Bob Lupo, born and raised in NYC, was weaned on baseball and spaghetti.
Tales of the mighty Bronx Bombers and the Amazing' Mets are wired into his DNA.
He attended St. John's University, served as a medic with the 4th Battalion/ 9th Infantry "Manchus" in Vietnam in 1967-68, and was a Wall Street Junk Bond Analyst for 30 years.
He lives in Hawaii with his wife, Linda, Zinn, his Yellow Lab and 3 cats.
He has three sons, one daughter and six grandsons. He hopes they visit him in Hawaii more than they did in Wisconsin.
Lupo has written two other novels, A Buffalo's Revenge-a book that traces a year in Vietnam; and Extremities-4, a satire on human nature about the perils of being human and animal.
He is working on another novel, a coming-of-age story of the early-mid 1960s in New York, but is facing an immovable object. He hopes it can be moved.
Meanwhile, he's a very lucky man.
Author Questions
1. What inspired you to become an Author?
2. How long have you been writing?
3. What do you love about writing?
4. Your own opinion. What is the most important quality to have as an author?
5. Have you ever ended up with a dream or nightmare from writing one of your books? If yes, which one?
6. Do you have a favorite author (other then yourself)? LOL. Who is it and why are they your favorite?
7. What can you tell us about yourself that your fans do not already know?
8. What is the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you as an author?
9. Can fans ask you anything about your books?
10. What scares you the most at being an author?
Bob's Answers:
Discovered I ‘liked to write’ around 10 years old; began
writing cowboy and Indian stories, handed them to my dad…he smiled and said he
‘liked’ them.
Wrote mostly poetry through college and a couple unfinished
and long-lost stories; kept a journal after the Army (and college), musing on
all things, personal, political, the outrages of the age we live in.
I married at 23 in the middle of the Nam War, went to Nam as
a medic.
ETA’d outta the Army in January 1969. Had a kid on the way
and got a job 2 days later. Wanted to ‘write’ for my soul but had to ‘work’ for
a living.
Continued to write poems…1st marriage ended in
late 1979 and began writing a ‘story’ that became ‘A Buffalo’s Revenge’ about a
year in Nam.
The first MS was autobiographical and ‘almost’ published by
Farrar Straus and Giroux ~1982, but limited market for Nam books back then, and
they had just taken on Larry Heinemann’s “Pancho’s Diary’.
Buffalo 1 was never published.
Worked on Wall Street as a corporate bond analyst through
the 00’s…was unemployed ‘on the beach’ is the industry’s polite term, and wrote
“Extremities-4’, a satire on human nature about the perils of being human and
animal.
Picked up ‘Buffalo 1’ and reworked it into a story with
‘biographical traces’ about that time.
Marketed the 2nd Buffalo in various media pubs
and had maybe a half-dozen interviews on morning radio shows across the
country—mostly in mid-tier cities.
While trying to raise awareness of the book, my primary
focus was to speak out against our impending invasion of Iraq, warning that our
hubris would once again sink us into a quagmire.
I was speaking against the wind. People bought Bush’s spin.
I recall resistance in Miami, St. Louis, and some Wyoming radio
station. A yahoo caller there, called me a ‘traitor’. I was livid, but the host
came to my defense.
Tough times.
Also wrote a 1st draft on a spoof of the Iraq
invasion, called ‘Gimme Paradise’…that’s been lost.
Attempted other drafts of that time, never finished. Wrote a
series of essays/emails to the planet about that war…and satirical poems.
Back to Wall Street through 2015…retired in early ’16. Began
and finished a ‘Bleacher Heaven’ first draft in 1 ½ months, finished that in
November 2017.
That’s my most recent book.
Currently working on something else, ‘a coming of age’
creature of the early – mid 1960s…and stuck-in the-middle with Fred’
presently…a Nam impasse.
I write to express angst, personal, cultural, philosophical,
psychological, and political.
My books focus on struggle: individuals-up-against-it who
fight for justice, or who are caught in a maelstrom and do what’s right (so
they believe).
I’m an introspective person, but I see the humor and irony
prevalent in our existence. My writing style is descriptive, dramatic,
semi-humorous, and idiosyncratic.
My writings are the results of my ‘nightmares and angst’.
