PHILIP MACHALE began the detour from writing his Viet Nam novel when an Italian casting director suggested work in a Liz Taylor movie. He decided acting was only the other side of telling a story, ...view morePHILIP MACHALE began the detour from writing his Viet Nam novel when an Italian casting director suggested work in a Liz Taylor movie. He decided acting was only the other side of telling a story, so he spent the next twenty-five years doing minor parts in major movies and major parts in minor movies, living mostly in New York where he did some stage work, a bunch of commercials, and you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up soap operas. When he returned from Europe, he had three novels in his suitcase. They were rejected. He’s been battling the odds ever since. He takes personal responsibility for killing a lot of trees, electronic dots, and most devastating of all, the patience of his wife and two sons.view less