Rebecca's Reads - Author Spotlight

Stephen V. Masse

Stephen V. Masse states that his novel, A Jolly Good Fellow,
has its origins in lost love. In a period of crushing depression after the love of his life married somebody else, he holed up and wrote all day, every day, for six weeks. He conjured up a man named Duncan and a boy named Gabriel, and put them together by kidnapping.

Several years and many re-writes later, Masse began to discover that Duncan and Gabriel both represent portraits of himself, and that writing the book was a way for him to kidnap his inner child and experience a bit of healing, renewal or what he calls "inner parenting." The two unlikely bunkmates live together in an anonymous apartment in downtown Boston while Duncan begins his quest for a ransom payment.

The first draft took six weeks. Masse had friends in Amherst in the early 1980s who read the first version. The working title had been Wake Me Up, followed by That Good Old Kidnapped Feeling, then That Old Kidnapped Feeling. During the 1990's he had the great fortune to meet up with a high school friend, John Michael Williams, at a reunion. Williams is a successful writer and musician, and he offered to read Masse's manuscript. A couple of days later Williams called to say that they needed to talk, because he had stayed up an entire night reading through the manuscript.

The news was not all fantastic. He said that there were numerous changes that had to be made. Masse then rewrote the entire book from start to finish, and came up with about a dozen other titles. Something Green for Christmas and Secret Santa were bandied about for a while, but the author was intent on emphasizing the more universal themes and relationships in the book, and downplaying the Christmas angle. One day while at work, the song "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" came into Masse's head from out of the blue, and the rest is history.

Masse is currently working with Emma Viggh of Lund, Sweden on a Swedish edition of A Jolly Good Fellow. French and Italian versions are expected to follow. Soon this book will be all around the world, hopefully because people will want to share it with their friends and loved ones, and not because international copyright pirates discovered it.

Masse is finishing work on another book, Short Circus. This is a children's book narrated by twelve year old Jem Lockwood about his adventures with his Big Brother and a merry assortment of neighborhood friends, all while living under the threat that his Big Brother may have to move away.

A Jolly Good Fellow

Stephen V. Masse
Good Harbor Press (2008)
ISBN 9780979963803
Reviewed by Kam Aures for RebeccasReads (5/08)

.: Review of A Jolly Good Fellow
.: Author website
.: Blog


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Visitor resources

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Social Media Network

Featured Websites

.: Reader Views Kids

.: Inside Scoop Live

.: Authors Access

.: Midwest Book Review

.: Reader Views

.: LR Communication Design

.: Blogging Authors

.: Review The Book

.: Best Sellers World

.: Feathered Quill Book Reviews

Author Spotlight

A Jolly Good Fellow