Today we talk about The Red Fawn, a book by Edward Razzano published with our publishing house Europe Books.
Europe Books had the pleasure of interviewing the author Edward Razzano to get to know him better, where he found the inspiration to write his book The Red Fawn, as well as how his passion for writing started.
Below you can find our interview. Take a seat and enjoy your reading!!!
- Where did you find the inspiration to write this book?
The inspiration for The Red Fawn came from my experience in this country and the military service I was compelled to do in the seventies and early eighties. After my release I met a man whose personal account inspired the preceding story Tame Dog. He appears in The Red Fawn and becomes relevant to the plot. The Red Fawn also is inspired by the ‘hiding in plain sight’ of Renata Gianini in South Africa from something she left behind in Italy. She is not hiding from the law, but from the family of someone she hurt during the political upheaval there. This is inspired by James Kilgore who was a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army which kidnapped Patty Hearst in 1975. He was captured in Cape Town in 2003 having hidden in Zimbabwe, Australia and here in South Africa for almost 30 years.
- What is the message you want to send out with your writing?
The story unfolds in places which I know and love and have chosen to contrast a fictional underbelly to the beauty. None of the characters are based on me, yet there is a part of me in all of them. The male characters are products of their military experience. I postulate that war (not just military service) is to man as a prism is to white light. Some are able to put these events behind them, others are broken and commit suicide, acts of unspeakable violence and some use the skill sets learned in business such as private security. It is the women I identify with most. I have had the character of Colleen Mc Carron on my mind (and have been in love with her) for a decade now and am happy to give voice to her as a protagonist in this story. This is a story of white middle-class privilege confronted with an uncertain future and a young woman who loses her mother at the age of 16 only to discover that there may be more to her mother’s death that she could have imagined. The values expressed by Michelle are contrarian to the vast majority of people I know in this country, but I gracefully hide behind her character. Does Colleen become her mother, or does she live the life her mother wanted for her? I don’t necessarily want to send a message but some of my readers locally will infer conclusions about my political leanings. I never discuss politics or religion, and this is evident from my Facebook posts which pertain mainly to the achievements of the players who I coach and pleasant personal events and milestones. My characters, however, express their opinions freely and this makes them real to me. “Fiction is the lie by which the truth be told.” – Albert Camus
- How did your passion for writing start?
I wrote for my English teachers as a schoolboy, the women, one Anna Le Roux to name one. I have always recorded my thoughts throughout my working life. This has become a habit which I continue to this day.
- How was your publishing experience?
My publishing experience has been excellent, and I am anxiously awaiting my printed copies so that I can finalise my local launch which I will video.
- Are you planning to write more books?
I have written the follow-up the Fawn, The Mass of Nothing which I am to submit for award purposes. The prequel (the first story in the sequence) is also completed.
Europe Books thanks the author Edward Razzano once again for taking the time and answering our questions. We are really pleased to have walked alongside him on the editorial path that led to the publication of his book The Red Fawn. We wish him the best of luck for his book and for his future works.
To you, my dear reader, may this book capture, amuse and intrigue your reading time so that you don’t want to close it ever! and that at the same time it provides you interesting food for thought to be applied in your everyday life!
So, my dear reader, all I have to say is to enjoy your reading!
Your editor!