Story Behind The Book
As the world turns, so does my imagination. I do not read many books, although I have edited fifteen metaphysical books that have been translated from Dutch to English. However, the novel, ‘Ring Around the Circle’ (RATC), was composed many years prior in a style all my own called ‘Philantasy’. A strange word, I know, but prior to RATC I had written three short stories of the unusual. The very first named ‘Benny Baby Number Seven’, which was written as a monolog because I did not know how to write dialog. Much to my surprise it won a ‘Mystery Writers of America’ first place award at a M.W.A. seminar held in Los Angels, and it was not even a mystery story. This was the beginning that told me that my imagination was real and I could translate it into writing, even though I had a lot to learn. When three other stories found their way to paper, I was asked by a creative writing class, that I thoroughly enjoyed attending, what does one call this strange way of writing. So came the word ‘Philantasy’™, which is a combination of Philosophy and Fantasy. With five short stories under my belt, I decided to attempt a novel. I had started one called ‘A Cross to Many’ and had ninety-six pages on paper as a first draft, and then it happened. Her name is Lynda. It was an affair. It was not too risky of one, however an affair. I was single she was not. She smoked. I did not. I had rented a two story building on a horse ranch two miles up from the city of Canyon Country and was leading a comfortable life as a recently divorced bachelor. The reason I had mentioned the two-story building is that I recently sold a small research and development business and had stored what was left of my shop equipment in the lower garage. Why is that important? I would not allow smoking in my living quarters; however, down stairs in the shop area was ok. It happened one very early morning, two o’clock to be exact; she got out of bed to go downstairs for a smoke. Now in a half sleep mode I thought how ridiculous; is a lung full of tobacco and nicotine that important? Now came the thought of nicotine, how this addiction takes over ones body. Thus came that flash into my imagination a plot of a story that I had to write. That morning after what I call my ‘Morning Delight’, I sat down at the ancient computer that a lawyer friend of mine gifted me with, and started to compose ‘Ring Around the Circle’. It was a long time in coming for now the divorced Lynda and I had bought a home in the mountains above Valencia California were I continued to write amongst the many oak trees that surrounded our property. Lynda was very helpful in my writing for she was a born actress and what I failed to mention she was seventeen years younger than I. If you are wondering, I was fifty at the time; you do the math. Her being an actress and I semi-retired I became involved in being an extra in movie and television work. I found it to be fun and an unusual way to make a little money. This involvement went off and on for eight years with much happening in between. I became a stand-in for many actors and eventually earned my S.A.G. card, which I still hold proudly. Lynda and I lasted for about nine years and have gone our separate ways. God bless her she helped me a lot. Getting back to ‘Ring Around the Circle’, I was told by my very good friend and mentor Bob Hurlburt that one problem with ‘RATC’ that there was not enough conflict in the first part of the book. Bob and I had written two screen plays together, which sorry to say were shopped but not sold, sat down together and divide ‘RATC’ into a trilogy as a screenplay. The first third of the book was changed completely by us and it worked better than the half dozen prior attempts by me. However, we stopped at that first third of the trilogy and it sat for quite awhile. I went back to my short stories, and then one day I decided to change the first part of the trilogy into book form, yet again with a number of changes. I went through two more drafts and here it is… ‘Ring Around the Circle’, a story of ‘Philantasy’. There is more to this, remember ‘Benny Baby Number Seven? Well, in my so-called movie, television career I had met an independent producer and while chit chatting about the business he had mentioned that he was looking and had advertised in ‘Variety’ for a certain type story. He had a lot of responses but they did not fit the bill. I listened to what he was expecting in these wirings and said it sounded very much like my style of stories. I sent him two that I thought would meet his criteria, ‘Benny Baby Number Seven’ and ‘Never Cry Purple’. We met soon after and he said that was exactly what he was looking for. ‘Never Cry Purple’ has been the only futuristic story that I have written. This story was a challenge from the title only. I love these kind of challenges for it brought out of my imagination a thought that would not have ever happened. ‘Benny Baby’ was auditioned and filmed as a pilot for a new series. ‘Never Cry Purple’ was also auditioned to be filmed which never took place for ‘Benny Baby’ was shopped but not sold. The most unusual story, which was also inline to be filmed, is called ‘Thee Judgment’. Why is it so unusual, well, it is a story of the retrial of Christ. Should I tell you more? No! It must be read and absorbed. My stories all end with an epilog, which in a few words give you the reader what the story came through my imagination to you. If you like the novel ‘RATC’ Ring Around the Circle and the short stories I have mentioned, there is more and the next novel ‘A Cross too Many’ is a bit different than the previous novel. As I always say… Welcome to my land of Philantasy