- a great storyteller with interesting, funny, compelling stories to tell
Readers, thanks for checking out another Author Spotlight Interview. Let’s give a good, hearty welcome to this week’s guest!
Bob Mazerov is not simply telling this story, he lived it. He grew up mucking stalls, cleaning harnesses, and training racehorses on a standardbred horse farm in southern Ohio – much like the farm in “The Last Horseman” – and at horseracing tracks all over the country. He participated in most of the events that shaped this story, never knowing that his mother had a secret life as an illegal gambler.
Starting as a newspaper reporter, he put that part of his life on hold to build a successful career in marketing and advertising; along the way he learned how to craft a compelling story. Bob firmly believes that life is about great stories, and this is one of them.
Bob, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most author spotlight interviews start off with the boring stuff, but I know what readers REALLY want to know.
If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?
A clam. Low maintenance. No having to throw a ball. Lacks cuddling prowess, but I can get used to that.
Hahahaha! I love it!
What do you write? And how did you get started?
Let me start with the second question first: How did I get started?
I grew up mucking stalls, cleaning harnesses, and training racehorses on a standardbred horse farm in southern Ohio – much like the farm in The Last Horseman – and at horseracing tracks all over the country. As a result, the events in the book are events I saw, experienced, and misunderstood. I’m not simply telling the story of my parents, the horses, the grooms, the settings, and the events of The Last Horseman, I lived it.
All my life I’ve loved writing. I thought I’d become a newspaper reporter, but that was hard work and I’m basically lazy. I put that part of my life on hold to build a successful career in marketing and advertising. Along the way, I learned how to craft and tell a compelling story.
As a part of a college assignment, I started keeping a journal of my feelings, experiences, and the oblique way I saw the beautiful, mundane, and monstrous world around me. After a few weeks of writing in my journal, a college professor asked if he could read a few passages from it to his class. At one point he laughed so hard, he had to stop reading and leaned back on his desk to compose himself. At that moment I realized the entire class was laughing out loud along with him. He read several selections, and at completing the last one which was heartfelt and moving, a woman in the class was crying softly. He then explained that there were several sections he would not read out loud about a girl with whom I’d fallen in love, and he said the passages were so moving and so expressive and so heartfelt that he hoped someday someone would love him as much as I loved the woman in my journal. How could I not have wanted to become a writer after that?
Over the years, when I told people how I grew up on a horse farm training racehorses, they were interested. But when I told them that my mother won my college education as an illegal gambler, they were spellbound. Then when I thought about how she did it – and why – the simple chronology of my youth became a story of her personal empowerment, flirting with danger, and her ability to keep a secret. I kept the story in mind for a long, long time. About five years ago, I decided to write the story I’d told so many times. I finished it about 18 months ago, sat on it for a while, then gave it to an editor. Now I’ve published it.
The first question: What do I write? I tell stories. Life is about great stories, and I tell stories about real events as I saw them – and now and then I make up other parts.
What an amazing journey.
Why call your book The Last Horseman?
I’m glad you asked because it’s a sore subject for me.
I had wanted to call the book The Ladies of the Pie, since my mother and her friends loved a good piece of pie and they always had a piece of pie as a part of their scheming. However, everybody I spoke with told me The Ladies of the Pie was a terrible title. “Is it about pie? What does it have to do with horse racing? Is it a cookbook?”
So I called it The Last Horseman. I’ll go on record: I still think The Ladies of the Pie is a better title.
Now I want to know what flavor pie they preferred.
What do you like to read?
I have a pattern. Pulpy mystery or crime thriller…Classic / Literature…Pulpy mystery or crime thriller…Bestseller (which is sometimes a pulpy mystery or crime thriller)…Biography. I went through a period when I read every book published by John Steinbeck. Then every one published by Ernest Hemingway. Then by James Agee (my favorite author). I read Atlas Shrugged about every five years, but I have no idea why. (If your readers have any idea why I keep rereading Atlas Shrugged, please pass along their notions to me.)
When I was in high school, I read the play The Odd Couple after every book I read, and I laughed every time I read it. I’ve never been much on business books or professional books on how to be a better person. That ship has sailed.
I definitely read genres in binges myself, so I get it. And once I read a new author, I usually run through their backlist.
Perhaps the Atlas Shrugged obsession is because it’s one of those books held up as ‘classic literature’. Or perhaps it’s to remind you that there are people out there who treat others as stepping stones, with minimal empathy? It could provide good villain fodder?
What do you drink when you write/edit?
Iced tea. No sugar. No lemon. Just brown.
I’m suspecting that you’re not a Southerner. *winks*
WHY WOULD SOMEONE WANT TO READ THE LAST HORSEMAN?
I think it’s a book about women’s empowerment, set in the sports world. It’s about (seemingly) ordinary people doing extraordinary things and facing fear without hesitation. It’s targeted to readers who know that good people make mistakes and have the opportunity to redeem themselves.
You don’t have to follow horse racing – or even sports – to understand and like The Last Horseman. It’s definitely a book for people who like stories about sports, horses, women, friendship, horse racing, gambling, and danger. But it’s also a book for people who like sex, laughter, getting even, and triumph.
The Last Horseman is for anybody who has ever been afraid or asked: “What do I do now?” “What if I take this risk?” “What if I get caught?” “What if I fail?” It’s a book for somebody who has ever wanted to see someone they love succeed, or for good to triumph. It’s a book where you can find somebody to admire.
I love it when authors are passionate about their stories!
Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you
Write what you know.
I’ve never felt bound by knowledge, truth, or facts. Now do you see why I wasn’t a great newspaper reporter?
I’m getting an inkling.
Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice they can pry out of your cold, dead hands
Write every day.
Part of writing is muscle memory that comes from just doing it day in and day out. The more you do it, the more easily the words flow.
I’m so glad that advice works for you.
Shameless Self-Promotion time!
The Last Horseman
Eddie Logan was once the nation’s leading standardbred horse trainer. Today he’s down on his luck, struggling to survive in a world where rigged races and corruption threaten the future of the sport he loves. As Eddie faces mounting financial pressures, he succumbs to the temptation of cheating, the one-and-only time in his career, only to lose everything—except the love and support of his wife, Jean.
Desperate to save the man she loves, Jean cooks up a lucrative–and illegal–betting scheme. With the help of an organized crime boss, she bets on race after race, risking everything in the hopes of winning enough to restore Eddie’s reputation and career.
Jean must stay one step ahead of the law while keeping her scheme secret from Eddie, who would put a stop to it, and the horse racing officials, who would ban her and Eddie from the sport for life. As she walks a narrow line, Jean must decide how far she will go to save the one she loves.
Inspired by true events, The Last Horseman is a gripping story of a Midwestern housewife who secretly devises an epic gambling scheme to save the career of her alienated horse trainer husband — perfect for fans of Secretariat and The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told!
WRITING TIPS & WRITERLY MUSINGS 
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