Driving over the Bay Bridge to San Francisco, a few years ago. Picture by blogger.
Whenever I drive into this place I get the butterflies, never knowing what amazing adventure might await me, but hoping. Also, this magic place is the locale of “Benefits,” my new novel arriving next month (September 2019).
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I’ve been working hard on getting the paperback version formatted and the cover done, but it’s not quite as simple as the e-book. Still, I know from readers (and myself) that while I love the convenience and weight of e-books, there’s just something about holding the paper in your hand and having the story right there within your grasp, so to speak. Also, having been a proofreader in a former life, I’m somewhat of a perfectionist when it comes to typesetting and have a low tolerance for mistakes – which means I go over it, and over it, and over it. Over it.
If you want to pre-order the Kindle version here’s the link.
I’m not sure, actually, if it’s a sequel or if a better definition would be the second in a series of books about Ben Schmidt and his life, family and circle of friends.
It doesn’t really matter for this post because I can still tell you why I wrote this book “Benefits:”
wasn’t done with the characters –
wanted to find out what happened to the main character, who had a life-threatening illness at the close of “Benediction”
seems short sighted to abandon characters when so much more could happen to them
The story resonated with a great many people, who saw themselves in the milieu or who identified with the characters
Ben is my alter-ego and it’s very comfortable for me to write in his voice
I had ideas about what happens next to him and other characters
readers would ask me what happened to Ben, since I left it unresolved, and I didn’t have a great answer
there is life and love after prostate cancer, and I wanted to process that through my writing and also deliver that message, in other words, what it’s like to have an active love life as a prostate cancer survivor
and maybe the best part if you’re just finding this — you don’t have to read the original to understand the sequel – Benefits can stand on its own.
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Talk I gave a few years ago on the original book and the reason behind it – prostate cancer.
I live vicariously through Ben Schmidt. You might say he’s a version of me in some other, more extroverted dimension. Or maybe not. I don’t know that for sure, but he does do things I would never do.
I just know that I created Ben when I wrote “Benediction” awhile back, to help me deal with my feelings around having cancer. Not just the feelings, but also the narrative. Cause it was a good story – at least I thought so. And it served its purpose of being therapeutic.
When I was inventing the fictional biography, one of the prompts I read in the many books I consulted was “which Hollywood star would play your character in the movie version of the novel?”
At the time I thought of two actors I liked / thought were handsome, and I guess these two still would be awesome choices for a movie of “Benediction” or “Benefits.”
Dermot Mulroney
Viggo Mortensen
Here, then, is the bio:
Ben Schmidt (Benjamin Kanner Schmidt, full name)
Male
5-10
53 (in 2010), born in 1957, in Milwaukee
slender/muscular (good shape for age)
most striking feature is his blue eyes
brown hair with some gray around the temples, natural
Ben wears preppy clothes to work
Ben wears jeans and t-shirts for leisure
Ben’s clean-shaven. Sometimes he lets that five o’clock shadow thing go.
Ben has a tattoo on his LEFT shoulder, a bleeding heart
Ben’s half German, half Irish. No one ever guesses. Sometimes, people ask him if he’s Jewish.
Health: he thought it was good. Other than cancer, he’s pretty healthy!
Special interests: staying sober or not, making movies, movies, gay sex…
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Profession: Marketing. Wants to be a film director, though. That’s the secret passion. (Somewhat subdued in sequel)
Income: low six figures (in “Benediction” – that goes away in “Benefits”)
Residence: rental, San Francisco, funky, mice (a house in “Benefits”)
Talent: good at the big picture, shrewd, has a good BS detector
Single, gay
Good reputation both business and personal, although he is known among his friends for having a lot of boyfriends in succession, never seems to keep one for very long – until Jake.
Having affair with Jake upstairs. Also, fuckbuddy Eric. Has a roving eye and will have at least two other affairs during the course of this book, one with a cancer doctor, the other with an Italian at a film festival. SIDEKICK? (yes, that is Karen Kling) – different and more affairs in “Benefits” – he’s still horny.
Loves: going out to nice restaurants. Listening to old rock and roll (keeps this a secret) Going to the movies alone, on the spur of the moment, going on vacations to tropical places
Hates cooking, doing laundry, going to work on time, listening to bosses, going to meetings at work.
Children: he has none. But – he likes kids well enough Special relationship with brother Vince’s small children? (nieces and nephews). This all changes in “Benefits.”
Pets: Had a dog who died that he never got over. Her name was Connie. She was a dachshund.
Hidden, secret weakness: wants to get high all the time. Wants drugs. Also, believes he is a worthless person sometimes, Glenda really reinforces that.
Dream for the future: Wants to stop working at what he’s doing and be more creative, like being a movie director. Heavy belief in magic, a flaw, and part of this is his vision of the Dead Dudes.
Parents:
Mother, Margaret. Father: Anthony Schmidt. They are divorced. Margaret Schmidt volunteers and is from a wealthy German family that makes toilet fixtures. Anthony is retired, and lives in Florida with a much younger woman, who is an entrepreneur. Beauty schools. What’s her name? Jackie. He was an electrical engineering professor at MSOE.
Siblings: Sister, Ellen in Madison. Brother, Vince in Milwaukee. Their families? Ellen is divorced, no children. Vince is married and has some kids.
