Category: Avitabile

Beyond the Grassy Knoll

What lies beyond the grassy knoll? If any part of that sentence resonates with you then you are aware of the controversies surrounding the Kennedy assassination. So, I will skip the obligatory, remedial recitation of the facts and suspicions in, or not, in evidence. 

In my research for a 1993 screenplay, and more recently for my new blockbuster thriller, “Ask Not,” I refreshed my files on the “alternate theories” of what happened that day, November 22nd 1963, in Dealey Plaza.  

As always, a good way to start is a deep dive into the 1600 pages that comprise the 26 volumes of the Warren Commission Report. A painstakingly assembled collection of documents, photos, and testimony that was ordered by LBJ shortly after the assassination. The “shorthand” report was itself, a hefty 888 pages. 

If you can’t sleep at night because you don’t believe the Warren Commission, then you are like a huge percentage of Americans who express doubt to this day about who killed Kennedy. Which is why it is the “setting” for my latest novel.  But parts of the very report that claims there was only one lone gunman, three shots, and no conspiracy, can lead you to suspect that there was possibly another shooter.

Here’s one example of what can be extrapolated from the Warren Report. The Police radio logs reprinted within the 1600 pages that contain quirky little nagging facts like this: At the time of the shooting of the president at 12:30 in the afternoon, the police dispatchers were sending cops to the railroad track area. That order was logged in at 12:30 p.m. and 40 seconds. 

The railroad track area? But…but the president was just shot! Why are you sending every cop you have to the the railroad track area?

What lies beyond the grassy knoll? The railroad track area. 

Right behind the wooden fence. The fence just to the front and right of the spot where Kennedy’s limo was when he was fatally shot. The exact spot the “Grassy Knoll Types” maintain the fatal bullet came from.

Interestingly enough, the transcripts show us that it wasn’t until 12:49 or so, almost 20 minutes from the moments the shots rang out, that the first mention of the Texas School Book Depository was broadcast over police radios.

What followed immediately was a description of a man, said to still be in the building, was dispatched. (Later we learned that at that moment, Oswald was on a city bus and then took a cab back to his rooming house.) But they gave a description! If Oswald wasn’t there, then who were they describing? 

Of course, none of this is proof of anything, first reports of traumatic events are often inaccurate, and chaos and confusion reign supreme over witnesses and even some police.  But if you are looking for a way out of the morass of randomness and senselessness that the lone nut theory has created in people for the last 60 years, then there is some great fertilizer here in which to plant your conspiracy theory. 

Coming in at slightly less than the 1600 hundred pages of the Warren Commission Report, is my new thriller, Ask Not! Which lands on the desk at a very digestible 275 pages.

Most novels are set in a place, a location. The setting for my murder mystery is the entire universe of conspiracy theories and public doubt over JFK’s murder. The Kennedy assassination still engages, enthralls, and endures 60 years later, in most part because of these conspiracy theories that keep it alive. I call that, America’s Assassination Fascination.

My main character, airline pilot Hank Larson, could care less about who killed Kennedy and was perfectly happy with the Warren Commission’s conclusions, and then never thought of it again. Until his brother is murdered, and he is set on a path. One which brings him right in front of the Grassy Knoll. With a target on his head. Right in the crosshairs of nefarious, powerful, and ruthless men who wish to keep secret whatever the hell did happen that day. 

Do you know who your pilot is?

Well, no. That’s me. But I love planes and think pilots are an incredible lot. Many have served in the military and bring a cool calm and professionalism to a very serious business which is also…Fun!

I doubt very few pilots just decided one day to answer an ad for “pilot wanted.” I suspect for many of them, it started with, “Varoom, Eaaahhh, Schooo.” The noises they made when they were six with a model plane or balsa wood glider in their hand. I have known many great men and woman pilots and each one has a subtle swagger and ‘Air’ of confidence that slicing through the air, in a “heavier than air” craft imbues.

So naturally when I wrote my new book, Ask Not, the only choice for my main character was an airline pilot. Captain Hank Larson suffers a family tragedy that is compounded by suspicions of murder. Not just the shock that his younger brother was a murder victim, but allegations that his brother, was himself, a murderer. His love and natural protection instincts for his sibling catapult him into a dark and nefarious world of conspiracy, assassinations, and shadow governments. Ruthless and powerful men that are out to take him out.  They aren’t sure if he is now in possession of the kompromat that got his brother killed, but they aren’t taking any chances. After all, they killed JFK to keep all this secret. 30 years later, some bumbling, and bereaved, airline pilot isn’t going to threaten their power.  But do they underestimate him at their own peril? Order now!

