Good morning everyone! Please welcome author J P Rieger to Full Moon Dreaming today! He is here to tell us about his new release, The Big Comb Over. JP will be awarding a $25 Amazon/BN GC to one randomly drawn commenter via Rafflecopter during the tour. The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. To find the other stops on his tour, go here. Don't forget to look for the Rafflecopter at the end of this post!
THE BIG COMB OVER
J.P. Rieger
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GENRE: Family satire; Farce; Magical realism
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BLURB:
Three
nephews and three eccentric uncles.
---------
It’s
2050 and Robbie Elders has all but forgotten about his oddball, religious
fanatic uncle, tim tim. He’s taken up the latest fad, genealogical research
based solely on DNA. But Robbie’s “inconclusive” DNA results are unsettling. He
crashes back to his childhood, back to his world of comic books and tim tim.
“I
opt for posh and London” declares Lady Florence Stour. It’s 2019 and time for a
Royal Wedding. Robbie’s uncle, Stef, is engaged to Lady Florence, a distant
member of the British royal family. Stef’s Baltimore clan have been invited,
but Robbie’s mom and dad can’t attend. They’ve entrusted Robbie and big
brother, Doyle, to their mom’s two eccentric brothers, uncles Roy and Roland.
Roy, a weathered waterman with a severe Baltimore accent, lives for Maryland
blue crabs. Roland, a mildly hypochondriacal actor, lives to survive the Karens
he unavoidably encounters. And then there’s Desales, Roy’s smart aleck, teenage
son. He lives to prank. They’ve descended upon London. What could possibly go
wrong?
Meanwhile,
tim tim has been coaching Robbie on “the mission.” A silly religious fantasy according
to Robbie’s atheist parents and the therapists. Or perhaps not? Things are not
always as they appear in The Big Comb Over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
He was thinking that the man’s accent could be Irish. But
more Cockney, almost. Odd. He saw the man thrust his hand forward.
“Name’s Roy.” He shook Roy’s hand, earnestly.
“Name’s Dixon. Pleasure to meet you.” He glanced over at
Roy’s suit. “Nice couture! A refreshing play on seersucker! ‘Maison Dixon’ is
mine. Curious to hear about yours!”
Roy felt a bit confused. He had already introduced himself.
He figured maybe those white things were hearing aids. And he had a crazy name.
“Ya said yours is Mason Dixon?”
“Yes!”
“Like your Mason-Dixon line?”
“Well, thank you, Roy! Which particular line do you favor?”
Roy felt confused again. “Favor? Well, I was thinkin’ of the
long one? The old one?”
Bertram nodded, knowingly. Nice to know the “Smart Man” line
was still revered. Teddy had been encouraging him to drop it. “Yes, Smart Man,
a long and successful line.”
Roy nodded. “Why, thanks, Mr. Dixon. But I would reckon
everbody ’roun here’s heard of it. Don’t take too much brains. Historical,
like.”
“Brilliant! Thanks, Roy. That’s my job. To keep those lines
out in the public’s mind.”
Roy scratched at his rusty beard stubble. “So, like, ya do
surveys, still? Ta mark the lines?”
“Well, certainly. But those are a little old school. We
don’t always attach a survey to each line we produce. We get things done more
with social media. Influencers, mainly. Good judges of the zeitgeist.”
Roy was thinking that surveyors setting lines without
surveys didn’t sound very safe. And he wasn’t sure about the rest. “Ya done
anything here in Bawlmer? Any new ones?” Roy had been shopping at that new
supermarket in Middle River. He wanted to make sure the building was safe. He
was hoping Mr. Dixon’s company was not involved.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
J.
Paul (J.P.) Rieger is a born and bred Baltimorean and mostly retired Maryland
attorney. As such, he’s well acquainted with the quirkiness and charm of
Baltimore’s unique citizens. He’s author of Clonk!, a police farce set in Baltimore
and published in 2023 by Apprentice House Press (Loyola University-Baltimore).
He’s also author of The Case Files of Roderick Misely, Consultant, a mystery
novel featuring a wannabe lawyer anti-hero. The Big Comb Over, a slipstream
comedy of manners featuring three nephews and their three eccentric uncles, is
Paul’s third novel. Paul is married and lives in Towson, Maryland.
Website:
http://www.jpaulrieger.net
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW 10
What would we find in your beard? Most
certainly, flecks of breakfast cereal. The ones that drop off of the spoon. You
look around your shirt and the floor and never find where they’ve gone. Perhaps
some dust woolies, too. I comb through my beard on a semiannual basis, though,
for hygiene purposes.
What was the happiest moment of your life? My wedding day! We still talk about it, fifteen years later.
Finally, I had found my soulmate! The line dancing and crab balls were good
too.
Do you listen to music while writing? If so what? I never listen to music while writing. The reason is that I
love music and when it is playing, I instinctively place full attention on the
music, good or bad. For a lot of people, music playing in the background is
pleasant aural wallpaper. For me it is an attention-grabbing distraction.
What is something you'd like to accomplish in your writing
career next year? I simply want to keep writing. I’m
working on my fifth novel, unnamed as yet, which features Police Detective Kev
Dixit. Dixit also appears in Clonk! and in my most recent, not yet
published novel, Sunscreen Shower.
How long did it take you to write this book? I wrote The Big Comb Over mostly during 2022, my first
year of semi-retirement. It took about ten months.
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