1. Tell us a bit about yourself. What kind of books do you write? When did you start? Where are you from etc
Scott Pinsker: First of all, thanks so much for welcoming me, Drako. I truly appreciate it. Let’s see… about myself: Well, I’m a publicist & marketing expert in beautiful Tampa Bay, Florida. Over the course of my career, I’ve represented & helped a slew of athletes, entertainers and celebs-in-peril, focusing mainly on reputation management and media relations. My analysis of marketing trends and political brand-building strategies has been published on FOXNews.com, the Washington Times & Jewish World Review. I’ve also hosted a radio talk-show on 1250 WTMA in Charleston, South Carolina, created & executive produced a film for National Lampoon (that was terrible), and appeared in a pair of political documentaries (including one that was nominated for an Academy Award).
I became a novelist because I madly, deeply LOVE books – but I’m also tremendously dissatisfied with books. All writers, I suppose, are driven by an obsessive desire to take an empty canvas of blank paper, and then – through the glorious power of personal imagination – transform the paper into a stunning work of art. I guess that’s a long way of saying that I write because I have to, whether I like it or not…
I tried NOT to be a novelist. Lord, how I tried! But after battling against the cosmic tide for the first few decades of my life, my arms were tired. I was exhausting myself, constantly fighting to be somewhere I wasn’t meant to be.
…I guess I became a novelist because I ran out of all other options.
My debut novel is the first in “The Second Coming” trilogy – a new series where I take the Tarantino Treatment to the “Left Behind” End Days saga & revolutionize the formula. It’s called The Second Coming: A Love Story. Here’s a link to the book’s Amazon site: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KT6B3G0.
2. Most authors also read a lot in addition to their writing. What kind of books to you prefer to read? Who are some of your favorite authors?
Pinsker: My four favorite books, in no particular order, are Illusions by Richard Bach, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Brain Droppings by George Carlin and The Law by Frederic Bastiat.
It’s an odd blend, but what each of these books has in common is that they kinda stick to you, even after you flip the final page. Bach, Rand, Carlin and Bastiat are masters at examining existence – and then shattering the paradigm. I like books that make you think, even when (or especially when) you disagree with the author’s conclusions.
It’s what I strived to emulate in The Second Coming: A Love Story. No matter your religion, no matter your faith, this book WILL force you to see the world in a dimensionally different way. I personally guarantee it – and if I’m lying, may God strike Justin Bieber dead!!
>Crickets & Tumbleweed<
Dang…
3. Tell us about your book.
Pinsker: Two men claim to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Each claims the other is Satan in disguise – but only one is telling the truth, and the reader isn’t explicitly told who’s who. The United States soon splits along ideological lines, with Red America swearing allegiance to the conservative “savior” and Blue America (naturally) worshiping at the altar of the other. A furious Culture War-turned-Holy War erupts, with both sides waging a win-at-all-costs marketing campaign to prove their savior’s supremacy.
It’s finally happened: Red America and Blue America are headed for Armageddon!
4. Do you have a favorite character in your book? Do fans gravitate towards one character more than others and why do you think that is?
Pinsker: I love all the characters – God and Satan included. All of the key characters are modernized updated of Bible characters: Mary Magdalene, for example, is now Margaret Magdala Esquire – only instead of selling her body to the highest bidder, she auctions her mind to criminals. Each character is like a rat in a maze, desperately searching for salvation… but searching in different ways – and with VERY different outcomes.
I’ve noticed that people tend to identify with the savior who most exemplifies their own personal political/theological beliefs: Liberals & secularists gravitate to the (so-called) Second Coming named Israel, and conservatives & traditionalists gravitate to the (so called) Second Coming named Joe.
It’s one of the theo-curveball that makes this such a fascinating “thought-experiment” for readers.
5. Do you listen to music when writing? What kind of music would best suit your novels?
Pinsker: Sometimes I write to music. My two all-time favorite performers are Tori Amos and Iron Maiden. (I keep waiting for ‘em to go on tour together, but they never do. What gives?) It’s probably not coincidental that Tori Amos & Iron Maiden both entered my ears during my tumultuous teen-years and tri-polar twenties. Music is like an emotional bookmark: Just one note can transport you to ANY chapter of your life. I like that, because sometimes an author needs to bloody his scars to trigger an emotional response. In gamer-speak, music is a cheat-code.
So is alcohol: Alcohol and music both heighten emotions and loosen inhibitions. Sometimes, that’s helpful. Sometimes it’s not.
