Featured Interview With Marc Cavella
Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised one town over from where they filmed MTV’s “The Jersey Shore”. (Don’t judge me by that, though.) I currently live in Pennsylvania, not too far away from where I grew up, in an area that’s supposedly one of the most haunted regions in America. I haven’t seen any ghosts yet, but I always keep an eye out for them.
At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve been fascinated with books and reading for as long as I remember. I’d read anything I could get my hands on. It didn’t matter if it was age-appropriate or not–if it was there, I was going to read it.
I started writing at a pretty young age as well, probably around ten or so. I remember the first thing that I wrote was a very rudimentary comic strip series that was just a cheap knockoff of Garfield, with a dog as the main character instead of a cat. It also had some sexual elements to it for some reason, which I think is the result of the fact that I had insomnia as a kid and HBO played some risque movies at three in the morning.
I like to think my writing has progressed a little bit since then. My artistic skills are probably about the same, though.
Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are probably still Hemingway and Fitzgerald. But I’m inspired by a broad range of authors and filmmakers, like William Faulkner, Nick Pileggi, and the Coen Brothers. I also think that shows like The Sopranos, Seinfeld, and Frasier have inspired me as well. And obviously my love of pro wrestling really inspired my new novella, The Ballad of Ricky Risotto, which focuses on a small wrestling promotion in 1979.
It’s hard to pick just one favorite genre, but I do find myself drawn to true-crime books more than any other type of writing.
Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called The Ballad of Ricky Risotto. It tells the story of Waylon Pritchards, an aging wrestling manager who works for an independent regional promotion called Ozark Championship Wrestling.
The company is struggling to stay afloat, and their looking to turn their fortunes around by crowning a new, young champion. Unfortunately, Bruising Brady Lockhart, the current champ and Waylon’s best friend, refuses to drop the title. With the biggest show in OCW history a mere two days away, Waylon faces a personal crisis: Convince Brady to drop the title, or lose everything he’s worked so hard to build for himself over the past thirty years.
The story has a very cool 1970s vibe to it. It probably took me about three or four months to write, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out. I liked OCW and the wild characters so much that I decided to write a trilogy, which I’m currently working on as well.
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