● Versatile copywriting
● Feature articles
● Blog posts
● Corporate collateral
● Website content
● Press releases
● Ghostwriting
● Marketing material
About the Writer
Richard is a graduate of Florida State University's Creative Writing Program, one The Atlantic called among the 'best of the best' in the country in their article "Where Great Writers are Made," which isn't to imply that going there necessarily made him a great writer, but let's just say it didn't make him any worse. As a student he wrote feature stories and reviews for the university newspaper The FSView & Florida Flambeaux and published poems and short stories in the campus literary journal. His writing career started right out of college when he began writing feature stories for The Naples Daily News, where he would continue as a contributing writer to many sections over the years, interviewing celebrities, entrepreneurs, statesmen, writers, musicians, athletes, and anyone newsworthy that came along. He covered stories for the Arts & Entertainment, At Home, and Local & State sections, as well as features in Showcase and Ambience Magazine. His newspaper work brought him more freelance projects from public relations firms, small businesses, and independent contractors in need of good copy for their operations. Later, when wanderlust got the better of him, he left everything behind and headed to South America on a one-way ticket to travel, teach, and write a novel. Over the years he kept a weblog of his exploits under the title of The Lunatic Chronicles, which grew to have a dedicated following with thousands of visits to the site. His novel I Shall Be Gone was published in 2013, and he’s in the process of publishing his second book.
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Features, Articles & Other Clips
A gallery of the writer's published work with The Naples Daily News, a USA Today newspaper in Florida, as well as contributions to other publications covering a wide spectrum of subject matter, including art, literature, entertainment, science, nature, human interest, technology, home & garden, and local & state news.
Arts & Entertainment
Lou Diamond in Camelot
An interview with Lou Diamond Phillips on his role as King Arthur in the theater production. For a guy whose wife left him for Melissa Etheridge he seemed chipper.
Mickey Rooney Comes to Town
When the late, great Hollywood legend and his wife passed through town with their traveling show "The One Man, One Wife Act," I got the chance to chat with the surly old tinsel towner.
Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits
Something tells him he's into something good. The British Invader talked about the thrill of singing his old hits again on his revival tour. He said there was still underwear being thrown at him, they'd just gone up a few sizes.
Olympic Legend Dorothy Hamill
The champion skater who once sported the famous 70s wedge haircut came through town with Nancy Kerrigan and friends. We talked about her illustrious career and how the sport has changed over the years.
Soap Opera Stars Perform Love Letters
The husband and wife duo talked about the soap opera scene, acting in a two-character play, and how hard it is to keep a straight face when you're the bad guy in a closeup.
Bestselling Author Leslie Waller
The writer of Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Dog Day Afternoon let me in on the inside scoop about Princess Diana's assassination. Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you.
Andrea McArdle in Evita
Megalodon at Film Festival
A 'Cats' Tale
Preachin' Deion Sanders
Local Artist Goes Abstract
Spider-Man & Star Wars
Jethro Tull Concert Review
Science & Human Interest
The War Room
The Beetle Collector
Snowbirds
Dale Earnhardt Super Fan
Hide-A-Hose Vacuum Review
Root Watering System Review
From Waste to Wood
Amazon in the Garden
Chasing Waterfalls
Writer & Publisher
Something funny is going on in the mind of Jobeus. He's been lying awake at night having visions. It's been a week since they moved him to the Hawses' foster home way out in the country, and the house is still strange, the old man in the pajamas downstairs is weird. Everything is. His old life is lost to him, childhood is ending, and now he's beginning to lose his head too. Or is he only just beginning to discover its power? Here Brackenwoods forest stretches for miles and miles around, and the legend of a hero long gone still hangs over the hills. Jobeus is waking. In the dark it seems as though the great mystery is about to reveal itself. Something is happening to him. He can't stop thinking about the Hawses' older daughter, the cat out in the pothole seems to be waiting on him, there is another world calling to him from somewhere. Who’s to say where his road will lead him, because truth is a pathless wood, and the journey home for Jobeus is about to begin. But the only way out is within.
Truth is a pathless wood, and the journey home for Jobeus is about to begin. But the only way out is within.
Editorial Reviews
“Ultimately, I Shall Be Gone is a story of ignorance and control, and how the two can come together to stifle individual thinking, sometimes so seamlessly that you don’t even know it’s happening until it’s too late. Ferrara exhibits a pretty masterful control of the borderline stream-of-consciousness style that’s used to take us into Jobeus’s thoughts...consistently and with purpose, in the end delivering its heart-felt message intact...enjoyed this book immensely.”
“Surprisingly and dangerously addictive - a unique and brave novel...undeniably immersive. The narrative of Jobeus is charming, funny, at times poetic and attentive. All the drama and involuntary comedy of the beginning of adolescence are brilliantly crafted...perhaps the best kind of contemporary fiction...a novel for readers to savor and enjoy.”
“Richard Ferrara has created a world within a troubled boy’s mind that is sure to stay with his readers. Jobeus is a complex, interesting, and sympathetic character. His rich internal world (as well as his often witty and relatable anecdotes) is by turns hilarious and frustrating. Ferrara’s characters are all complex, comical in their own way...[his] masterful and varied prose makes the novel move more quickly than one would expect, and keeps the reader hanging around for more...an author to pay attention to. You’ll be hearing more about him very soon.”
A one-way ticket into the unknown
Back in the foggy annals of 2004 the restless scribe quit his job and absconded to South America on a one-way ticket to Lima. He created a website and began posting his travel writings online as he went. The site began to receive thousands of visits. The Lunatic Chronicles is the record of those years he spent abroad. From the Inca Trail to the depths of the Bolivian jungle to blindfolded with a gun to his head, he found lots of things to write about down there.
The End.
Copyright 2023 © by Richard Ferrara