Dan Schorr Interview - Final Table

Photo Content from Dan Schorr 

Dan Schorr is a sexual misconduct investigator at his firm, Dan Schorr, LLC, and an adjunct professor at Fordham Law School, where he teaches a course on sexual misconduct and domestic violence. Previously, he served as a New York sex crimes prosecutor, the Inspector General for the City of Yonkers, and an adjunct law professor with Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He has been a regular television legal analyst for Good Morning America, CNN, Fox News Channel, Law & Crime Network, and elsewhere. Schorr holds a BA and MA from the University of Pennsylvania, and a JD from Harvard Law School. He lives in White Plains, New York, with his wife and two children. Final Table is his first novel.

      

  

Why is storytelling so important for all of us?
Storytelling allows us to use our imaginations to create fascinating places, people, and events, while at the same time highlighting and tackling important real-world issues that are sometimes best explored through fiction.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
Having people who I don’t know reach out to me and tell me that they identified with a character in the book, or enjoyed the story and found it interesting, unpredictable, and original. This feedback means a lot to me, and I really enjoy hearing people’s take on the different characters and events in the novel.

What are some of your current and future projects that you can share with us?
I am currently writing a new novel that is a behind-the-scenes look at sexual abuse in collegiate athletics and the corporate misconduct investigations industry.

Can you tell us when you started FINAL TABLE, how that came about?
I began writing Final Table in early 2019. I have loved writing and reading fiction my whole life, and was an English major at the University of Pennsylvania. As a sex crimes prosecutor and investigator, I’ve wanted to write a novel involving real-world sexual misconduct issues for a while, because the media generally portrays stories of sexual assault in stereotypical, unrealistic ways. I have recently seen a disturbing increase in complaints involving “stealthing,” which is when one person surreptitiously removes a condom during sexual intercourse without the other person’s knowledge or consent. How to address this is becoming a hotly debated issue in sexual misconduct circles, college campuses, state legislatures, and elsewhere, as it is currently not defined as a sexual assault crime in any state. This inspired me to write about one person’s struggle to deal with the many emotional and physical consequences of sexual assault via stealthing, in addition to other issue in the book.

What do you hope for readers to be thinking when they read your novel?
Readers will hopefully gain a greater understanding of how sexual assault can occur, how it impacts people’s lives, and how the media and social media can cause additional trauma to those trying to recover from abuse. The book also shows how trying to be successful in life often requires overcoming bad luck and bad people, and this can compel people to compromise their own integrity in the process. Readers hopefully will also feel that even if justice is not always immediately served, partly because of the characters’ own flaws, partly because of people and events beyond their control, the individuals involved will continue to scrap and claw as they fight to overcome trauma, hardships, and unfortunate circumstances.

What part of your characters did you enjoy writing the most?
I very much enjoy writing about how different characters perceive the same events in wildly different ways, based on their own personal histories and dramatic needs. As an investigator, I am fascinated by the concept that events are often viewed and reported very differently by various people, who may have dissimilar perspectives, memories, and opinions. In Final Table, I wanted to show a complex situation from the viewpoints of four people whose issues, goals, and experiences were not aligned with each other.

If you could introduce one of your characters to any character from another book, who would it be and why?
I would like Maggie Raster to meet Vanessa Wye from My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. Although they have experienced very different types of sexual misconduct, I think their shared experiences with sexual predators could lead to supportive and beneficial conversations between the two about overcoming trauma and rebuilding their lives.

Tell me about a favorite event of your childhood.
My English teacher mother giving me my first books and starting me on a path towards a lifelong love of reading and writing.

What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?
Travel alone to a faraway destination, and take time to become immersed in a foreign culture and get to know your own self without the distractions of people and obligations from home.

Best date you've ever had?
A month before the pandemic began, my wife Jen and I had an amazing night in NYC – we toured and enjoyed wine and cheese at MoMA, had dinner at a fun Italian restaurant, and then saw Hamilton on Broadway. I think about that evening a lot, and hope that nights like that will be possible again soon.

