Winegardner at Barnes and Noble

Mark Winegardner will be signing copies of The Godfather's Revenge at Barnes and Noble.

December 3, 2006
2 P.M.

Barnes and Noble
Tallahassee Mall
2415 North Monroe Street
Tallahassee, FL 32303

The Godfather's Revenge is "Popular fiction at its best." -- Washington Post

from The Washington Post review

. . . Winegardner packs a great deal of mob lore into the novel and makes many of the lower-level crooks far more interesting than their boss. He also brings back characters we know from the earlier books and movies. Johnny Fontane, the Sinatra-style singer, becomes smitten with Michael's niece Francesca despite being, at 54, twice her age. Tom Hagen, the Corleones' consigliere, tries to negotiate peace with the White House and tries also to get his wife to forgive him for an affair. The two of them make a memorable visit to the monumentally tasteless Palm Springs estate of Jack Woltz, the movie mogul who, in the first book, woke up one morning with that horse's head in his bed -- he much prefers 12-year-old girls. Winegardner does a nice job with the women, notably Hagen's wife, Geraci's wife and Francesca.

Mark Winegardner fall book tour

Mark Winegardner's fall book tour

Nov. 18
Miami Book Fair Miami Dade College
300 Northeast Second Avenue, Miami, FL 33132. 3:30 P.M.

Nov. 19
Borders Books & Music
1302 Apalachee Parkway, Tallahassee, FL 32301. 4:00 P.M.

Dec. 3
Barnes & Noble, Tallahassee Mall
2415 North Monroe Street, Tallahassee, FL 32303. 2:00 P.M.

Author puts Corleone clan to rest

By Belinda Goldsmith
Reuters
Tuesday, November 14, 2006; 12:56 PM

NEW YORK, Nov 14 (Reuters Life!) - It was an offer author Mark Winegardner could not refuse when he was asked to finish off the saga of America's most powerful fictional crime family, the Corleone clan, and let them rest in peace.

The creator of The Godfather, author Mario Puzo, won a huge following after his 1969 novel about the secretive world of organized crime became a best-seller and led to the successful "Godfather" film trilogy directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

The legions of Godfather devotees were given more information about the family after Puzo's estate chose Winegardner to fill in the gaps about the family in his book "The Godfather Returns" which was was published in 2004.

Winegardner has just released the final novel in the series, "The Godfather's Revenge," which moves the family onto its biggest stage of all -- the intersection of organized crime and national politics.

After about four years of living with mob, Winegardner says the Godfather series is now finally at an end -- at least on paper, although another film is almost inevitable:

Q: Is this really the end?

A: "Yes, it is. There would not be much to pick up from here. I was always trying to write in a way that everything would be resolved. Anything you could build on now would have to deal with some very minor characters."

Q: Are you glad it is over -- or will you miss the Corleones?

A: "I have spent almost more time with these violent, imaginary friends of mine than I have with my family in recent years. Any good novel really is the produce of an author's obsession. But writing a book is very difficult. I am always relieved to get to the end of it ... as there is always the fear that you will never finish it."

Q: Did you like the characters?

A: "You don't need to like the characters but I don't think it is possible to write a half decent book if you don't love the characters. In the "Godfather Returns," part of what I was doing was getting to know the characters and getting to love them. Loving something is not the same as approving something."

Q: Were you a Godfather fan when you chosen from a competitive process to complete the saga?

A: "Like half of the men in the world I was a fan but I was by no means a cultist. I was not one of those guys who could go around quoting long passages from the movies at the drop of a hat. I don't think a cultist could have done this. I ha to deal with characters invented by someone else, put my own artistic stamp on them and build."

Q: Why do you think you were chosen by Puzo's estate to complete the saga?

A: "I think they admired my previous work, my book "Crooked River Burning" (2001) was part of the key. I was already established with a body of work (three works of fiction and two non-fiction) so they knew they weren't taking a huge risk. I also think they thought my proposal was strong as well. Something that seemed obvious to me was that the Godfather ends in 1955 and Godfather III takes up in 1979. The only thing that is covered in that period is about six months in late 1958,early 1959. There was a blank sheet and events that were barely touched upon. Really core elements of the saga were left unresolved such as Michael Corleone's desire to take the family business legit..and the relationship between Michael and his unofficially adopted brother Tom Hagen."

Q: Do you think your books will be made into movies?

A: "I think it is inevitable at some point. Paramount owns the rights to it and it is in development. All the principal actors (from the previous films) are much too old but I think a great role can be reinvented by a great actor so I don't think that is a big impediment."

