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Marshall Karp Sixty seconds with Marshall Karp...


Marshall Karp has worked in advertising, marketing and written for the stage, the screen and TV. He's the author of The Rabbit Factory and its follow-up Bloodthirsty.
RTE: Describe yourself in a sentence?

Karp: I am the person I always wished I could be, only I didn’t realize it would take me this long.

RTE: What's the one record you'd take to a desert island?

Karp: Deep Breakfast by Ray Lynch. There are no lyrics, you can’t dance to it (not that you can find a dance partner on a desert island) and it has the unfortunate, uncomfortable (for me) stigma of being classified as New Age. But if you read the glowing reviews on Amazon, or the letters to the artist on his web site, you will begin to understand how it can provide peace of mind and serenity in a difficult world. When my Hollywood career forced me to live alone in LA while my wife and kids waited for me in New York, Deep Breakfast carried me through the loneliness. My only concern is, where on this desert island would I plug in my record player?

RTE: What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Karp: A taxi driver at four, an FBI agent at eight, a dentist at 17. And at 21 and forever after, a writer.

RTE: Who's your oldest friend?

Karp: My Uncle Icky. His real name is Irving Ziffer, and he’s the basis for Ziff the Sniff, the narcotics detective in my books. Technically he’s my blood relative, but he’s still a lifetime friend. He’s 89 years old, a decorated World War II hero, who fought in the Pacific for five years, was wounded once, recovered, then insisted on going back to the front lines, where he earned another Purple Heart. He is legally blind, dependent on two hearing aids, but doesn’t let anything stop him from living life to the fullest. He is my friend and my hero. He was a travelling salesman who took me on road trips, taught me how to drive a car long before I was of age, introduced me to horseracing, and is still quick with a dirty joke. My wife is his health care proxy, and his instructions to her are as follows: "If I’m lying in the hospital plugged into a resuscitator, put a pair of dice and bottle of Johnnie Walker Black on my chest. If I don’t move, pull the freakin’ plug."

RTE: If I ruled the world...

Karp: I’d start apologizing really fast for the shape we’re in and blame it all on the previous administration. Then I’d spend the rest of my time looking for my replacement.

RTE: Which book do you wish you'd written?

Karp: How My Best Selling Novels Helped Me Earn Millions, Lose Weight, And Win The Nobel Peace Prize. (If that doesn’t qualify, I’d have to say The Day Of the Jackal).

RTE: What makes you angry?

Karp: People who behave in ways I wish I could stop behaving. Nothing pisses me off more than seeing a mirror image of my worst character defects.

RTE: Name your five dream dinner party guests.

Karp: Abraham Lincoln, Groucho Marx, Winston Churchill, one of the Wright brothers, and my wife Emily. If Emily couldn’t make it, I’d invite the other Wright brother.

RTE: Who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?

Karp: Donald Trump and/or Rosie O’Donnell. Separately or together. But if the day came that I had to be stuck with them, I’d hope that Dr Kervorkian were in the same car and could put me out of my misery.

RTE: What inspired you to start writing?

Karp: My father, my high school English teacher, and my love of the written word.

RTE: Where would you most like to live?

Karp: Exactly where I’m living now. But for privacy purposes, I’d rather not divulge the coordinates.

RTE: Sum up your latest book in no more than 12 words.

Karp: One reviewer said it in six. Stunning. 632 pages of unadulterated magic.


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