Wednesday - Inspirational Quotes by Garasamo Maccagnone's

At Writing Daze, on Wednesdays we ask visiting authors to give us their favorite quote and what it means to them. Garasamao Maccagnone picked this quote from Joyce Carol Oates and why it appeal to him.

We are linked by blood, and blood is memory without language.
Joyce Carol Oates

Being Sicilian, this quote appeals to me. We’ll wait two decades, quietly, just waiting to get even with someone who has hurt or discredited our family. In my novel, St. John of the Midfield, this sense of loyalty to blood was explored through the narrator’s conflicting lifestyle between legitimate and illegitimate worlds. Mario Santini desperately wants to be good. He wants to ensure that his wife, son, and himself all have an opportunity to live in the after world; to have a room in heaven like his mother always dreams of. Yet, he loves his father, who, although is corrupt, raised Mario pretty much on his own and has loved and protected him as much as any father. Though Mario finds his father’s lifestyle despicable, it’s when Mario’s own son becomes the target of a sinister man that Mario becomes just like his father. Soon, it’s Mario who gives the fatal nod that determines who will live and who will die.

About the Book:

My Dog Tim and Other Stories is an anthology of Garasamo Maccagnone’s finest works. The anchor of this collection is “St. John of the Midfield”. With newly added scenes, “St. John of the Midfield” is an almost mystical story of Bobo Stoikov, one of the world’s greatest soccer players, who escapes death in communist Bulgaria to find the American Dream. Due to severe injury during Bobo’s escape, he is unable to play once he arrives in America. Though he finds peace and happiness in simply coaching soccer to youth travel teams, his eccentric ways of teaching and his success lead to a hate-filled rivalry, and eventually, his death.
Other stories in the anthology include: “My Dog Tim”, an ode to the author’s beloved childhood pet; “White Fang”, a tale of revenge that has more do with orthodontia than Jack London’s infamous dog story; “The Note Giver”, the story of a mysterious old man who arrives at St. Isidore’s and turns the congregation upside down by handing out notes that sting the individuals with truth and insight on their own bad ways; “White Chocolate”, “Goalie Boy”, and three vignettes.

About the Author:

Garasamo Maccagnone studied creative writing and literature under noted American writers Sam Astrachan and Stuart Dybek at Wayne State University and Western Michigan University. A college baseball player as well, Maccagnone met his wife Vicki as a junior at WMU. The following year, after injuring his throwing arm, Maccagnone left school and his baseball ambitions to marry Vicki. After a two year stint at both W.B. Doner and BBDO advertising agencies, Maccagnone left the industry to apply his knowledge of marketing in a new venture in an up-and-coming industry. Maccagnone created a company called, “Crate and Fly,” and turned it from a store front in 1984 to a world-wide multi-million dollar shipping corporation by 1994.
In the mid 90’s Maccagnone decided to fulfill the promise of his writing career, by first penning the children’s book, The Suburban Dragon and then following up with a collection of short stories and poetry entitled, The Affliction of Dreams. His literary novel, St. John of the Midfield was published in 2007, followed by his For the Love of St. Nick, which was released in 2008. Maccagnone expanded the original version of For the Love of St. Nick and had the book illustrated for a new release in June 2009. My Dog Tim and Other Stories is a literary anthology of the author’s best work.

Garasamo “Gary” Maccagnone lives today in Shelby Township, Michigan, with his wife Vicki and three children. At this time, he is researching the location for his second novel, tentatively titled, He Lay Low.
You can visit Gary online at www.garasamomaccagnone.com

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