Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Interview - Hot Shot by S.A. Stolinsky



Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming release.

HOT SHOT IS a thriller about a degenerate gambler who decides to pay back his debtors with their own money.  He never takes responsibility.  Everything is everyone else’s fault, until he puts into play his plan to rob the casino where he lost the money and pay them back with their own funds.  It is a caper and when he is confronted by the FBI who use his plan to exchange the stolen money for marked bills to follow it to a money laundry in Macao, Tyler realizes this is no game.  If Tyler isn’t careful, he’ll end up in the suitcases, too.  But he learns in the end that love triumphs over greed and the caper takes him to the heights and depths of gambling, where he soon learns who he can trust and who he really loves.

The focus of the search is into the culture and community of gambling and into its social fabric.  So, I think the story allows the protagonist to move across the full range of needs and wants and gives you the opportunity for social criticism, in ways a novel which was not about this search for this hidden truth might not.


Have you ever based your book or characters on actual events or people from your own life?

All the time.  I find quirks in people—hidden agendas, unreasonable hopes that are dashed because someone doesn’t want to take a chance.  I certainly see it in my own personality.  Sometimes fantasy, like with Tyler, my protagonist, is just easier than actually putting in the time and effort to create something you want.

Is there a theme or message in your work that you would like readers to connect to?

My themes always seem to stem around self-realization, self-truth.  In Tyler’s case, he wants to prove himself, make people stand up and take notice. I guess autonomy is a recurring theme in my books, and perseverance, and the ability to triumph over adversity.  Love is always a big theme; how people stand together to help each other, give each other support.  I also find that discovering my protagonists true values and virtues is a big theme.

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

I’m a nervous wreck.  Like Woody Allen I guess.  I’m always worrying about something and trying to figure out how I can help or change or accomplish.  But then I get worn out, so it’s probably better to see a problem, figure out what can be done, and then see if you have the resources to fix it.

When you’re not writing what do you do? Do you have any hobbies or guilty pleasures?

I love to read, I especially love to travel and have been everywhere but Russia and the middle east at this point.  I go to the gym, I’m an avid tennis player and I enjoy company, entertaining.  I love stories about chefs and cooking. Julia Child’s memoire or whatever that story was about her life was fascinating to me.  I like anything that is completed quickly so I can sit back, enjoy it, revel in it and take a break.

Which romance book or series (or other genre, if you don’t write romance) do you wish you had written?

Literary fiction is the superlative genre in our work.  To be able to write a story that encompasses not only people’s feelings, but how they endured, learned about themselves, loved, sacrificed and then overcame, are great themes in that particular genre.  Books like “Girl on the Train,” “The Goldfinch” and “All the Light We cannot See” are breathtakingly beautiful to me.


What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled upcoming releases or works in progress?

My next group of books is a series called The Counterfeit Series and encompasses the story of would-be actress, Lily Handy, a young woman who lives in fantasy.  But as crimes occur around her, it becomes incumbent upon her to figure out, through acting class exercises, profiles of the bad-guys and she stumbles through long enough to actually solve the crimes before the authorities do.  I like that theme, because ultimately she discovers reality is better than fantasy.



Hot Shot
S.A. Stolinsky

Suspense

November 1, 2016

Fiery Seas Publishing

Book Description:

Payback is a powerful thing...

Actor and bartender, Tyler West experiences a sudden streak of luck -- winning poker games. Determined to change his life, he enters the World Series of Poker. His life is suddenly turned upside down when the Russian mafia fronts him 1.5 million dollars to play at the tables. And then...he loses…

Now on the ride of his life, deceit and deception are his key to uncovering the truth. He must recoup the money, but will it come at a price? Can he stay alive long enough or will his time run out?








About the Author:

Stefanie Stolinsky, Ph.D. is a licensed psychologist and forensic psychologist with a private practice in Beverly Hills, California. She  specializes  in trauma, adults sexually, physically and emotionally abused as children, and PTSD. She is an international speaker and has taught training seminars in overcoming the aftereffects of child abuse. She has also taught licensing examinations to candidates for both marriage, family and child counseling and for the psychology licenses. 

She began her career as an actress in motion pictures, television and stage and created a unique therapy combining acting exercises with psychodynamic psychotherapy to help survivors of all kinds of trauma overcome the aftereffects of abuse. The first edition of "ACT IT OUT" was a top seller for over nine years. A second edition of the popular book was launched in April of this year and is available on Praeclarus Press, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. 

She is also the author of several award-winning short stories including her newest short story anthology, DATE NIGHT, and numerous comedy mystery. Dr. Stolinsky lives with her husband in Los Angeles.


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