Anthony A. Policastro

There are several major themes and images that I seem to return to, over, and over again, in my writing of short stories, short-story series, and novels. They are unrequited love, the abyss, iconic images of the Harley Davidson motorcycle, Native American folklore, high school romances, baseball, Catholicism, Daoism, and others, which I am sure you might find interesting.

Short Stories

D.J. Nick

In the short story, D.J. Nick, when Jerry Miller and the Grave Robbers backed out of their contract to play at the Annual CYO Halloween Dance, Tommy, and Mike of the CYO Committee knew they were in a jam, and turned to D.J. Nick Serrano, a local disc jockey, who has dreams of following in the footsteps of world-famous radio disc jockeys: Wolfman Jack and Cousin Brucie.

Committee members are delighted when D.J. Nick agrees to spin records at their annual gathering. But, on the night of the dance, students, dressed in weird costumes, discover the meaning of transmogrification.

The blossoming relationship between Nick Serrano and Patricia Pasternak comes to a screeching, terrifying halt, at the dance, as Nick tries to regain his natural form.

In the series DJ Nick – which includes DJ Nick, The Pieta, Tops Diner, and Hello Stranger - the budding high school romance is ultimately marred by unrequited love.

On the Banks

In the series On the Banks – which includes Four Girls in a Volvo, Alien Perfume, The Soiree, and Winter Recess - Nick’s pursuit to regain Patricia Pasternak’s love, while attending Rutgers College in New Brunswick, New Jersey, is again stymied by unrequited love.

The Wildwoods

In the Wildwoods series, you will find two short stories: The Bronze Goddess of Wildwood, and The Starfire.

Other short stories that you will find interesting: The Four Epiphanies of Charlotte May, Visitations, Geometry with Mrs. Schefter, The VMA, Roxie, Scars, A Smoldering Fire, Stanley Flat, Book of Chinese Proverbs, A Collection of Poems.

Novels

Murder on Schooley’s Mountain. In the novel Murder on Schooley’s Mountain, an older Nick Serrano, a veteran, and a sleuth teams up with Donald Wu, a professor at NYU, to solve a murder case involving one of their close friends: Tony Belasco. When Tony is arrested for the double murder of Detective Sam Falcon and Wendy Belasco, Tony’s wife, DJ Nick, and Donald Wu are determined to prove his innocence. But DJ Nick throws a monkey wrench into the works when he falls in love with Sharon Falcon, the dead detective’s wife, a beautiful blonde, and one of two prime suspects.

The Cradle Above the Abyss. In the novel The Cradle Above the Abyss, John Cole, a New York City lawyer, and a veteran, travels to Sioux City, South Dakota, in answer to a call for help from a war buddy and comes face to face with the beast from the abyss, as Chief Long Wolf, accompanied by his granddaughter, Little Flower, makes his final journey to the Mountain of Everlasting Happiness.

Billy and Bridget Meet the Magician. In the novel Billy and Bridget Meet the Magician, when Billy is hypnotized by a magician aboard a cruise to Bermuda, he begins to experience strange dreams, which contain a message. The subliminal message instructs Billy to drive out into the desert land of Death Valley in search of a golden cross that had been stolen from a missionary in Mexico. Billy and Bridget search for the golden cross, but they are not the only ones searching for it. Their encounter with the desperados compels Billy and Bridget to do some rather extraordinary things to survive.

The Summer Season. In the novel The Summer Season, Robert P. Canary, a respected but a down-on-his-luck lawyer of Wildwood, New Jersey, and a former United States Navy commander aboard the USS Narwhal, falls from grace. He is reminded: first comes pride and then the fall. His fall begins when his wife leaves him for another man, when he is dismissed from an investigation involving the homicide of several police detectives and navy personnel, when Master-at-Arms Gerhard Wolff, a mutineer aboard the USS Narwhal, which was subdued by Commander Canary and a few of his loyal officers, is released from Leavenworth and comes to Wildwood, New Jersey, looking to even the score with his former commander.

High Seas Oil Sting – The Screenplay. In the original screenplay High Seas Oil Sting, co-authored with Robert Friedenberg, after being fired from his position as CEO of Pacific International Oil, Robert Vogt, with the help of a Russian investor, establishes a Russian oil company, headquartered in London; and, with the help of twelve Russian sailors bribed from prison, raid Pacific International Oil's offshore operations in the North Sea, hijack an oil tanker with their oil, and then sell them the oil reserves from a fake oil field for billions.