I like to say I’m an amateur auto-didact, widely, if
eclectically read, including novels, bios, memoirs, histories, philosophy,
poetry, political analyses, essays, et al.
My favorite novelist is probably Walker Percy. My favorite
poet, Langston Hughes. My favorite novelist/essayist, a tie between Albert
Camus and James Baldwin. My favorite historian, Howard Zinn.
I’m an ‘interior’ person, but one that reveals emotions.
I was most embarrassed at a book fair in 2003 in Austin, TX,
catering to Veterans’ families where nobody bought ‘Buffalo’.
People can ask me anything and I’ll try to answer.
I’m scared most about the need and often the
inability to write.
Book Questions
1. Have you made any character based on someone you know in real life? If so, why?
2. What is the best reason to read your books?
3. Do your books have any characters from a dream you have had? If so, which character?
4. Do you ever read your own books for fun? If yes, which one is your favorite to reread?
5. If you could live in one of your books, would you?
6. Which one of your characters reminds you of yourself?
7. Do you have a favorite character?
8. Do any of your characters frighten you? Who and why?
9. What’s your favorite part about creating a new book and characters?
10. What was the best comment you have ever gotten on one of your books?
Bob's Answers:
‘Buffalo’ is full of soldiers I lived with in Nam, but as
‘types’ in a ‘situation’, not full-scale bios of them. Buffalo was a thematic story of a time and
the people caught in that zone. I needed ‘models’ to tell a real story.
People who read my books are captured by the drama and the
fast-paced, if idiosyncratic, narrative.
Doc Lusane is the main character in Buffalo 2—less so than
in the first version. ‘Lusane’ was derived from ‘Lupo Insane’.
I haven’t re-read any of my books totally since the original
and painful birthing of them, but I have skimmed through them now and then.
My favorite one to re-read might be ‘Extremities-4’ or
‘Bleacher’.
I did live in ‘Buffalo’, but I’d prefer to chase the bad
guys in ‘Bleacher’, or encounter ‘the thing’ within us, in ‘Extremities’.
Well, Doc Lusane is ‘like’ the way I was. Otherwise, no one
‘character’ is ‘me’, I’m mixed here and there in a few of them.
Denzel Brown and Al Baker in ‘Bleacher are my favorite
characters, of the books I’ve written so far.
Denzel has a deep, honest, soul; and Al, a fighting spirit
and a sense of justice larger than life.
I luv it when people say they ‘loved my book and
could barely put it down’, which I guess is egotistical, but I do enjoy those
moments !'Bleacher' Questions
1. What motivated you to write this book?
2. Who is your favorite character in it and why?
3. How long did this book take you to write?
4. Did any of the scenes give you a hard time?
5. Are you worried about your fans not being happy with it?
6. Did it make you cry, laugh, or smile while writing it?
7. What’s your favorite scene from this book?
8. What can you tell fans about one of the characters from this book, that was not said is in the book?
9. Was this book writing with a specific age group in mind?
10. Are you happy with the way it turned out?
Bob's Answers:
I wrote ‘Bleacher’ to make a point and explore how it is we
punt on major dimensions of our existence—critical issues of morality and
responsibility for the kind of society we live in, and the diversions we pursue
to keep ‘gritty reality’ in the closet.
‘Bleacher’ uses baseball, specifically the drama of the 7th
Game of the World Series as a backdrop and distraction to our personal lives
and the dismal lives of millions we ignore and/or scorn.
It’s a story about injustice and how it is we perpetuate it
and lose control over our lives.
As I said above, Denzel Brown and Al Baker, are my favorite
characters.
Denzel is a big, muddy river, like Old Man River, he just
keeps rolling along. Nothing can stop him. He’s a war hero and a family man. He’s
a prisoner of the system, but he’s deeper and stronger than it because of the
love within him.
He’s a prototype for the millions of honorable victims stuck
in our System’s craw.
Al Baker is the name of my Captain in Nam. I ‘drew’ the
‘Bleacher’ Al from my memory of the
original Al, cast in an entirely different role and not an equally stark but
highly different ‘reality’. This Al Baker is tough and feisty and explosive
–replete with sarcasm, humor, and wit—like the original.
Al’s got a soul in light-speed drive.
I wrote ‘Bleacher’s’ first draft in about 42 days from dawn
to dusk and beyond. Then, attempted to get agents to no avail. Then rewrote it and
shortened the World Series Game ‘drama’ from the original—if you can believe
that!
