Today's guest is CT Liotta, author of the YA/Coming of Age/LGBTQ, NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE. CT is here today to answer 20 questions about his life, writing and goals.
1. Are you a morning writer or a night writer?
I write YA spy books in the afternoon after work. It’s never
enough time, but it’s all I have. I used to write at 5 AM. Then, my husband got
a dog. More on that in a minute. By 10 PM, my brain has shut down, and I’m as
sentient as a potted fern.
I write my newsletter on weekends, but I want it to be about travel,
and right now I’m going nowhere.
2. Do you outline or are you a pantster?
I pants various scenarios and details, but outline stories before
writing. I can’t pants a three-act story with multiple plot threads. I end up
re-writing entire sections enough as it is. Pantsing is one reason why it took
years for NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE to take shape.
3. Which comes first—plot or character?
Characters, like wine, are excellent servants but terrible
masters. Everything must serve the plot. Characters, dialogue, details,
locations. Easier said than done, but plot comes first. I’ll die on that hill.
4. Noise or quiet when working on your manuscript?
I can work most anywhere - airports, train stations, public
bathrooms, commuter trains, and on long-haul flights. Coffee shops are my
favorite. If I’m at home, though, it has to be silent.
5. Favorite TV show?
Of all time? It’s tough to do better than Deadwood or The
West Wing. I’m a big fan of K-dramas, too. If ever I do drag, it will be as
palace lady Choi in Dae Jang Geum.
I’m a seasoned world traveler, and I’ll never recover from the death of Tony Bourdain. Parts Unknown is a masterpiece. I’ll sometimes watch reruns and savor them, sad in the knowledge the show is already slipping into obsolescence. We need Bourdain now more than ever. His death still makes me angry and sad and fills me with a profound sense of loss.
6. Favorite type of music?
Favorite band ever? Pink Floyd. Gilmour’s guitar licks are pure
sorcery. But, I like jazz, chillwave, and dreampop in the background.
7. Favorite craft besides writing?
I got my start in film, and still love videomaking and photography.
8. Do you play a musical instrument?
Not well, though I had nearly 10 years of piano lessons. Sorry,
mom.
9. Single or married?
Married to my husband, Ardi. He’s remarkable.
10. Children or no?
Absolutely not. Being an uncle is more than enough.
11. Pets?
A little under a year ago, Ardi got a Frenchie, Winston. I both
love and resent him. He wants continuous attention, as puppies do, but it’s
decimated my time to research and write. I can’t work at home anymore. The
moment I sit to write, Winston eats a plant or jumps on the sofa.
I can’t imagine having children.
12. Favorite place to write?
I like Capital One Cafe in Philly. People who irritate me won’t go there for moral or ethical reasons, so I feel unencumbered when I’m there. During the pandemic, they sent me a gift box filled with coffee and treats. My soul sells for cheap.
13. Favorite restaurant?
There’s an Italian restaurant in my neighborhood called Bomb Bomb,
so named because the mob blew it up twice in the 20th century. It ranks up
there. My favorite cuisine is Indian, however—both northern and southern.
14. Do you work outside the home?
I work in medicine, so I have to. Insofar as writing goes, the
aforementioned Frenchie demands attention as long as I’m home, so I’ll head anywhere
there’s WiFi.
15. What was the name of the last movie you saw?
I just watched No Time to Die—my first cinema experience
since the pandemic began. It was good to be out. They make James Bond to be
seen on the big screen.
16. Favorite outdoor activity?
I love camping. I have a tent and everything. My family also has a
hunting cabin in the hills of Western Pennsylvania. I don’t hunt, but we’d go
up there and hike and shoot guns when we were kids. I still love it up there.
17. Pet peeve?
Twitter.
18. Your goal in life?
Tough question! At midlife, I’ve hit a bunch of them already. I
want to travel more. Indonesia, Cambodia and Laos are on the short list. I have
a deep desire to reconnect with friends I made in New Delhi and Seoul. I really
want to go to La Paz and Bogota, too, but I can feel myself gasping and turning
blue in high-altitude cities, and I don’t want to give my critics the pleasure
of witnessing it.
19. Your most exciting moment?
When I was 17, the day before my senior year of high school began,
I flew my first solo flight in a Cessna. I remember the wheels hitting the
runway and thinking, “holy crap! I just landed a plane by myself!” Nothing else
mattered from then on. I could do anything.
20. The love of your life?
Second to Ardi? I have a crush on Justin H. Min
that won’t quit, but I’m probably too old for him. Does red wine count? It
never tells me I’m too old.
CT Liotta was born and raised in West Virginia before moving to Ohio for college, where he majored in Biology. He now uses Philadelphia as his base of operations. You can find him backpacking all over the world.
Liotta takes interest in writing, travel, personal finance, and sociology. He likes vintage airlines and aircraft, politics, news, foreign affairs, ’40s pulp and film noir. He doesn’t fear math or science, and is always up for Indian food. His favorite candy bar used to be Snickers, but lately it’s been 3 Musketeers. He isn’t sure why.
He is author of Relic of the Damned!, Death in the City of Dreams and Treason on the Barbary Coast!
No Good About Goodbye is his latest book.
Visit him on the web at https://www.ctliotta.com.
Sign up for Liotta’s newsletter at https://ctliotta.substack.com.
Fifteen-year-old Ian Racalmuto’s life is in ruins after an embassy raid in Algiers. His mother, a vodka-drunk spy, is dead. His brother, a diplomat, has vanished. And, he’s lost a cremation urn containing a smartphone that could destroy the world.
Forced to live with his cantankerous grandfather in Philadelphia, Ian has seven days to find his brother and secure the phone—all while adjusting to life in a troubled urban school and dodging assassins sent to kill him.
Ian finds an ally in William Xiang, an undocumented immigrant grappling with poverty, a strict family, and abusive classmates. They make a formidable team, but when Ian’s feelings toward Will grow, bombs, bullets and crazed bounty hunters don’t hold a candle to his fear of his friend finding out. Will it wreck their relationship, roll up their mission, and derail a heist they’ve planned at the State Department?
Like a dime store pulp adventure of the past, No Good About Goodbye is an incautious, funny, coming-of-age tale for mature teens and adult readers. 308p.
PRAISE
“So many treats are in store for the discerning reader of CT Liotta’s brilliant YA novel NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE. There’s a diverse array of multi-racial/cultural characters, organized criminals with complex political goals underway, and keystone-cop humor/blunders often sparking from the evergreen enchantment of a push-pull romance between two young people, neither of whom have yet decided to identify as ‘gay.’ Rich with often realistically crude boy lingo, NO GOOD ABOUT GOODBYE is an utterly charming teenage LGBTQ falling-in-love adventure while simultaneously rocking an international crime storyline.” – C.S. Holmes, IndieReader
★★★★★ “Sharply observed and sarcastic as hell, CT Liotta’s debut is the gay teenage spy thriller we have long needed.” -Matt Harry, author of Superkid and Sorcery for Beginners.
★★★★★ I found this YA spy novel to be an utter delight! Fast-paced and witty, we traverse the globe with Ian, who just lost his mother and is charged with stopping a war with China. All the while he’s 15, enrolled in a High School from hell in Philadelphia and struggling with his identity. The author offers his own particular take on the importance of friendship and found family. He also very cleverly features different viewpoints, so the reading experience never feels stale. Honestly, I did not know what to expect going into this story – I however finished it converted into a fan! – Thomas S., Netgalley
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