Chatting with Author, Michael Mazza and Surfing.
--That Crazy Perfect Someday Synopsis:
The year is 2024. Climate change has altered the world’s wave patterns. Drones crisscross the sky, cars drive themselves, and surfing is a new Olympic sport. Mafuri Long, UCSD marine biology grad, champion surfer, and only female to dominate a record eighty-foot wave, still has something to prove. Having achieved Internet fame, along with sponsorship from Google and Nike, she’s intent on winning Olympic gold. But when her father, a clinically depressed former Navy captain and widower, learns that his beloved supercarrier, the USS Hillary Rodham Clinton, is to be sunk, he draws Mafuri into a powerful undertow. Conflicts compound as Mafuri’s personal life comes undone via social media, and a vicious Aussie competitor levels bogus doping charges against her. Mafuri forms an unlikely friendship with an awkward teen, a Ferrari-driving professional gamer who will prove to be her support and ballast. Authentic, brutal, and at times funny, Mafuri lays it all out in a sprightly, hot-wired voice. From San Diego to Sydney, Key West, and Manila, That Crazy Perfect Someday goes beyond the sports/surf cliché to explore the depths of sorrow and hope, yearning and family bonds, and the bootstrap power of a bold young woman climbing back into the light.
Check out my review here
Check out my review here
Author Bio:
Michael Mazza is a fiction writer living in the San Francisco Bay Area. His stories have appeared in Other Voices, WORDS, Blue Mesa Review, TINGE, and ZYZZYVA. He is best known as an internationally acclaimed art and creative director working in the advertising industry. Along with being named National Creative All-Star by Adweek, his work appears in the Permanent Collection of the Library of Congress. He has lectured throughout the country and abroad, most notably at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. He has attended the Iowa Summer Writers’ Workshop, the Stanford Creative Writing workshop, and the Wharton School Executive Education MBA program. That Crazy Perfect Someday is his first novel. Connect with Michael at his website: www.mazzastory.com or on Twitter and Instagram: @mazzastory
1. What was the inspiration for That Crazy Perfect Someday?
My son took to surfing at an early age. On occasion, we’d ride waves together. But then he started to surf big waves and left me behind. When he began to compete in the NSSA, the contest schedule dictated long and tiring trips up and down the California coast. I became a surf dad, carting him to each contest, and to the beach for practice for nearly a decade. This is where I absorbed surf culture and witnessed the talented men and women competing
first hand. I’ve never come across a novel about a professional female surfer and thought how much I’d like to write a smart portrayal of one living in a world of high-stakes competition and the family drama that comes with it.
first hand. I’ve never come across a novel about a professional female surfer and thought how much I’d like to write a smart portrayal of one living in a world of high-stakes competition and the family drama that comes with it.
2. Which came first...the storyline or the characters?
The characters. I wrote a short story around 14 years ago about a bubbly female character and her depressed, ex-Navy captain father who commanded an aircraft carrier. I work-shopped the story, which wasn’t much of a story other than a sketch of the two in a bar. The
daughter wasn’t developed other than her voice. The father was depressed over
his wife’s infidelities. The daughter did her best to console him. The story was absurd. The aircraft carrier he commanded was Streisand class. There was a boxing kangaroo, an Aussie bartender, and a fight. I loved the characters, particularly the young woman, but didn’t know where to take the story until years later when I was inspired to write a story about a professional woman surfer. Then the daughter’s voice popped back into my head, and I was off and running.
3. How much research did you do for this book?
A lot. Much of the surfing references were uncovered through experience and vetted through a son who is a bona fide surfer. I traveled to Australia a couple of times to nail down the locations, idioms, and lifestyle. I researched predictions in technology, the aircraft carrier, and many other small details throughout the book in a desire to give the story a rich texture.
4. Have you ever surfed?
Yes, of course. I’ve surfed, but by no means am I a surfer. The experience of riding a wave is like no other. When you feel the power of the ocean beneath you, carrying you along, the free and beautiful connection to the sea, you’ll understand the meaning of the word, stoked.
5. If this book was to be made into a movie, who would play Mafuri
and why?
and why?
I’m a big fan of Shailene Woodley and think she’d be perfect for the part of Mafuri. She knows how to play characters with a strong inner core, but who are also vulnerable, much like my main character. I also think she’d be able to pull off the surfing scenes and be believable.
6. What can readers expect from you next?
I have two other novels in the works: One novel is in its fourth draft the other
is half done. We’ll see where they go.
is half done. We’ll see where they go.
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