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Donald Michael Spinelli
located the man who sexually assaulted him as
a boy. Now, he is on a murderous trek into the
dark inner
sanctum of New Orleans society to avenge himself
upon his
assailant. The Fishfly is the
debut novel by artist, gallerist and noted television
host ("Art Beat" on PBS), Robert Maniscalco.
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Maniscalco is available to present
booksgning/meet the author events in conjuction
with readings, conversation and exhibitions
of artwork related to The Fishfly.
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The Fishfly
is the inner monologue of Donald Michael Spinelli,
a portrait artist, turned hit-man. Fishflies
are a rich existential metaphor for Spinelli,
who, like the tiny little bugs, is on a desperate
mission to do or die. We find ourselves inside
the mind of an artist with a secret inner life.
The actual story takes place over a period of
about 18 hours in New Orleans, with frequent
flashbacks and digressions to New York City
and the suburbs of Detroit. It culminates in
a dramatic collision of the past, present and
future.
Though he has developed into a formidable artistic
talent, Spinelli discovers he has spent half
his life, incapable of taking real action. Using
the Internet he has located the man who sexually
assaulted him as a boy. Now, he is on a murderous
trek into the dark inner sanctum of New Orleans
society to avenge himself upon his assailant.
The precarious act of trying to "correct"
his life's course sets into motion a series
of events, encounters and recollections that
peel away years of denial and pretense. The
reader follows, moment by moment, as he deals
with the twists and turns of being in action,
for the first time in his life. Consumed by
his guilt and obsession for revenge, he finally
comes face to face, not just with the man who
molested him but with his own inner demons as
well. Through each turn of events, he is forced
to confront the veracity of his stories and
the impact and meaning they have had on his
life. As a result of this nervous breakthrough,
Donald comes to realize he's made himself the
victim of his own life story.
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| Robert
Maniscalco is
a highly sought after commission portrait artist.
His exquisite oil-on-canvas portraits and fine
art can be found in over 750 prominent, private
and public collections throughout North America.
Robert also explored the creative process as host
of ART BEAT, produced by Detroit Public Television
– PBS, WTVS-Channel 56; he also has written
a book about painting and other arts topics, called
"Point of Art." |
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Robert received a bachelor
of Music from Wayne State University in 1983. Now
he is a member of the WSU Board of Visitors and past
President of the Wayne County Council for Arts, History
and Humanities. He lived eight years in New York City
where he completed an intensive professional acting
training program at the Circle in the Square Theater
and worked professionally in numerous film, television
and stage productions. In 1993 he made his Carnegie
Hall debut with the New Renaissance Chamber Artists,
an experimental ensemble of instrumentalists and actors.
In 1995 he took up residency in New Orleans, returning
home to Detroit in 1997, where he founded the Maniscalco
Gallery. In 2005 he moved to the Charleston area where
he maintains his studio and where he is raising his
two fantastic children. He continues to be active
in theater and has developed an instructional painting
video and presents live painting performances, entitled,
"The Power of Positive Painting."
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Note: twelve years in
the making, The Fishfly is a powerful
story that needed to be told. The Fishfly is
a probing, incisive novel which lays bare the insidious
nature of both verbal and physical abuse. It grapples
with the deep-rooted challenges inherent in the healing
process, imaginatively dealing with the how
and why of this raging epidemic. The narrative
moves back and forth, between the perspective of the
young victim and the recovering adult. It is the author's
hope that The Fishfly might contribute
to breaking the cycle of fear, anger and abuse, which
continues to grip our world.
The Fishfly
deals very personally with the issue of abuse and
offers a point of view that is rarely expressed in
our victim-obsessed society. The Fishfly
is a heavily fictionalized "what if" around
the author's own story of abuse, presenting an alternative
ending to the tragic scenario, which continues to
be repeated with young people everywhere. The central
question of the novel is, "what if we actually
had the opportunity to confront our perpetrator 30
years after the fact?" Says Robert, "My
intention in publishing this story is not to capitalize
on mine, or others, misfortune; my goal has been to
express something real and true, to create something
that reaches out to those who may benefit from my
own experiences, real and imagined. This is the goal
of the artist."
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List
of Essays