A Man, A Ghost
by T. Seidenburg

To whom do we owe our intended good nature? Where do we scrape the courage to engage others in cynical pursuits? Arnold Esche, the sole possessor of an acclaimed media giant guides his readers and woefully employed into a world that all believe to recognize indiscriminately. Social cues force these characters into navigating instances where residents of detached thought and action clash and splatter their ideals together to produce a murky outcome of delicate proportions.

Enclosed are pieces and fragments of events that have taken place in the world of the esteemed Mr. Esche. Created to be read by the fantastic character of the ‘American Aristocrat’ readers will be taken through the fortnight leading up to a cataclysmic event that young/adults can surely resonate with in the trying times of infinite change that are constantly upon them.

Not only does this CEO of a prosperous company affect an all too willing crowd, but we also catch a glimpse of his personal relationships; simply one person engaging one other. In turn, he will relay his inadvertent motivations to the greater environment.

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Lily:  Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview T. Seidenburg, A Man, A Ghost looks like an interesting read. How did you come up with the title?

T. Seidenburg:  The title is an anagram as well as an acronym for Trump’s MAGA, hence, A Man, A Ghost.

Lily:  I love that – what is your favorite scene?

T. Seidenburg:  My favorite chapter is the one involving ‘Henry’ in the courtroom. He speaks aloud and emphatically for all to hear, yet no one is really paying any attention. All human beings just want to be heard. 

Lily:  So true. What kind of reader do you think would most enjoy this book?

T. Seidenburg:  An individual interested in mastering cultural intelligence. Above all someone who wishes to raise their personal burden of proof used to judge everyday situations in the Global Age. 

Lily:  Speaking of your ideal reader, is there anything you would like people to take away from your book?

T. Seidenburg:  The Eastern specter looms large over American consciousness.

Lily:  Now, we’d like to talk about you as a writer. Does writing energize or exhaust you?

T. Seidenburg:  Energize to the max. I become positively lucid when writing and let flow all that creative energy to serve my self-love and healing, fulfillment. 

Lily:  Sounds like writing might also be a bit cathartic for you. What’s your ideal writing space look like?

T. Seidenburg:  Gothic-inspired wooden desk & chair; ink, quill, parchment, the whole ‘nine yards’ in terms of The Brothers Grimm and Dostoevsky’s fantastic bath town of Roulettenburg. 

Lily:  That would be amazing, in my opinion. What’s harder, writing the first draft or editing it?

T. Seidenburg:  Editing. Special shout out to my editor David Haviland of Brighton, ENG-UK. Though it only took two edits, it was a lengthy process.

Lily:  Editing can definitely be difficult. Let’s finish up with some fun questions and get inside your mind. Would you rather give up using a phone/tablet forever, or give up having any salt in food?

T. Seidenburg:  The former. Attachment to nature is much more important spiritually. 

Lily:  True, although I know I’d feel weird without my phone by me. Do you text more or call more? Why?

T. Seidenburg:  Hybrid! Short, direct, to-the-points go via text, anything discussed at length/in depth must come from direct-line, audible communication.

Lily:  Makes perfect sense, I’m a texture usually myself. What’s your favorite candy/sweet treat? Least favorite?

T. Seidenburg:  Favorite is ‘Take 5’ (all in one). My least favorite is skittles. Chocolate>Fruit candy.

Lily:  I haven’t had a Take 5 in forever, I might have to grab one. What life hacks have you found to be particularly effective?

T. Seidenburg:  “Think twice, Act once.”

Lily:  Always good advice. What’s your favorite sport to play? To watch?  (or least favorite)

T. Seidenburg:  International Football unites the world. 

Lily:  (For any readers who may not be aware, you might know that as soccer.) How many chickens would it take to kill an elephant?

T. Seidenburg:  Considering millions of years of devolution, 1. 

Lily:  One determined chicken, I could appreciate that. Is there anything else you would like to add that I haven’t included?

T. Seidenburg:  Watch Fareed Zakaria’s program Global Public Square (GPS) on CNN. Read the great Russian novels and short stories from after the Napoleonic wars onward. (You can see my top ten list below)

Top 10 Russian books that need to be studied by Americans by T. Seidenburg

  1. The Nose – Nikolai Gogol
  2. Demons – Fyodor Dostoevsky 
  3. The Master and Margarita – Mikhail Bulgakov 
  4. Dr. Zhivago – Boris Pasternak
  5. Oblomov – Ivan Goncharov
  6. Dead Souls – Nikolai Gogol 
  7. Fathers & Sons – Ivan Turgenev
  8. A Hero of Our Time – Mikhail Lermontov
  9. The Death of Ivan Ilyich – Leo Tolstoy
  10. Poor Folk – Fyodor Dostoevsky

T. Seidenburg, 31, currently resides on the outskirts of the city of Philadelphia within the confines of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. His mother and father are both descendants of mainland Europe; East and West respectively. His mother’s family was split alternatively per birth into Roman and Greek Catholicism. She was born into the former but he plans to pursue a new membership of the latter. The last 5 years of his life, after leaving university, have been entrenched in the unraveling of humanity through the careful examination of novel tragedies. This suffering of a human conduit has subjected him unwillingly to play the role of ‘The Underground Man’ in bourgeois, American society. He plans to continue these writings for life in an attempt to bridge the gap between Western and Eastern literature.

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