Richard Vetere is a playwright, novelist, poet, screenwriter, TV writer and actor. He wrote the novels The Writers Afterlife (Three Rooms Press) and The Third Miracle (Simon & Schuster), which is now in several languages. He co-authored the screenplay adaptation for the movie produced by Frances Ford Coppola, starring Ed Harris. His plays, performed globally, include Machiavelli, Caravaggio, Gangster Apparel, The Marriage Fool and his Pulitzer-nominated One Shot, One Kill. He's a member of the Writer's Guild, the Author's Guild, Dramatist Guild, Poets & Writers and the NY Playwright's Lab. He holds a master's degree from Columbia University and teaches a master screenwriting class at NYU and Queens College. He lives in New York City.
Vetere captures the decadent '80's just as the iconic decade leaves the starting gate. His lead character Danny Ferraro is a deer in the headlights blinded by the lure of depravity, the mob, drugged induced sex and the gaudy glamour of the night club scene. Vetere's page turning Champagne and Cocaine oozes vibrantly, written by an author who knew New York City at that time well enough to put his own stamp on its origins. --Judge Ed Torres, author, Carlito's Way and Q&A Evocative and gritty as only New York can be, Richard Vetere's Champagne and Cocaine is testimony that intelligent men spiraling through destructive choices can make for a hell of a read. -- Robert H. Patton, author of Patriot Pirates and Cajun Waltz I devoured it --Tony Danza, actor More than a novel, Champagne and Cocaine is a smooth read, a meditation on the dangers of mixing reality with art in New York's disco era. Ferraro is one of Vetere's greatest characters. --Fred Gardaphe, author of From Wiseguys to Wise Men Past Praise for Richard Vetere: In this utterly unique story, novelist Vetere unfolds a caper of inter-dimensional scope. --Publishers Weekly An original, hilarious and poignant tale of second chances, the role of fate plays in our lives and the triumph of the creative spirit. --Adriana Trigiani, author, The Shoemaker's Wife Vetere is a man with a writer's soul! --Israel Horowitz, Newsday Vetere demonstrates the ability to mix the poetic with the colloquial. --Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times Prose that's lean, direct, and keeps the wheels of plot turning to a surprising finale. -- Fred Gardaphe, Distinguished Professor of English and Italian American Studies at Queens College, CUNY A wonderful story of perseverance and taking control of one's own fate that hold's the reader at bay from page to page. -- Anthony Julian Tamburri, Dean, John D. Calandra Italian American Institute