Hi, lovelies!! It gives me great pleasure today to host Christopher
Calcara and his new book, “SQUEALER,” here on FAB!! For other stops on his Goddess Fish
Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in
this post.
Be sure to make it to the end of
this post to enter to win a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card!! Also, come back daily to interact with Christopher
and to increase your chances of winning!!
Thanks for stopping by!! Wishing you all lots of luck in this fabulous
giveaway!!
Squealer
by Christopher Calcara
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GENRE: Crime Thriller/LGBT
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BLURB:
With
tongue-in-cheek and dark overtones, Squealer examines the life of an
impressionable Midwestern Catholic Italian choirboy who grows into a mob-worthy
assassin in order to avenge high school nemeses from his past.
As
‘Pete Casanova’ takes us on a journey through the heart-land, his early ethnic
and religious experiences expose the motivations for his deadly actions. We
come to realize why, for him, it’s never too late to seek revenge.
Squealer
addresses topics of physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse inflicted on
students by their teachers and religious authorities. It deals with the
difficult subjects of homophobia, prejudice and bullying, but with wit … and
suspense!
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EXCERPT ONE:
Word
had it that the mob boss controlled every rotten illegal operation between our
quiet hamlet on the Missouri River and rough and ready Chicago to the east.
Unlawful pursuits included prostitution, gambling (before it was legalized on
riverboats), drugs, and booze (legal but susceptible to monopoly). No telling
how many enemies he offed, or had offed.
I
heard “the family” stuck their black hands in all the local gay bars, typical
of controlling interests at the time. If you didn’t play hardball with them,
you didn’t play at all. An adversary was typically dispatched in one of two
ways: either their livelihood was lost to a mystifying incendiary fire or, if
particularly scorned, they could be found dead, hogtied like a sausage in the
trunk of their car, which was dumped at the airport.
On
our journey across the river to Civella’s, Georgio would tell me how honorable
a human being this mobster was, how generous a friend to his family the man had
been. Having set up Georgio’s father in business, they were eternally and
intractably indebted.
I
was told of a secret tunnel in Civella’s basement that led across the street to
the house of his brother, Carl “Cork” Civella. Georgio said that whenever the
fuzz or the Feds visited Nick’s home, he’d have his punks run contraband
through the underground to the safer surroundings at Cork’s. I suspected the
reverse was pulled off if they hit up Cork. (Years later, I learned this hidden
labyrinth never existed. With the law firmly in Nick’s pocket, there was no
need for it. The fabled tunnel under my grandfather’s store probably never
existed either, although I don’t doubt there was an excavator in our family.)
For
all the buzz, I was afraid of the old man before I ever laid eyes on him. I
pictured a menacing Marlon Brando type entangled in the tomato vines, brokering
international power deals and assassinating those who crossed him with
silencers in restaurant bathrooms.
We
were let into the fortress by a tough disagreeable understudy who was plainly
more than a butler or manservant. He had the bulk of a bodyguard, and I’m sure
he was padded with impenetrable long underwear. Everything about this man said
he was prepared to take a slug for somebody. Even his eyes seemed to say, ‘Do
not fuck with me!’
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GUEST POST:
Describe Your Book Cover and How it Came About:
When
I learned my novel would be printed in paperback, I obsessed about how
important it was to get the cover right. So many options, too little time.
Since major themes in the book are bullying by school peers and multiple forms
of abuse by teachers (and in the case of SQUEALER, religious faculty), there
had to be an illustration of a Catholic teaching Brother. With the primary
objects of the abuse being both the protagonist and an antagonist, and both
being high school students—young, vulnerable, indoctrinated Catholic
students—an illustration of a young boy was imperative.
Before
my publisher, Wallace Publishing, pitched any cover ideas to me, I found two graphics
online that appealed to me. I designed a prototype with the overpowering
teacher (in black on a white background to suggest his malevolence) occupying
the largest portion of the front cover. His black robe and clerical white
collar had to show he was a teaching cleric and not a priest. It’s a very
subtle distinction and even few Catholics might recognize it.
Within
the teacher’s black silhouette, I placed the white silhouette of the boy in a
prayerful stance, looking upward toward the Brother to suggest innocence and
misplaced adoration. Along with the boy, the book’s title would be superimposed
in white over the Brother’s robe, with my author name in red beneath it. The
subtitle of the novel is “Growing up Gay the Catholic Italian Way” and I wanted
to somehow include the Italian element, so I suggested it be in green to mimic
the Italian tricolor. Fortunately, Wallace Publishing nixed that idea and I’m
glad they did; it would have been a hackneyed concession. So the subtitle too
would be in red type, making for a rather stark cover in only three colors—red,
white and black—but which highlight the sometimes grave nature of the book.
