Sunset Daze/Into the Sunset

Apparently, WeTV has a new reality show in the works called Sunset Daze that follows the crazy antics of the wacky residents of a retirement home. My comic novel Into the Sunset, published in 2007, also has crazy antics of residents of a retirement community.

Hmmmm...Sunset Daze...Into the Sunset. Sunset...Sunset. Sounds kinda familiar.

The official page for the show doesn't have much info about when it will air, etc. Does anyone know anything more about this show?

UPDATE: The website now says that the first two episodes will air on Wed., April 28, 10pm.

Into the Sunset

Last night was the end of the road for my novel Into the Sunset in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest (ABNA). The quarterfinalists were announced, which pared the entries down to 250 in each category, and Into the Sunset wasn't on it the list. Not all depressing news, however, because I also coincidentally received--on the same day the novel was eliminated from the contest--a glowing review from a happy reader on Amazon. You can purchase Into the Sunset on Amazon, Smashwords, BN.com, and many other outlets.

***

We all know how frustrating and demoralizing writing can be. Or, not the writing, but the submission/acceptance part. Do I think my novel is as good as at least some of the 250 that made it to the next round? Of course. Do I know that for sure? Of course not. I didn't read those other novels. But, still. It all seems so pointless and random sometimes. If two different reviewers had read my excerpt instead, I might have made it to the next round. Oh well.

I made it!

Or, I should really say my novel INTO THE SUNSET made it through to the next round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest.


Amazon narrowed the field of 5,000 entries down to 1,000 based on a (up to) 300-word pitch. So now I move on to the second round, where two reviews of my 5,000 word excerpt (the prologue and first two chapters) will determine if I made it to the quarterfinals. Only 250 move forward. The next date to worry about is March 23, when the quarterfinal list is released. Amazon readers will then get to read and review these excerpts.

So for now...I resume waiting.

Waiting is the hardest part...

Two days to go until Amazon announces the 1,000 novels that make it to the next round in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest.

On Feb. 25, I will find out if my pitch was good enough to make the cut and send me to the second round. If so, then my 5,000 word excerpt will be judged as follows:

Between February 25, 2010 and March 14, 2010, our expert reviewers, including Amazon editors and at least one Amazon Top Reviewer, will review and judge the Excerpts of each second round Entry. The expert reviewers rate each Excerpt on a scale of 1 to 5 on each of the following criteria:

a) Overall Strength of Excerpt
b) Prose/Style
c) Plot/Hook
d) Originality of Idea

So for now, I wait. Meanwhile, here's some Tom Petty and Eddie Vedder.

My Pitch

The first round of the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) contest is "the pitch." This is the short, quick description, or "hook," that you need to describe your book. Similar to the sell copy on the back cover of a book, it is also known as the "elevator pitch"—what you would tell an agent or editor if you had him or her alone in an elevator for a minute.

Here is my pitch for Into the Sunset, my comic novel that is entered in the ABNA:

Meet Wayne Benson. He's not a senior citizen. He doesn't require nursing care. He isn't even retired. But this healthy 30-year-old bachelor believes the comfortable life of The Sunset, an assisted-living retirement community, would be a soothing alternative to his young, hectic lifestyle.

Everything he desires—gourmet meals, laundry service, camaraderie, tranquility—is available for one all-inclusive monthly fee. The only problem? He isn't the required minimum age of sixty-two. So, he dons theatrical make-up and a grey wig to age himself forty years, and is immediately accepted into The Sunset. Now all he has to do is live a peaceful life.

Will everything go as smoothly as planned? Of course not! His elderly love interest becomes suspicious of his under-cover-of-darkness-only lovemaking, his neighbor wants to go to strip clubs and experiment with Viagra®, the head of security is more interested in extortion than security, and the woman who manages The Sunset may be onto his scheme. Can Wayne survive old age?

Amazon editors will read the pitches of the 5,000 entries. They will choose 1,000, and move them to the second round. These results will be announced Feb. 25.

Into the Sunset entered in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest

Amazon is holding their third annual Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, and this year they are opening submissions to previously self-published books. Winner of the contest gets published by Penguin USA and a $15,000 contract. There are two categories this year, general fiction and young adult. The contest begins on Mon., Jan. 25 at midnight, EST.

And you, the Amazon reviewer, get to vote! There is the First Round, where the Amazon editors will read a 300 word pitch for each entry. The top 1,000 entries in each category will move to the second round.

The Second Round will be narrowed to 250 entries (in each category) by you, the Amazon reviewer, based on a 5,000 word novel excerpt.

The Quarterfinals are next, where Publishers Weekly reviewers will read the full manuscript. The top 50 move on from here.

The Semifinals follow, where Penguin USA editors will read the full manuscript and select three finalists in each category.

Then the ball is thrown back to you, dear Amazon reviewer, in the Finals, to vote on the three finalists to see who wins the grand prize!

I've decided to enter my comic novel, Into the Sunset, in this contest. I published it in the summer of 2007, and I am totally, 100% happy with the final product. But, you know, self-published books don't get any respect, and no one wants to review them. Though I did get a good review from Romantic Times Book Review, where they said, "Capone has a vivid imagination and a unique voice." My novel doesn't have to win this contest. What I'm looking for is more exposure for the book, a wider audience, and maybe the book will even catch the eye of an agent or editor.

I will update this blog throughout the contest. Hopefully my novel will move through some of the rounds, and you can then vote for me!

