Coinage of Commitment: Interview and giveaway

Today is my time to present you an incredible author whom I also consider a friend, R. Costelloe, and his book: "Coinage of Commitment"

Don't miss his amazing interview and check his brand new blog HERE.

Book Synopsis

Wayne and Nancy grow up on opposite sides of the country, each certain they must have love better than what others will settle for. Something stronger, something richer, something worth searching for. During the turbulent nineteen-sixties, they meet while he is attending blue-collar Drexel, and she is at neighboring, Ivy League Penn. Although irresistibly drawn to each other, they must overcome obstacles posed by the class and social differences that separate them, as well as opposition from both families, and later, a twist of fate that will be the cruelest test of all. Can they reach the emotional heights they seek? Can they overcome time's downward pulling inertia? Coinage of Commitment is dedicated to all who ever wondered about the altitude love might soar to.

Quick Facts

Release Date: Jan 6, 2013.
​Genre: Contemporary Romance​

Formats: Kindle, Smashwords, Epub, PDF

INTERVIEW:

 For people who haven’t heard of…. Coinage of Commitment , make a brief description.

Wayne and Nancy grow up on opposite sides of the country. And they are different in so many ways: different class and economic backgrounds, different political and religious beliefs. And on top of that, he goes to blue-collar Drexel, and she attends Ivy League Penn. But the campuses are next to each other, and in 1968 they meet in a campus tavern situation. Despite being physically attracted to each other, it could never work for them except for one factor. Each happens to want love that’s higher and better than what others will settle for. This is love soaring enough that it must have an intellectual as well as an emotional basis. Once they realize this ambition in each other, the stage is set for a love story unlike any other, and they set out to overcome the obstacles in their path, one of which is opposition from both families. On top of that, fate will hand them the cruelest test of all, one that lets loose an unusual love triangle that will come to dominate the story and set the stage for the book’s surprise ending.

 Are you an early bird or night owl?

I’m at my creative peak when I awake in the morning. I capitalize on this by rising at 5 a.m. and putting in a writing session that lasts as long as my schedule allows.

Where do you get your inspiration?

Let me answer this one at two levels. As a working author, I draw my inspiration for new works from film. The movies Secret Admirer, and Wicker Park both influenced me in plotting my novel, Pocket Piece Cameo. But as a young married adult finally free of college, my inspiration for writing fiction at all was my wife’s love. It’s always been a source of wonder to me that anyone could love another the way she does. This inspirational force played out through a teeth-cutting first novel (one I discarded), and later in the decision to write Coinage of Commitment. In a way, Coinage is a gesture of gratitude, an effort to spread the word that, yes, love of stratospheric quality is possible, and it’s also possible to sustain it through time.

Which of your characters is your favorite and why?

My favorite is in Coinage of Commitment, but I can’t really answer the question further without it having a spoiler effect. Let me just say that the character who comes through the novel’s surprise ending in triumph is my very favorite.

What do you do, besides writing?

I also work as a career counselor. I’ve been an engineering manager, and I am a registered professional engineer in three states—though I am not using my engineering skills at this time.

Do you have any hobbies?

I play the PC game, Unreal Tournament 2004, daily as a kind of comic relief from writing stress. If I am not in “author mode,” that frees up enough of my brain that I enjoy playing complex strategy games on the PC. Some of my favorites are Age of Empires III, Starcraft II, and Sid Meier’s Civilization IV.

Best reward as a writer?

For me, it’s all about delighting readers.

Do you like singing or dancing? Does music inspire you?

Music is special to me because it evokes strong emotions, and it often triggers cinematic mental sequences. These are derived from memories, or they spring from pure imagination. For example, my favorite song is:

Serenity - composed by Kevin Riepl. This is an electronic tune included in the PC game, Unreal Tournament 2004. Whenever I hear this song, The chapter one subway scene from my novel, Coinage of Commitment, plays out in my head, and the sequence usually continues through the restaurant scene and into the subsequent chapter where Wayne walks Nancy home to her apartment in the wee hours. For me, this is Wayne and Nancy’s song, and it plays out in my head like a music video. This song is so special, I insist you try it. Here’s a link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZg5NF4zvwo

When I was in college, I met my future wife at an outdoor bus stop during a February snowstorm. We had seen each other on the bus, but had not met. When I saw her in the distance through a curtain of snowflakes, my natural shyness fell away, and I knew I must introduce myself to this, one of the most beautiful girls I had ever seen. Fortunately, she was just as determined to meet me, so the bus ride home that day was one of the high points of my life to that point. We each got home okay, and after I arrived, I heard The Mamas and The Papas’ California Dreamin for the first time. This song, plus two of their others, Look Through My Window, and Twist and Shout, are tunes that always remind me of the time I spent, madly in love with my wife, before we married, while I was in college.

Favorite movies?

I enjoy love stories on film. My favorite is Notting Hill, starring Hugh Grant. Second place would be a tie between Persuasion, the 2007 version starring Sally Hawkins, and The Count of Monte Cristo, the 2002 version starring Jim Caviezel. This film is noteworthy because it has a love story far superior to the one in the original novel. If you’ve read the original book, then this movie is a delightful surprise the first time you see it.

The Author

Rob Costelloe wrote fiction as a youngster, and completed his first novel a few years after college. But then the demands of family and career intervened, and his writing was mostly business or technical. But then in 2005, he read an Anita Shreve novel whose ending was so abruptly despairing that he felt outrage on behalf of so many abused readers. The result was two books, Coinage of Commitment, which became a National Indie Excellence Book Award finalist, and Pocket Piece Cameo, both published by Saga Books in the next three years.

Again he went off into nonfiction pursuits, but in 2012, he elected to rewrite both titles for the simple reason that he could make them better stories for his readers. Both titles have been published digitally, and are available from Amazon and other outlets.

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Learn more about the author at: ​​​www.rcostelloe.com​​​​​​​​

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