Blog Tour Stop Guest Post: LARP: The Battle for Verona

Artists are “inspired” by other artists, which really just means that they saw something someone else did, and either totally ripped off the idea, or, they took the idea and reworked it in a way that made it their own. Twilight was inspired by Dracula. The Hunger Games was inspired by stories and activities from ancient Rome.

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My novel, LARP: The Battle for Verona, was inspired by Jack Kerouac and Bruce Springsteen. If you don’t know, Kerouac was a prominent post-war writer who hitchhiked across America in the 1940’s, and wrote novels about his adventures. The novels are sort of a mix of fiction and autobiography, and in them, Kerouac mythologized his friends.

Most everyone reading this knows Bruce Springsteen, the great poet of New Jersey. He is similar to Kerouac in that he mythologized his experiences, and his hometown. Both Kerouac and Springsteen are romantics, in that they romanticize their existence and experiences.

Is Verona exactly the way I describe it? Nope, probably not. But, it’s how I see it, how I remember it. In my mind, it’s a Rockwellian, Mayberry place that doesn’t exist anymore. It’s a small town where I saw the same people every day, doing the same thing. We grew up together in the grocery store and post office.

I wanted to capture my hometown of Verona, PA, to preserve it for myself in my later years. I’m only 36, but the last 20 years have gone by so fast, that I don’t want to lose, or forget, any of it when I’m too old to remember.

And I wanted to share it with you, the reader, in a way that would hopefully make you smile sweetly about your hometown, too. 

About the Author:

Justin Calderone is 35 years old, and has been writing stories as long as he’s been able to hold a pencil. Justin began to work actively on his writing in 1995 after reading Jack Kerouac’s novel, Desolation Angels. The freedom and spirituality of Kerouac’s prose struck a deep chord with Justin, and he has been defining and finding himself through his own writing ever since. Justin’s first book, the poetry novel Revolutions, was released in 2004, and is available at bookstores everywhere, and online.

Justin’s latest novel LARP: The Battle for Verona is scheduled for publication in the Spring of 2012.

Justin is a total music snob/obsessive, and hopes that the Yankees win their 28th World Championship this year. Follow him on Twitter @justincalderone

Author Website