UPDATE 1:13 AM, Mon. Jan. 25
Boy, that was insane. The online equivalent of people getting trampled at Walmart on Black Friday. I was all logged in and ready to go with my Word files at 12 midnight. The entry page wouldn't even load for me until 12:27. Then the four steps took forever, just watching a spinning wheel after I hit Save. Finally my submission was complete at 12:52. Whew! I'm in! Wish me luck.

Attention Kindle & Kindle App Users

For all you Kindle and Kindle App for iPhone users, my novel Into the Sunset and my short story collection Stories From Sunset Hill are now available for the Kindle! Priced to sell! With the Amazon discount, my collection of short stories is only 80 cents, the novel only $2.39.

STORIES FROM SUNSET HILL is a collection of 17 short stories, some of which have appeared in publications such as Word Riot, Edgar Literary Magazine, and Thieves Jargon.

The author writes with a creative and lively style. The gritty, raw voice of the character Chuck in the first story (nineleven) pulled me in right away, and I couldn't stop reading.

The author has an uncanny ability to create insightful characters, who are wiser to the world and its ways than they are to themselves. This is a winsome combination, a likeable quality, that pulls the reader into the fictive dream.
—Writer's Digest Magazine contest judge

INTO THE SUNSET is my first novel. Romantic Times Book Review Magazine gave it three stars and said, "Capone has a vivid imagination and a unique voice."


Also now available in Kindle version, Susan DiPlacido's fantastic, award-winning collection of short stories American Cool. Only 99 cents!

Into the Sunset on Reader's Circle

I've created a web page specifically for my novel, Into the Sunset. It includes the back cover sell copy, links to reviews and interviews, and contact information. I'll update it as needed.

Also, Into the Sunset is now live at Reader's Circle, a great site that connects book clubs with authors, and lets a book club set up a phone chat with the author. Check it out!

Into the Sunset reviewed

Mary Akers, co-author of Radical Gratitude, has reviewed my novel, Into the Sunset.

"Into the Sunset is a lively, engaging, romp-of-a-read."

Read the full review here:
Mary Akers

Into the Sunset can be purchased at:
Amazon

Me, interviewed

Donna George Storey, author of the erotic novel Amorous Woman, has interviewed me for her blog. Read the interview here.

Read her review of my novel here:
Into the Sunset

Into the Sunset is available at Amazon.

Andrew Jenks, Room 335

So yesterday, my boss told me about a documentary film that was made called Andrew Jenks, Room 335. It's about a 19-year-old film student who moves into an assisted-living retirement home for a month, and documents the whole experience. I had never heard of the film before.

Uh oh, I thought. That sounds very similar to the plot of my novel, Into the Sunset. In my book, a 30-year-old bachelor moves into an assisted living community—except he is disguised as an old gent. But my book is fictional and a comedy, so the book and the film are different. Still, I had that little queasy feeling in my gut that someone else had already come up with a similar idea and gotten it out to the world before I did. Thankfully, though, my novel has already been published, and is receiving good reviews, so I don't feel as if I had been scooped.

Back to the film. Turns out there was a free screening of the film tonight, and my friend Joe and I went to check it out. The director, film student Andrew Jenks (who coincidentally is also from Westchester County like me), spent a month living in Harbor Place, a senior residence in Florida. He brought along two buddies who helped film the whole experience.

Jenks is a smart filmmaker. The story isn't about him living in Harbor Place, it's about the elderly residents who do. He lets them take center stage, as we get to meet these wonderful people. People like fiesty 96 year-old Tammy, and Bill, who wears a different Hawaiian shirt every day. And Dotty, and Libby, and Josie.

Andrews Jenks, Room 335 has been called funny, sad, and heartwarming, and I totally agree with this description. Do yourself a favor and see this film.

And by the way—now that I've seen the film, I don't have that queasy feeling anymore. The film and my novel are similar in plot, and even in theme—of how the elderly are viewed in our society—but the two pieces of art handle the story differently (plus mine is fiction), and there is room for both. Seeing the documentary also made me feel good about my own work, in that—though I never lived in a senior community—I feel that I got much of it right. I don't mean just the details, but the human element. The funny parts and the sad parts, too.

Into the Sunset, reviewed

Donna George Storey, author of Amorous Woman, has reviewed my novel, Into the Sunset.

"Don Capone’s Into the Sunset is entertaining comedy at its best. Even the madcap premise makes you laugh."

"Reading as a writer—and I always do—I admired Capone’s plot, which is Chekhovian in its design. Each puzzle piece fits together perfectly by the novel’s end."

Read the full review here:
Donna George Storey

Into the Sunset can be purchased at:
Amazon

Into the Sunset reviewed by Romantic Times!

Romantic Times magazine reviewed my novel Into the Sunset in their February 2008 issue, which just hit the newsstands. Without further ado, here is the review (I'll comment after):



Romantic Times is geared toward the romance and erotic genres. So I'm thrilled that my book—which is neither, really—got three stars. Yeah, the book has a lot of sex. And there may be a relationship or two, but it's a comedy. There are a lot of silly sex scenes.

The "younger man and much older woman plotline may make some readers uncomfortable" comment is funny for a few reasons:
1) If readers of erotica are uncomfortable with this plot line, maybe they shouldn't be reading erotica.
2) An agent who requested the full manuscript when I was shopping it around commented that the book had "disturbing sex." Guess people can't handle a May-December romance if the December is a woman. Which leads to...
3) Why is it acceptable for an old gent to date a younger woman? Rod Stewart with a hot, young blonde? That's fine. My 30 year-old character with a 60 year-old woman? Disturbing!



Anyway, thanks to Susan DiPlacido for sending them a copy of my book. Her collection of stories, American Cool, received 4 1/2 stars from them!

Into the Sunset can be purchased at:
Amazon