Interview with Joe Canzano, author of ‘Magno Girl’

Joe Canzano is a writer and musician. He lives in New Jersey, U.S.A. His short stories have appeared in a half-dozen printed literary journals, as well as in the Akashic Books online series, “Mondays are Murder.” He recently formed his own publishing company, Happy Joe Control, and published his debut novel, Magno Girl.

For More Information

• Visit Joe Canzano’s website.
• Connect with Joe on Facebook and Twitter.
• Find out more about Joe at Goodreads.
• Visit Joe’s blog.
• More books by Joe Canzano.
• Contact Joe.

About the Book:

When a Manhattan pizza maker is found dead in his own dough, Magno Girl enlists the aid of her biker ninja boyfriend to help solve the crime – and quickly discovers there’s more to the pie than meets the eye, including a sinister plot that spans the globe.

Magno Girl leaps into action. After all, she can fly, she can fight, and she can use her fearsome superpower, the “Gaze of the Guilt,” to bring a hardened criminal to his knees. But the road ahead is hard. The city’s other superheroes despise her, and the cops don’t want her around, and her own mom won’t stop spitting out advice about marrying a “respectable guy” and trading in her crime-fighting career for a baby carriage—but is she attracted to “respectable guys”? And is she interested in emotional commitment? And will finding real love be her biggest challenge of all?

Welcome to the world of Magno Girl, an absurd place filled with humor, action, and romance.

For More Information

• Magno Girl is available at Amazon.
• Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble.
• Download at iTunes.
• Discuss this book at PUYB Virtual Book Club at Goodreads.

What made you decide to become a published author?

I wrote a novel and I didn’t want it to just sit on my hard drive.

Would you consider your latest book, magno girl, to be a one of a kind? How so?

Yes. It’s an absurd comic fantasy in a noir voice about a female superhero in a surreal version of New York City. As one reviewer said, “It’s like being inside a comic book that’s inside a detective novel.”

Where is your writing sanctuary?

The basement is a good place for me. It’s a nice basement. There are windows and various musical instruments down there.

What inspires you?

I tend to like stories where there is some kind of justice. I do not like stories that are depressing, unhappy, or supposedly “true to life” because they are either unhappy or depressing. There’s nothing untrue or wrong with a happy ending.

What’s one fun fact about your book people should know?

I rewrote it many times. I believe the first line in the book is the only one that was never changed.

Did any real life experiences find their way into your book?

Yes. I once fought a giant man made of rocks in Greenwich Village, just as Magno Girl fights with Brain the Brickyard. In real life, he was easier to defeat.

Aside from writing, what’s your passion?

Playing the guitar.

What’s next for you?

I’m going to publish another novel before the end of the year. It will be an absurd romantic comedy about love and sex and the supernatural.

I’m also going to publish a short story in ebook format very soon (August). It will be free on most ebook websites. It’s about a UFC fighter, a championship fight, and the ghost of a girl he once knew.