The Mafia novel that the world has been waiting for!  

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My post here is outside the genre of this blog, but I wanted to write about it anyway. I'm so proud of my fiance, Gunner Alan Lindbloom, who wrote an incredible Mafia novel set in Detroit. Not only is this a brilliant saga, but he also wrote it while serving time in a Michigan state prison. The book is completed, and it's ready to be edited for publication. The problem is, we're needing a little help. That's where Kickstarter comes in. We've officially launched this publishing project on Kickstarter, to humbly ask folks to invest in our project and help see this book to completion. If you love Mafia stories or just want to help by investing in a small, meaningful publishing project by a Christian man who's worked extremely hard, your donation would be greatly appreciated.

 Here is the link to the Kickstarter project page:


Gunner and I know that this book has the potential to be the next Godfather saga. In fact, we also know that it has tremendous potential to be a Hollywood movie someday. We often sit and dream about the future of this novel. Will it one day be a blockbuster Academy award winner, with Ashton Kutcher or Channing Tatum playing the powerful and handsome Omnio "King" Falcone? Would Eminem's song "Welcome to Detroit" be the opening soundtrack? Will Robert De Niro play his grandfather, Don "The Butcher" Falcone? Will the movie and novel become part of history with some of the other great Mafia legacies, such as Goodfellas or Casino? (We've got the "A" list cast of characters all planned out, with the exception of the dark-haired Italian beauty, Contessa. Alan wants Mark Wahlberg in there somewhere, and I always thought that James Franco would be awesome as the ruthless "Cousin Anthony.") And of course, how amazing would it be to have Martin Scorsese produce the film? We know it's a big dream, but if you can't dream big, what's the point, right? =)


Here is the background of the book, from our Kickstarter page:
TO BE A KING is the gripping Detroit-based Mafia saga of Omnio "King" Falcone, written by a man serving time in a state prison. 

 While serving his 13 year prison sentence, Gunner Alan Lindbloom wrote a brilliant Mafioso novel called TO BE A KING. In late summer of 2010, after we had been writing each other for several months, I (his fiance) finally agreed to read his book. The Mafia genre really isn't my thing, so I pushed it off at first. But when I started reading it, I got sucked in right away. This guy can write! Yes, there are some crazy scenes in the book with violence and rough Mafia retaliations that left me reeling, but there is also a beautiful love story woven into the plot. The storyline is masterful, with intricate scenes and connections throughout the book that tie everything together quite ingeniously. I've never read any of Mario Puzo's books, but I liked this just as much -- if not more -- than the Godfather movies. There was enough romance in it to keep me interested, and the intriguing characters were compelling, commanding and alive. The book is set in Detroit, both in the vintage era and in modern times, which brings a very cool local element of interest to the novel. When I finished it, I was very emotional. The ending was superb. I knew that I had fallen in love with the man who wrote the words in that book, and I was unbelievably impressed. I'm an avid reader who devours books and has a very critical mind when it comes to stories and narration. Gunner is not only an imaginative storyteller who weaves an engaging tale, but he has a really enjoyable writing style and command of dialogue. It's unbelievable to me that this guy was a high-school drop out who never had any creative writing classes or formal composition training -- AND that he wrote this from a state prison cell. He has a true, raw natural talent. In addition to that, his own Sicilian heritage helped lend an element of truth and knowledge to this dark and powerful genre. There was no doubt that he had a best-seller on his hands, and so I offered to help edit it for him. One of the challenges is that he writes on a very rudimentary prison typewriter, which makes it tough to edit. I first have to scan each page and then OCR it, which is a long, drawn out, grueling process. Gunner is also currently going back to line-edit the book, to refine it a bit and make it that much more polished. It's our hope that we'll be able to formally publish the book in late 2013, if not sooner. When we get more of it edited, I'll post some chapters here for people to read. In the mean time, here's a synopsis of the book, written by Gunner himself:

Omnio "King" Falcone is the handsome young grandson of Don "The Butcher" Falcone, a once feared and powerful boss of the Detroit Syndicate, the city's reclusive coalition of Sicilian Mafia families. As the last Falcone, King is the heir-apparent to his grandfather's throne. Except there is one problem -- a big one. He is known to the Sicilians as a "dragoni," meaning one without pure Sicilian blood. As a result of his mixed ancestry, he has been ostracized by much of the Syndicate. Even worse, the Commission -- a secret pantheon of Mafia bosses from all over the country -- have restricted his rank and forbidden him from ever taking over his grandfather's tenured "Famiglia." Nevertheless, King is a born leader and a brilliant tactician. Even with the odds firmly stacked against him, he has risen through the Syndicate ranks. Many of the Family capos have grown to respect and fear him -- and for good reason. He commands a faithful crew of ambitious young wise guys who have sworn their lives to him. In turn, King has built them into a well-oiled and highly profitable extension of his grandfather's Famiglia. After years of hard work, methodical planning and forming strategic alliances, King is on the brink of finally being accepted by the Commission. But his house of cards comes crashing down when a beautiful young Mafia princess arrives into town from Sicily. Smitten, he decides he must have her as his own. Unfortunately, his arch nemesis -- his nefarious cousin Anthony -- has already laid claim to her. A war for her affection ensues. When the smoke clears, King is left serving a life sentence in federal prison while Anthony is elevated to Syndicate underboss, second in rank only to his father, the Syndicate's new "Capo di tutti Cappi," Boss of All Bosses. Don Falcone, however, does not intend to dishonor his ancestors by allowing the last of their bloodline to die in prison. He has kept a favor on the books for over fifty years, and when he finally calls it in, King emerges from prison a free man after having received a rare presidential pardon. Not only does King intend to take his rightful place at the head of his grandfather's storied crime family, he also intends to seat himself at the head of the entire Syndicate. But first he must dethrone his uncle and usurp his treacherous cousin. Can King Falcone execute his coup d'etat and seize the reins of the Syndicate, or will he incite an all-out Motor City mob war? Can he overcome his own mixed blood and earn the support of the Commission, or will they adhere to their ancient decrees and deny him the right to his grandfather's throne? To find out, read on and enter the secret world of La Cosa Nostra. Learn what it takes...                                             

TO BE A KING

  
This is the novel the publishing industry has been waiting for! It's been decades since Mario Puzo's "The Godfather" saga was published, and the time is right for a new dramatic series. You will not be able to put this down, and with insider knowledge of the Detroit Mafia Syndicate, Gunner pens this book with a page-turning intensity that will keep you up late at night reading. With a beautiful love-story woven in and rich, detailed scenes that will blow your mind, there's no doubt that TO BE A KING is a future New York Times besteller. Currently unable to text, tweet, research or call on his own behalf, Gunner is relying on his supportive network of friends and family to help him see his dreams come true. His prison sentence was not all in vain -- the time spent typing away on his bunk has resulted in a novel that will change history. A big-screen film will be sure to follow.

The book is entirely completed. Gunner and I are simply working on the line editing process, which is cumbersome. The funds donated to this project would help to purchase him a new typewriter, provide OCR software to help convert his archaic typed manuscript into an editable Word doc, and the hiring assistance of e-book formatting and marketing. It would also allow me a few uninterrupted weeks of non-stop editing to be able to get this book ready for final publication. Updates will be posted along to the way to showcase our progression and keep our backers abreast of our progress to completion.

 From both of us -- THANK YOU! 
(more info at the Kickstarter link above)

This entry was posted on Friday, February 1, 2013 at Friday, February 01, 2013 . You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments feed .

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