Q: Where do you go from here?

A: "I am moving onto a novel tentatively called "Emperor of Smut" which is loosely based on a real story about a Cleveland man who invented the international porn industry. Again it is mythologizing an underground secret world of American."

Q: What are you reading currently?

A: "The new Richard Ford novel. I am a big fan of Frank Bascombe novels."

www.washingtonpost.com

Winegardner interviewed in Plain Dealer

Godfather' novelist: Don't pigeonhole me
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Michael Heaton
Plain Dealer Reporter

Mark Winegardner What: The author of "The Godfather's Revenge," a third novel based on the Corleone family, returns to Cleveland to read and sign his new book. When: 7 p.m. Wednesday. Where: Joseph-Beth Booksellers, 24519 Cedar Road, Lyndhurst. Cost: Free. 216-691-7000.

Novelist Mark Winegardner has completed the "Godfather" trilogy launched by Mario Puzo. "The Godfather's Revenge" follows his 2004 success, "The Godfather Returns."

Winegardner, an acclaimed novelist ("Crooked River Burning," "The Veracruz Blues") and nonfiction author ("Prophet of the Sandlots") had to compete against other authors for the chance to carry on the Corleone history. The Bryan, Ohio, native and former assistant professor of English at John Carroll University created the character Nick Geraci, a Cleveland mobster who becomes Michael Corleone's primary nemesis. The book begins with an Ohio reference: Geraci comes out of hiding from an underground retreat on Lake Erie's Rattlesnake Island, the real-life private resort. Winegardner discussed the new book by phone from New York.

Q: So this is it, right? No Part Four?

A: It seems so. When I inherited this project, I always envisioned it as a big, two-volume novel. I feel like I finished the job. It feels resolved. But they say, "Never say never."

Q: You spent five years on this. Was it hard leaving the characters?

A: I was caught off-guard by how sad I felt. It was unnerving. It was like killing off your imaginary friends. I spent more time with these people than with my family. I spent 1,000 pages developing these characters. They're like people you went to high school with. But it's time to move on.

Q: Did you actually go to Rattle snake?

A: I never set foot on it. But I read a lot about it. It has a mysterious history and links to the mob during the Prohibition era. I was happy to be able to use it in the book.

Q: What page has the first dirty part?
A: I don't really know. I don't get sexually aroused by my own sex scenes.

I don't think that would speak well of an author or his prose. Maybe I could find it by hitting "control F" and doing a word search. My publicist tells me it's a scene between Johnny Fontane and Francesca Corleone (page 285).

Q: What was it like being Godfather Guy?

A: It was weird. I feel like I have been inappropriately pigeonholed during my whole writing career. My first two books were nonfiction but I always felt like a novelist. When I wrote "Vera Cruz Blues," I was pegged as the baseball guy. Then after "Crooked River Burning," I was the Cleveland guy. I just hope to continue to confound all the people who try to categorize me.

Q: Do you feel Italian after writing these two books back to back?

A: Definitely. All books do that to you. A good book takes you places you haven't been and gives you experiences you haven't had before. My stock answer is that I'm German Irish just like [Corleone consigliere] Tom Hagen.

Q: Have you spoken with Francis Coppola? Where's the movie deal?

A: I can't comment on that right now. Paramount has the rights. It's complicated. It's in development. I think it's inevitable. But who knows?

Q: What's next?

A: I've been threatening for years to write a novel about a mild-mannered businessman from Cleveland who turns the country upside down with his porn empire. I compare it to "All the Kings Men," but about porn.

Q: Your dedication in the front of the book: "Ancora una volta, allia mia famiglia." What does that mean?

A: Once again, for my family.

History gives zest to 'Godfather' sequel

History gives zest to 'Godfather' sequel
Sunday, November 12, 2006
Michael Heaton

While we might argue whether the world needs sequels to classic best sellers, no one could ever say that novelist Mark Winegardner skimped on the entertainment in writing both "The Godfather Returns" and this month's "The Godfather's Revenge."

This final book of the trilogy features Michael Corleone, looking to take the family legitimate, just as a pair of Kennedylike brothers, both political powerhouses, collide with organized crime. Their vivid stories play off a nation in the throes of social change in the 1960s.