A MASTER BETA READER OPINES, “THERE’S A LOT OF SEX IN THIS BOOK!”

In my new thriller, Ask Not!, my main character, Hank Larson, traverses the country on a mission to absolve his brother of murder charges. Luckily, he’s an airline pilot so he can hop flights like trolley cars in San Francisco, as long as he’s in uniform. 

My sister-in-law says, “There’s something about a man in uniform.” In that way that tells you it brings out ‘har-moans’ that lie dormant except when a good chick-lit novel or steamy romance flick comes her way. 

As an author, I am blessed to have a Mastermind Group. Professionals and experts who are knowledgeable about, the various professions, ideas, and practices the characters in my novels encounter. They read my raw manuscripts for accuracy as I sketch my characters and plots outside the lines of the many lives that I have never lived but write about with authority. They reign in my estimations of those lives into a focused realism that passes muster with other readers of that ilk. You never want to alienate a plumber by using a spanner wrench on the wrong pipe joint, or a nuclear physicist by introducing the wrong isotope into an atomic cocktail. (I actually do have a nuclear physicist and a master plumber in my Mastermind Group along with a cop, a politician, a mobster (ret.), judges, psychologists, engineers, locomotive engineers, secret service agents, etc.) 

There is another group of about ten, just as precious to me who are critical readers who approach the book in general, they are known collectively as ‘Beta-Readers.’ Beta is a term brought out by the industrial release of a trial product. These intrepid souls slog through my unpolished work pointing out stumbles, knots, inconsistencies, and lots of other nasty artifacts that pollute the work of one mind writing one novel. But I never got a note like this. 

“There’s a lot of sex in this bookl.”

I don’t think so. But again, I wrote it.  However, now that he mentioned it, maybe there is a lot of guiltless, no-consequence (good or bad) casual sex in the book. See: Man in uniform. 

For example: Deep in the heart of Texas, Hank meets Carla, a bartender who is a free spirit. She has a very healthy attitude about men, life, and sex. Their brief encounter is easy, comfortable, and satisfying, surprisingly free from guilt or self-conscious emotions. For Hank, it’s the kind of experience that he’s sure would have most people picking out sofas and deciding whose rent is cheaper. Instead of going down the path of longevity and keeping a great thing like this going, Carla celebrates her freedom and her life as it is. She’s not looking for a change. Hank isn’t either, but he’s never experienced the same sentiment coming at him after such wonderful moments together.  Oh, and in the morning, he sees police uniforms hanging in her open closet. Turns out she’s a cop during the day. 

This puts him in a frame of mind that is perfect for when he meets, Chris DeMarco, another woman in uniform. They immediately… oh wait…I think I see what he meant.  

Apparently I have now created a new class of beta readers. The master-beta reader.  A new expertise that I guess could come in handy in any author’s work.

Happy Television Day

Yesterday was National Television Day. Today is the 60th anniversary of the JFK’s assassination. In many ways, JFK was the first TV president. Right from the start, the televised Nixon-Kennedy debate was a landmark television event. How do we know this? The majority of the people who heard the debate on the radio held that Nixon won hands down. However, TV viewers of the debate overwhelmingly chose the young man from Massachusetts over the former Vice President and veteran politician. Is there some psychological or culturally significant indicator for this? Well, yes and no. Here’s what made the difference, makeup. Yes, it was makeup that maxed out Kennedy’s appeal, the power of this Max Factor was demonstrated when Richard Nixon, a man of the 1940s and 50s, knew that only women wore makeup. Therefore, he politely demurred the powder puff of the makeup person.

Kennedy who had had a constant stable of Hollywood starlets in his orbit and his famous actor, brother-in-law, Peter Lawford, knew all about cosmetology and its power in movies…and now, TV. Here’s the science behind this Max Factor. TV camera tubes of the day were a scientific extension of an X-ray tube, although more benign, early Iconoscope and vidicon television camera tubes x-ray a scant part of a millimeter deep under the skin. Even a clean-shaven face to the naked eye will appear as a 5’oclock shadow under this x-ray effect of the early tubes. Revealing the hair follicles just under any clean-shaven skin. Kennedy opted for the basic makeup (called Block, for a very good reason) while Nixon went full commando with a naked and exposed face. On TV Kennedy looked well-groomed and sharp, while just as clean-shaven Nixon appeared like a bum who didn’t shave. More people watched television than radio and the rest is history.

