Q&A: Michael D. Meloan, Author of Pinball Wizard #Q&A #Interview #PinballWizard

 

Michael Meloan traveled extensively to England, Germany, and South Korea supporting the Department of Defense as a software engineer. He met the real Top Guns at Ramstein, Germany. He also wrote short stories for Larry Flynt, Buzz, Wired Magazine, and many literary journals. With his brother, Steven, he penned a published novel called The Shroud. Also with his brother, he wrote journalism for The Huffington Post.

In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Meloan was friends with Charles Bukowski and his wife Linda. Bukowski enthusiastically encouraged his writing and invited him and his wife Cathy to many Hollywood events.

Meloan was also good friends with NPR monologue artist Joe Frank. Their regular brunches at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills were among the most fascinating encounters of his life. They discussed sexual failure, the nature of existence, godly realms, and the existential abyss. Meloan had the privilege of co-writing a number of radio shows with Frank that appeared on the NPR syndicate. The documentaries

Bukowski: Born into This and Joe Frank: Somewhere Out There both contain interviews with Meloan.

Visit the book’s website at www.pinballwizardbook.com.

 

Why did you decide to write Pinball Wizard? Did the inspiration come at a particular moment, or had you been planning to write the book for a while?

I have been posting shorts on Facebook for years. Some of the themes related to my parents’ acrimonious divorce, my work as a software engineer involving Top Gun fighter pilots in Europe, and my friendship with the writer Charles Bukowski. Unlikely as it might seem, I decided to ball all of these disparate elements into one novella. My readers tell me that it worked.

Did you have to do any research before writing this book or was it more a self-guided knowledge on the subject? 

I always do research. One of my goals is to create a cinematic experience for the reader, so I’m always looking at visuals. And I include intricate details of the scenarios I describe, hopefully without becoming tedious. It’s a fine balance.

What are some of the positive results or responses you have received since publishing your book?

Many readers have communicated with me via Facebook to express their appreciation for the literary experience PINBALL WIZARD provides. That has been exciting.

List three interesting facts about yourself.

I lived in Turin, Italy for six months when I was 13. My father was a visiting professor. During that time, we visited London, Paris, Zurich, Geneva, and the major cities of Italy. It gave me a window on the world.

In addition to writing, I was a software engineer for many years and traveled all over the world in that capacity.

And finally, I do killer karaoke.

How can our readers reach out to you?

The best way to contact me is via email.

mdmeloan@gmail.com

Title: Pinball Wizard

Author: Michael D. Meloan

Pages: 136

Genre: Novella / Romantic Action / Adventure

Michael D. Meloan’s new novella PINBALL WIZARD is a story of love, sex, jets, and Bukowski. Ralph is buffeted between a controlling father, international intrigue in the US defense industry, and a friendship with the writer Charles Bukowski. A wild girlfriend also ratchets-up the action.

“Are you the Pinball Wizard or the pinball?” asks Ralph’s manager inside a nuclear hardened bunker in England. That is the question driving Michael D. Meloan’s new novella–a story of love, sex, jets, and Bukowski.

Lights flash and bells ring as Ralph is buffeted between a controlling father, international intrigue in the US defense industry, and a friendship with the writer Charles Bukowski. A wild girlfriend also ratchets-up the action.

But in the end, it is Ralph’s turn at the controls.

“My mailbox contained a surprise a week or so ago: PINBALL WIZARD, a novella by Michael Meloan. It is one of the most satisfying reading experiences I’ve had in recent years, in part because it handles a famous writer (Charles Bukowski) as one of its main characters with nonchalant deftness. Meloan’s slightly picaresque story is hard to classify, which is one of the things that makes it such a pleasure to read. He has a gift for writing unapologetically masculine prose; it’s flavorful without being exotic, and it doesn’t hurt that he has a fine ear for dialogue.”–Bill Mohr, writer, critic, and English Literature Professor at California State University, Long Beach

More information on the book PINBALL WIZARD can be found at https://www.amazon.com/Pinball-Wizard-Michael-D-Meloan/dp/1733386483/.