 Donald GallingerI am author of the upcoming novel, THE MASTER PLANETS. Born and raised in Norwich, Connecticut, I grew up hearing first-hand stories of WWII partisan fighters from friends of my parents. These stories, absorbed during childhood, probably inspired my interest in the politics of resistance later captured in THE MASTER PLANETS. The question Why didn’t more victims fight back? or, more pointedly, What happened to the people who did fight back? became one of the thematic building blocks of the book. I received my BA (English) from Connecticut College, my MA (English) from Rowan University, and my Doctorate (Education) from Rutgers University. For 23 years I've taught high school English, where I've proudly distributed thousands of bathroom passes and arbitrated numerous battles over vocabulary, grammar, and rhetoric, all in the noble cause of imparting Confrontational Language Arts to New Jersey adolescents. I'm the recipient of awards from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Dodge Foundation, and the Johnson & Johnson Foundation (which funded my study of source materials at the U.S. Holocaust Museum). I live in New Jersey with my wife, author Doni Tamblyn. My first completed novel, AIN'T NO SIN TO ROCK AND ROLL, was optioned for film. My second, TINA'S '68 MUSTANG, is under revision. THE MASTER PLANETS is my third completed novel. Currently I'm working on my next book, STUPID SCHOOL, and a collection of short stories.Interests and Hobbies: A lot of things interest me, but a very small number of things hold me. MUSIC: The Beatles are the greatest rock group that ever existed, and I listen to their stuff over and over. I never tire of it. Of course, there are other great bands -- Guns and Roses, Led Zeppelin, the Stones -- but nothing has ever moved me like the music of John, Paul, George, and Ringo. It always will. BOOKS: Although I don't write in this genre myself, I number crime and mystery authors among the best writers of our time -- much of their work is so incredibly tight, spare, and elegant. It broke my heart when I finished reading all of Raymond Chandler's novels. I'm also a huge fan of Henning Mankell. THE REST: I'm fascinated by the machinations of film production. I consume articles and books about how movies are made. My most recent book, THE MASTER PLANETS, was written with an eye to film; I envisioned whole segments as scenes in a movie. Writing them was that much more fun because of it. I also have a deeply weird love of bad TV. Leave It to Beaver, for example, represents an artificial yet highly attractive image of our nation's self-mythology. Why did we ever find these deadly earnest, shiny-scrubbed people entertaining? And why did we think it made sense to show people walking around at home in suits and ties, high heels and pearls? Don't get me started on old TV westerns.... |
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