Took place on October 20th 2006 with a World Famous Journalist from the London Broadcasting Company.
Q: Mr Dino, it's nice to finally have met you. I've interviewed your main character Fifi numerous times and wanted to finally speak to the man who invented this most interesting of characters.
A: Thank you. Unlike Fifi I don't usually give too many interviews.
Q: A bit on the reclusive side?
A: A little bit but the main reason is I'm just so busy with promoting and marketing of "Fifimania" that I just haven't had a lot of time to do interviews.
Q: I understand Mr Dino. You know I think a lot people are surprised that you have a title, gendre, and strong central character that is so feminine in name, ergo "Fifi" and I guess so many people are surprised you are a man.
A: But you see we should be past the point. You know the stereotyping. I mean look at the authors of "Lolita" and "Gidget." They were both men. Now vice versa "Harry Potter" was created by a woman. Now you can even get past more stereotyping that "Fifi", a story about a Caucasian midwestern girl from Des Moines Iowa is written by a Eurasian (Japanese/Italian) male who has lived most of his entire life in Southern California. I have been to Des Moines once to do research for "Fifi" but again my main point is that we need to have freedom in literature and get past stereotyping that authors shoud write about people with the same background. I know colleagues of mine who are also people of color and get questioned the same because the main characters in their book are white. We need to evolve and get past the point of racial profiling/stereotyping authors about what their characters should be like. When I wrote "Fifi" I just happen to make up a dominant character who happens to be female. Most of the major supporting characters besides Fifi such as Jerry, Biff, and Charles, are men. I believe "Fifi" can be just as entertaining for men as it is for women. There are many strong male role models such as Biff and Charles in "Fifi." When I wrie I just think of developing strong characters, no matter what the sex or race of the character is or where the character came from.
Q: Mr Dino you have made a very profound statement about stereotyping in our Western Culture and I do thank you for it. Do you plan to write a sequel to Fifi?
A: You know I've already got a sequel in my mind. I just need to do an outline and get down to writing it. Lets just say a manuscript should be completed around 2009 or 10 for a sequel.
Q: (Interviwer chucking) I guess you can't use the term "Anything Goes in the Double O's" If your sequel is completed in 2010.
A: Not really. Maybe Anything 'Went' in the double O's.
Q: Mr Dino are you a member of any writer's group?
A: Yes and I encourage all authors to join at least one writing group to not only network with other authors but help them improve their craft. I am a member of the Independent Writers of Southern California (IWOSC) and will be joining the California Writers Group (CWG). Yesyerday I did a reading from "Fifi" at a local bookstore out here in LA for CWG and just marveled at the reading other CWG members did from their books. I heard outstanding poems, works form children's books, and readings from one of my favorite authors, John Steinbeck (Cannery Row). I remember reading "Cannery Row" back in high school and it perked me up to hear the descriptive narrative literature that you don't see too much in books today. I tried to emulate some of Steinbeck's language flow and characterization in "Fifi."
Q: Fascinating, so Mr Dino have you had a lot of media coverage for "Fifi"?
A: Absolutely I just did an inteview last week by a radio station in Oakland California and I have interviewed with the famous talk show host, Stu Taylor. I plan to pursue much more media coverage for "Fifi" in the near future.
Q: One last question Mr Dino, Fifi Larouche is such an interesting, eccentric, and very entertaining character. How did you come up with the character development for Fifi Larouche?
A: (A little sigh) You know for all troubles and problems we can blame on the 20th century; we need to not forgot all the fascinating fictional and nonficitonal personalities that century gave us. Of course I know those characters were build up by the media coverage but still we had so many people and ficitonal characters in entertainment/literature/music from the 20th century that had, lets say, imagination, personality and charisma. Maybe I'm biased to the 20th century like Dr Larouche was but looking at the entertainment/music/literature world today in the early 21st century I do not see a lot of people/characters that I would call imaginative or charismatic. Like Fifi says the movies today are not that good, most of the books today are not that exciting to read, and the music today I can't even understand. Look we're constantly making sequels for ficitonal characters who were invented over 70 years ago. There's no imagination at all anymore. So I wanted to develop an interesting, charismatic character who also has some strong moral values because frankly get tired of seeing every movie and bestselling novel today having to use the three old "constants" of language, violence, and sex plus the new constant of "special effects/CG graphics" to promote themselves. (I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of seeing computerized gorillas and ships). In "Fifi" I'm trying to bring some of the entertainment with strong characterization/comedy/imagination that Hollywood and the literature world was once known for.
Q: Mr Dino this is a most fascinating interview. Good luck with 'Fifimania.'
A: Thank you and yes I feel confident 'Fifimania' will capture a lot of people's attention very soon.
