HAPPY ENDINGS

Happy Ending. Image by Jill Wellington from Pixabay

My partner loves to point out that I’m a negative person, and she’s right. Most of the time. The rest of the time she’s, well, she’s not right.

In rebuttal, I suggest that if anyone cares to read my novels and short stories, they will understand what a positive person I really am. Yeah, sure. I drag those characters through the muck. But my stories always reach a happy ending, more or less.

“That’s why you’re the author of mostly unpublished novels,” she insists. No pity. Really.

What my stories DO all have in common is that some form of justice is usually attained. It may not be the justice of the law, or Divine Justice, or a super-convoluted and disgusting federal court plea-bargain-type justice, or even poetic justice, but the really-really-really bad guys get their comeuppance.

That's a happy ending. In my universe, at least.

Okay, then. Give us some examples

Sure. But no spoilers.

First, there’s the overly long "A Tyranny of God", for which I’m seriously considering a title change. "Quis Ut Deus? or maybe "Ad Marginem"? Readers' suggestions are welcome.

The title "A Tyranny of God" sounds like a treatise on atheism, but it’s not. Not at all. There’s a lot about what happens backstage in the Roman Catholic Church, but without the backstory the reader wouldn’t have any context in which to understand the genesis of the crisis that impacts the main character (I learned this in an online writing course). I’ll admit to a convoluted plot with lots of sub-plots that one needs to plow a furrow through, but that’s why I threw in some raunchy sex with nuns to keep readers' interest.

So, if you enjoy a dose of eroticism, bloody murder aboard a stinking fish boat pitching and rolling in the North Pacific Ocean, or an exposé of First National Bank’s financing of the Nazi war machine, plus a dash of grand opera, then this book is for you.

Unfortunately, it’s not in print. A novel in search of a literary agent. Like the lady said, here is an author of mostly unpublished novels.

A reader‘s comment:

A Tyranny of God is a remarkable accomplishment. Covering over five decades, it lays bare the terrible brutality of the Second World War, its lingering consequences, and the breathtaking mendacity of the RC Church in enabling it all. In the novel, the reader follows the life of Adam Di Domenico, a Jewish boy adopted into the Church towards the end of the war, later becoming a priest, his heritage hidden. Through Adam, the reader is drawn into a world of political duplicity and deceit, which is nowhere more telling than in the Church's complicity in providing safe passage to Nazi war criminals at war's end.  If this political backdrop isn't compelling enough, the author manages to weave an intensely personal story, which sees Adam, now exiled by the Church to Canada, reunited with his sister, whom he believed lost in Auschwitz.  It's impossible to do justice to the various subplots in a short review; suffice it to say that this is a truly compelling read, from the opening pages through to the end. On the one hand, it celebrates the individual human spirit, while on the other pillorying organizations that would subvert that spirit to nefarious ends.  Not only is this novel clearly meticulously researched, it is also exceptionally well-written. If you're a fan of historical fiction, do yourself a favor and add A Tyranny of God to your must-read list.

My personal favourite: The Cranesbill

The Cranesbill is a novel inspired by the paintings of American Artist Edward Hopper (1882-1967).

Hopper was a painter of silent spaces and uneasy encounters. His work featured somnambulant, diaphanous women – dressed, semi-clad, and nude – channelling solitude, isolation, loss, loneliness, regret, melancholy, and resignation: the dark side of the American dream. Post-coital outtakes are common in Hopper’s paintings where viewer becomes voyeur, eavesdropping on a couple’s intimacy or lack thereof, contemplating the dubious value of hope where it springs from the uncertain premise of sex.

Edward Hopper, 11 A.M., 1926

The setting for The Cranesbill is Hopper’s America of 1944-45. Thanks to the world war, the national economy is flourishing. Its business leaders become wealthy while ordinary people suffer dislocation and the loss of their loved ones. Marriages are strained. Fidelity waivers as husbands and lovers leave for faraway battlefronts, some returning years later, others never. Relationships become provisional, focusing on the gratification of basic needs during an uncertain time. Like Hopper’s canvases, sex and longing are at the root of the story and drive the story throughout.

The Cranesbill is a member of the Geranium family. It is a fragile plant yet given sufficient water and soil in which to grow, it produces an amazing number and variety of coloured blossoms. It is considered a symbol for stupidity and folly; nonetheless, it reappears in profusion each and every year.

The Seduction of Natalie

Readers can download the lighter themed THE SEDUCTION OF NATALIE in a free serialized version from my website (www.francescorizzuto.com).

When an GPS-guided golf ball loses its satellite, then sails through a picture window to demolish an ancient pottery urn, a very naughty genie is released into the world. Imagine the mayhem when our moldy protagonist hasn’t been with a woman for over 500 years. Plenty of alligators (Governor Ron DeSantis take note), a run for the Presidency, and a solution for the failure of the sintra-soinoidal lettux of the tri-alpha-dereletor.

Not Mar-a-Lago

Best of all, THE SEDUCTION OF NATALIE ends happily for America when our hero turfs the Trump Gang out of the White House (again).

I could go on but WTF. Check out the novels and short story pages on my website and form your own conclusions.

If you’d like to be a beta-reader, then please go to www.francescorizzuto.com/contact and I’ll email you the entire manuscript for any of the books listed on the site. And a few more that aren't listed.

If you’re a legitimate literary agent or publishing house and wish to represent any of my works, then the contacts page is where I hang out. Not holding my breath, though. Indie publishing? Been there, done that...