6. If your book were made into a movie, who would play your characters in your dream cast?
Pinsker: [Laughs] Okay, I admit to daydreaming about this scenario. And for the record, Scarlett Johansson is absolutely welcome to the movie auditions. (Although one of the Amazon reviewers wrote that the FOX News Channel’s Megyn Kelly would be perfect for the female lead of Margaret Magdala. It’s an interesting choice, and I could actually see that working.)
Sometimes you hear writers complaining because Hollywood screwed-up their story. I wouldn’t mind, because the way I see it, the novel-version was MY story; a film is a multimillion-dollar collaborative effort. You have to accept that going it. So even if the studio hired, say, Michael Bay and added giant robots, it would still be kinda cool to witness the adaptation/train-wreck. No?
7. If you had a chance to collaborate with any author, indie or mainstream, who would it be and why?
Pinsker: I’d pick Bill Shakespeare. (I guess I should call him William, but I’m pretty sure he’d be cool with Bill.) Pretty prolific writer, that Shakespeare. Sure, I’d love to work with Bill.
Stan Lee would be intriguing as well. In many ways, Stan Lee is more prolific – and of greater consequence – than Shakespeare: The characters Lee created & co-created (Spiderman, Iron-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Avengers, Thor, Fantastic Four, etc.) are probably better-known & more immediately-identifiable than ANYTHING Shakespeare has done. There are parts of Africa and South America that are wholly unfamiliar with Macbeth… but they all know that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider. Isn’t that amazing?
100 years from now, what do you think will be more celebrated: The collected works of Shakespeare or the “Marvel Universe” created by Stan Lee? It’s not a slam-dunk, but my money is on Lee. Especially now that The Mouse has a vested financial interest in Marvel’s global success…
8. What’s next on your agenda?
Pinsker: The Second Coming: A Love Story is the first of a trilogy. I’m currently completing the follow-up novel, Three Days Later: A Revenge Story.
If you love debating theology, politics and morality – or if you’ve ever stayed up at night, trying to figure out why bad things happen to good people – then you’ve GOT to read this book. It’s a playground of explosive ideas, but I must explicitly caution you: It’s not for everyone. The Second Coming: A Love Story will make you think… and you might not like where your mind leads.
Thanks so much – and keep the faith!
Website: www.secondcomingishere.com
Amazon Book Site: www.amazon.com/dp/B00KT6B3G0
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SecondComingNovel
Twitter: @ScottPinsker
Scott Pinsker: First of all, thanks so much for welcoming me, Drako. I truly appreciate it. Let’s see… about myself: Well, I’m a publicist & marketing expert in beautiful Tampa Bay, Florida. Over the course of my career, I’ve represented & helped a slew of athletes, entertainers and celebs-in-peril, focusing mainly on reputation management and media relations. My analysis of marketing trends and political brand-building strategies has been published on FOXNews.com, the Washington Times & Jewish World Review. I’ve also hosted a radio talk-show on 1250 WTMA in Charleston, South Carolina, created & executive produced a film for National Lampoon (that was terrible), and appeared in a pair of political documentaries (including one that was nominated for an Academy Award).
I became a novelist because I madly, deeply LOVE books – but I’m also tremendously dissatisfied with books. All writers, I suppose, are driven by an obsessive desire to take an empty canvas of blank paper, and then – through the glorious power of personal imagination – transform the paper into a stunning work of art. I guess that’s a long way of saying that I write because I have to, whether I like it or not…
I tried NOT to be a novelist. Lord, how I tried! But after battling against the cosmic tide for the first few decades of my life, my arms were tired. I was exhausting myself, constantly fighting to be somewhere I wasn’t meant to be.
…I guess I became a novelist because I ran out of all other options.
My debut novel is the first in “The Second Coming” trilogy – a new series where I take the Tarantino Treatment to the “Left Behind” End Days saga & revolutionize the formula. It’s called The Second Coming: A Love Story. Here’s a link to the book’s Amazon site: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KT6B3G0.
2. Most authors also read a lot in addition to their writing. What kind of books to you prefer to read? Who are some of your favorite authors?
Pinsker: My four favorite books, in no particular order, are Illusions by Richard Bach, Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, Brain Droppings by George Carlin and The Law by Frederic Bastiat.
It’s an odd blend, but what each of these books has in common is that they kinda stick to you, even after you flip the final page. Bach, Rand, Carlin and Bastiat are masters at examining existence – and then shattering the paradigm. I like books that make you think, even when (or especially when) you disagree with the author’s conclusions.
It’s what I strived to emulate in The Second Coming: A Love Story. No matter your religion, no matter your faith, this book WILL force you to see the world in a dimensionally different way. I personally guarantee it – and if I’m lying, may God strike Justin Bieber dead!!
