Mamma's
Moon
The
Hoodoo of Peckerwood Finch
by
Jerome Mark Antil
Genre:
Thriller
"Jerome
Mark Antil's Mamma's
Moon does
for Acadiana what Truman Capote did for Tiffany's or Tennessee
Williams did for streetcars. This is a novel about a lot of things,
including sex, crime, life, and death. But most of all, it's a novel
about hope and about love.
Mamma's
Moon gives the reader a dramatic and insightful glimpse into the very
special world of today's Louisiana French Acadians, whose early
tragic history was immortalized by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in his
classic poem, Evangeline,
even before the heartless bayou's more contemporary history was
buried deep and forgotten." Tom Hyman (LA
Times bestselling
author: writer for LIFEmagazine, The
Saturday Evening Post,
Argosy, Washington
Post Book World and
New
York Magazine.)
This
novel, Mamma's
Moon, is
a sequel to the novel, One
More Last Dance. It
stands alone as an entirely self-contained story, but for those of
you who may not have read the earlier novel, I include here a brief
description of the main characters and of the events that preceded
this story.
A
bond that can only happen on a dance floor happened in a cafe off
Frenchman Street among four unlikely characters: a man who was about
to die; his friend, an illiterate Cajun French yardman; and two of
the most successful women in New Orleans.
Aging
Captain Gabriel Jordan, retired, was given two months to live, three
months before he met "Peck"--Boudreau Clemont Finch--a
groundskeeper on the back lawn of his hospice on Bayou Carencro,
Louisiana. It was at the hospice that Gabe told Peck his dream of
seeing the Newport Jazz Festival before he died. They became friends,
and Peck offered to help grant his wish by taking him there.
And
they began their journey.
It
quickly became a journey with complications and setbacks. They saved
each other many times, but they were in turn saved by two
extraordinary women: Sasha (Michelle Lissette), a real estate agent
in New Orleans's posh Garden District, and her best friend, Lily Cup
(Lily Cup Lorelei Tarleton), a criminal attorney.
Less
than a year before the events in Mamma's
Moon, Gabe
and Peck wandered into Charlie's Blue Note, a small jazz bar in a
side alley just off Frenchman Street, where the music was live and
mellow and the dancing warm and sensual.
Here
they encountered Sasha and Lily Cup, and amid the music, the dancing,
the food, the flirting, and the cigar smoke, the four formed an
unusual and lasting friendship that would see them each through a
series of crises, disappointments, life-threatening situations, and
moments of great joy and satisfaction.
JEROME
MARK ANTIL writes in several genres. He has been called a
“greatest generation’s Mark Twain,” a “write what you know
Ernest Hemingway,” and “a sensitive Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.”
It’s been said his work reads like a Norman Rockwell painting.
Among his writing accomplishments, several titles in his The Pompey
Hollow Book Club historical fiction series about growing up in the
shadows of WWII have been honored. An ‘Authors and Writers’ Book
of the Year Award and ‘Writer of the Year’ at Syracuse University
for The Pompey Hollow Book Club novel; Hemingway, Three Angels, and
Me, won SILVER in the UK as second-best novel.
Foreword’s
Book of the Year Finalist for The Book of Charlie – historical
fiction and The Long Stem is in the Lobby – nonfiction humor.
Library Journal selected Hemingway, Three Angels and Me for best
reads during Black History Month.
Before
picking up the pen, Antil spent his professional career writing and
marketing for the business world. In this role, he lectured at
universities - Cornell, St. Edward’s, and Southern Methodist. His
inspirations have been John Steinbeck, Mark Twain, and Ernest
Hemingway.
GUEST POST
Take
us behind the scenes – where did “One More Last Dance” and
“Mamma’s Moon” come from?
(Three
people inspired One
More Last Dance.
After he was given his Last Rights by the priest and the doctor gave
him two hours to live, I inspired a 94-year-old friend to get out of
his death bed, live a year and a half longer and write his book.
Another friend from the 1960s inspired my Gabe; a black man who
taught me jazz. My father, the third was second generation Acadian,
from Normandy, and a marvelous storyteller. Mamma’s
Moon was
inspired by an actual attempt on my life.)
What
will fans of the first book in this series, “One More Last Dance,”
enjoy about “Mamma’s Moon?”
(That
the characters they love from the original novel are alive and well.
They’ll like that the sequel is as strong or stronger than the
first novel – which is rare.)
What
can you tell us about your Acadian heritage and its influence on your
writing?
(I
knew our name was changed from Anctil to Antil when my grandparents
(on my father’s side) moved to the U.S. from Canada at the turn of
the twentieth century. I grew up in New York State, but my father
would always tell me stories about the Acadians in Canada and the
Cajuns of Louisiana, and he would have shrimp boils and make gumbos.)
