A Conversation with Novelist Richard Torregrossa

with Richard Torregrossa

We are delighted to welcome Richard Torregrossa to Omnimystery News today.

Richard's first in series mystery is Terminal Life (Oceanview Publishing; June 2014 hardcover and ebook formats), introducing Luke Stark, a damaged Navy SEAL with a penchant for fine suits.

We recently had a chance to talk to him about his new book.

— ♦ —

Omnimystery News: Why did you choose to white Terminal Life as the first in a series?

Photo provided courtesy of
Richard Torregrossa

Richard Torregrossa: Static characters don't appeal to me. I think we're all on a journey and circumstances force us to change, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. The best fiction reflects that. For me, it's a more interesting literary exploration. Luke Stark, the protagonist in Terminal Life, will evolve over time. He's a violent man in a violent world and has suffered loss, but seeks redemption, a way to live peaceably in a chaotic world. It's an enormous challenge for him to find the light in the enveloping darkness. He can't change the world, so he must change himself — psychologically and emotionally. It's his only chance for survival, sanity, and happiness.

Luke Stark is a very complex character — quirky, mercurial, pessimistic at times, hopeful at others, heroic, dangerous. He plays by his own rules, his own code or morality, a post modernist trait that pits the individual against the corruption of institutions. Although he might be a hero to some, an anti-hero to others, he also confronts existential issues that force him to look deep within himself to find answers — answers to the most basic and profound existential question of all: is life worth living? This not only warrants, but demands a series of novels to explore his psyche and fully reveal his humanity.

OMN: Into which mystery genre would you place Terminal Life?

RT: Labels are tricky. I wrote Terminal Life as a noirish mystery crime thriller with lots of action, but I also wanted to transcend the genre, give the reader a character with more depth and themes than you usually find in this genre. The great thing about it is that readers get it, particularly my betters like Ken Bruen, author of the Jack Taylor series and over twenty best-selling novels, six of which have been made into major motion pictures, including my favorites, Blitz with Jason Statham and London Boulevard with Collin Farrel and Keira Knightly. He codified it best: "This novel gives us a whole new genre of noir. Introspective noir. Almost metaphysical in its subtle understatement. But make no mistake, it is vastly entertaining. That rare breed. A thinking person's artistic vivid entertainment."

And Irish crime novelist Sam Millar echoed that opinion in his review in The New York Journal of Books: "The tension and breakneck pace begin on the first page and refuse to relent until the very last. Noir with originality and a unique twist."

The great advantage of this is of course that you have an identifiable market by labeling it as a "neo-noir mystery crime novel," but you can bust it out to an even broader readership because it is so much more than that, a novel with literary merit.

OMN: Summarize Terminal Life in a tweet.

RT: Drug Lords, mobsters, and corrupt cops against one well-tailored former special ops officer. They don't stand a chance.

OMN: How much of your own personal or professional experience have you included in the book?

RT: I might not be a Navy SEAL or had to solve the mysterious murder of my wife and disappearance of my son, but every bit of Terminal Life is an extrapolated version of what I've experienced emotionally and psychologically. The landscape and characters in Terminal Life are all objective correlatives of my own experiences. I know every inch of the streets I write about. The characters are often composites of people I've known and know. I grew up with them. I observed them. I love and hate them. I was puzzled and intrigued by them. And ultimately, I guess, in some shape or form, I am one of them, good and bad. The difference is that I've never gone to the extremes that they are forced to go to in the novel.

OMN: Describe a typical day for you.

RT: I like to write very early in the morning, more or less as soon as I roll out of bed. I can't wait to make toast and tea and get to my desk. I adore that quiet hollow of the day. There are no distractions from what the unconscious has produced during the night so I have a clear access to creativity. I must also be alone. Totally alone. No one in the house. Not even a clock ticking. I write at my desk by the window for a full day with frequent breaks and I like to work six or even seven days a week. I find the continuity breeds a wonderful momentum. I'll do this for a month or two and then take time off. Writing is a great joy so I like to work steady and I like to work hard. It's very rewarding and there's no place I'd rather be than at my desk, typing away or gazing out the window thinking about a character or a plot or a theme or a magazine article or the next book.

But my writing environment doesn't truly end at my desk. It continues 24/7, in the shower, at the movies, whacking weeds, hiking and biking, training in the martial arts, or washing dishes. Often when I'm stuck, the solution will come to me at places and times when I least expect it. I guess it's because not thinking about it relieves the tension from forced contemplation and creates a relaxed state where magical things happen. Solutions and ideas arrive like an unexpected gift, seemingly from outside of myself rather than something I purposely created.

