Cotolo's new book gets the buzz
 
 
Frank Cotolo
 
It is titled Molotov Memoirs and the title alone is raising eyebrows.
 
It is 30 stories by Cotolo and original art by T. Stefan Gesek. More explanation than that cannot do the book justice because it is a true experience, an individual experience. It is an analog experience in a digital world.
 
"It's like the old days," said a man who read it and has been reading for over 80 years, "when you would get a book, hold it, read it and that was the form of entertainment that made the day go by."
 
Molotov Memoirs is available in limited distribution at Blurb dot com and there are enough copies there to supply everyone in China, if necessary, providing everyone in China can read English. Perhaps translated copies will be in the offering soon?
 
The book's tales are based on the adventures of Frank Cotolo, whose life has been a peculiar journey so far (though no change in that status is expected). A mixture of celebrated people have passed through Frank's life and his friends and lovers have taken mysterious forms, to say the least.
 
"I never tried to write something specific," says Cotolo. "I reached back and gathered details concerning many of my influences and came up with undeniable truth that I have contributed nothing to mankind. It's kind of cool."
 
Cotolo stands out from his contemporaries, that is, among those who broadcast with agendas and messages. He admits that whatever he says is purely for entertainment purposes and that this book proves it.
 
"I am dead serious about not being at all serious," he says, "and yet I handle myself with strict rules, most of which I love to break."
 
The host of Cotolo Chronicles, available through SRN Mediaworks, says he has more faith in the current book than he has had in any other of his published works.
 
"There are a lot of books out there," he says, "but not all of them can hold your interest, especially for those of you with ADD and ADHD, no less those who bore easily. I feel this book is one of those books you cannot put down, unless you want to use it to crush a fly in midair."
Reviews, so far, are scarce but glowing. One reviewer wrote: "I know this is a scarce review but this book shines. I was reading it in bed last night and I didn't have to use the lamp."
 
Another reviewer wrote: "I don't want to use many words in this review. Lord knows I have already used too many. However, this book is worth it for the illustrations alone. That Gesek guy really knows how to draw. A son I have from a former marriage has taken all the pictures in this book and pasted them on his bedroom wall. At least I think that is where he sleeps. God only knows. Ok, I have written enough."
 
"This book," says Cotolo, "would not be this book were it not for T. Stefan Gesek. He made it into an art object. So it is a book and an art object, the text being a part of the art, along with the illustrations, and the stories are part of the object. Just as Stefan's illustrations include lines and strokes, so it is that the stories include verbs and nouns. The book, the art, the lines, the nouns; this book has everything."
 
Frank Cotolo can be found hosting the talk and interview programme Cotolo Chronicles.
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