Kenneth Atchity's Blog, page 56
September 14, 2021
Sisters In Crime: Grand Canyon Writers Feature Dennis Palumbo!
Dennis Palumbo – Member Spotlight
Meet Dennis Palumbo. Bestselling author, Dennis Palumbo, credits a childhood gift with the inspiration behind his award-winning, Daniel Rinaldi thriller series. “When I was ten and home from school with the mumps, my father gave me a beautiful, hardcover, illustrated edition of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” he explained. “I’ve been faithful to that delightful marriage of storytelling and the mystery genre ever since.”
The ten-year-old soon forgot the mumps, but not the fascination ignited by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s crafty sleuth. After his college graduation, Dennis became a scriptwriter for the groundbreaking, Emmy-nominated, ratings-giant, Welcome Back, Kotter. He was also tapped to write scripts for numerous other television productions.
He wrote the original story of, then co-authored the screenplay for, My Favorite Year, a box-office hit that earned legendary leading man, Peter O’Toole, an Academy Award nomination, and garnered Dennis a nomination for Best Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America. Yet, throughout his Hollywood career, he maintained his youthful wish to write mysteries.
Dennis’s decision to leave the silver screen behind and begin his career as a licensed psychotherapist—specializing in creative issues—led him to write the cutting edge, critically-acclaimed, Writing from the Inside Out: Transforming Your Psychological Blocks to Release the Writer Within. The bestselling, non-fiction tome is highly praised by authors, screenwriters and artists as “inspirational”, “practical”, “motivating” and “a must have for all writers”. The book is currently used to teach classes in more than 200 universities world-wide. Writers and other creative professionals in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia credit it as life-changing.
The Hollywood Reporter lauded Writing from the Inside Out as “… An eminently readable book that deftly identifies stumbling blocks and how to overcome them…(it) is more than a little food for thought. It’s the promise of an entire spiritual banquet for emotionally debilitated creative writers.”
Numerous other writing projects followed. Then, the roads of Dennis’s childhood dream and his career as a licensed psychotherapist intersected when he began writing his internationally lauded Rinaldi thrillers.
“All of my novels feature psychologist and trauma expert Daniel Rinaldi,” he said. “As a consultant to the Pittsburgh Police, he treats victims of violent crime—those who may have survived the kidnapping, home invasion or sexual assault but are still traumatized by the experience.”
Each book in his riveting, bestselling series, including Fever Dream, Night Terrors, Phantom Limb and Mirror Image, has earned rave reviews and more Rinaldi fans. The fifth Daniel Rinaldi novel, Head Wounds, was named a “Best Thriller of 2020” by Suspense Magazine. Publishers Weekly stated, “(The Daniel Rinaldi novels) are riveting.” Oscar-winning writer and producer (Crash and Million Dollar Baby), Bobby Moresco said, “Rich, complex thrillers…with surprising twists and characters that leap off the page.”
Dennis’s column, “The Writer’s Life,” appeared monthly for six years in Written By, the magazine of the Writers Guild of America. He’s also done commentary for NPR’s All Things Considered. Currently he writes the “Hollywood on the Couch” column for the Psychology Today website, and provides articles and reviews for The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Lancet, and others.
His work helping writers has been profiled in The New York Times, Premiere Magazine, Fade In, Angeleno, GQ, The Los Angeles Times and other publications, as well as on NPR and CNN. He’s also appeared numerous times on Between the Lines, the PBS author interview show.
A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Pepperdine University, he served on the faculty of UCLA Extension, where he was named Outstanding Teacher of the Year. Dennis conducts workshops throughout the country and overseas, at both clinical symposia and writing conferences—often to packed rooms—receiving rave reviews.
His short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Strand, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, critically-acclaimed anthologies, his own collection of short mysteries, From Crime to Crime (Tallfellow Press) and elsewhere.
Dennis’s sixth Daniel Rinaldi thriller, Panic Attack (Sourcebooks/Poison Pen Press) is scheduled to debut in September of this year. His first novel, City Wars (Bantam Books) is currently in development as a feature film.
The long ago hopes of a ten-year-old boy, to one day write mysteries, became reality and Dennis’s pleasure in achieving that goal is evident. Now entering his 30th year in private practice as a therapist, he recently reflected on this, noting, “…the past decade has been highlighted by my opportunity to fulfill that ambition with my Daniel Rinaldi novels. Something about the symmetry of that journey surprises and gratifies me to this day.”
To learn more about Dennis go to www.dennispalumbo.com
September 10, 2021
On iTunes and Apple TV: Joe Somebody NOW PLAYING!
