Richard C. Morais's Blog, page 3

The Man With No Borders #6 on Kindle Bestseller List

Yesterday Amazon made The Man With No Borders its “top literary pick” on its prestigious “First Reads” series. This morning my editor at Little A sent me the following note: ““Your book is currently in the top 10 in the Kindle store (#6) and ahead of Delia Owens and Amor Towles! Not bad.

The Man with No Borders Video

A great and talented friend and filmmaker, Joseph V. Lingad, paid me a visited recently and asked me why I wrote my latest novel. As you’ll see, he’s a great interviewer and got me to open up. See the results here.

Kirkus Reviews Gives Thumbs up to The Man with No Borders

“A meticulous unearthing of the painful contradictions in a privileged life” — Read the full review of THE MAN WITH NO BORDERS by Richard C. Morais | Kirkus Reviews

When a Picture Launches a Story #2

Mr. Miller looked out the window and swore. It was a Friday night, and his teenage neighbors were out carousing in the village again. “Martha,” he yelled. “Make sure you really douse the garbage with ammonia. Let’s teach the little bastards a lesson!”

Nine Fish Out of Water Stories

This is rather nice: Wiki’s video unit has assembled a list of its nine favorite “fish out of water” novels. My sophomore novel Buddhaland Brooklyn, now in development as a premium tv series with K&L Productions, comes in at number two.

The Specialness of Zürich

Zürich, Switzerland, where I grew up, from 10 months old until age 16, when I fled its confines for Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York. Deutsche Bank has just named Zürich the No. 1 city in the world for quality of life. True, a wholesome and exquisite life awaits you there, with many lovely attributes, but like all places on earth, it also has a dark side, all of which hovers over my novel coming out Sep 1st: THE MAN WITH NO BORDERS

Watch Lust

When Eros shoots his arrow, you have no choice but to fall hopelessly in love.

That’s what happened to me the other night when I went to an event at the New York Public library hosted by Patek Philippe, ostensibly to meet the Swiss watchmaker’s new U.S. president, Lisa Jones. I promptly found my pulse racing and drawn against my will to a pretty little thing, demurely winking at me from a glass box.

It was the 5220P Alarm Travel Times, which looks like a wristwatch Captain Haddock from the Tin Tin comic books would wear. It’s what they call a Pilot watch, and had the usual smooth and glittering edges of a hand-buffed and -polished platinum case done in that unique Patek Philippe style; an ebony-black dial with white-gold hands and luminesce numerals that were all redolent of 1930s Berlin spies; and four studly push-buttons that allowed you track different time zones.

Patek Philippe’s theme this collection were travel watches with self-winding movements, which means automatic watches that allow you to keep local time during foreign travel (through a solid white-gold hand) as well as the time at home (via a skeletonized hand,) all activated through the push-buttons thrusting out around the bezel. The white “local” dot and the “blue” home dot at three and nine o’clock inform you the times indicated by the hands are day or night. The subdial at six o’clock indicates the calendar date.

But here’s what really got me all hot and bothered – this seductive watch also housed my favorite of all grand complications: an alarm (the time you set your alarm can be seen in the apertures seen at 12 o’clock) and a lively chime created by a tiny hammer striking a classic gong (seen through a sapphire-crystal window on the back of the case.) The alarm’s striking mechanism produced four new patents for Patek. It’s terribly difficult to produce a rich tone from a miniature hammer and gong in a compressed space on a wrist. Only the best watchmakers can do so.

A life with this gorgeous creature would cost you $226, 805.

My Gift to You: Wine Tip

For all you good and loyal folk who follow my scribbles, a little gift in the form of a wine tip: The 2014 Evel Douro by Real Companhia Velha, from Portugal’s Douro region in the north, costs between $10 and $12 but tastes like a $40 bottle of wine – and earns 90 points by some critics. The 2016 Evel Douro was ranked #50 of the top 100 best value wines in the world.

Inspiration

When I was a boy, my father used to tell me how he sneakily fished for salmon in the shadow of Francisco Franco in 1950s Spain. That tale became the inspiration for The Man with No Borders. These are some salmon flies he handmade and which I still have – and cherish.

Inside Donald Trump’s Head

I saw this work at the stunning Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit at The Brant Foundation in New York. My instant reaction: This must be what it feels like inside Donald Trump’s head.