What was the first job you had?
I was a paperboy delivering Newsday on Long Island at age thirteen. I sincerely apologize to Toys R Us for taking their shopping cart without permission and using it to wheel the newspapers around my neighborhood.

Which incident in your life that totally changed the way you think today?
I was a law school intern in a District Attorney’s office in Boston, and was assigned my first domestic violence case. The issues in that matter deeply resonated with me and changed the course of my life, leading me to become a domestic violence and sex crimes prosecutor, and now a sexual misconduct investigator.

What were you doing the last time you really had a good laugh?
Watching a Sarah Silverman comedy special last week with my wife Jen.

First Heartbreak?
When I was eight years old and the Yankees lost the World Series to the Dodgers. I was at the age when baseball meant everything to me, and I was crushed. Now I know better.

Which would you choose, true love with a guarantee of a heart break or have never loved before?
True love with a guarantee of a heart break is definitely the way to go. Always savor the good times before the heart break.

Where can readers find you?
They can find more information about me at danschorrbooks.com and can connect with me via Facebook or Twitter @danschorr. Also readers should feel free to email me at dan@danschorrllc.com. I love interacting with people who have read the book!

TEN FAVORITE BOOKS READ THIS YEAR

• My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
• Luster by Raven Leilani
• A Burning by Megha Majumdar
• Summer on the Bluffs by Sunny Hostin
• The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel
• My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh
• He Gets That From Me by Jacqueline Friedland
• Boy Parts by Eliza Clark
• The Coyotes of Carthage by Steven Wright
• Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang

Deleted Scene from FINAL TABLE
There were actually two scenes that I liked a lot which I removed. One involved a lengthy conversation between the two main characters, Kyler Dawson and Maggie Raster, later in the book in which they shared and discussed their perspectives on various issues they were experiencing. They each had some lines that I thought well-captured their feelings and attitudes, but I decided this was all better told through the actual action in the novel. Second, parts of my book address the often superficial and sensationalistic aspects of cable news, and I wrote a flashback scene in which Maggie plays a drinking game with some other burgeoning political commentators in which they take turns pretending to give serious television commentary while doing shots and getting progressively intoxicated. I think it would have been an entertaining scene but didn’t end up fitting well with the rest of the narrative.

A political thriller about sexual misconduct in the #MeToo era, one victim's battle to survive and overcome trauma, and the cable news machine that feeds off titillating scandal coverage and inflammatory confrontation, Final Table draws upon Dan Schorr's firsthand experience as a New York City sex crimes prosecutor and sexual misconduct investigator to tackle the worlds of political and media dysfunction.

Former White House staffer Maggie Raster is struggling to build her own consulting firm and overcome a recent sexual assault by an ex-boss. Kyler Dawson, a broke former poker champion, desperately needs to gain entry into a controversial but potentially very lucrative international poker tournament. The host nation faces widespread condemnation for the recent murder of a prominent female US journalist, and a pending presidential executive order threatens to prohibit him and others from participating.

Maggie's chaotic first attempt to promote her new business as a television political analyst brings her to Kyler's attention, and convinces him that her political smarts and connections can provide the help he needs. When he approaches her for assistance, she must decide whether to agree - in return for a portion of the potential $20 million prize. To succeed, she will have to confront numerous challenges - personal and political, foreign and domestic - including mounting pressure to publicly address the misconduct of her former boss. Kyler also has his own obstacles and upsetting past to overcome, but if they each can outmaneuver their daunting challenges, he might win the tournament - and earn them both a fortune.

You can purchase Final Table at the following Retailers:

        

And now, The Giveaways.

Thank you DAN SCHORR for making this giveaway possible.

1 Winner will receive a Copy of Final Table by Dan Schorr.

1 Winner will receive a $20 Amazon Gift Card

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