OMN: How did you go about researching the plot points of your story? Any particularly challenging topics?

RT: I try not to use the Internet too much because it's unreliable, so I interview or read books by notable experts. For instance, Luke Stark is a former Navy SEAL. I'm not. But I lived in Coronado Island, off the coast of San Diego, for ten years, the site of North Island Naval Base, where they train, so I had a lot of time to observe them, to get to know them. They were my neighbors and friends. To make sure I got all the details right, three of my Navy SEAL friends read Terminal Life and made comments.

The most challenging topic for me to research was Luke's condition. He's in the early stages of Hodgkin's lymphoma. Again, I'm not a doctor, but his symptoms and behavior had to be credible so I consulted a friend who is a doctor. But I also had the great good fortune to have Pat Gussin at Oceanview Publishing as my editor. She's an MD and was hugely helpful in this as well as all the other areas of the novel. You just can't fake it with pulling stuff off the Internet. Readers will catch you out and you'll lose credibility.

OMN: How true are you to the setting of the book?

RT: Terminal Life is set in Brooklyn, where I grew up and often visit. It's a very rich environment so there's no need to embellish or jazz it up. Therefore, I tried to recreate it in the way I've experienced it, in every detail, including the smells and weather patterns and traffic flow. I think it gives the novel authenticity and people get a kick out of recognizing places in the novel they know. The one liability is that by the time the book is published, some things have changed. For instance, the Kings Plaza Diner, a meeting place in the novel, is now closed, so readers catch that and think I've made a mistake. Well, I know it's closed, but when I was writing Terminal Life it was open and a very popular place, so it's staying in the novel.

OMN: If you could travel anywhere in the world, all expenses paid, to research a setting for a book, where would it be?

RT: I'd like to go to Ireland for a number of reasons. I love Guinness. But I'd like to compare the mean streets of, say, Belfast, with the mean streets that I know in Brooklyn. I also think that with great writers like Ken Bruen and Sam Millar living there and writing about that part of the world, it's the next big literary center, sort of like Paris was in the 1920s. Would like to knock back a couple of pints with them and talk shop and tell stories and jokes and enjoy the scenery.

OMN: What are some of your outside interests? And have any of these found their way into your book?

RT: Yes, Luke Stark is a trained martial artist and so am I. I've been studying different forms of the martial arts for over twenty years and enjoy it immensely. But it's very difficult to write about because the techniques are intricate and the language to describe them accurately and dramatically is really hard to come by.

OMN: What is the best advice — and harshest criticism — you've received as an author?

RT: Shelby Foote, the author of The Civil War, a three-volume masterpiece, said, "You learn to be a writer by playing the sedulous ape." You do it over and over and you work hard at it by doing it, not by sitting in writing classes or listening to lectures or reading books about it. You read the classics and learn from writers who have mastered their craft.

It's worked for me. If I don't like what I've written, I get up the next day and I rewrite it until it gives me the proud satisfaction I crave. I never show what I've written to anybody except to my editor when it's finished.

The harshest criticism I've ever received was actually one of the greatest compliments I've ever received. I took a writing class in college and the assignments early on didn't interest me, so I got very low grades because I just dashed them off.

But then one assignment did stimulate me and I really slaved over it and it was damn good — so good that the professor didn't believe that I wrote it because it was so far superior to what he'd seen before. He said this is on a professional level and there's no way you could've written it. He then accused me of plagiarism and threatened to fail me. And he almost did. I think the final grade he gave me was a C-.

But it showed me that writing is a contest with myself. One must write from the heart. As soon as you pander to an audience, you're dead in the water. And it's a long and lonely journey. You can't rely on other people for motivation or self-esteem. You must have the courage of your own convictions. So my advice to other writers is predictably stay away from creative writing classes and play the sedulous ape.

OMN: What kind of feedback have you recevied from readers?

RT: From my readers I enjoy huge sums of cash and marriage proposals from beautiful women who live in river-front estates. But seriously, I enjoy all points of view or critiques from readers, positive or negative. Some are incredibly perceptive, others inane. It really doesn't matter to me because I never publish anything of which I am not proud and feel has merit, so my self-esteem as a writer has never been affected by rejections or bad reviews. I appreciate the people who have read the book, took the time to select my book over many others. I am grateful for that. They gave me a chance and that's all I ask of them.

