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Phillip Giambri
Linda Wulkan
​Good Boy, Bad Boy, a Better Man:
A Cautionary Tale
Phillip Giambri
Cover Art by Linda Wulkan
From the Author
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This book did not happen the way I intended. I began putting together a book of previously unpublished stories and poems, but my muse seems to have had other plans.
Most of my written work is dictated to me by a voice in my head that I call my Muse. I seldom write anything that she hasn’t directly dictated. I may not hear from her for months or even years at a time, and during that time, nothing gets written. She usually chooses to visit around five in the morning when she wakes me with a story or poem. When I get up, I write it down because, at this point, I’ve learned to trust her judgment. I’ve published four books dictated mostly by her. I’m happy with them and people seem to like them.
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As I begin outlining the stories in a timeline, she keeps waking me each morning with more additions and inserts. Memories are brought back to my earliest childhood and I relive many beautiful life moments along with more than enough embarrassing and ugly memories. I dutifully recorded them all, rearranged the timelines, and am pleased with the results.
Praise for Good Boy, Bad Boy, a Better Man
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Jump into a literary rabbit hole well worth the exploration! A unique stream-of-consciousness recollection of life in post-WWII America, and the "Bohemia" that was once St. Mark's Place in New York City's Lower East Side. Highly recommended!!
—Gannon McHale, Author, Actor.
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Phillip Giambri comes across in these pages as the perfect everyman, and that makes it easy for the reader to hop up onto his back and see the world through his eyes: from the aircraft carriers and submarines he served on, to the theatres he acted in. And there was almost always a buxom blonde present! Highly recommended!
—Ron Kolm, contributing editor Sensitive Skin Magazine, Author, Poet.
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A page-turner and treasure chest of delicious and delightful vignettes, rude and unapologetic. This is a life reclaimed from the cobwebs of fusty memory, polished up and dished out with a wry grin, an invite to ride shotgun with the top down at half a million miles per. Strap yourself in and enjoy the ride!
—George Wallace, Writer in Residence, Walt Whitman Birthplace.
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Phillip Giambri’s stories are funny, fascinating, and real; a taste of an age long past. Characters like Charlie the Goat Man, Uncle Leon, and Farmer Dobbs all cast a spell that resonates far beyond the page. Don’t miss this book—it’s a treasure!
—Ted Krever, Author Swindler and Son: A Heist Misadventure.
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I found myself traveling with Phillip through his memoir, walking in step with him as he navigated multiple careers, loves, and places he’s lived. I wished I was there with him, meeting celebrities, acting, and partying! I thought, what a cool life this man has lived - even when it was hard, he had a great time. This leaves me anticipating his next book!
—Qurrat Ann Kadwani, Playwright, Actress, Producer.
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After reading this book for the third time I realize it’s a love story, written by a receiver and hunter of love. It’s love and the broken fragments of it that shine like diamonds on the sticky gunk of an old linoleum floor.
—Ezra Lovecroft, poet.
In Phillip Giambri’s most recent collection of vivid prose vignettes Good Boy, Bad Boy, A Better Man a lost world is recalled in the tradition of Jack Kerouac as the Great Remember. With the skilled practitioner of the art of the spoken word set to robust prose, these word picture snapshots cut with an uncluttered precision of a master storyteller.
—Vincent Quatroche, Author, Poet, Storyteller.