Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/15

I've just returned from dropping my niece off at Kennedy Airport, where she will board a flight home to Denver. Tanya moved out there 30 years ago, married a guy a lot older than herself, divorced but stayed. She loves the area and is now so out of touch with Brooklyn. She fell in love with a guy from Grand Rapids, Michigan, moved there, then moved back to Colorado when that union failed. She re-started from scratch, moving in with a girlfriend until she was able to support herself. She landed a plum job as a weight loss counselor. She's doing very well, which is no surprise, as she is blessed with the gift of gab. My mom used to call her "avocatessa," which translates to "lady lawyer." Although I'm glad she is in the place she loves, we will not see her as often. A 14-hour drive has been replaced by a cross country trek.
The floating bookshop got a visit from Kofi, a regular customer, today. I found out he works in the psych department at Coney Island Hospital. He makes a lot of house calls and says patients are getting younger and younger. I asked his opinion about the drugs that are being given to children. He believes they are doing damage and blames it on pharmaceutical companies, which pressure doctors to pass out the pills. He also claims that any parent who opposes an ADD diagnosis is threatened with having the child taken away. Scary stuff.
I also got a visit from John, a retired teacher and aspiring writer. He is so intimidated by the process of book submission that he is suffering what baseball announcer Tim McCarver used to call "paralysis by analysis." He has written a thriller that is also an indictment of the war on drugs. For the second time, I urged him to submit it All Things That Matter Press. I don't know if it will be accepted, but I believe the publisher, Phil Harris, would be interested in the drug war angle. Good luck, John.
A while later a middle aged guy who recently had knee replacement surgery showed. He was on his way to a blood test. Initially, his cholesterol was too high, now it's too low. He, like my friend Arlynn, is feeling like a lab rat. Before he left he purchased Rizzo's War, Lou Manfredo's first novel, set in the old neighborhood, Bensonhurst. Thanks, sir. And thanks to the young lady who bought a large pictorial and Stephen King's Thinner just before the rain came.
For the 19th consecutive year the Pittsburgh Pirates will have a losing record. Halfway through the season they seemed a lock to break the streak. I know this is meaningless in the grand scheme of things, but it is stunning.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/14

For the first time since 1920, a Republican has won the seat of a district that covers parts of Brooklyn and Queens. Of course, Political Man weighed in on the matter as he passed the floating book shop, excoriating the traitorous Jews and Italians who voted against Weprin, an Orthodox Jew, and the right wing Christians who kept calling his home telling him to "vote with Jesus." On his way back he startled an elderly couple perusing the books, complaining that Republicans were out to take everything away from them. I assured the two the guy is harmless.
Was the result an omen of what is to come in next year's national election? We'll see. In the least it may have given professional politician and New York Senator Chuck Schumer agita, and that's a good thing. Good luck to Representative Bob Turner, who may not be in office long, as the area is scheduled for redistricting.
Also on the political front: Tapes were released of an interview Jackie Kennedy did four months after the assassination of her husband. It is rife with tidbits gossip columnists would kill for. They are personal, not political in nature, eye-opening in that she was always a paragon of decorum publically. To no one's surprise, she dubbed French president Charles DeGaulle an "egomaniac." She called Indira Gandhi "a real prune, a bitter kind of pushy, horrible woman." There have always been rumors of Martin Luther King's sexual dalliances, but it was shocking to hear Jackie call him a "phony" and "a terrible man." She also had choice words about Jack LaLane, Ladybird Johnson and Adlai Stevenson. She did not mention JFK's philandering.
RIP Sam DeLuca, 75, graduate of Lafayette High School, 1953, and twelve-year pro football offensive guard. He played in Canada, the AFL and in the NFL after the merger. He was a New York Jet, on injured reserve, the year the team won the Super Bowl. He later worked as the color man on their radio broadcasts and also on regional TV network games. At Lafayette he was a classmate of Sandy Koufax and Blackie Fasano, who is mentioned in my second novel, Adjustments. Oddly, I don't remember if I mentioned DeLuca. It would have been brief. 
Thanks to Bob Rubenstein, who made his final payment to me for the editing I did on his second novel, The White Bridge. He is anxiously awaiting word on it from All Things That Matter Press. He is in too much of a hurry. I would have liked to have taken another look at it before submission.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/13

I interrupted my morning walk to do my civic duty. I arrived at the voting center about 6:45. Marie, who has donated about 80 CDs to me, was manning the first desk. What a great gig - a break for lunch and dinner and a $200 stipend. True, it's a long day, but she has only a five minute walk home. Unfortunately, my station was at the rear of what is normally the student cafeteria of the elementary school. I knew where I was supposed to sign in immediately. The guy running the section lives in my building. My friend Arlynn introduced me to him months ago and since then he has never acknowledged me. Maybe he would be embarrassed to be seen with someone who operates a floating book shop. Suffice to say, I'm not crazy about him. He was throwing a little hissing fit, grumbling about the disorganization, unable to find the address booklets, threatening to storm off and to sue if he wasn't compensated. A supervisor helped him locate the things he needed. I handed him the card I'd received in the mail months ago and, sure enough, I wasn't listed in the book. This had happened several years ago and the workers had me fill out a paper ballot. He didn't know enough to suggest this. I dumped the card in the trash and walked away, accepting it as fate. I will be crushed if the Democrat wins by one vote. If the Republican wins, I will not feel slighted at having been denied participation in the victory. It will still be fun to see the Democrats agonize. I'm expecting the left to rally and save the seat, which has always been in their hands and filled by a Jew for decades. The Republican candidate is Catholic.
Old Faithful, Susan, bought the remaining eight children's books I had. A young mom bought four of the books on knitting, which are almost gone too. A young man took Stephen King's immense The Dark Tower VII. And another guy from my building picked up Mary Higgins Clark's I'll Be Seeing You. His is a sad story. A pharmacist with a genius IQ, he was diagnosed with mental illness at 40. Although he has lost a lot of weight, he still moves carefully and with difficulty. He no longer works and he lives with his mom. His dad passed away a few years ago. I used to refer to his parents in my mind as "The Smokers," as they were always puffing away whenever I saw them. Things must be tough for them financially, as I've seen the mother and son bumming cigarettes and sharing them. Maybe things get tight for them at the end of the month.
Thanks, folks. It's always great when the crates are a lot lighter on the way back to the car.
Read Vic's stories, free:  http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/12

