Doug was on Rare Bird Radio to chat with author Chip Jacobs. They discuss inspiration, motivation, and location in their writing. Click below to listen to the podcast.
Chip Jacobs is an award-winning author and journalist. His books include the biography Strange As It Seems: the Impossible Life of Gordon Zahler; the environmental social histories The People’s Republic of Chemicals and the international bestselling Smogtown: the Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles; the dark-humor true crime caper The Ascension of Jerry; and the stories collection The Vicodin Thieves. He also has contributed pieces to anthologies, most recently for Los Angeles in the 1970s: “Weird Scenes Inside the Goldmine” about the attack on an idealist lawyer by a depraved cult. His reporting has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, L.A. Daily News, CNN, The New York Times, Bloomberg, and LA Weekly, among others. His novel Arroyo is now available on Indie Bound, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. Connect with him on his website, Facebook, TwitterInstagram, and Goodreads.
The line between passion and obsession runs through us all.
Levi Combs never planned to rocket to stardom.
Eva Florez knew he would the moment she saw him.
Gabe Adams didn’t want anything to do with celebrities.
But after Gabe’s sister sells his photos of Levi with a young starlet to a tabloid website, their lives become intertwined forever, bound by rage and retribution.
Blending the nuance and insight of literary fiction with the big-screen magic of a Hollywood thriller, Focus Lost whisks readers into a world of temptation, indulgence, and revenge, daring them to take a bite of the forbidden fruit.
Pick up a copy of Focus Lostwherever books are sold or purchase a signed copy with the inscription of your choice from the Buy section on the ByCooper website. Thanks for your support. A book only has value when read.
Doug was on Rare Bird Radio to chat with author Gary Lippman. They covered a broad range of topics from naming characters to doing research in Vegas strip clubs and their recent books. Click below to listen to the podcast.
Born and raised in New Jersey, Gary Lippman received a law degree from Northwestern University and has worked with New York’s Innocence Project. Lippman’s play Paradox Lost ran off Broadway for a month in 2001 and his writing has been published in The New York Times, The Paris Review, VICE, Fodors, and more. Having lived in Illinois, Florida, California, and France, Lippman can now be found in what used to be called “Fun City” with his imaginary French bulldog, his very real Hungarian wife, and a whenever-he’s-inclined-to-visit adult son. His novel Set the Controls for the Heart of Sharon Tate now available on The Strand, Target, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. Connect with him on his website, Twitter and Goodreads.
I numbered the first fifty Focus Lostbooks out of the box for sale at ByCooper.com with a personal inscription of the buyer’s choice.
Looking for a Mother’s or Father’s Day gift or want one of the first signed copies of a first edition to tuck away on your bookshelf? Or maybe you are just planning your summer reading list.
If that isn’t enough to entice you to buy, use the code FIRST50 to take an additional 25% off the cost. Just enter the code FIRST50 at checkout with your name, address, and billing information to receive the discount. ByCooper.com accepts all forms of credit card. Remember to add your requested personal inscription in the Order Notes field so I can make it just how you want it.
Wait, there’s more! Shipping is a flat rate $3 whether you buy one, two, or five books. Don’t make it hard on yourself to decide if you will keep it or to whom you’ll give this special gift. Buy one for yourself and for all the special people in your life.
You can also add my other books, The Investment Clubor Outside In, to the order with no additional shipping cost. $3 shipping cost will cover the entire shipment! I even have some of the first edition hardcovers ofOutside In in stock included in this special offer.
Today is release day for Focus Lost! It’s officially available wherever books are sold from Rare Bird Books and distributed worldwide by PGW.
The line between passion and obsession runs through us all.
Levi Combs never planned to rocket to stardom.
Eva Florez knew he would the moment she saw him.
Gabe Adams didn’t want anything to do with celebrities.
But after Gabe’s sister sells his photos of Levi with a young starlet to a tabloid website, their lives become intertwined forever, bound by rage and retribution. Blending the nuance and insight of literary fiction with the big-screen magic of a Hollywood thriller, Focus Lost whisks readers into a world of temptation, indulgence, and revenge, daring them to take a bite of the forbidden fruit.
Check out the following video for a taste of what to expect from this literary thriller.
The parallels to Milton’s Paradise Lost in Focus Lost extend well beyond the title. Just as Milton expands the story of Adam, Eve, and Satan as told in Genesis into a detailed, narrative poem, Focus Lost draws inspiration from the same tale and extends it into a full-length, modern literary thriller.
The main characters Gabe Adams, Eva Florez and Levi Combs symbolize, in name and action, Adam, Eve, and Satan in this contemporary Fall of Man story set in Los Angeles.
Gabe Adams: Nature photographer Gabe Adams aspires to be as the name Adam suggests: son of the earth. Thrust into the role of guardian of his younger sister after the death of their parents, Gabe, similar to archangel Gabriel, is a protector and represents mercy, joy, truth, and dreams. Focused on landscape, coastline, and waterfall photography, he has never even heard of movie star Levi Combs and definitely didn’t have any interest in celebrity photos. But when he inadvertently photographs Levi and underage starlet Emily James at a waterfall in the California wilderness and those photos get sold to the Forbidden Fotos tabloid site by Gabe’s sister, the focus of all of their lives transform from passion to obsession to revenge.
Eva Florez:Eva, an alternative form of Eve, means life and evokes purity and strength. Her last name Florez representative of the Spanish Flores, is the plural of flower and another allusion to the Garden of Eden. But much like her archetypal namesake, she is more complex than her simple name suggests and is manipulative and an agent of temptation. She discovered Levi on the big screen at a college football game and built his and her career from nothing. Power-hungry and controlling, Eva’s loyalties are only to herself, and she is willing to do whatever it takes, whether that means seducing Gabe or sabotaging Levi’s career, to protect what she has built.
Levi Combs: An anagram of “evil”, Levi, when combined with the sound of his last name Combs intimates the foreboding warning “evil comes”. Levi, which means joined or attached, never wanted to be famous, but once he achieves A-list celebrity status, he will do anything to hold his position among the stars. But when the photos of him with Emily surface and the public relations and legal issues mount, Levi is cast from the celestial world of stardom, much like Satan was from Heaven. With his life spiraling out of control and unwilling to take responsibility for any of his actions, he vows revenge and retribution for those he blames for his fall.
The allegory and symbolism with the characters do not stop with these three. Read Focus Lost to find the clues and meanings of other characters like the previously mentioned young starlet Emily James, Gabe’s sister Abbie, Deputy District Attorney Marcus Ambrose, Hannah, Levi’s pet water python, and more. Share your findings in the comments and on social media with hashtag #deeperlook.
Doug stopped by Market Street Studios this week and joined Sandusky Register editor, Matt Westerhold, the Sandusky Library’s director of operations, Terri Estel, and another local author, Kelleys Island historian Leslie Korenko to appear on “Between the Lines” Wednesday to promote the library’s Book Fair on Saturday from 10:30a to 3p.
Doug was on Rare Bird Radio to chat with author Heidi Barnes. They covered a broad range of topics from writing to travel to their past and recent books. Click below to listen to the podcast.
Heidi Barnes has lived in Singapore, Australia, Dubai, England, Switzerland, New York, Maine, Vermont, Texas, Washington D.C., and New Zealand. She lives and writes in Vancouver, British Columbia but is planning on moving to Los Angeles soon. The Bellman was her first novel. She is continuing the story with The Bellman’s Secret, now available on Indiebound, Target, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble, and wherever books are sold. Connect with her on her website, Facebook and Goodreads.
Today is release day for 
