The crime novel SPEEDO has a new cover, by author and cover artist Joe Citro.  It seems to say, “City guy with askew view of the world” That’s Speedo all right.  Check it out at Amavon's Kindle Store or Barnes & Noble's nook

Authors,
Steven Wright once said, “The universe is expanding…that should help the parking
problem.” 


Who would have guessed that the problem now is too
much space, at least as far as we writers are concerned. 
We once battled for space in publishing houses, literary agencies, book
store shelves etc.  Now, because of
the Internet, there is too much space and it’s expanding too quickly, offering
so many books that most of the good stuff gets
lost.


It seems the next logical step should be toward trimming and distilling all that
space, as well as some of the supersaturating
content.


           
That’s why I’ve created a Facebook site called “Pick of the Litter
(ature).”


Here’s how it works: Every author (pro, semi-pro, amateur) gets to post up their onefavorite 
book—just one book, just one post—before becoming a “Reader Only” at the
site.  You can add a link and cover
picture, but no further comments, messages, or
posts.


So, writers, choose carefully.  Pick
that one work of yours that pumps up your chest and your ego, the one where you
came closest to getting it right, the one you’ll want mentioned in the first
sentence of your obituary.  If you
happen to write a better book later on--too bad,
fuggetaboutit.


           
So please head on over to Facebook’s“Pick of the Litter (ature)” and
proceed… with caution and joy.

This week’s “Pick of the Litter-ature” is Jim DeFilippi’s SPEEDO, which the author
describes as his “petite-crime novel,” echoing the spiraling plots and spot-on
comic dialogue of Elmore Leonard and George V. Higgins.

Chester Earl “Speedo” Castagravas, a simple blue collar guy from Queens, New York, is
forced to dip his toe into the world of crime simply to pay for the wedding to
his beloved Julietta before she leaves him in frustration. 
Speedo and his buddy Ralphie decide to boost a high stakes poker game out
on Long Island.  What could possibly go wrong?

Plenty, including a brilliant and non-submissive victim, his shotgun-wielding mistress,
and a seduction in a motel room followed by a suicide and a missing corpse.

Give SPEEDO a try.

As only a fighting man could, Eisenhower saw war as brutal, futile and stupid.  By far,
the most brutal, futile and stupid battle of America’s World War II is the battle of Monte Cassino in southern Italy during the winter of 1943-1944.

Why is this battle so under-reported?  Why do most Americans have no knowledge of it? 
Why do names like Normandy and Iwo Jima glow like white stars on the blue backdrop of our history while Monte Carlo is relegated to a blurred footnote of history?

Because, even though the Allies eventually were victorious, our command did so much to portray us as less than heroic.  Our foot soldiers were as gallant and self sacrificing as any fighting men in history, but our brass showed itself to be brutal, helpless, vain, self-serving, and most of all, incredibly stupid.

Please read my book,  THE MULES OF MONTE CASSINO, written under the pen name of Henry Grif.

Most men go through life hoping to be like Michael—smart,
  tough, successful—while fearing they will end up like Sonny—destroyed by
  senseless tragedy—and knowing in truth that they are Fredo—dim, ineffective,
forgetting to look around while saying the Hail Mary.