Political Man stopped by the floating book shop today and was in rare form. He is bummed that polls predict the seat of disgraced congressman Anthony Weiner will go to "a tea party asshole." And he blames "the fascists in the Hasidic community," and lamented their stupidity, their forgetting how Catholics have slaughtered Jews throughout history, especially during the inquisition and World War II. He dubbed Pope Pius XII "a Nazi." Apparently he assumes I'm Jewish and a liberal. I try to confine my politics to the voting booth and an occasional blog, so I just smiled. I used to respond when leftists friends posted comments on Facebook. I found it a waste of energy. Most of us are set in our beliefs and aren't going to change.
I was reminded of tomorrow's special election by Eddie, a retired teacher and friend of Arlynn. I thanked him but did not reveal which way I'll be voting. I'm not sure who he will vote for. Under normal circumstances, I'd bet he'd vote for the Democrat, but these are difficult times. Given the President's coolness toward Israel, and the overall state of the economy, people may cross lines. When Weiner lost his seat through his reckless stupidity, I said that it didn't matter, that he would be replaced by someone who shared his views. I'm thrilled that I may have been wrong, but still skeptical. New York Republicans are usually RINOs - Republicans in name only. I suspect this will be the case again. Time will tell.
I sold a Magic Eye book to a Russian gentleman. I avoided that craze, which produced a wonderful Seinfeld moment when Elaine freaked on her boss, Mr. Pitt, who couldn't stop staring, neglecting his duties as he strove to find the painting behind the colorful abstract pattern. Acting on behalf of a lot of us, she broke the painting over her knee.
A local home attendant purchased another book on knitting, at least her fifth. She stops to peruse and her ward keeps walking, and she calls out in her islands accent: "Maw, Maw," sounding a lot like my mom's first attendant, Mrs. Green. And Oddball also visited. He tears out each page he has finished of the book he is reading. He found the paperback mysteries I had on display "too girly." I suggested Patricia Cornwell and he gave it a shot. Thanks, folks.
Read vic's stories, free:
http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/11

Ten years ago today. God bless America.

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/10

I just finished JT LeRoy's short story collection The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things (2001). The back cover says his first book, Sarah, a novel whose central figure is the secondary one in The Heart..., was published when he was 16. I went to Wikipeida to research him and found a story that is a novel itself. LeRoy is the pseudonym of Laura Albert, who was impersonated in public by Savannah Knoop, half sister of her lover. I won't go into further details, as the story is complicated. It was even used as the basis of an episode of Law and Order. I did not feel deceived when I discovered this. Since the work is presented as fiction, the only thing that matters is whether it is good, unlike James Frey's A Million Little Pieces, which was presented as truth. I have a tough time with anything about cruelty to children, and that is what this story collection is all about. All the stories involve the same adolescent and his nightmare existence, depicted in a style that falls a little short of graphic, although the blanks are easily imagined. It reads like a novel. The prose is clear and concise, but I was frequently confused as to which character was speaking. The author begins sentences with dialogue, then continues in the same paragraph with another speaker's thoughts or words. The strength of the book is its use of metaphors. I often avoid them in my own work, feeling they've all been used up by now. I can cite only one of mine I think is first rate and hasn't been used by anyone else, from Triple Witching Hour, a short story in A Hitch in Twilight: "...screaming like the walls of a vagina of a victim of rape." LeRoy's seem fresh and original, indicating wonderful talent. Of course, the reader will wonder whether the author experienced the horror portrayed. According to the Wiki profile, no one knows for sure. Again, since it is fiction, it doesn't matter. On a scale of five, I rate The Heart Is Deceitful above All Things three stars.
Thanks to the kind ladies on Bay Parkway today, who purchased a book on baking, and the late, beloved  Erma Bombeck's Motherhood: The Second Oldest Profession. Her witty syndicated column was a guilty pleasure of mine.
Read Vic's stories, free:
http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/

Selling My Books on the Streets of Brooklyn 9/9

You've probably received emails with photographs of grotesque Walmart shoppers. Here's the gist of one I received that tells a different story:
1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target +Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer, and most employees speak English.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only fifteen years.
8. During this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought bankruptcy..
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approximately 3,900 stores in the USA, of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago.
11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores. Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.
12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart.
You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy. This should be read and understood by all
Americans Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!
To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature: It is now official that the majority of you
are corrupt morons:
a. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
b. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke.
c. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
d. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of
our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.
e. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
f. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.     
g. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars.
AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM ?
 Thanks to Bobby Buls for forwarding the email, and thanks to Herbie, who today purchased Chaim Potok's My Name is Asher Lev.
Read Vic's stories, free: http://members.tripod.com/vic_fortezza/Literature/