And I hope I and others here will become a fan of your novel too. It's a good thing that you're here and I think the members here will respect you for it, especially if your novel will be well received (fingers crossed).

Btw, If I was you I should be particulary interested in Turnbull's posts, although he focusses more on The Godfather II years.

Steven Lynch panned the book in today's Post, but provided an interesting Corleone Family timeline for fans. It should be noted that he included Winegardner's books in said timeline.

An offer you can refuse

A lost tale of ‘The Godfather’ fills in the tale of Luca Brasi — but did we need to know?

By STEPHEN LYNCH, NY Post

The Family Corleone
by Ed Falco, based on a screenplay

by Mario Puzo

Grand Central Publishing

He barely appears in the movie, yet Luca Brasi steals “The Godfather.” Maybe because he’s the subject of two of the film’s most immortal lines — Luca helps administer “the offer he can’t refuse,” and after he’s garrotted, he “sleeps with the fishes.” He doesn’t kill anyone in the movie, yet he’s still the scariest capo.

No surprise, then, that Mario Puzo thought fans would welcome a return of Don Corleone’s personal diàvolo. In early drafts of the script to “The Godfather Part III,” Puzo structured it like the previous sequel, weaving in flashbacks of Corleone’s rise to power in the 1930s, including how he recruited Brasi. After Puzo’s death in 1999, his agent found this lost screenplay and gave it to novelist Ed Falco.

The Corleones, with their constant whining about “going legit” between beating guys with tire irons, remain irresistible. It’s 1933-34, the end of Prohibition, and Vito is still trying to consolidate his power. There are vendettas, street shootings and so many descriptions of Italian food that the book includes a glossary.

But, like many prequels, “The Family Corleone” suffers from a fill-in-the-blank quality, fleshing out things that didn’t need to be explained — like Sonny’s temper or exactly how Tom Hagen was brought into the family.

The worst, disappointingly, is Luca. We watch as Brasi’s brutality leads him to despair, and how he becomes indebted to Vito. But his childhood traumas don’t make him any deeper of a character. The diàvolo isn’t in the details. The more you find out about Luca, the less scary he becomes — and no “Godfather” fan wants that.

The ‘Godfather’ century

1901 Young Vito Andolini’s father, mother and brother are murdered by a local mob boss in Corleone, Sicily. Vito escapes to America, where immigration officials name him after his hometown (“The Godfather Part II”).

1920 Vito kills local mob boss Fanucci, who’s been squeezing merchants for protection money, and becomes the new power in the neighborhood. (“The Godfather Part II”).

1925 Vito returns to Sicily and kills Don Ciccio, the man who murdered his family.

1933-34 Time frame of new novel, “The Family Corleone,” based on a Mario Puzo screenplay. Vito vies for power with other families and gangs, including that of enforcer Luca Brasi. His son Sonny is starting to get into the family business, while the boy he raised, Tom Hagen, studies to be a lawyer at NYU.

1941 Vito’s son Michael enlists in the Marines after the Pearl Harbor attack.

1945 Vito is gravely wounded in an assassination attempt (“The Godfather”) which will eventually pit the Corleones against the Tattaglia and Barzini families.

1946 Michael avenges his father’s shooting (“The Godfather”) and must flee to Sicily, where he gets married. Poor Apollonia is blown up by Corleone enemies (“The Godfather Part II”).

1946-48Acting boss Sonny Corleone sends brother Fredo to Vegas to learn the casino business (the novel “The Godfather’s Returns” expands on this period). Back in New York, Sonny is killed on the tollway (“The Godfather”).

1949Michael is allowed to return to America. He marries his girlfriend Kay (“The Godfather”).

1955Vito dies of a heart attack at age 63 (“The Godfather”).

1958-59Michael moves the family business to Las Vegas, after fending off threats from other families and Senate sub-committees. Brother Fredo betrays Michael to gangster Hyman Roth, but is discovered. Michael has Fredo killed (“The Godfather Part II”).

1963 Time frame of the novel “The Godfather’s Revenge.” Tom Hagen is killed by a former member of the Corleone family who has been betrayed.

1979 Events of “The Godfather Part III.” Michael is divorced, wracked with guilt over killing his brother and still chasing that dream of going legitimate. A deal involving the Vatican goes bad, however, leaving his daughter dead and him broken.

