To Mark Francis Schwab, there’s fact to fiction and fiction to fact, and nothing says that more than his book `The Spouse Stealer,` which will debut at the end of May at BookExpo America in New York City.
`Fiction is a mirror of reality,` said Schwab. `I’ve been around a while, been married and divorced and I thought it would be a perfect book to highlight the contemporary baby boomer era, which seems to have a lot of this excessive expenditures and promiscuous behaviors.`
The Saratoga Springs resident chose his hometown of Buffalo as the setting for `The Spouse Stealer` because it’s what he knows best.
`I’m from Buffalo, I’ve seen the baby boomer rich people and it was a very logical place for me to have the story happen because I know the area so well,` said Schwab.
`The Spouse Stealer` focuses on a man living `comfortably on the fringes of wealth` who hits the dating circuit after his last divorce, trying to find love that goes beyond `mutually sexual pleasures.` Just as he settles down, a `serial spouse stealer` enters his life and a story of `lies, lust and temptations` emerges.
This is Schwab’s first work of fiction but it’s something he said he’s wanted to do since graduating college with an English degree.
`I never wanted to sit in a cafE begging for a cup of coffee,` said Schwab.
Instead, he became a fixture in the advertising world, serving as public affairs director for the zoological society of Buffalo, director of tourism for the Buffalo Area Chamber of Commerce, deputy director of I Love New York and owner of his own advertising and public relations agency, among other stints.
`I’ve been a travel writer and advertising executive for 30 years. It was time to hang up the old advertising pen and take the fiction pen off the wall,` said Schwab.
When `The Spouse Stealer` debuts at the national book expo, Schwab is hoping to attract some readers since it’s available exclusively at www.thespousestealer.com and nowhere else.
`I didn’t want to be a starving author. Today’s technology is a lot different from when I started in advertising and you’ve got to get everything online anyway, so why would I go to Amazon.com and then type in ‘The Spouse Stealer’ when I can go directly to my site and track distribution and profit margins,` said Schwab, who also designed the book’s cover art.
BookExpo America will be a chance for Schwab to interact not only with readers but with publishers and other authors.
`It’s the largest book exhibition for writers and new books all the publishers have their new releases out at their booths, copies of the books and people walk by to look at them,` said Schwab.
His first book might have just come out, but Schwab already has two more in the works.
`I was working on all three books at once but that’s like trying to be a dentist, perinatologist and brain surgeon,` said Schwab.
The two books he put on the backburner are titled `Saratoga Times` and `The High Peaks.` Each book will be told through a series of seven short stories.
`That’s sort of my signature. Hemingway is a book of short stories but I’m denoting there will be seven for each book,` said Schwab.
`Saratoga Times` is based on historical facts but written as fiction. `High Peaks` focuses on the 1930 Olympics and what was happening in Saratoga at that time. The two unfinished books are a `100 percent turnabout` from `The Spouse Stealer` but will be just as engaging, said Schwab.
`’The Spouse Stealer’ presented itself because so many people were getting divorced, I’d just gone through one and the last of the baby boomers were a decadent, carefree, run loose type of people,` said Schwab.
Schwab has his hands full pursuing his new career as a fiction writer, but he also has a television sitcom he’s shopping around that’s based on his time working public relations at the Buffalo Zoo.
`It’s called ‘The City Zoo’ and is based on my experiences,` said Schwab. `It’s been out to Hollywood and come back a few times. I’m repackaging it trying to get it directly to a couple actors I want to play in it.`
For more information about `The Spouse Stealer,` a biography of Schwab and a video trailer for the book, visit www.thespousestealer.com. The paperback version is $19.99, hardcover is $29.99 and the eBook is $12.99.
“