What I Have in Common with Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad and Donald Trump

Just a humble Times Union blogger, I'm honored to see my blog post "Top Ten Lists" featured at the top of the Op-Ed section of today's newspaper. But is the Times Union trying to send me a message? Today I shared space alongside Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad; a month ago I was photo buddies with Donald Trump. Sure, there's a bright side here -- they're famous, and I'm not. Who am I to complain? Still, I find myself fantasizing that perhaps next time, they'll put me alongside Jennifer Lawrence (my daughter's heroine), or maybe even Brad Pitt. 

The blog that was featured was "My Top 10 Reasons For Hating Top Ten Lists." With so many Top Ten Lists floating around nowadays, I just couldn't help but come up with my own. 

A Thank You to Fellow Cancer Survivors

A great big THANK YOU to all my friends who helped support the Thyroid Cancer Survivors' Association by buying my book during special times this past year. As a result of your purchases of The Opposite of Everything, it was my pleasure last month to donate $500 to ThyCa in keeping with my pledge to give a portion of my book proceeds to this essential organization. (I also added a personal donation to bring the total to what I felt was a good level). As a comedic fictional twist on my struggles with Medullary Thyroid Cancer, I hope my book brought a smile or two to both readers and ThyCa. Happy Holidays to all! 

David Kalish is author of  The Opposite of Everything, an award-winning comedic novel based on his struggles with thyroid cancer and marriage.

Auditions for my play, The Gringo Who Stole Christmas

DKAT Productions, Inc. will be holding auditions for the musical comedy I wrote, THE GRINGO WHO STOLE CHRISTMAS, to be performed at Proctors' GE Theatre in December. We are looking for Hispanic and non-Hispanic performers to fill several roles. There are 4 male roles available ranging in age from 20 to 50 years of age, and 3 female roles in the same age range. We will be casting both principal cast and ensemble roles. Auditions will be held on Sunday, September 14th and Wednesday, September 17th starting at 7:00 PM in the downstairs education space at Proctors Theater (stairs by the box office). Performances will be held on December 12-14 and 19-21, 2014 at Proctors Theater in the G.E. Theater. You will be asked to sing 16-32 bars of a song of your choice (standard musical theater or contemporary pop) and you will be asked to do a cold reading of a monologue. If you have any additional questions please feel free to contact us at dkatproductions@yahoo.com.

My Literary Return to the Green Mountain State

I used to live in Vermont in another lifetime as a reporter for United Press International, covering state politics in Montpelier. Next week, after a two-decade career as a journalist, I head back to the Green Mountain State to build on my second career -- novelist.

I'll read from my novel The Opposite of Everything at Flying Pig Books, a quaint store in Shelburne, about 20 minutes south of Burlington. A homecoming, you might say. And I'll read alongside Rebecca Coffey, a Vermont humorist who's signing copies of her own comedic novel, Hysterical. Hope you'll join us there. If you think you can come, please RSVP to the Facebook event invite.

My novel, which took me thirteen years to write and nabbed a couple of awards this spring, is a comedic twist on my struggle with cancer and divorce. Interestingly, it's full of Jewish humor and I'll be reading from it in a book store with a decidedly non-Kosher name, "Flying Pig." The Yiddish word for non-Kosher is traif.

Here's the nutshell of my novel.  When Brooklyn journalist Daniel Plotnick learns he has cancer, his fortunes fall faster than you can say Ten Plagues of Egypt. His wife can't cope, his marriage ends in a showdown with police, and his father accidentally pushes him off the George Washington Bridge. Plotnick miraculously survives his terrifying plunge, and comes up with a plan to turn his life around: He’ll do the opposite of everything he did before. In the darkly comedic tradition of Philip Roth, THE OPPOSITE OF EVERYTHING was named Top Literary Novel in the Somerset Fiction Awards.

About HYSTERICAL: Imagine growing up gay in a household where your world-renowned father calls lesbianism a gateway to mental illness. And it is always, he said, caused by the father and curable by analysis. Now imagine that he analyzes you. Liberally salted with the lowbrow humor that may have saved her sanity, HYSTERICAL: Anna Freud’s Story is the fact-based, fictional autobiography of Sigmund Freud’s funniest daughter. Booklist called HYSTERICAL “an avidly researched, shrewd, and unnerving first novel” that is “complexly entertaining, sexually dramatic, [and] acidly funny.”

In Honor of Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month

Good morning, everyone! September is one of my favorite months (I'm obviously not a student), and it's also Thyroid Cancer Awareness Month. In honor of this month, and as a thyroid cancer survivor, I'm donating half of all profits from my novel, The Opposite of Everything, to the Thyroid Cancer Survivor's Association. (ThyCa) If you are looking for something fun but deep to read, a comedy with a serious subject -- cancer and divorce -- think about purchasing this novel. (Click here) As a friend of mine says, you will be donating to a cause close to my neck!

Laughter is the best medicine, and it's how I survived what I went through. A comedic twist on my own personal struggles, The Opposite of Everything nabbed two awards -- finalist in the humor/comedy category of the Next Generation Indie Book awards, and top literary novel in the Somerset Fiction Awards.
 

Book Tour Hits Stride Five Months After My Novel's Launch

My book tour hits its mid-summer stride this week, veering into Albany, N.Y. for back-to-back events, as my comedic novel The Opposite of Everything celebrates its five-month birthday.  

The first event is Tuesday, 12 noon, at the Albany Public LIbrary, sponsored by -- you guessed -- Friends of Albany Public Library. Then Wednesday, 3 p.m. at the Albany Jewish Community Center, an event sponsored by Jewish Family Services of Upstate New York. (This one requires an RSVP; just click on the link). I feel relaxed going into them, but excited on another level to see who shows up and what each venue brings to the experience. Wednesday's JCC event, for instance, will be a Q&A format conducted by my good friend and fellow author Lale Davidson, a creative writing professor, and the excerpt I read will reflect my Borscht Belt humor.

I can't wait to meet my readers. It's the part of the job I love -- interacting with people who are curious about my writing process and want to learn more about how I built this book from scratch. 

So if you're around, please do drop by!

Help Bring the Capital Region's Newest Musical Comedy to the Stage

Dear theater lovers, fans of cultural inclusiveness, fellow writers, and folks with a desire to support local arts and artists (did I leave anyone out?): 

Please help support the Capital Region's newest musical comedy, The Gringo Who Stole Christmas, which I wrote. It's cast and booked for Proctors' GE Theatre in Schenectady in December, but needs your financial help to become a reality. Click on the link; donations are tax deductible and will help pay for everything from rehearsal space to set design to costumes. Remember: every little bit helps (and big bits help too). Gringo is a Latin twist on A Christmas Carol with a family friendly, hip-wiggling message of cultural inclusiveness. It's incredibly exciting for me to bring my script to life on the stage, and I'd love if all my friends joined me on this journey.

And please share this post with your friends.

https://fundabilities.com/the-gringo-who-stole-christmas