FEATURED AUTHOR: KEN McGORRY

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lyle Hall is a new man since his car accident and spinal injury. The notoriously insensitive Bridgehampton lawyer is now afflicted with an odd sensitivity to other people's pain. Especially that of a mysterious young girl he encounters outside a long-abandoned Victorian house late one October night. “Jewel” looks about 12. But Lyle knows she’s been dead a hundred years. Jewel wants his help, but it’s unclear how. As if in return, she shows him an appalling vision—his own daughter's tombstone. If it’s to be believed, Georgie’s last day is four days away. Despite Lyle’s strained relations with his police detective daughter, he’s shocked out of complacent convalescence and back into action in the real world.

But the world now seems surreal to the formerly Scrooge-like real estate lawyer. Lyle’s motion in court enjoining the Town of Southampton from demolishing the old house goes viral because he leaked that it might be haunted. This unleashes a horde of ghost-loving demonstrators and triggers a national media frenzy. Through it all strides Lyle’s new nemesis in high heels: a beautiful, scheming TV reporter known as Silk.

Georgie Hall’s own troubles mount as a campaign of stationhouse pranks takes a disturbing sexual turn. Her very first case is underway and her main suspect is a wannabe drug lord. Meanwhile, Lyle must choose: Repair his relationship with Georgie or succumb to the devious Silk and her exclusive media contract. He tells himself seeing Georgie’s epitaph was just a hallucination. But a few miles away the would-be drug lord is loading his assault rifle. Berto needs to prove himself.


INTERVIEW WITH KEN McGORRY

Ken, what's your favorite thing about the writing process?
Solitude. If they’d only just leave me alone!

Do you have a writing routine?
Try to: 8:30 am to 1:30pm.

Do you write every day?
Yes. This is writing, right?

Absolutely. What do you wish you’d done differently when you first started the publishing process?
Oh. Taken hostages.

What do you think is the hardest aspect of writing a book?
Plot. Characters are tremendous fun, I think, but they must have something to do.

What books do you currently have published?
Ghost Hampton. Smashed is on the way. (It’s about substance abusers in a rehab. And is funny. Sort of.)


What’s the oldest thing you own and still use?
My Dad’s watch.

Is writing your dream job?
Yes, if I can’t be a movie star.


What is the worst job you’ve ever had? What did it teach you?
Delivering orders for a pharmacy when I was 18. Do well in college.

If you could only watch one television station for a year, what would it be?
PBS. I watched Wolf Blitzer for a year last night.

How do you feel about Facebook?
I’m addicted to it, but don’t tell anyone. And it’s a great way to keep up with both far-flung and close-flung friends and relatives and in-laws.

What scares you the most?
No afterlife whatsoever.

Would you make a good character in a book?
Nah.

What five things would you never want to live without?
Hamburgers
Wine
The New York Times
My Jeep Wrangler
My gym membership (without that I can’t have the first two)

What’s one thing you never leave the house without?
I never leave the house without cursing, because I’m always late for the next thing.

What do you love about where you live?
The changing seasons.

What's your favorite treat for movie night?
Popcorn!

What's the biggest lie you ever told?
My golf score.

What’s your favorite fast food?
Pizza.


What’s your favorite beverage?
Coffee.

What drives you crazy?
Medical commercials on TV.

What is your superpower?
I get premonitions but do not understand what they mean until later, when something really happens and it’s not a surprise.


Name one thing you’re really good at and one thing you’re really bad at.
Ad libbing. Faking niceness.


What do you wish you could do?
Time travel.

What is one of your happiest moments?
The birth of my second son. (Kidding! The first was a blast, too!)

What do you like to do when there’s nothing to do?
Smoke a cigar outside with a beer and text with old friends.

Where is your favorite place to visit?
The Caribbean. Anywhere in the Caribbean.

What would you name your autobiography?
Get it Right the First Time.

What’s your least favorite chore?
Pulling someone else’s hairs out of the shower drain. They’re definitely not mine.


Would you rather be a movie star, sports star, or rock star?
Movie. Rock is kind of over-rated. And sports . . . well, you know.


If you could be any movie star, sports star or rock star, who would you want to be?
Bruce Willis.


Do you give your characters any of your bad traits?
No! There’s nothing to give!

Have you ever killed off a character fictionally, as revenge for something someone did in real life?
No. I kill them off to see if readers are paying attention.

What’s one thing that drives you crazy?
TV announcers who are unable to enunciate.

What’s in your refrigerator right now?
Meat.

What is the most daring thing you've done?
Left a New York City hospital with acute appendicitis.

What is the stupidest thing you've ever done?
Left a New York City hospital with acute appendicitis.

I guess I shouldn't be amazed at how many times those two answers go hand in hand. What is your most embarrassing moment?
Definitely that time on the bus. When the carload of teenage girls pulled up alongside.

What would your main character say about you?
“I love this guy.”

Where is your favorite library, and what do you love about it?
My hometown Manhasset Library. They’ve been very, very good to me. (So have the others, but they’re far away.)


Who is your favorite fictional character?
John Corey, by Nelson DeMille.

I like him too! 
If you had a talk show who would your dream guest be?
Elizabeth Banks.


What’s one thing that very few people know about you?
I’ve written a book called Ghost Hampton!


You have a personal chef for the night. What would you ask him to prepare?
My last meal.


How do you like your pizza?
Crispy, with fresh tomato sauce, crumbled sausage and red pepper flakes.


What is the wallpaper on your computer’s desktop?
Can’t see it; too many icons and things.


Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m a caricaturist.  And I do vocal impersonations.


Describe yourself in 5 words.
Brave, courageous and bold. Very.

Cheater. 
What’s your favorite song?
“Kid Charlemagne” by Steely Dan.


What’s your favorite smell?
Bacon.


What’s your favorite color?
Blue.


What are your favorite foods?
French food: French toast, French fries, French’s Mustard.


What do others say about your driving?
Stop.


What’s your biggest pet peeve about writing?
Other people.


What is your favorite movie?
The Perfect Storm.


If you had to choose a cliché about life, what would it be?
Get me outta here!


What are you working on now?
Ghost Hampton Harrier (it’s the sequel)!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Ken McGorry has been writing since third grade. (He learned in first grade but waited two years.) He started a school newspaper with friends in seventh grade, but he’s better known for his 23 years as an editor of Post Magazine, a monthly covering television and film production. This century, he took up novel-writing and Ghost Hampton and Smashed are examples. More are in the works, like the promised Ghost Hampton sequel, but he’s kinda slow.

Ken lives on Long Island with his wife and they have two strapping sons. There are dogs. Ken is also a chef (grilled cheese, and only for his sons), and he enjoys boating (if it’s someone else’s boat). He has a band, The Achievements, that plays his songs (try https://soundcloud.com/ken-mcgorry). Back at Manhattan College (English major!), he was a founding member of the venerable Meade Bros. Band. Ken really was an employee of Dan’s Papers in the Hamptons one college summer, and really did mow Dan’s lawn.

Connect with Ken:

Website     |  Facebook   |   Twitter  |   
Goodreads 

Buy the book:
Amazon