The game scenes were easy to write, but my fear is—even
edited—Chapters 2 – 6 are too long. I may have retained avid baseball
fans—men—but lost most of the reading audience.
Ironic. Although a few women I know who’ve read it liked it
a lot.
I loved writing the book. My most enjoyable to date.
Baseball drama of my two favorite teams is mixed in with gritty NY Street life
that—while I did not ‘live’—I knew of and witnessed some of it.
My favorite chapters are Chs 22-27 for ‘bringing out’ the
characters of Denzel and Raychelle Brown, and Chs 30-59 are a fast-paced blur
connecting all the dots in both tragic and uplifting lives of the good guys’
and the ‘bad’ guys’.
I laughed and winced, writing this book. Dick Ryan, the bad
cop, is the baddest ‘dude’ I’ve ever profiled. I tried to show the ‘why’ of at
least ‘some’ of his evil. I think I brought it out.
Yes, I loved the way the book turned out.Bob's Books
Bleacher Heaven is an urban crime drama set in the South Bronx, against the backdrop of the 7th Game of the 2016 World Series, pitting the New York Yankees against the New York Mets. A good cop chases a bad cop, wreaking havoc on the Bronx Streets. Home runs, strike-outs, magical plays, mythical come-backs, and innings pile up—along with bodies and drugs—through the winter months.
Denzel Brown, Vietnam War Hero, and Al Baker, legendary Gold Shield Detective, struggle with evil detective Dirty Dick Ryan and a corrupt DA, for the City’s soul.
Meanwhile, the nation basks in baseball glory into the New Year while the media grapple with truth, justice, and what should be the American Way.
Denzel Brown, Vietnam War Hero, and Al Baker, legendary Gold Shield Detective, struggle with evil detective Dirty Dick Ryan and a corrupt DA, for the City’s soul.
Meanwhile, the nation basks in baseball glory into the New Year while the media grapple with truth, justice, and what should be the American Way.
https://www.amazon.com/Bleacher-Heaven-Bob-Lupo-ebook/dp/B0792R66PS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1535686566&sr=8-1&keywords=bob+lupo
A Buffalo's Revenge, a Vietnam negative, explores the limits of a nation engaged in a struggle for freedom when the mirror reveals a fractured image. Racism is bundled in an interlocking grid of white and black and oriental hatred. The backdrop of the home front, the plague of assassinations, a spiraling anti-war movement, a sandwiched Media, and politicians and a military caught in the glare of appeasing conflicting demands underscores the plight of individuals fighting for their lives and their loves. Doc Lusane must overcome his need to die; James Jaggers his need to kill; Pee Wee Anson to hate.The home front explodes in a frenzy of hate and violence.The boys discover love beyond the peculiar cadence of language and dialect. They discover life beyond race or color. They discover themselves.America was at war thirty-five years ago and we are at war today. A Buffalo's Revenge is a snapshot of America, then and now.
https://www.amazon.com/Buffalos-Revenge-Bob-Lupo/dp/0595259855/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1535686770&sr=8-4&keywords=bob+lupo&dpID=51INX5XctHL&preST=_SY344_BO1,204,203,200_QL70_&dpSrc=srch
Extremities-4, a modern-day morality tale/medical fantasy, examines the origins and consequences of a dreaded Simian-like disease of the limbs and tracks the plight of four unlucky specimens weaving the landscape of an America livid and pale from a bad case of Darwinian déjà vu.Calypso Ambiliano, Casey Dawes, Jose Greene, and Steve Einstein are caught in the crosshairs between civilization and reality.Vilified and despised by a startled citizenry, the Authorities herd the afflicted to an esteemed Medical Research Center, where they are probed, cut, X-rayed, and scanned.Cal, Casey, Jose and Steve escape to the serenity of northern Vermont-only to be betrayed by old enemies.The four stumble into an old root cellar, a cave of beginnings, and witness the nation, the world succumb to its Animal Claw origins.The nation again celebrates its sameness, but the descent into nature continues. Extremities-4 is a macabre and bizarre tale of the familiar and the foreign.
https://www.amazon.com/Extremities-4-Bob-Lupo/dp/0595259766/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1535686903&sr=8-10&keywords=bob+lupo