Winegardner, a former Clevelander, is busy on every page, propelling his plot with recent American history even as he grounds readers in the fictional past Mario Puzo created for his memorable characters. It's no small feat. Corleone consigliere Tom Hagen takes a larger role. Studio executive Jack Woltz, Mr. Horse Head in the Bed, is still around. And new guy on the block (or in the book) Nick Geraci, a Cleveland mobster wanted by both the Corleone family and the government, keeps driving the story forward.

These Winegardner novels derive their style from a potboiler literary fashion popular in the late 1950s. If they were translated into the cuisine of the era, they would be something rich and heart-clogging - like lobster thermidor.

Nobody eats lobster thermidor anymore. But it's fun to go back and enjoy it again. Or even for the first time. Unlike most of the mobsters here, it probably won't kill you.

From The Plain Dealer

Paramount prepping new Godfather films?

From moviehole.net:

Thanks to the success of the book “The Godfather Returns”--and the newly commissioned “The Godfather’s Revenge” – Paramount have decided to try and transfer those literary beauties to the big screen. Though the studio snapped up the rights to the books--both written by Mark Winegardner--quite a few months back, it's only this month that “Returns and Revenge films seem to have been ramped up to active-development status--meaning they’ll probably get underway within the next year” a rat within the ranks at the studios, tells Moviehole.

Read all about it here.

Happily ever after

Like Puzo, Winegardner paints real-life characters in far darker colors than their public images. Robert Moses, the city planner who shaped New York through the middle of the 20th century, is every speck as corrupt and amoral as Michael Corleone, except he's admired while Michael is reviled.

Michael pauses at one point to muse on how unfair that is.

But he has more pressing problems, like an insurrection involving Nick Geraci, Michael's one-time main man. This drama soon entangles Tom Hagen, Michael's consigliere, who has his own problems trying to convince his wife he loves her more than his time-consuming job or his mistress.

This being "The Godfather," you can safely assume everyone doesn't live happily ever after. Nor do most of them deserve to.

--DAVID HINCKLEY
New York Daily News

A sequel you can't refuse

In this Godfather novel and in the previous one, Winegardner is like an expert restorer of a painting by an Old Master. You may think you know the painting well and appreciate its subtleties. You may assume it holds no more surprises. Winegardner, though, through his fine style, craft and attention to character, sheds new light and adds greater depth to the familiar.

What's more, Winegardner is a master plotter. The novel zips along. Readers who aren't familiar with the Godfather saga can jump right in without missing a beat. Hard-core Godfather fans, though, will find great pleasure in Winegardner's subtle references and attention to minor details from the saga.
--Chicago Sun-Times

Read the entire review.

Pre-order The Godfather's Revenge

The Godfather's Revenge hits stores on Tuesday, November 7.

Here's what Entertainment Weekly has to say about The Godfather's Revenge: "Everything it should be: nuanced, chilling, and threaded with intrigue . . . you probably won't be able to put this one down."

You can order it now through Amazon.

Signed copies available from the Florida State University bookstore.

Check out markwinegardner.com for Mark Winegardner's book tour schedule.

Starred review from Kirkus

Faux Kennedy brothers, elaborate detailings of byzantine Cosa Nostra politics, steamy pulpfiction prose, a hot murder mystery and a cartoonishly epic cast make this Godfather installment a worthy addition to the chronicle of la famigilia Corleone.

They're baaaaack--dour Machiavellian Michael and long-suffering Connie, tight-lipped, anxiety-prone Irish consigliere Tom Hagen, even poor Michael-murdered Fredo, appearing now as a tuxedo-wearing ghost bearing a fishing rod and squeezing a naked dame. Winegardner (That's True of Everybody, 2002, etc.) breathlessly re-animates these archetypes even more effectively than he did in 2004's The Godfather Returns. Revenge pits Nick Gerasi, turncoat former Corleone caporegime emerging from exile in a bomb shelter beneath Lake Erie, against Michael in a mano-a-mano bloodfeud. Gerasi's an old-school gangster, miffed at the Godfather's efforts to go legit. And Michael has other hellhounds on his trail. There's Attorney General Danny Shea, kid brother of philandering Jimmy, the U.S. president Michael finagled into office by means of Hagen's chicanery and a charm offensive by Sinatra-like Corleone flunky Johnny Fontane. Danny's dream is to enter history as the Mob-slayer, and while Michael merely wants to neutralize the threat, rival crime boss Carlo Tramonti, Don of the Big Easy, aims at actually offing Jimmy. At a pasta-mad powwow for the head honchos of all the underworld's Five Families, Carlo advances the assassination plot, only to be interrupted as police crash in to nab Tom Hagen. Turns out his mistress, hard-case blonde bombshell Judy Buchanan, has been shot in the head and Hagen's soon held for questioning. Winegardner's deft plot-spinning is rivaled only by his sure grasp of Goodfella mise-en-scène, the profanity-laced witticisms, the fashion fetishizing, the cool, long, dark '60s Chevy Biscaynes. Minor characters, from upstart Eddie Paradise to the musically monickered Ottilio Cuneo and Osvaldo Atobello, add varnish to inch-thick operatic mobster atmosphere.