Kennedy went on to be a very effective practitioner of television. He made many Oval Office Addresses on national crises and social issues that literally brought the here-to-fore, behind-closed-doors machinations of the government. Further increasing his muscular political tone. Even Jaqueline Kennedy masterfully took America on a White House tour and by doing so, immortalized and protected her décor choices and adornment of the mansion ensuring First Ladies in the future would think twice before they changed anything “Jackie” because that’s the way America saw the White House.

Finally, Kennedy’s Assassination and Funeral was named by TV Guide as, America’s Three Day Vigil. So glued to our sets were we that we all witnessed the murder of his assassin, Oswald in the basement of the Dallas jail.

A dozen years later, a much more gruesome milestone was achieved by Kennedy on television, as the film of his gruesome and bloody murder was broadcast to an unsuspecting public on March 6th, 1976, by Geraldo Rivera on his late-night show, Good Night America.

Kennedy was truly the first TV president and, in many ways, JFK and TV changed the world for good and bad.

Read about my latest novel, ASK NOT!, a JFK murder mystery thriller here.

60 Years in the Making…

and now it’s here at Amazon!

It’s a great read, a smart thriller and also a quick refresher course on JFK’s assassination and the controversy that has followed to this day. – Anonymous

In 1993, 8 out of 10 Americans didn’t believe the official account of the Kennedy assassination, namely that it was carried out solely by Lee Harvey Oswald, that only 3 shots were fired and there was no conspiracy, 80%! 

One of the other 20% is airline pilot, Hank Larson. He never thought about it and couldn’t care less. That is until a family tragedy catapulted him into a living nightmare. Soon conspiracy theorists, researchers, wingnuts, and shady operatives will threaten his life and the life of the innocent woman who just wanted to help him. 

Does he unwittingly hold the key to solving the biggest crime of all time? Or will he be just another suspicious death in what some say are over 200 witnesses and dissenters who have met an untimely demise? 

Hank Larson is thrown into the deep end of a history-changing event, 30 years after it shocked the world. Now, he must think fast and act faster lest he himself becomes…history.

The Hero I Took to Vote Yesterday

Every Election Day, I bring the name of someone who fought to preserve our freedom with me as I vote. I say their name and then thank them for preserving our liberties, among which is the right to vote. The cornerstone of our democracy.  

This election day the hero I brought to vote with me was Robert Crater von Egloffstein.  His daughter, Elyse Migliaccio, tells me that he was drafted into the U.S. Army at age 33 and assigned to the T/O (Texas/ Oklahoma infantry- K Company.) K Co hit the beach at Normandy on D-day plus 5 and he and his unit fought valiantly through the hedgerows -Malmedy- St Vith – the Arden’s and finally onto liberate a concentration camp.  Pops, as they called him, was a poor shot but he carried a French schoolbag filled with hand grenades. He had a great arm and could throw far more accurately than shoot. Lastly, for his actions at Malmedy, after the massacre, he was awarded the bronze star. God Bless him and all who served and those who gave their last full measure of devotion to maintain our freedom. 

This video explains my “Take a Hero to Vote” ritual. Maybe you can take one next year!

“I wanna be a paperback writer…”

Ahh, the Beatles.  Who knew that way-back-when, the lyrics to their 1966 hit song, Paperback Writer, would come to fruition six decades later!  Well, Michelle, ma belle, it has happened. I have become a paperback writer… well sort of in a Magical Mystery Tour kind of way. First it was a hard cover… but the Beatles didn’t sing, “I want to be a hardcover writer.” But in a time-honored tradition, books that do really well, (like being a #1 bestseller, not that I’m bragging…much) are brought to the general public in paperback form.

NOW IN PAPERBACK! Presumably an ergonomically correct way to slip it in a pocket or pocketbook. So, if you have read The Devil’s Quota a while ago and want to Get Back to the intrigue and romance, or maybe you’d like to see what all the #1-ness was about, it’s now available in this handy dandy, convenient size that you can keep with you Eight Days A Week, Here There and Everywhere.  (I’ll stop now) Same great thrills and aha moments in a nifty new format!  

Publisher’s note: No Norwegian Wood was used in the production of this paperback!

Here’s the cover blurb:

Next Time: Yet another paperback to add to your collection of my (FAB) FOUR #1 bestsellers!