Richard Herstek

SINGER. SURVIVOR.
AND TO SOME, A SAINT.

Why this? Why now?
About the Author

The Inevitable Maddie Forge

Here’s what I believe. Oppressed people revolt. Actually that’s not a belief. It’s a fact.

What I believe is that sometime soon, with the homeless being beaten, arrested and told that there is no place in this world for them, they will stop seeing themselves as the problem. And instead will see us as the problem.

The Inevitable Maddie Forge is a work of fiction that imagines what the world may look like when that happens. When some charismatic figure—in this case, a wise-cracking, guitar toting young homeless woman—decides that enough is enough.

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Meet Richard Herstek

Richard attended Kent State University for several years before transferring to, and graduating from the University of Oregon with a degree in Journalism. He went on to work as an advertising copywriter and creative director.

He eventually moved to Paris, and lived there for two years, working with an English language theater company.

In 2010 he earned an MFA in screenwriting at the London Film school.

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CURRENT & FUTURE PROJECTS

Richard is currently developing additional fiction projects that continue his exploration of complex characters, social challenges, and transformative personal journeys.

The Inevitable Maddie Forge

Think of this as a cultural revolution set to an awesome soundtrack.

Chapters 1 & 2

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Not Now, Luis.

Luis is a poor villager who pays his bills by ‘kidnapping’ neighbors and holding them for ransom. Hey, everybody has to do something.
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To Afghanistan, With Love

Think it’s hard climbing the highest mountain or swimming the deepest ocean for love? Try walking to a war zone.

Chapters 1 & 2

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Beyond the Novel

The experiences, places, and observations that inspire the stories.

Travel

Stories from the places and people that have shaped the writer’s perspective.

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Editorial

Short reflections on society and contemporary culture.
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Writing for a Visual World

Thoughts on the importance of painting your prose instead of merely writing it.
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What Readers Are Saying

The Inevitable Maddie Forge is a remarkable story of our time. Told through snippets of powerful musical lyrics and the surprising ways in which the characters’ lives intersect, you’ll find yourself grappling with moral dilemmas that have no easy answers. The characters will stay with you long after you turn the final page.

Katie B., Boston, MA

Great book about an Important current subject. Surprising plot twists. Real, compelling characters, both loveable and hate-able.

Bobby K., Washington,DC

I’m a bleeding heart liberal living in a city with a lot of houselessness.  And I was struck by the sad truthfulness of it. The author created characters that really helped me think about the work I need to do here. I rarely read books straight through. I could not put this down

Chip M., Portland, Oregon

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Literary Representation & Publishing Inquiries

Richard welcomes inquiries from literary agents, publishers, editors, and industry professionals interested in discussing his work.

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THE INEVITABLE MADDIE FORGE

The Inevitable Maddie Forge is the story of a guitar-toting homeless woman whose folksy tunes gradually become more and more incendiary with every injustice that she and her friends are subjected to. Songs that ultimately end up triggering a violent homeless uprising.

Maddie comes from an impoverished little industrial town in southern Ohio—one suffering from factory closures and the opioid crisis—and makes her way to the Pacific Northwest, playing for quarters and hoping for enough to get a meal or a bus ticket. Along the way, she is assaulted, uprooted by city sanitation crews, and has watched her fellow travelers suffer and die. And she decides that she cannot stand by and do nothing.

She always dreamed that her music would make her famous and rescue her from her poverty. But, for better or for worse, it ends up making her infamous, the godmother of an angry movement demanding fair treatment and social justice.

NOT NOW, LUIS

In a remote village on a small island nation, an old man makes his humble living by kidnapping his neighbors and holding them until their families cough up enough for him to pay his utility bills. They are often annoyed, but they go along. They help repair his leaky pipe. He takes their overdue library books back for them. He feeds them. They all watch TV together. One day, he makes the mistake of kidnapping an unknown. The country’s finance minister. A man who has been targeted for assassination by the country’s corrupt president.

TO AFGHANISTAN WITH LOVE

When a quiet, introverted , entirely ordinary young husband is abandoned by his wife, a U.S. diplomat who has been posted to Afghanistan, he vows to prove the depths of his love and win her back by walking from London to Kabul. Along the way, the internet discovers him. And he becomes known as the most romantic, and desirable man in the world. And the closer he gets to his goal, and the more he changes, physically and emotionally, the more he wonders if what he wants . . . is what he wants.