Next week one of our book correspondents, Chris Steib, will sit down with author and award-winning director Dana Adam Shapiro.
Dana may be best known for producing and codirecting Murderball, the Academy Award–nominated documentary about quadriplegic rugby players which developed out of one of Dana’s research for a magazine article. He is a former senior editor of Spin and a founder of Icon magazine. But while Dana was busy in the world of movies and magazines, he was also hard at work on his debut novel, The Every Boy (now available in paperback). Plan B, Brad Pitt’s production company, optioned the book, and Shapiro is set to adapt and direct the film.
In his debut novel, The Every Boy, a fifteen-year-old boy dies mysteriously, leaving behind a secret ledger filled with his darkly comic confessions. Whether fantasizing about being a minority, breaking into his neighbors’ homes, or gunning down an exotic bird, Henry Every’s wayward quest for betterment sometimes bordered on the criminal. Alone now in their suburban house, his father pores over the ledger in a final attempt to connect with the boy he never really knew—and, more urgently, to figure out how he died. Click here to read an excerpt from chapter 1 of The Every Boy.
We invite you to post your questions for Dana (as a comment at the bottom of this article) about his diverse experiences writing for magazines, publishing a novel, and directing. And don’t forget to check back in to read Chris’s interview at Gather Essentials: Books and in the Ask The Author group.
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Cameron H. Chambers
Synopsis of Confessions of an Internet Don Juan
Cast Hughes in the character-driven novel, Confessions of an Internet Don Juan, faces a far-reaching list of problems that includes his rare and peculiar mental proclivities and an unfaithful wife who poisons him and plots his demise. His ten year marriage ends in ruins. Lonely, ill and afraid, Cast reaches out to the Internet for a cure and meets the most amazing women. What starts out as self-remedy turns into a quest for a new companion. His journeys take him to Morocco, Mexico, and the Ukraine with a host of cyber liaisons, frauds, shams and scams in between.
Cast is an elegant reprobate who adores women and though he is jaded and distrustful, he remains hopeful about life and love. True to his newly-discovered Don Juan persona, he goes through a string of lovelies. A stylish paramour with a "happy pill" addiction breaks off their budding relationship because the sex is too satisfying. A statuesque beauty, whom Cast is certain suffers from an undiagnosed mental illness, captures his heart and then commits suicide. His shy, innocent soul mate from college returns after a sixteen-year absence with a second identity, that of a well known adult film star, possessing a long and extraordinary list of credits. In addition, Cast runs afoul of the Nigerian and Russian Mafias. At one point, he has $48,000 belonging to the Nigerian Mafia and decides to hide out in a hurricane-ravaged hotel.
There are close to 100 million single adults in the United States. Over 35 million of them viewed online dating websites in 2006. Over ten million of them are members. Friendfinder.com claims almost four million active members. Eharmony reports 15,000 new users every day, and over 8,000 marriages to its credit.
Confessions of an Internet Don Juan is an outrageous story of adventure and a searing dark comedy about the Internet, sex, and relationships. Cast is aware that his odds of finding his mate by way of a few computer chips and a modem are about as good as crossing to the other side of eight lanes of rush hour traffic on the Interstate. As door after door slams in his face, he finds himself pushed further away from where he started. The numbers of exotic beauties, the easy sexual behavior of our times, as well as the persistent and recurring scams place his quest at jeopardy. Readers will rejoice for a beleaguered Cast as he comes to the final realization of what he has and what he wanted all along.