The Final Retribution. In the novel The Final Retribution, co-authored with Robert Friedenberg, when Samuel Stone, an American oilman, teams up with Zor Morgenstern, a Mossad Agent, and Tatiana Petruska, a KGB agent, seeking restitution and the return of looted art that was plundered by the Germans during World War Two, from wealthy art dealers and private art collectors, and meet resistance, Stone offers them an option: “You can give them back and never see us again, or experience looting as did the rightful owners. It’s your choice.”

Tatiana. Co-authored with Robert Friedenberg. In The Final Retribution, you were introduced to the adventures of Samuel Stone, American oil man, Zor Morgenstern, a Mossad agent, and Tatiana Petruska, a KGB agent, and their tactics seeking restitution of looted art, plundered by the Germans during World War Two. Now, in the sequel, titled Tatiana, follow our heroine, as she leads a KGB team to recover a precious Russian icon, a national treasure – the Theotokos of Vladimir – that was stolen from the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and must be recovered at any expense.

Zor. In The Final Retribution and in Tatiana, you were introduced to the adventures of Samuel Stone, American oil man, Zor Morgenstern, a Mossad agent, and Tatiana Petruska, a KGB agent, and their tactics seeking restitution of looted art, plundered by the Germans during World War Two, and the recovery and repatriation of the Russian icon the Theotokos of Vladimir, a national treasure. Now, in the sequel to The Final Retribution and Tatiana, titled Zor, follow our heroine, as she goes undercover in Cyprus to seduce and stop Tariq Murat, the son of a wealthy art collector, from stealing looted Cyprus icons from his father’s private art gallery and selling them at auction in New York to the highest bidder, after which these national treasures would disappear forever.

High Seas Oil Sting - The Novel. In the novel: High Seas Oil Sting, co-authored with Robert Friedenberg, after being fired from his position as CEO of Pacific International Oil, Robert Vogt, with the help of a Russian investor, establishes a Russian oil company, headquartered in London; and, with the help of twelve Russian sailors bribed from prison, raid Pacific International Oil's offshore operations in the North Sea, hijack an oil tanker with their oil, and then sell them the oil reserves from a fake oil field for billions.

Letters from Miami Beach: In this epistolary short story “Letters from Miami Beach,” Nick Serrano, struggling with a greater sense of personal loss than he has ever known before, reconnects with Dr. Sue Yee Lee, a psychiatrist and oncologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, through a series of fifteen letters. Despite her reckless abandonment of him one year ago while on holiday at the Starfire Motel in Wildwood, NJ, Nick writes to her about the Miami castaways, a group of friends with whom he has become acquainted since temporarily settling in Miami Beach. However, Dr. Lee’s ulterior motive for reconnecting with Nick soon becomes apparent when he discovers that Dr. Lee has troubles of her own – a wayward niece, living in Miami Beach has hooked up a group of anarchists from college, and finds that leaving the occult-like group behind her is not as easy as one might think – and that Dr. Lee’s contact with Nick was more a manipulative, calculated plea for help than a casual reacquaintance.

The Miami Beach Castaways: In the Miami Beach Castaways, Nick Serrano has moved to Miami Beach and is spending his time with his new friends – the Miami Beach Castaways – when Doctor Sue Yee Lee, a psychiatrist and oncologist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who abandoned him a year ago while on holiday at the Starfire Motel in Wildwood, New Jersey, shows up at his doorstep, seeking his help. Doctor Sue Yee’s niece is being held against her will by a group of anarchists, while traveling through the Caribbean Islands. Despite Nick’s resentment and his reluctance to help Sue Yee find her niece and return her safely to her family in Fort Lauderdale, Nick gives in and begins a search that takes him, Doctor Sue Yee, and the Miami Beach castaways into dangerous waters.

The Lost List: When the divers of the Sunken Treasures Salvage, Inc., discover a submarine off the coast of Buzios, Brazil, and a diplomat’s briefcase, containing diamonds, letters, and a key to a Swiss bank lockbox, Samuel Stone, an American oil man, and his newly recruited team are called in by the CIA to investigate.

Salvatore: Can Salvatore Forlenzio. A veteran of the U.S. Army, returning to his hometown, after a two-year tour of duty, patrolling the Berlin Wall in Germany, find a job, true love, and happiness with Phyllis Graziano, someone he met at a Halloween dance prior to being drafted into the army? Can Salvatore’s friend, Nick Serrano, a freshman at Rutgers University, overcome the frustrations of unrequited love, and find true love and happiness with Patricia Pasternak, whom he took to his senior prom, on a night which will live in infamy?

Mirage Oil, a novel.

The Russian Arctic Oil Sting, a short story.