Alan’s Interview with Norm Goldman of Book Pleasures

[ No Comments ] Posted on 03.29.08 under Interviews

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Norm: How did you get started in writing? What keeps you going?

Alan: I started out doing precocious, irritating social commentary for my high school paper. Many years later, after songwriting, journalism and law careers (and finally teaching myself to type properly), I decided to start writing the kind of stuff I’d always liked to read. With my blog and the books (number two is half done), I’m happy to be finding my own voice as a (hopefully) cuddly curmudgeon. What keeps me going is knowing there are stories worth telling around every corner. The trick is finding time to tell them without going broke.

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Norm: How did you decide you were ready to write Landmark Status? As a follow up, how did you know when your book was finished?

Alan: I had a picture in my mind of Benjy literally running into Delia in the breakdown lane. After a while, the places where they were going (and why) started to come into focus, and I created a fairly detailed outline, with bits of dialogue and text. It took a few months to get up the courage to start writing the thing, one word, one sentence, and one page at a time, but I got through the first draft quickly. I wanted it to hang together like a performance from one moment in time, and I was afraid to destroy any individuality it might possess with excessive manicuring. I knew it was done when I blew everything up. But months later, I realized it wasn’t and wrote a new ending.

Read the entire interview at Bookpleasures.com

“Side-splittingly funny” – Blogger News Network

[ No Comments ] Posted on 03.25.08 under Read a Review

A novel about real estate in Miami? I was not convinced I would enjoy it. I had thoughts of tawdry love affairs among realtors, and boardroom struggles between power brokers. But instead I found a hugely entertaining, and side-splittingly funny novel that makes me chuckle every time I see the cover. This is humor at its very apex. Humor is a hard genre to be successful in but this author definitely has “The Write Stuff.” Alan Rolnick has created a vignette of life in Miami with Landmark Status that deserves a spot on the best seller list. The characters are wild, bent politicians, bent land developers, and even a Ponzi scheme thrown in for good measure, and what finer setting than Miami?

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The characters that Alan Rolnick has created are wild. But they are so well crafted they take on a reality in the reader’s mind. From the accident prone Benjy, to the money hungry mayor Oscar Torres, the even money hungrier would be land developer Chuck Steinberg and his slightly aging trophy wife Evelyn, they are all so well described I can guarantee you will love them. And these are just the beginning, we also have love interest from the Mayor’s niece Delia, we have Raj the Cigar Man, oh, and of course Rico the bungling bodyguard!

This is a riotous book, you are laughing on page one, and you are still laughing on the last page. There are cars wrecked, planes burned, Voodoo curses, even cemeteries desecrated, and this is all achieved with a dark humor that I find hard to believe comes from a first time author. This is also a book that would transition easily into a very very funny movie. And I did note that Alan Rolnick is not only an attorney, and an author, he is also a director, so come on Alan, make it happen!

Landmark Status is a must have for anyone who enjoys a great romp, you can order your copy from Amazon.

Reviewed by Simon Barrett

Read the entire review at Blogger News Network

Read Simon Barrett’s interview with Alan at Blogger News Network

“I was hooked from the opening” – Reader Views

[ No Comments ] Posted on 03.01.08 under Read a Review

Walter Marsh, owner of the historic and legendary Century Club found himself in a dilemma. His deposit from an out-of-state investor’s group on their option for the club property was nearly all spent. The option was ready to expire. Business was at its lowest ebb. A major convention center complex was in the planning stages. Local political forces were in a battle for control and needed Walter’s property. Rolnick has fully developed a cast of colorful characters to keep a fast-paced plot moving forward. Walter Marsh calls on lawyer Benjy Bluestone for advice. Smart and stunning, Delia Torres represents a local developer.

Add a few high rollers in Miami real estate and political circles, a mentally-challenged bodyguard chauffer, a novice newspaper reporter, a Bahamian-American politician, and a Cuban cigar importer, and you get the idea of the complex direction and zany antics that follow. Greed, political power, legal maneuvers, and romantic trysts are interwoven into an engrossing plot that replicates the TV series “Miami Vice,” with an on going comedic, satire and tongue in cheek humor.

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Alan’s writing is entertaining, and witty. Transitions flow naturally, his characters are easily recognizable and memorable. I was pleasantly surprised at the insight I gained into the land development and real estate industry in South Florida. Another aspect I enjoyed was a glimpse into the historical origins of Miami, and the ethnic influence in the politics of Miami.

I was hooked from the opening wrecking ball to the final explosion.

I am sure that in the near future, attorney Alan H. Rolnick, will be reviewing contracts for the movie rights to “Landmark Status” and will be moving on to write a series of stories based on the legal shenanigans of lawyer Benjy Bluestone. I am looking forward to the sequel.

Reviewed by Richard R. Blake

Read the entire review at Reader Views

Read Juanita Watson’s interview with Alan at Reader Views

Listen to Alan’s podcast interview at Inside Scoop Live