Paul C. Bomba

Stephanie wrote: "Paul wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "I am currently reading No Lifeguard on Duty and loving it so much! the combination of fact and fiction is very engaging and the characters are well-developed. Asbury ..."

Stephanie, I am so glad to hear about your interest in Asbury Park, Bruce, and No Lifeguard on Duty. Here is a little more about each.

The Idea for the Book: It can be traced to my own experience on the Fourth of July weekend of 1970. As I lay in bed listening to the sirens, my first thought was a selfish one: this is going to mess up my beach life. I loved being a beach kid. Like Adam, I thought the town and life there were like Eden compared to the depressed part of Appalachia we'd come from. I didn't want to lose any of that. Until then, I had no idea of the racial history and tension that existed.

Then it occurred to me that my experience with the riots and the experiences of other families were very different. I felt an urge to write about that, but I didn't know how to do it. That started a fifty-year period of carrying that need to express myself with me. In my readings, I describe that need as resembling "sand in my sneaker" for most of my life.

The Role of Bruce's Music: If the idea for the book was on a fifty-year life journey with me, Bruce was in the back seat strumming along. I like to say that the music is between the lines of the story. Ironically, it wasn't until I went to college that I discovered Bruce. Of course, I pretended to know all about him since being from Asbury had a lot of social cache with his fans.

When I first heard "Sandy", images of the boardwalk and beach started to attach themselves to the original idea. "Grown' Up" gave me images of youthful rebellion, "Born to Run" and "Thunder Road" gave me images of youthful angst, the process of breaking out and finding out who we are. The process of generating images and establishing themes for the book continued for me as his career progressed. As l carried the idea with me throughout my careers in academics and business, I kept a notebook and dabbled with writing but was too busy with family and career to do it seriously. The themes of friendship, family (especially fathers) and the excitement and disappointments of love found their way into my notes. Eventually, chapter titles, dialog and mood would be directly influenced by lyrics. There's a link from my website to two radio interviews where I commented on the role of his music.

My Personal Experiences and My Family History: I describe this to some extent in the Afterword. My family story provides a backstory for the Dobek family based on family folklore. My personal observations provide the basis for authentic descriptions of the town during that era. The history of the riots is real and accurate as I experienced them and as described in newspapers. But all the actions and conversations of the characters are fictional. Hence, the first half of the book is historical fiction. The entire book could also be described as a fictionalized memoir.

I love talking about the book and how it came to be, so let me know if you want to discuss other topics. I liked your description of your attachments to the characters and would love to know if you have a few favorites among the cast and why. Some of my favorites are the seemingly "minor" ones. But I am very attached to all of them and think about them often, especially as I'm working on a sequel to tie up some of the loose ends I left.

I would certainly appreciate your recommendations to personal friends, book clubs, etc. Ditto for your Goodreads friends and groups. I'm not expecting to make money from the book, although I will shop it around. For the time being, I'm marketing it on my own. My only goal is to have as many people as possible read it, be entertained by it, grow attached to the characters, and appreciate its unique setting. In short, I want No Lifeguard on Duty to find its audience, which is probably made up of people like you.

Best regards, Paul

Paul wrote: "Stephanie wrote: "I am currently reading No Lifeguard on Duty and loving it so much! the combination of fact and fiction is very engaging and the characters are well-developed. Asbury Park is a pla..."

Well, you have probably guessed that I am a huge Springsteen fan as well. Your book is much like Asbury Park is to me. I was drawn to it because of the Bruce connection, but it really got into my heart for so many reasons: characters, setting, historical context, references/connections to Bruce. I really just found this to be an all around excellent read. I guess I'll start off with what drew me to this book in the first place and that is the setting in time and place. I have grown to love AP over the past 5 years, and am very curious about it's history, not so much the facts, as the feelings of being there-the human aspect. I felt very connected to these characters, although my life experience is very different, I felt I could relate to them and understand what it felt like in that place and time. Could you talk to me a bit about how close they are to your experiences in real life and to what you know of the real Asbury Park, both past and present? Also, thank you for your response. Really excited to discuss this book with you.

Stephanie wrote: "I am currently reading No Lifeguard on Duty and loving it so much! the combination of fact and fiction is very engaging and the characters are well-developed. Asbury Park is a place that really get..."

Stephanie, thank you for the kind words. I'm glad you are enjoying the book and would love to chat about it. Perhaps you could start us off with a question. I'll entertain anything. Plot? Characters? Setting? Writing process? Fire away.

I am currently reading No Lifeguard on Duty and loving it so much! the combination of fact and fiction is very engaging and the characters are well-developed. Asbury Park is a place that really gets into your heart, and you have completely captured that in this book. Would love to chat with you about this book.