Bloody and bombastic-a top-notch addition to the saga.

-- Kirkus Reviews

Winegardner and Kimbrell read at Writers Harvest

Here's the latest on the Writers Harvest fund raiser and The Godfather's Revenge.

Listen in Real Audio.

Author polishes off next 'Godfather'

Read all about it in the Tallahassee Democrat:

November 7, Revenge can be yours

The Godfather's Revenge -- the final installment in the Godfather saga -- will be published November 7. But today, the website for The Godfather's Revenge went live! Come see it at godfathersrevenge.com.

The site features audio clips from Joe Mantegna (who read the abridged version of the book) and Scott Brick (who read the unabridged). It also features a sneak preview of the new, detailed Corleone Family Tree (both Michael's blood family and his other, well, Family), which is featured on the endpapers of the novel -- a very cool and reader-friendly idea that helps make this book the true capstone of the whole saga and, not incidentally, makes it supremely easy to start reading with this novel, even if your knowledge of the rest of the saga is shaky or (can this be possible?) non-existent.

It's also going to be a work in progress, featuring links to music featured in the book, music that accompanied the writing of the book, book tour dates, reviews, and much more. So check it out, bookmark it, and come back often!

With respect,
Mark Winegardner

Unresolved questions now answered

Four years ago today, I got an email, via my agent, from somebody I didn't know, asking me to submit a proposal to write a sequel to Mario Puzo's The Godfather. At first it struck me as an interesting idea, but not the kind of book I write. I figured it'd be some cynical publisher's gimmick, a quick-buck piece of crap. Isn't that what you thought when you first heard about it? But then, a few days later, as I was about to delete the email, I read it more closely. It was from Jonathan Karp, who'd been Puzo's editor for his last several books. The book had Mario Puzo's blessing and that of his family. And what they wanted seemed really smart. To quote that original (once deeply confidential) email, they were looking for ...

"Someone who is in roughly the same place in life Mario Puzo was when he wrote The Godfather, -- at mid-career, with at least two acclaimed literary novels to his credit, who writes in a commanding and darkly comic omniscient voice. The author we choose will bring his own vision to these characters, just as Francis Ford Coppola did in the "Godfather" movies. Whoever inherits this series will be given the opportunity to build his or her own fictional world on the foundation created by Mario Puzo. Our objective is a popular but ambitious novel worthy of major review attention. The voice, perspective, and storytelling must be original."

Now, four years later, the job is done. The Godfather Returns was published to strong reviews in 2004 and The Godfather's Revenge is off to a good start, too (see the starred review from Kirkus).

The novel--set in the sun-drenched aquamarine splendor of the early years of the Space Age and the raging paranoia of the Cold War--concludes the Corleone Family saga. In doing so, The Godfather's Revenge answers questions that even casual fans of The Godfather must have wondered about, questions unresolved until, well, now.

Such as:

-- What's the real story behind why Sonny Corleone brought Tom Hagen home to live with his family?

-- We know (in Godfather Part III) that Tom Hagen died, but nobody ever talks about it. What happened?

-- What did the Mafia -- and the Corleone Family -- have to do with the greatest mystery of the Twentieth Century: the possible conspiracy to assassinate the young, handsome president of the United States?

-- Whatever happened to Johnny Fontane, who's so compelling early in Puzo's novel but who all but disappears from view during the years of his greatest fame and fortune?

-- Whatever happened to Jack Woltz, in the years after he awoke one morning from uneasy dreams to find himself trapped in his bed alongside a gigantic severed horse's head?

-- Whatever happened to Nick Geraci, the greatest earner the Corleone Family ever had, who goes into hiding at the end of The Godfather Returns, provoking Michael Corleone's reluctant return to New York and to his position as Godfather?

-- How, finally, is Michael Corleone's desire to take the Family business legit resolved? This is the biggest thing driving Michael Corleone, the thing he's yearning for, yet its resolution is never quite achieved in any of the other books or films.

On November 7, Revenge -- and the answers to all these questions -- can be yours.

With respect,
Mark