As to
the back cover, where the blurb appears, it was important to me that the humor
in the novel be featured there to contrast with the seriousness of the front
cover. A high school friend contributed the old photo of the freshman me
cheekily impersonating a Brother in front of a large portrait of the patron
saint of our school’s Brotherhood. The banner beneath the kneeling saint reads
“Suffer little children...” It was perfect. I decided that my senior picture
beside it would further illustrate a wiser student after four years of an
especially difficult educational experience.
Wallace
Publishing approved my visual interpretation and put all the elements together
in a most professional way that completely satisfied me and serves to further
tell the multi-layered story of SQUEALER.
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BONUS GUEST POST!!!:
Everyone Loves a Hero!
Tell Us All About This Genuine Character and the Inspiration Behind Their
Development:
The
character Sal in SQUEALER is the brother of the protagonist. He appears to play
a rather minor role but without Sal, off whom all the other characters play,
the story would not be as complex as it is.
Early
in the novel, Sal is as innocent as Luca, the protagonist. They are three years
apart but have the same Catholic educations from the same elementary and
secondary schools. Both did their time as cherubic altar- and choirboys,
serving their faith at Masses assisting the parish priests, and on the
bleachers of the church organ lofts.
It is
in high school where their paths diverge. Though they come from a middle class
Italian family and are raised with Christian values, Sal becomes a petty
thief—small thefts from jobs initially. When he meets antagonist Leonard, in
the same high school class as Luca, their crimes become more sophisticated and
punishable.
Inspiration
for the character derived from my relationship with my own brother, IF his life
had taken a negative turn. In the final analysis, I know that I would still
love him. With all the vitriol and vengeance polluting the novel, I also wanted
to portray a sweet, unconditional love.
It’s
clear that everyone in the novel loves and admires Sal, in spite of his
failings. Sal is Luca’s big brother to whom he looks for guidance as an
example, grows in his imposing shadow. For sister Nickie, Sal can do no wrong.
Even for their parents, Sal is forgiven everything, blameless. To Leonard, Sal
is more than an accomplice; he’s the brother that orphan Leonard never had.
Sal
and Leonard associate themselves with the Kansas City mob, acting as
go-betweens on Las Vegas casino skims. (Place is important in the novel because
the Italian Mafia was very active in KC, where the characters of the novel
live.) Sal may be the older of the two, but Leonard is the true world-weary and
streetwise ringleader.
Ultimately,
Leonard turns on Sal and he goes to prison. It was heartwarming to write two
jail scenes for Sal, one at which only Luca is present and the other where both
Luca and Nickie visit their brother behind bars. These scenes in particular
portray Sal as the good, loving, forgiving person he is.
Sal
is the hero of SQUEALER. While he commits many sins and crimes, of all the bad
actors in the book, he alone atones, genuinely absolves his detractors, and
pays the price willingly. Sal is the only one who doesn’t squeal on anybody.
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AUTHOR BIO:
After
earning a degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri School of
Journalism, Calcara created marketing campaigns for
businesses and institutions featured in print and broadcast media.
He
writes fiction and semi-fiction, short stories, memoirs, plays, novels, and
screenplays. He has collaborated with composers to write plays with musical
scores. Joan is one such musical play that lyrically exposes the soul of Jeanne
d’Arc—Joan of Arc.
Calcara
was the only Charleston writer to win the 2011 South Carolina Arts Commission
Fiction Project. His short stories have been published by numerous literary
journals. He has lived in the South, Southwest and Southeast, and currently
writes from the Midwest.
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CONNECT WITH CHRISTOPHER:
Website:
https://chrisjcalcara.wixsite.com/website
Email:
chrisjcalcara@gmail.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/christopher.caruso.14
Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/CJCalcara
YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNAGN_S_-Vr2s0JIn5nlYWw
Goodreads Author Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21162911.Christopher_Calcara
Goodreads Book Page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57388832-squealer
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BOOK BUY LINKS:
Amazon US Kindle eBook:
https://amzn.to/3tk9gk6
Amazon US Paperback:
https://amzn.to/3nMxUsD
Amazon UK Kindle eBook:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Squealer-Growing-Gay-Catholic-Italian-ebook/dp/B08TB6HTV8
Amazon UK Paperback:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Squealer-Growing-Gay-Catholic-Italian/dp/B08VRMMXST
The Book Depository Paperback:
https://www.bookdepository.com/Squealer-Christopher-Calcara/9798703393741
BAM! Books-A-Million Paperback:
https://www.booksamillion.com/product/A16542063521
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GIVEAWAY INFO:
Christopher Calcara will be
awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter
during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
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affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small
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giveaways on here**
This contest is sponsored
by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish
Promotions. Prizes are given away by the
sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish
Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.
