In May of 2012 Eckhartz Press released a wonderful coming-of-age novel by author Randy Richardson. The title of his novel was "Cheeseland", and it received rave reviews. Author Christine Sneed said it was "a story about masculine friendship you won't soon forget." Diane Rae, author of "Halo of the Damned", described "Cheeseland" as a cross between Frank McCourt’s "Angela’s Ashes" and Dennis Lehane’s "Mystic River."
Randy has been diligently promoting the book since its release, and we thought it would be a good time to check back in with him and see how it has been going.
Randy, what has surprised you the most about the reaction to your book?
Randy: I am always surprised when someone with whom I have no known connection buys my book and reads it. I read an article recently that there are somewhere between 600,000 and 1 million books published every year in the US alone. Think about that. Of all those books this person could have chosen, they picked mine. But I certainly never imagined that my little book, which I thought would have no more than a Midwestern regional interest, would find readers outside the US. But, somehow, it has. Two of the best reviews I received on Goodreads were from UK readers. One of them wrote a line that put me on the floor: “Truly a great read that I would put up there with Catcher in the Rye as a timeless critique of maturation, love and friendship.” I also had an order from the Australian Library System for five copies of my book. How or why that came about I have no idea. All I do know is that we live in a fascinating small world, a place where my words – as if placed in a bottle and dropped into the ocean – are able to reach out and touch someone who is thousands miles away. The pen is indeed a mighty weapon.
Do you have any good anecdotes from your promotional tour?
Randy: I’m not sure this counts as part of my promotional tour, but at my release party I was reunited with the high school friend who served as inspiration for one of the book’s main characters. In a way, it felt like life imitating art. We hadn’t seen each other in about 25 years, and just by chance he moved back to the Chicago area, after living in California for about 20 years, at the same time my book was being released. Much like the characters in the book who are reunited after being separated for three decades, I was reunited with this friend who helped to inspire the story. It was kind of surreal to see him again after so long and to think that it was this book that brought us together again. About a month later, the two of us got together again for a rock concert featuring Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bad Company – and it was almost like going back in time to when the story began.
What have you learned about yourself and your writing since the book was published?
Randy: I suppose that when I embarked on the journey of writing Cheeseland I was, in some way, searching for answers about my past. I guess that the book helped to heal some of those old wounds. Certainly, it brought together that friend from my past that I thought I had long lost, and for that alone it was worth writing.
What is the question you hear the most, and how do you answer it?
Randy: The question I hear the most is, “How much of what happens in it is true?”
My answer is, one page, and that is page 43, the opening of Chapter 7. Even that scene is probably more fiction than reality, since in real life I was only half-conscious and in a haze of alcohol when that scene actually occurred. To the extent that I remember what did happen, I think it fairly depicts what occurred up until the point that there is a woman praying beside me. The rest of the story is all fiction, though there are certainly parts of it that are inspired by things that happened to me as a teen-ager.
Tell me why your book would make the perfect Christmas present.
Randy: I am told that it pairs nicely with a bottle of wine, so wrap them up together and you have the perfect Wine and Cheeseland gift basket.
PURCHASE YOUR COPY OF CHEESELAND RIGHT HERE AT ECKHARTZ PRESS
Eckhartz Press and Randy Richardson will be teaming up again on another book in 2014. Details will be announced after the first of the year.