Hometown: Milwaukee, moved away after college.
Grew up in a semi-mansion overlooking Lake Michigan. Sex and drugs as a teen in the park nearby, pretty standard.
Education: Bachelor’s degree in English. Grad School drop-out
Always wanted to be: a gymnast – still dreams about this on occasion. More magic, as he is in his 50s.
Frightened by: the dark, thunder, gangs of straight teenage boys
Angered by: People who are not as smart as he. Not patient. Fate, when it doesn’t go his way. Things he cannot control.
Is annoyed by: lack of a sense of humor, dullness, people who can’t make up their minds.
Is attracted by: directness, a smile, competence.
Finds this funny: Tom Hanks, the Republicans, AbFab, Margaret Cho – but doesn’t laugh all that easy, maybe easier than most. Rather than seeing humor in things, he sees the sadness, but tries to make it funny via dry humor or sarcasm.
Favorite Foods, Drinks: He’s a secret meat eater, even though he knows this is not politically correct now! He likes steak. Filet mignon. Etc. Drinks: He’s addicted to diet Coke, even though he knows it’s bad for him. Secretly, he’d like to try all those drinks that became popular since he’s been sober, like cosmopolitans, martinis,mojitos etc. Also, he’d like to try drugs that became popular, like Ecstasy. (he does in “Benediction.”)
Favorite place to Hang Out: He likes going to Buena Vista Park, to contemplate – but also, it’s disingenuous, he likes to cruise there but would NEVER admit it. He likes Griffith Park in LA for the same reason. He likes certain places (bars) in New York, in Vegas, in SF and in LA. In LA it’s MJs (this is a real place, now closed). In SF it’s Powerhouse.
Ideal Vacation: Away from publicity and phones and all that. Has done Hawaii, looking for another private Island. Somewhere other South Pacific. Also American road trips.
Listens to what kind of music: Stuff from when he was growing up, so there is a lot of classic rock (Beach Boys, Jethro Tull, the Who, the Beatles, Neil Young) there. Also, 80s pop music. Sometimes Show tunes, but he hides this. Techno dance music, a secret indulgence.
Past Trauma or formative event: He’s been gaybashed. They robbed him and beat him up, breaking an arm. He has a scar on his chin from this incident. (Many more, but this is the one I felt relevant to his character.)
Looks up to what heroes or role models: (my own) John Sayles, Arthur Dong (documentarian), Alan Ball, Tolkien characters, Kennedys, etc. Also, he had a lover who died from AIDS, Wayne.
Keepsake from the past, and what it represents: Music box, which a former lover, who died, passed on to him. It’s for treasures. He puts the most important stuff in this box: “Wayne’s Box.”
Next time, I’ll do a bio for Ben’s partner Jake Brosseau. And, with any luck, I’ll have a release date for “Benefits.”
Here’s a quick book review – I thought this was a great read. I’m working on something new, something I have to call fiction though it’s based on an old road trip I took myself in the 90s. Working title is “Wanderslut 1996: Based on a Mostly True Story.”
I was looking for road trip novels I hadn’t yet read and was looking for inspiration, and this is one that I found. Awesome. And, never fear, the novel “Benefits,” the sequel to “Benediction,” is on track to be published by summer 2019.
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My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was shocked I’ve only just recently found out about this book – in a google search to find road trip novels, it came up, sounded like my cup of tea, so I read it. The author has a remarkable, distinctive voice. Reminded me so much of something Denis Johnson might have done with a heaping slice of the Coen Brothers. Just a really sweet and sad tale of two lost souls and their equally lost compatriots. My favorite thing is the flights of fancy the main character Frank has, making up stories for his own entertainment and that of his brother Jerry Lee. For me, that’s when this novel becomes magical. There’s a very specific sense of place with Reno and Elko, sense memory of what winter is like, golly, there’s even a saved rescue dog. I highly recommend this and look forward to reading more of Vlautin. Also, as someone who has some experience in 12-Step, this reads a lot like the part of the traditional share that’s “What it Was Like” – if it were a novel. Then, of course, there’s the “What Happened” and “What it’s Like Now” – we do get a sense of some thing that happened, but the “what it’s like now” is left to the reader to imagine. I’m OK with that. But I still cried a bit at the end.
Finally, I’m confident enough to tell you that my next book, “Benefits,” the sequel to “Benediction,” will drop into the physical world next spring, certainly in time for you to throw it in your beach bag before you head to the sand.
It’s been a long process. Therapy, you might say as well, helping me get through the hellish months from November 2016 to the present. I know you know why! But the one thing I’ve internalized about writing is that it has to be consistent. So it was with “Benefits.”
What’s it about, you ask?
Ben Schmidt and his world. He survived the prostate cancer, and is now living with the aftermath. His relationship with the studly Jake Brosseau has continued, though now it seems it’s Jake who is the main breadwinner in the family. Tables have turned! And, if you read “Benediction,” you might recall that Ben had banked some sperm, just in case he might want to “use it” at a later date. I think that later date arrived.
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Two years later, guys, and I have a draft of “Benefits,” the sequel to “Benediction.” The further adventures of Ben and Jake and some of their friends in San Francisco, both corporeal and departed.
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