Everybody wants to be somebody and Joe Scheffer (Tim Allen) is no exception. But Joe feels like he's a nobody. A talented video specialist at a Minneapolis pharmaceutical company, he regularly has been passed over for a long-promised promotion. And Joe is faring no better in his personal life, as he still pines for ex-wife Callie (Kelly Lynch). But when Joe's parking space is snatched up by a bullying co-worker who then humiliates him in front of his daughter, Joe decides it's time to make a change. A complete makeover brings him newfound success, a striking new look and a quick climb up the corporate ladder. But will Joe's friends and family be able to love the new Joe as much as they loved the old one?
Ken Atchity and Chi-Li Wong Films on iTunes and Apple TV: Joe Somebody NOW PLAYING!
Everybody wants to be somebody and Joe Scheffer (Tim Allen) is no exception. But Joe feels like he's a nobody. A talented video specialist at a Minneapolis pharmaceutical company, he regularly has been passed over for a long-promised promotion. And Joe is faring no better in his personal life, as he still pines for ex-wife Callie (Kelly Lynch). But when Joe's parking space is snatched up by a bullying co-worker who then humiliates him in front of his daughter, Joe decides it's time to make a change. A complete makeover brings him newfound success, a striking new look and a quick climb up the corporate ladder. But will Joe's friends and family be able to love the new Joe as much as they loved the old one?
September 8, 2021
Kenneth Atchity's Memoir My Obit: Daddy Holding Me Receives Honorable Mention’ in the Hollywood Book Festival
AVAILABLE ON AMAZON
“At the prompting of a marketing friend, I was advised to title this book, My Intensely Madcap, Lebanese/Cajun, Jesuit-Schizoid, Terminally Narcissistic, Food-Focused, East Coast/West Coast, Georgetown/Yale, Career-Changing, Cross-Dressing, Runaway Catholic Italophile, Paradoxically Dramatic, Linguistically Neurotic, Hollywood Academic, ADD-Overcompensating, Niche-Abhorring, Jocoserious Obit. But when my designer pointed out that title wouldn’t fit on the spine, much less on any public display list, I changed my mind. Again! The story of my life.
Which this is at least the first volume of. I hope it makes you laugh, spares you some of my grief, and leads you to insist on telling your story to anyone who will listen.”
September 7, 2021
In Memoriam Ed Asner
If you ran into Ed in his last four years wearing a bright purple polo shirt, chances are it was mine. He almost took it right off me at the first of our several lunches on Ventura Boulevard. I resisted, but went to the internet and ordered three identical ones for him. He called me to say thanks and to invite me to the next lunch. We had in common that we were from Kansas City, that we were both liberals (though he went closer to the wall on that score than I did, and that we both admired the longevity of his irascible humor. It was a pleasure getting to know him personally and I’m sorry to see him go before we could get him into one of our films. Ed, you rocked!
September 2, 2021
Just hit 1.1 Million views! Thank you.
In this Film Courage video, Dr. Ken Atchity (Author, Publisher, Producer), shares how his own pursuit of living his dreams spawned a book on the subject and what blocks most people's road to success. MORE VIDEOS WITH DR. KEN ATCHITY https://goo.gl/dRBg3F
BUY THE BOOK - HOW TO QUIT YOUR DAY JOB AND LIVE OUT YOUR DREAMS: Do What You Love for Money - https://amzn.to/2LkduUj BUY THE BOOK - SELL YOUR STORY TO HOLLYWOOD: Writer’s Pocket Guide To The Business Of Show Business - https://amzn.to/2JlWBaC BUY THE BOOK - WRITING TREATMENTS THAT SELL: How To Create And Market Your Story Ideas To The Motion Picture and TV Industry - https://amzn.to/2Hakwcl
September 1, 2021
Steven Spielberg On Uncertainty... Listen to the Whisper of Your Dreams
Dreams always come from behind you, not right between your eyes. But when you have a dream, it doesn’t often come at you screaming in your face “this is who you are, this is what you must be for the rest of your life”. Sometimes the dream almost whispers.
And I’ve always said to my kids: the hardest thing to listen to – your instinct, your human personal intuition – always whispers, it never shouts. Very hard to hear. See, you have to, every day of your life, be ready to hear what whispers in your ear; it very rarely shouts.
And if you can listen to the whisper, and if it tickles your heart, and it’s something you think you wanna do for the rest of your life, then that is going to be what you do for the rest of your life, and we will benefit from everything you do.
~ Steven Spielberg
August 27, 2021
In Memoriam Chris Kühne
Chris Kühne
1991-2021
What can you say about a man who died too young? He was ruggedly handsome, brilliantly analytical, smoothly diplomatic with clients, immensely talented as a screenwriter, relentless on the tennis court, and patiently aggressive as a story merchant carrying stories to buyers and broadcasters. He was ambitious and determined, sensitive and humanly vulnerable. His future was bright and glorious. He leaves behind grieving family and friends and grateful associates. He is a loss to his native and adopted countries. May he find his peace in that undiscovered country. He will be missed!
