Danita Minnis

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Lanny Larcinese will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Author Interview: Lanny Larcinese

1. How did you choose your genre? What made you write this book?

My belief is that crime writing is a state of mind and orientation toward constant considerations of justice, moral dilemmas, and a view that all people struggle with hidden demons which civilization demands remain constrained.

2. Writers write what they know, and must observe the world. Are you a firstborn, middle or last child and how does this shape your view of the world?

Interesting question. I am the second born with an older brother three years my senior and a sister fourteen years younger. My brother got the brains, my sister the looks, but I got all the luck. And yes, I believe the conventional wisdom that second-borns get less attention and therefore need to develop alternate strategies to establish a place in the family…thence the world. My alternate strategies were: work hard & be funny.

3. Where is your favorite place to write?

At my keyboard at my desk with no distractions at all — no music, ringing telephones, etc. But I am thinking about a story all day, and may also jot notes on notepads, newspaper margins, napkins, etc. Also, I bore everyone else talking about my story dilemmas.

4. How do you feel about killing your darlings, and what do you do with the remains?

I seldom kill them; I just reduce their sentences (if you get my drift.)

5. You are introduced to your favorite author. Who is it, and what is that one burning question you must ask them?

Peter Blauner: Where did you learn to write such graceful sentences, and if it’s a pill, can I have one?

6. Inquiring minds want to know…tell readers something about you that no one knows.

Tough question, I’m usually such a big-mouth. Okay, I need serious editing help. I’m prone to write long, sometimes serpentine sentences for their musicality, which is dangerous because I don’t have a handle on syntax and never could diagram a sentence.

7. You are stranded on a deserted island with only a backpack for company. What three items are in your survival pack?

A pencil, piece of paper, and a bottle of Laphroaig (which will serve a double purpose.)

8. If you could have one superpower in your existence, what would it be?

X-ray vision, all day.

9. Favorite snack?

Mixed nuts.

10. Indy 500 – Do you know how to get where you’re going or do you drive the speed limit? I’m the last person in the world who uses AOL and Mapquest. And it took 60 years of driving to learn that everyone else also had a right to get where they were going.

Death in the Family

by Lanny Larcinese

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GENRE: Crime thriller

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BLURB:

Donny Lentini is a talented young man hungry for his mother’s love. To please her, he becomes guardian angel to his mob-wannabe father. When the father is murdered and found with his hands hacked off, Donny is dealt a set of cards in a game called vengeance. The pot is stacked high with chips; the ante, his soul and the lives of loved ones. With the help of friends—ex-con, defrocked Jesuit Bill Conlon along with former high-school nemesis, Antwyne Claxton—he digs for whether the murder had anything to do with the mob’s lust for a real estate parcel owned by the family of Donny’s lover. He’s new at this game. He doesn’t cheat but plays his cards well. And he gets what he wants.

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Excerpt:

There is a purity to poker, moments of truth free of the ambiguity of motive or morals, moments philosophers never examine—clean moments—as when a Great White draws back its lips to embrace somebody’s neck with its four-inch serrated teeth—moments German Kruger never understood and might put his head at risk.

One by one I looked them in the eye. They all dropped except German, who raised and called. I flipped my hole cards. “Three cowboys.”

I raked in the seven hundred dollar pot. Any day I stuck a pencil in German’s eye was a good day. “What is it with you?” he said.  “You win four, five pots every Friday.”

Dad kicked my shin under There is a purity to poker, moments of truth free of the ambiguity of motive or morals, moments philosophers never examine—clean moments—as when a Great White draws back its lips to embrace somebody’s neck with its four-inch serrated teeth—moments German Kruger never understood and might put his head at risk .

One by one I looked them in the eye. They all dropped except German, who raised and called. I flipped my hole cards. “Three cowboys.”

I raked in the seven hundred dollar pot. Any day I stuck a pencil in German’s eye was a good day. “What  is it with you?” he said.  “You win four, five pots every Friday.”

Dad kicked my shin under the table. 

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Lanny Larcinese ‘s short work has appeared in magazines and has won a handful of local prizes. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He’s a native mid-westerner transplanted to the City of Brotherly Love where he has been writing fiction for seven years. When not writing, he lets his daughter, Amanda, charm him out of his socks, and works at impressing Jackie, his long-time companion who keeps him honest and laughing—in addition to being his first-line writing critic. He also spends more time than he should on Facebook but feels suitably guilty for it.

https://www.facebook.com/lanny.larcinese

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