places. The biggest cheeseballs and oddballs hide out at these grassroots orgs. They hover by the back table and peck away at their free slices of Entenmann's coffeecake and I'd ask them how they got involved in the Conservative Party, the Regular Democratic Party, the Working Families Union- that sort of thing. One time I accidentally misquoted somebody and they called up my editor and freaked out. it was a very minor thing, but they blew it way out of proportion. Then I light bulb went off. People actually read these things. It was my initiation. I always preferred writing fiction to writing news stories, but I must say I get a lot of my fodder for prose from newspapers.
I've been writing pretty seriously for the past ten years. Before that I was convinced I'd be a tennis pro, baseball player or an archaeologist. The past three years I've taken a particularly rigorous approach to revision. Writing is revision. I think I used to think you had to write it right the first time. Boy, was I delusional then. I'm a much slower reader and writer now. I think the attention I pay to my reading has helped a lot. There's a great book by Francine Prose called Reading Like A Writer. It's the bible.
NY Book Cafe: How has your experience been between traditional vs. self-publishing?
John Gorman: Some years back I had an agent and we were sending out what I consider to be my first real book, which was called "No Small Armoire" it was sent out to all the major houses: Harper, Kensington, Houghton Mifflin, Norton. I got very few form rejects. Actually, with that novel they praised it pretty much. They said I was a talented writer and the story was engaging, but they didn't think it was marketable. Harper wanted me to change my ending. It's kind of an interesting story because I used to teach Judith Reagan's daughter tennis. Her daughter was really sweet. She always told me to give her mom my manuscript. But, what was I going to do give a eleven-year-old the book to put in her racquet bag. I told my story to Joanne Wang, an agent I met at a writing conference and she was hooked on the idea. She sent out the manuscript to Harper Collins, Reagan Books and when I got that initial sort of positive feedback I thought I was in the big-time. Nothing ever pans out that easy. Then after a while it got frustrating because the book was getting picked up and I got sidetracked by entering some screenplay competitions. I wanted to try a new medium instead revising No Small Armoire. When the impossible seemed to happen and I won the NY International Independent Film and Video Festival screenplay competition I was ecstatic. I thought wow this is my ticket. I told my agent. She was happy for me, but she was like what about the revision. I told her I was working on it, but that I wanted to send out my screenplay too and see if that could get bought by the studios. She told me I needed to focus my efforts. I told her I wanted to throw out a bigger net. It made sense. I won a competition so I figured that earned some credibility. She actually refused to take the screenplay. I said fine. I'll only let you handle the novel but put me in touch with somebody who does film. Well, she never bothered to and after a while she lost interest in me. So I have to say I was a bit disheartened with publishing. That was in 2003.
Now my experience with indie publishing has been quite different, but I have to say I was rejected by even more publishers before All Things That Matter Press gave me the green light. Shades of Luz has been rejected by 46 publishers and that's not including queries that have never been answered. An publishing is no-frills. The writer has to really hustle is he wants to sell, get reviews, readings and all of that. But, honestly I've heard the same story for pretty much any mid-list author. If you're not Dan Brown, Stephen King, or Philip Roth you are your own publicity team. I've gotten a pretty good response so far from bloggers, reviewers, and even reading hosts. I think Phil and Debra Harris, my publishers, picked a great cover. Sounds corny, but it makes a difference. They let me stay involved from the whole process from brainstorming about covers, who I wanted to blurb my book. We edited the manuscript a bunch of times and they let me keep stuff the way I wanted more or less. One buddy of mine who is in publishing was worried that they might want to change my title, but that wasn't an issue.
NY Book Cafe: What inspired the story of Shades of Luz?
John Gorman: Some years back I saw a kid set off the metal detector of the Barnes & Noble in my neighborhood. I thought to myself wouldn't it be awesome if it was the ideas in his head he collected from reading that day set off the detector. That's how my mind works. I see something I edit it to fit my needs and a story evolves. That was the impetus for the beginning but it wasn't where Luz came in. Luz came in years later.
When I first had the idea for this novel, when it was only a germ in my mind and Benny was setting off the bookstore's metal detector I referred to the story as "Book Thief". It was only a story then. That was a couple of years before there was a Luz. Luz made it a novel. I had a failed attempt to write a story about Benny who was a childhood model/actor who met up with an old buddy (Phil) who was producing and Benny was hoping to get back into the business. Sounds more like a Reality T.V. right? Maybe it was. That didn't go over so well. I went at it for a bit.
Actually, if you want to know where Luz came in it was not long after I thought of that nutty doll scene- the chapter known as "A Spoonful of Indiscretion". It still wasn't called "Shades of Luz" then, but as I kept playing around with her character the title just popped out. In its rawest form its "Shades of Light" - "Shades of Luz". Luz happens to be her name, but both she and Benny evolve throughout the novel. Benny sees all her different selves so the title really has an element of counterpoint for the storyteller Benny.
NY Book Cafe: Any books to look forward to?
John Gorman: I have a short story collection that I think I am to near wrapping up. The tentative title for that is Disposable Heroes. The stories are placed all over the globe. One story is about a young mariachi who is in love with his aunt. Another is about a doorman who is who becomes chief of his village, and there's one about a woman who leaves her husband and kid because she wants to be a painter and she shacks up in her single-mother sister's tiny apartment and wrecks havoc on their life. I also have a new novel I've just begun. It's about gluttony.
NY Book Cafe: Any advice for new writers?
John Gorman: I think it's important to keep writing through all the rejections. Each story, each book, each poem informs the next one. Find journals to place your stories. I think it's also important to dabble with flash fiction. There are many good journals like Word Riot, Flashquake, Quick Fiction, Flatmancrooked that take these micro stories.
NY Book Cafe: There has been some talk about Shades of Luz going to film. Who would you have in mind to play Benny?
John Gorman:
There has been some talk lately about Adam Lambert being a potential Benny when Shades of Luz goes film. For more info on this subject, visit http://www.adamofficial.com/middle-east/node/812599
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