>Crickets & Tumbleweed<
Dang…
3. Tell us about your book.
Pinsker: Two men claim to be the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Each claims the other is Satan in disguise – but only one is telling the truth, and the reader isn’t explicitly told who’s who. The United States soon splits along ideological lines, with Red America swearing allegiance to the conservative “savior” and Blue America (naturally) worshiping at the altar of the other. A furious Culture War-turned-Holy War erupts, with both sides waging a win-at-all-costs marketing campaign to prove their savior’s supremacy.
It’s finally happened: Red America and Blue America are headed for Armageddon!
4. Do you have a favorite character in your book? Do fans gravitate towards one character more than others and why do you think that is?
Pinsker: I love all the characters – God and Satan included. All of the key characters are modernized updated of Bible characters: Mary Magdalene, for example, is now Margaret Magdala Esquire – only instead of selling her body to the highest bidder, she auctions her mind to criminals. Each character is like a rat in a maze, desperately searching for salvation… but searching in different ways – and with VERY different outcomes.
I’ve noticed that people tend to identify with the savior who most exemplifies their own personal political/theological beliefs: Liberals & secularists gravitate to the (so-called) Second Coming named Israel, and conservatives & traditionalists gravitate to the (so called) Second Coming named Joe.
It’s one of the theo-curveball that makes this such a fascinating “thought-experiment” for readers.
5. Do you listen to music when writing? What kind of music would best suit your novels?
Pinsker: Sometimes I write to music. My two all-time favorite performers are Tori Amos and Iron Maiden. (I keep waiting for ‘em to go on tour together, but they never do. What gives?) It’s probably not coincidental that Tori Amos & Iron Maiden both entered my ears during my tumultuous teen-years and tri-polar twenties. Music is like an emotional bookmark: Just one note can transport you to ANY chapter of your life. I like that, because sometimes an author needs to bloody his scars to trigger an emotional response. In gamer-speak, music is a cheat-code.
So is alcohol: Alcohol and music both heighten emotions and loosen inhibitions. Sometimes, that’s helpful. Sometimes it’s not.
6. If your book were made into a movie, who would play your characters in your dream cast?
Pinsker: [Laughs] Okay, I admit to daydreaming about this scenario. And for the record, Scarlett Johansson is absolutely welcome to the movie auditions. (Although one of the Amazon reviewers wrote that the FOX News Channel’s Megyn Kelly would be perfect for the female lead of Margaret Magdala. It’s an interesting choice, and I could actually see that working.)
Sometimes you hear writers complaining because Hollywood screwed-up their story. I wouldn’t mind, because the way I see it, the novel-version was MY story; a film is a multimillion-dollar collaborative effort. You have to accept that going it. So even if the studio hired, say, Michael Bay and added giant robots, it would still be kinda cool to witness the adaptation/train-wreck. No?
7. If you had a chance to collaborate with any author, indie or mainstream, who would it be and why?
Pinsker: I’d pick Bill Shakespeare. (I guess I should call him William, but I’m pretty sure he’d be cool with Bill.) Pretty prolific writer, that Shakespeare. Sure, I’d love to work with Bill.
Stan Lee would be intriguing as well. In many ways, Stan Lee is more prolific – and of greater consequence – than Shakespeare: The characters Lee created & co-created (Spiderman, Iron-Man, Hulk, X-Men, Avengers, Thor, Fantastic Four, etc.) are probably better-known & more immediately-identifiable than ANYTHING Shakespeare has done. There are parts of Africa and South America that are wholly unfamiliar with Macbeth… but they all know that Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider. Isn’t that amazing?
100 years from now, what do you think will be more celebrated: The collected works of Shakespeare or the “Marvel Universe” created by Stan Lee? It’s not a slam-dunk, but my money is on Lee. Especially now that The Mouse has a vested financial interest in Marvel’s global success…
8. What’s next on your agenda?
Pinsker: The Second Coming: A Love Story is the first of a trilogy. I’m currently completing the follow-up novel, Three Days Later: A Revenge Story.
If you love debating theology, politics and morality – or if you’ve ever stayed up at night, trying to figure out why bad things happen to good people – then you’ve GOT to read this book. It’s a playground of explosive ideas, but I must explicitly caution you: It’s not for everyone. The Second Coming: A Love Story will make you think… and you might not like where your mind leads.
Thanks so much – and keep the faith!
Website: www.secondcomingishere.com
Amazon Book Site: www.amazon.com/dp/B00KT6B3G0
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SecondComingNovel
Twitter: @ScottPinsker
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