Why
are you so passionate about honoring and preserving Louisiana’s
culture through writing?
(What’s
happening to Louisiana both from outside sources and internal power
control is criminal. Baton Rouge has literally become the rectum of
America with the Mississippi splitting it in half and along with it
the literacy and natural resources so mishandled the entire state is
sliding into the Gulf of Mexico. Try to find a full-grown Cypress.
You can’t. They been chipped and are stacked in “mulch” bags in
big box home store retailers.)
What
was your research process like? Specifically, how did you go about
investigating the culture of Louisiana? Did you learn something you
didn’t know previously?
(I
had a New Orleans young man interview icon Ms. Leah Chase. He asked
her several pages of my questions about life in New Orleans in her
lifetime. I asked the criminal court in New Orleans to help my legal
research and they assigned a criminal attorney to guide me. I spoke
with libraries there and got pointed at things of interest. I was
overwhelmed at the damage that has been caused to Louisiana by the
indiscriminate spillway levees that destroyed entire towns and all
the topsoil. A passenger plane crash that was forgotten about.)
You
wrote part of “Mamma’s Moon” while staying at the Pontchartrain
Hotel in uptown New Orleans where Tennessee Williams worked on “A
Streetcar Named Desire” – did absorbing the atmosphere there
strengthen your writing?
(I
wrote much of One
More Last Dance there,
and some of Mamma’s
Moon.
It absolutely inspired me knowing that Tennessee Williams lived
there, and Truman Capote frequented the bar. Hearing the streetcars
going by and the jazz in the lobby certainly inspired me.)
https://www.broadwayworld.com/bwwbooks/article/Antil-Launches-One-More-Last-Dance-Cajun-Style-20180107
Chef
Leah Chase is known in Louisiana – and around the world – as the
Queen of Creole Cuisine. How did you meet this iconic New Orleans
celebrity, and how did she help shape your book?
(My
wife and I ate at the famous Dooky Chase restaurant one evening after
a Barnes and Noble book signing. Leah invited us to the kitchen, and
we chatted, and I gave her a copy of my One
More Last Dance novel.
I wrote her a thank you letter. Six months later I hired a young man
I had met at the Pontchartrain to visit her and see if he could
interview her on my behalf. Leah welcomed him in with open arms and
sat with him for more than an hour.)
You
also turned to Orleans Parish Criminal Court Judge Laurie A. White
for some guidance. What role did she play while you were writing
“Mamma’s
Moon?”
(Judge
Laurie A. White played three important roles in the Peckerwood Finch
novels. She asked for attorney volunteers to guide me in my court
scenes. Attorney Lindsay Jay Jeffrey, at the Orleans District
Criminal Court spent countless hours helping me. Judge White had me
watch court in session for ideas and she also made suggestions to
easing the dialect in One
More Last Dance –
which has since been revised. Judge White will be narrating the audio
books of each novel.)
What
role did your daughter play in inspiring you to become a writer?
(She
asked me to write the bedtime stories I used to tell her, about
growing up during WWII. She also asked me to write a booklet for
fathers going through divorce. I wrote the very simple Handbook
for Weekend Dads and
it was a four-year Amazon bestseller in category. It’s been
purchased in every state and 17 countries. My wife Pamela encouraged
me to turn my stories into books.)
Your
favorite writers include Mark Twain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Ernest
Hemingway and John Steinbeck. While we know these are some of the
greatest writers in history – what draws you to their work?
(John
Steinbeck for his historical integrity and sensitivity for human
nature in private moments. Hemingway has taught me most, the more I
write. He inspires me to ‘write what I 6
know’
– and talk the way people talk so they can read it. Mark Twain
taught me to graft short stories together into a novel. Doyle was
always an easy, fun read.)
When
you were a child, your family moved to Delphi Falls, New York, and
the land occupied by your boyhood home is now a state park. And soon,
there will be historical markers referencing you and your The
Pompey Hollow Book Club series.
What can you tell us about that?
(A
retired Syracuse University professor donated the near million
dollars to buy the land and make it a park. The two waterfalls are
the draw – but as I grew up there will be advantage to me and my
works as it is my childhood home. They will make my books available
there – and markers at key points (my campsite – my bedroom –
the rock we sat on. I’ll be attending an official opening.)
What’s
next for you? Will readers hear from Peck Finch again?
(I’m
writing about Tall
Jerry and the Delphi Falls Trilogy –
which are condensed novels that took place in 1953. I’m looking at
options for Peck and gang. I’m also several chapters into a novel
about America being taken over – but it frightened me enough to
step away from it awhile.
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