Malaise

About the Book

Jonathan is a mere human. He stumbles into the emotional comfort of his wife's sister, Joan, in the fallout, many years after an "emotional affair" with his co-worker, Simone. Claire, Jonathan's wife, has her own secrets. Her controlling ways push Jonathan away, while she pulls him back to keep their relationship together. His marital bounds are tested when Simone returns, eight years later, to be a friend, and to see if their relationship would have worked. Humorous and dark, sad and complex, Malaise wanders through the life of Jonathan and his women, as he searches for love and peace in his emotionally barren world. ForeWord Clarion Book Review

About the Author

Ever since EJ took his mother's Smith-Corona typewriter, in his teens, to write his first play, On the Eight Day, God Created the Wheat Thin, things have been changing. At Jonas Salk Middle School, EJ wrote an absurdist play called Gagnet, a parody of Dragnet, with the emphasis on the Valley Girl expression to, “gag me with a spoon.” He later wrote a screen play, Fearbound, to be filmed for the school's Career Day. It had many of his class mates, who were able to skip class to rehearse with him, the teachers not knowing it was an psychological slasher film taking place in the school. Although largely unfinished, the several scenes were shot on Betamax became un-recognizable when it was time to present, because of poor quality video tapes. At Madison Central High School, Old Bridge, NJ, first with the GDFTC (God Damn Foreigners Theatrical Crew, a name their teacher, Bogden Vito Deminiak used to call them) and then on to playing Editor Webb, in Our Town for Exeter High School, Reading, PA, EJ has had been involved with theater. After High School, he broke into to Community Theater, playing a small role in Our Town for Shoestring Productions, in Reading, PA. One of the actors was amazed that EJ could remember everyone’s lines and blocking so easily, she asked him to stage manage Stepping Out for her, she was directing, at the Jewish Community Center. His friend Jeff collaborated on some lyrics for a new musical EJ called No One Gives a Damn. EJ wrote the book and music, and dedicated it to his sixth grade teacher, Mr. Smith. The absurdist play farce, takes place in England during the rule of the Roman Empire. EJ shopped it around at a number of colleges, got a bunch of rejections, as most colleges were looking for something August Willson-ish. His happiest rejection intimated that it looked fun to do, but would be hell to produce. In 1989, he wrote, directed and starred in the 20 minute film, Reading Marzden, Private Investigator, a parody of Mickey Spillane, Mike Hammer. Reading was built out of a character strip he created to cheer up his friend Jeff, off in college. The character of Reading Marzden, goes through his pointless work, not getting anywhere and always being on the wrong trail of something. It is filled with sight gags, funny voice overs, and amusing characters. It became critically acclaimed by friends, family, co-workers, and some of Jeff's college friends. He continued stage managing a number of productions for Shoestring and other theaters, including some shows in Allentown and Ephrata. He returned to Reading to play the role of the Photographer in Reading Civic Opera Society’s production of Anything Goes. The director of Anything Goes asked EJ to play at butler (that gets blown up in the first act) in Something’s Afoot in summer theater at Penn State, Berks Campus. He spent time learning sound and lighting in his off time behind the scenes. In the winter he was asked to stage manage a production of Tchaikovsky's ballet Peter and the Wolf. He took on running lighting and sound for a bilingual group that was playing at Reading Community Players. He was asked back to play a bit role at Penn State, Berks Campus summer theater production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. In the 2000’s, he performed with an experimental theater company, Reading Theater Project. The first production, EJ stage managed a collection of short, one act plays. Their next production, a new musical called Fag, The Musical, EJ had a starring role. From there he got the role of Scanlon in Genesius Theater's production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In 2005, EJ started a band, first as rhythm guitar, keyboards, and lead singer, and then took up bass when he needed to. Neverwuz, played some parties (including one for the IMS department of the Reading Hospital), but spent most of their time practicing in his garage. Neverwuz broke up in 2007. In 2007, EJ started, what would be the first draft of Malaise, it followed the chara