Out this month from New Pulp Press:
How far would you go to make your dreams come true? For budding writer and filmmaker Noah Spaeth, being a Production Assistant in director Dominick Bambach's new avant-garde film isn't enough. Neither is watching Dominick have an affair with the lead actress, the gorgeous but troubled Nevie Wyeth. For Noah's dream is to get both the film and Nevie in the end, whatever the cost. And this obsession may soon become a reality once Dominick's spurned wife Isadora reveals her femme fatale nature with a seductive plot to get rid of her husband for good.
Slow Down, a cross between the noir styling of James M. Cain and the dark satire of Bret Easton Ellis, is a thrilling page-turner that holds a mirror up to a media-saturated society that is constantly searching for the fastest way to get ahead, regardless of consequences.
Gerald So: Tell us a little about yourself and what led you to write Slow Down.
Lee Matthew Goldberg: I'm a writer from New York City. I had been working at my first job after college and the whole office was let go. I decided to start writing Slow Down. I finished a draft and then put it in a desk for 10 years before I picked it up again and realized it was worth revisiting.
Gerald: Slow Down is steeped in the world of cinema. Did you have actors in mind as you envisioned the key players? If not while you wrote, who would you cast now if the book were adapted into a movie and why?
Lee: I had actors in mind during the writing of the first draft, but they've all outgrown their parts now. Recently I've recast it and like the new actors I've come up with even better.
For the main character Noah Spaeth, I had seen Logan Lerman in Perks of Being a Wallflower and thought he was great. Noah is a much more wicked and cunning character, but I think that actor could pull it off.
For Noah's old crush Nevie Wyeth, I'm a fan of American Horror Story and Emma Roberts would make a perfect troubled Nevie.
For the hot shot film director Dominick Bambach, definitely Jake Gyllenhaal. From what I've seen in the films Enemy and Nightcrawler, no one can do intense and egomaniacal better.
For Dominick's femme fatale wife Isadora, Emilia Clarke from Games of Thrones. I know she could play devious well.
Gerald: Of the movies you've seen recently, which one would you recommend people see as soon as possible?
Lee: Birdman and Enemy were my two favorites. Birdman has gotten a lot of praise, but Enemy is a small film that stuck with me more than any other this year. No other film begins with a giant arachnid taking over Toronto that may or may not be real.
Gerald: What's the best book you've read recently?
Lee: Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell was really good. I had seen the film, but the book is even more chilling.
Gerald: What's next for you?
Lee: I'm writing a TV pilot, which is a dark drama that takes place in the Ozarks so I've been reading a lot about the area. I'm also working on a trilogy of thrillers centering around an evil corporation called the Desire Card that promises its elite clients "any wish fulfilled...for the right price."
Gerald: Intriguing. Good luck, and thanks for stopping by.
Lee Matthew Goldberg graduated with an MFA from the New School. He is a regular contributor to The Montreal Review and The Adirondack Review. His fiction has also appeared in Essays & Fictions, The New Plains Review, Orion headless, Verdad Magazine, BlazeVOX, and on Amazon. He has co-founded a monthly reading series called The Guerrilla Lit Fiction Series. Visit his website.
Slow Down, a cross between the noir styling of James M. Cain and the dark satire of Bret Easton Ellis, is a thrilling page-turner that holds a mirror up to a media-saturated society that is constantly searching for the fastest way to get ahead, regardless of consequences.
Gerald So: Tell us a little about yourself and what led you to write Slow Down.
Lee Matthew Goldberg: I'm a writer from New York City. I had been working at my first job after college and the whole office was let go. I decided to start writing Slow Down. I finished a draft and then put it in a desk for 10 years before I picked it up again and realized it was worth revisiting.
Gerald: Slow Down is steeped in the world of cinema. Did you have actors in mind as you envisioned the key players? If not while you wrote, who would you cast now if the book were adapted into a movie and why?
Lee: I had actors in mind during the writing of the first draft, but they've all outgrown their parts now. Recently I've recast it and like the new actors I've come up with even better.
For the main character Noah Spaeth, I had seen Logan Lerman in Perks of Being a Wallflower and thought he was great. Noah is a much more wicked and cunning character, but I think that actor could pull it off.
For Noah's old crush Nevie Wyeth, I'm a fan of American Horror Story and Emma Roberts would make a perfect troubled Nevie.
For the hot shot film director Dominick Bambach, definitely Jake Gyllenhaal. From what I've seen in the films Enemy and Nightcrawler, no one can do intense and egomaniacal better.
For Dominick's femme fatale wife Isadora, Emilia Clarke from Games of Thrones. I know she could play devious well.
Gerald: Of the movies you've seen recently, which one would you recommend people see as soon as possible?
Lee: Birdman and Enemy were my two favorites. Birdman has gotten a lot of praise, but Enemy is a small film that stuck with me more than any other this year. No other film begins with a giant arachnid taking over Toronto that may or may not be real.
Gerald: What's the best book you've read recently?
Lee: Winter's Bone by Daniel Woodrell was really good. I had seen the film, but the book is even more chilling.
Gerald: What's next for you?
Lee: I'm writing a TV pilot, which is a dark drama that takes place in the Ozarks so I've been reading a lot about the area. I'm also working on a trilogy of thrillers centering around an evil corporation called the Desire Card that promises its elite clients "any wish fulfilled...for the right price."
Gerald: Intriguing. Good luck, and thanks for stopping by.
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