1997Like his father, Michael dies, ironically, not of murder but old age (“The Godfather Part III”).

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/boo...K#ixzz1u6tWLnVO

Does anyone remember how the NY Post reviewed the Winegardner novels?

His novels were well received by the press I believe...

Yeah, The NY Post didn't like it, but The Washington Post did, if reluctantly.

http://wapo.st/Ja5MEx

And tomorrow's USA Today has a nice story:

http://usat.ly/KdEtvT

Tomorrow I'll be on the road all day traveling to NY, and can probably use the break from checking reviews and stories. I'm looking forward to being back in NY City for a week . . .

Giuseppe Mariposa waited at the window with his hands on his hips and his eyes on the Empire State Building. To see the top of the building, the needlelike antenna piercing a pale blue sky, he leaned into the window frame and pressed his face against the glass.


Bold copy is a joke not original text.


Giuseppe Mariposa then saw a beautiful young lady, having his face pressed against the glass they locked eyes. She slowly came over and lifted up her dress for little Giuseppe, he took his hands off his hips and from behind glass, he began to notice his needlike antenna was starting to obstruct the view of the window with a cloudy white substance..Giuseppe seemed to lose touch with reality, and then finally realized he was at a cat-house that belonged to vito. Hes startled as the glass is shattered from an ape-like creature that had fallen from the sky, he had come from Hollywood but his poor english had confused Vito after feeding the creature whether he wore to go back to hollywood florida or universal studios in hollywood calforinia. Gisuepe felt that this ape creature who with Benjamin Sigel in LA, would serve as a good enforcer for his crew.Vito Agreed, and sat the ape down and explained to him what kind of business they were in. They eat all kinds of Italian shit the shit you read about in every mob book.Vito had then instructed Giuseppe to take the ape to the local tailor George Anastasia, who fitted the ape with a nice tailored suit, a fedora and a pair of suspenders. George rang the ape up and after hearing the price of 60.00...The ape let out a loud cry to be heard for miles he threw George Anastassia threw the window whose head was squashed by a passing car.

Since I didn't get a review copy (despite my written request), I'm not sure if this is a direct quote, or your fantasy ....

Geoff I edit by intro a little bit, since your review copy hasn't arrived yet.

Dicknose, you should write a parody of The Godfather.

Sure, encourage this gavone.

Why the surname "Mariposa", when that's not an Italian name at all?

Tattaglia doesn't seem to be either.

Thanks Sonny. I'm a fan of your posts as well. I guess not everyone feels the same way.

Did you sober up or something Dicknose? Your posts seem to be a lot more coherent. Still crazy, but more coherent.

True.

Give me a break man, I'm just some guy on this board. But you're probably sarcastic anyway.

Neither is Sollozzo. Maybe their names were changed at Ellis Island.

According to this website the name Mariposa does exist in Italy, although it seems to be extremely rare.

http://www.gens.info/italia/it/turismo-viaggi-e-tradizioni-italia?cognome=mariposa&x=0&y=0

The book hasn't even been released yet and look at the details we're tearing it apart for.

So where does this name come from then? It does sound more Italian than any other language. We all know Smith is evidently not an Italian name.

It's Spanish. It actually means "butterfly" in Spanish. I am just very familiar with that name and it being a Spanish one, which is why I even commented.

Campania and Sicily were part of Spain for a very long time, so maybe therein lies the answer.

Sonnny don't take life so seriously or before you know it your hair will turn bright white and you'll be telling strangers that your name is Richard. Not Richard Certo but perhaps Richard Simmons that's a good one to use on the ladies.

The answer that such a name, although it hails from Spain, might therefore exists in those parts of Italy. I bet there are a lot of Southern Italians with Spanish ancestry.

I had another VOP so I got the mouthpiece to have me sent down south for the winter rather then a cell.

What does Dennis Hopper say in the movie True Romance.

Is there a book based in 21st century about Vincent corleone? Cause if not and if your book is good ed/Richie them you should do it!

I think they should leave the series alone. Were not talking about Harry Potter here.

true that. but if this book is good and he writes in same style it would be good

I'd love to see a book about the final ruination of the Corleone Family in the 1990s under Vincent's leadership. I think one of the script ideas was that he took the family fully into the narcotics trade and in the end was killed in a manner similar to Pablo Escobar.