Author Friends

My friends are getting published left and right! It’s great.

Noel Alumit’s book, Talking to the Moon, was number four on the paperback fiction in the LA Times this Sunday! Talking to the Moon is about a Filipino man who is gunned down by a racist hate monger while working as a postman. It’s tragic, yet somehow affirming. His family is around him. The book travels back and forth in time and shows the stark reality of trusting immigrants coming from a naïve culture who land in this rough and tumble America. There’s a bit of a gay thing going on, too, which is always appreciated. Each character has a very unique spiritual bent. The gunned down man is a pagan. His wife is a devout Catholic. Their gay son is basically non-religious. Seemingly at odds, the family comes to the same point in their own way, reaching across time, death and despair.


Talking to the Moon

My old friend from New York, Karen Rizzo, has written a book that is formatted in a very unique way. Things To Bring, S#!T To Do is a memoir, plain and simple. However, it is presented in lists. Karen always made lots of lists and she kept them. And from these shards of must-do’s and memory, she has created a really entertaining, breezy and thoughtful book. Huge things happen to her. She leaves New York City, a place she thought she could never leave. She gets married, has children, deals with the death of both her parents and gets on with it. And she’s funny. She writes as if her book is meant for her best friends. It’s warm. The unique format enhances the ride. She’s survives in a way that is both funny and graceful. She’s an unsung human hero. Great style here.


Things To Bring, S#!t To Do