Born and raised in Mexico City, Chris turned to film and writing following a near-death experience. He moved to Los Angeles in 2013 to study film and screenwriting at the New York Film Academy, as well as Business and Management of the Entertainment and Film and TV Development at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2015, he co-wrote the Goya-nominated feature film Yerma: Barren (Spain/UK), and served as a script consultant on the Spanish feature film El Violín de Piedra, both directed by renowned Spanish director Emilio Ruiz Barrachina.
August 25, 2021
New From Story Merchant Books: Piece of Cake: My Wild Ride from Banking to Baking by Melissa Bunnen Jernigan
We take the cake. Anywhere.
“Let’s bake and deliver cakes!” That was their big, moneymaking idea, though neither Melissa nor Helen, two fresh-faced twenty-somethings, had ever baked a cake. Next up, they picked the location—Melissa’s rinky-dink condo kitchen. Then, they swiped three recipes from family and friends, put $250 into the company kitty, and made their first investment: 250 plastic cake knives with Piece of Cake stamped on them.
That was 1986.
A decade later, POC, The Ward, World Headquarters, or the Pokey—whichever moniker you prefer—was pulling in seven figures annually. Over three decades later, they have locations all over Atlanta, including Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
I was a liberal-arts major. You won’t find my business philosophy being taught at Harvard Business School, onlineMBA.com, or any institution in between. But you will find it here.
This is a story of starting a company on pocket change, of working twenty-hour days with no days off in sight, of losing my home to sacks of sugar and flour and ovens galore. It’s a story about cakes cooling atop lampshades, about nervous breakdowns, wandering pot dealers, babies, puppies, Cakers and bakers. It’s a story about the original housewives of Atlanta (they were working for me!) and the homeless, too; it’s about a car called The Bomb, and a location called Pamland. Piece of Cake is a place where autonomy ruled and that was the only rule.
From Corporate America to cake batter, Piece of Cake: My Recipe for Success is a career manual for folks who know little about business, a cookbook for those who’d never thought about baking, and a what-are-you-waiting-for guide to pursuing your dreams.
Seriously, what are you waiting for?
This is the story of doing it my way
August 23, 2021
Carmen Amato BOOK REVIEW: HEAD WOUNDS BY DENNIS PALUMBO
HEAD WOUNDS is the most recent entry in the action-filled Dr. Daniel Rinaldi thriller series by Dennis Palumbo. Dr. Rinaldi is a Pittsburgh-based psychologist and police consultant with a few rough edges and a remorseless, deranged enemy.
The combination is an absolute page-turner.
THE PREMISEDan Rinaldi lost his wife Barbara 12 years ago in an unsolved mugging gone bad. As he reads a recently obtained dossier on the crime, a bullet smashes his living room window.
Outside, a gun-toting neighbor is angry and drunk. When the police arrive, the wife admits to having told her husband in a fit of pique that she’s having an affair with Dan.
She’s found dead not long after.
Other seemingly random incidents touch Dan’s life. In a shocking twist, Barbara’s killer is responsible.
THE VILLAINBrilliant but unstable, Sebastian Maddox was obsessed with Barbara in college. Just released from prison for an unrelated crime, he wants to punish Dan for “stealing” Barbara by torturing Dan’s nearest and dearest before finally killing Dan in Hannibal Lector-worthy fashion.
A terrifying villain with an easily understood motive who had more than a decade to grow progressively more delusional and macabre, Maddox taps into Dan’s phone, laptop, and car GPS. Remote access to Dan’s digital devices gives Maddox personal details about his victims, which he puts to cunning and horrific use.
The two men play a heart-pounding scavenger hunt across Pittsburgh. Maddox meters out clues as to who the next victim will be and Dan races against time to try and save them. Warned by Maddox that more innocents will die if the police are involved, Dan is aided only by a female FBI agent (and soon-to-be love interest) and a retired FBI profiler. On the run from Maddox’s surveillance and exhausted from the endless tension, the trio nonetheless manage to dig up pivotal background material on the killer.
The entire book is written from Dan’s point of view and we’re in this with him every step of the way. We like his grit and the fact that he’s not some academic lightweight you can knock over with a feather. A former boxer with a bad temper and mean right hook, Rinaldi is a true son of Pittsburgh. A medical professional but not too polished, not too far from his blue collar roots.
THE STYLEThe last half of the book is a speeding train. The non-stop pace, brash characters, and roller coaster events have a cinematic quality. I was reminded of the Lethal Weapon movies as well as Speed, The Silence of the Lambs and Harrison Ford’s The Fugitive.
It’s no surprise, then, to find out that author Dennis Palumbo is not only a practicing psychotherapist, but also a former screenwriter. His credits include the feature film My Favorite Year, which starred Peter O’Toole and has been one of my Top 10 favorite movies since forever.
The next Dr. Daniel Rinaldi book, PANIC ATTACK, is out next month.
Your heartrate will have slowed by then.
Highly recommended.
Find HEAD WOUNDS on Amazon.