OMN: Complete this sentence for us: "I am a mystery crime novelist and thus I am also …".

RT: I am a mystery crime novelist and thus I am also a paradox, for I write about violence in the most peaceful place there is — alone in a quiet room at a lovely desk.

OMN: Tell us a little more about the book's title and cover.

RT: Terminal Life seemed an apt description of our lot in life. We are born to die. However, Luke Stark confronts this at an accelerated pace. He has treatable cancer for which he refuses treatment.

The cover was a team effort that incorporated the key elements in the novel — Luke and his well-tailored suit which he regards as a kind of uniform, a carapace, something very similar to Superman's cape and costume. The romance played a big part in the arc of the story and Luke's characterological change. And then there was the MetroCard, the pass New Yorkers buy to get on the subways, but Luke turns into a deadly weapon. The folks at Oceanview Publishing did a wonderful job bringing all those elements together in one arresting image. I particularly like the way the MetroCard is subtly visible in Luke's hand.

OMN: Suppose Terminal Life were to be adapted for television or film. Who do you see playing Luke Stark?

RT: Jason Statham would be the ideal choice, but Emanuele Ancorini did a superb job of playing Luke in the book trailer. Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, Channing Tatum, Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, and Richard Torregrossa would also do nicely.

OMN: What kinds of books did you read when you were young? And did any of these inspire how and what you write today?

RT: No, not at all. Terminal Life was inspired by movies, not by novels in the mystery crime genre of which I read very little. It was not inspired by genre novels but by films by Guy Ritchie — e.g., Snatch, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, RocknRolla, and Revolver, and even more so by screenwriter, producer, and director Luc Bresson whose credits include The Transporter series with Jason Statham, Taken with Liam Neesom, Leon: The Professional with Natalie Portman, The Fifth Element with Gary Oldman and Bruce Willis, and Hitman with Timothy Olyphant.

As a teenager I read the classics — Henry James, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy, Hemingway, John Steinbeck, etc. — and I still do. I re-read them all the time for the joy of it as well as to improve my craft. Authors who inspired me to become a writer later in life include William Styron, John Cheever, Truman Capote, V.S. Naipaul, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Tom Wolfe, and Gay Talese.

OMN: What do you read now for pleasure?

RT: I read history — I'm what they call a Civil War Bore — and constantly re-read the classics, for I find them forever instructive and I always find new things I missed on previous readings because they are so rich and well-crafted.

OMN: Who are some of your favorite literary characters?

RT: Madame Bovary. Anna Karenina. The narrator in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.

OMN: Create a Top 5 list for us on any subject.

RT: Top 5 books you should read:

• Leaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien — one of the best and most overlooked novels of the 20th Century;
• Confessions of Zeno by Italo Svevo;
• Under the Volcano by Malcolm Lowry;
• The Collected Stories of John Cheever; and
• The Mystic Masseur by V.S. Naipaul.

OMN: What's next for you?

RT: I'm knee deep in a new novel called Where Have All the Good Girls Gone? It's an erotic psychological thriller about a young professor whose wife's infidelity derails what he thinks is a happy and blissfully uncomplicated life into a dark journey of self-discovery.

— ♦ —

Richard Torregrossa is a journalist and the author of eight books, four of which he also illustrated. His most recent non-fiction title is the biography Cary Grant: A Celebration of Style. A first-degree black belt, he is an enthusiastic martial artist who teaches and continues to study a variety of forms, from Kenpo to Jeet Kune Do. Richard's expertise in the world of men's fashion and in the world of martial arts shine in Terminal Life, the first in The Suited Hero series.

For more information about the author, please visit his website at RichardTorregrossa.com or find him on Facebook and Twitter.

— ♦ —

Terminal Life
Richard Torregrossa
A Luke Stark, Suited Hero Novel

Luke Stark, a Special Forces veteran, returns home from his second tour in Afghanistan to learn that his wife has been mysteriously murdered and his son has disappeared. These tragedies, in addition to suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, push him over the edge. He has also been diagnosed with an incipient form of cancer, but he forgoes treatment, a decision that is akin to a slow suicide.

Although he languishes in a shelter, he wears an impeccable suit, an eccentric characteristic that sets him apart from his fellow down-and-outers and just about everybody else. He is nicknamed, somewhat ironically, The Suited Hero.

Revenge and the search for his son spark a kind of rebirth in him that is as cathartic as it is brutal. This leads him into the dangerous world of illegal prescription drug distribution, where nobody — not even some family members — is who they appear to be.