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Fountain of youth? More like murderous medication!
Carrie Kromer pushes the boundaries of science, not her social life. The brilliant behavioral gerontologist’s idea of a good time is hanging out with her beloved lab rats and taking care of her elderly mother and the other eccentric old folks at the nursing home. So no one is more surprised than Carrie when she steals the lab’s top-secret, experimental medicine for aging in reverse.
Two-time ex-con Johnny Fairfax dreams of culinary greatness. But when his corrupt parole officer tries to drag him from the nursing home kitchen, the suddenly young-again residents spring to his defence and murder the guy—and then request Johnny cook them an evidence devouring dinner to satisfy their insatiable side-effect appetite.
As their unexpected mutual attraction gets hot, Carrie and Johnny find themselves caught up with the authorities who arrive to investigate the killing. But even more dangerous than the man-eating not-so-senior citizens could be the arrival of death-dealing pharmaceutical hitmen.
Can Carrie and Johnny find true love in all this bloody madness?
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Q&A
Which character would you like to be in this book?
In real life? Yikes. None of them. Either they’ve been to prison or they’re headed to prison one day soon or they’re eating people or they’re being eaten or someone’s trying to kill them or they’re killing someone or they’re getting killed…it’s the wildest, darkest, most outrageous thrill ride of the year. Nope, don’t want to be any of them in real life. But…if you mean which one would I like to play in the movie, well, that’s a different story. So many fabulous crazy characters, it’s hard to choose just one. Johnny, of course, is terrific character. Eduardo Wolf and Tino are both terrific, terrifying fun. But if I had to narrow it down, I’d do a cameo as Joe Cabot, the screenwriting cab driver who challenges Eduardo Wolf to a life-and-death puzzle match. A lifetime of dashed Hollywood dreams has made Cabot crazy. What great fun it would be to play him. But, like I said, no fun to actually be Joe Cabot. No fun at all.
Do you always take a book/ereader wherever you go?
Yes, I take a book everywhere I go. Sometimes I’m reading on my Kindle. Sometimes on my laptop. But often it’s a book I can hold in my hand with pages made from paper that I can flip as I’m reading. Doesn’t everybody take a book everywhere they go?
Say someone asks if they can use your name in a book. Would you rather be the ‘good one’ or the ‘bad one’?
I choose the crazy one. The characters who are so far outside the box, you can’t see the box, those are the characters that speak to me? How do they live being like that? How did they get like that? What the heck are they doing in this book? Yep, those are my people.
Do you prefer to read/write standalones or series?
I write both. I read both. And I enjoy both. But I must admit I prefer standalones. But a fantastic series is super fun too. Like I said, I enjoy both.
Where can I find you when you are reading?
I read in my living room, where I have a very comfortable couch that calls to me during the day: Rich, Rich, come read with me.
Where can I find you when you are not writing/reading?
I swim laps most every morning at my local YMCA, so you might find me there if you’re a morning person. When we’re not in the middle of a global plague, my wife and I like to sit at the bar and eat dinner at a handful of excellent restaurants in our little city. We have three adult children within not-too-taxing-a-drive distance , and we visit them as often as possible. I like the beach. And the mountains. And we go to both. But I’m a city kid at heart, as is my wife, so we travel to neighboring cities to see what’s happening on their streets. Savannah and Charleston and St. Augustine and Washington DC and New York. You know, cities. That’s fun for us.
Can you walk past a bookstore without going inside?
No, usually I go in. I like books, what can I say. Book junkie, is that a thing?
What are you most proud of?
My marriage and my family, hands down. Not close. I’ve done lots of cool things in my life. Been lots of places. Accomplished good stuff—books, movies, businesses, friends, adventures. I turned out to be a good person, I think. And I’m proud of all that, no doubt. But I’ve been married 35 years to the awesome Lulu, and that just keeps getting better. And our kids rock. Very proud dad.
What goes through your mind when you hold your new book in your hands for the first time?
Elation. I’ve done lots of hiking in the mountains—hiking, not climbing—but I imagine actually getting to the top of Everest, say, or Kilimanjaro gives the climber a feeling of elation not possible without having climbed to the top. Yeah, holding your finished, published book is a lot like that, I think.
What piece of advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Read everything and never stop reading. Write what you love with all that you’ve got. Those are two good ones. But the one I live by is: Write Anyway. No matter what you’re hearing in your head, write anyway. I’ve been telling myself that for 33 years. 50-plus screenplays and seven novels later I can say without hesitation it works for me. Write anyway.
Thank you, Rich Leder and Damppebbles Blog Tours
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About the author
Rich Leder has been a working writer for more than three decades. His credits include 19 produced movies—television films for CBS, Lifetime, and Hallmark and feature films for Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Tri-Star Pictures, Longridge Productions, and Left Bank Films—and six novels for Laugh Riot Press.
He’s been the lead singer in a Detroit rock band, a restaurateur, a Little League coach, an indie film director, a literacy tutor, a magazine editor, a screenwriting coach, a wedding guru, a PTA board member, a commercial real estate agent, and a visiting artist for the UNCW Film Studies Department, among other things, all of which, it turns out, was grist for the mill.
He resides on the North Carolina coast with his awesome wife, Lulu, and is sustained by the visits home of their three fabulous children.
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Author Links
Twitter: https://twitter.com/richleder
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRichardLeder/
Website: https://richleder.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rich_leder/
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Book Links
Amazon US: https://amzn.to/3dK15Hy
Amazon UK: https://amzn.to/3nObXrZ
B for Bookreview 