Local reverend finds niche as an author

He is a reverend.

He manages the family business – one of Shreveport’s oldest restaurants.

He runs his own business – an online store of food products.

He has part ownership in three racehorses. He has plans to start a luxury watch business.

And somehow, Patrick Fertitta has found time to be an author.

“Trinacria: The Blood Washes Blood Chronicle” is the name of a series of novellas (short novels or long short stories). The first novella is now available on Amazon.

“I have a lot of interests, and when I get something in my mind, I want to chase after it,” Fertitta said.

“I want to put everything I can into it – and I do. What’s the term? A serial entrepreneur? I have some of that in my blood.”

Fertitta’s novella is loosely based on real-life stories – with fictious names. But remember, you can’t believe everything you read.

“Some of the stories are family stories that have been, maybe, twisted a little. Inverted. Embellished.”

Fertitta is careful not to give away all that happens in “Trinacria”. But he did offer a broad description.

“It is a true epic Mafia family saga,” Fertitta explained. “It starts in Napoleonville, La., which is where my greatgrandfather came into this country. It starts in the sugar cane fields where he started working. It follows a family from their greatgrandfather and his owning a grocery store.

His child and their friend end up being the ones who fall into sin. They do it with good intentions, originally. But as things progress, their world gets darker and darker and deeper and deeper into sin. As sin does all things, it divides. Eventually, the two men who were as close a family to each other, something happens and it divides the families, and now they are out for vengeance. Blood washes blood.”

When Fertitta first started writing his novella last October, he wasn’t sure if anyone would buy it. “I thought this is a pipe dream if anything ever happened to it.”

But that dream has turned into reality.

Fertitta said that a couple of weeks ago, “Trinacria” was ranked in the top 36,000 books on Amazon. Not bad, considering Fertitta said as of last May, “there were around 47 and a half million books on Amazon.”

“I feel like I am living in a fever dream,” Fertitta said.

Fertitta found a love for writing at an early age. That love grew when he took a creative writing class as a high school sophomore. But Fertitta’s interest in storytelling wasn’t limited to the written word.

“Cinema has always been a big favorite of mine. I think I first saw ‘The Godfather’ when I was 15 years old and loved it. Loved it then – love it now. Being Sicilian, those sorts of stories of family and the saga and drama of all that resonated with me.”

In particular, the Mafia storyline, which Fertitta has meshed with his religious teachings.

“I love the Mafia genre, and there are deep philosophical and theological elements to those stories and movies. I thought I would like to do something like this and tie it in with my faith and find a way to put that genre on paper to tell a story of faith – a story of scripture – in a way that could be accessible to people that may not otherwise dive into it.”

For some writers, the process comes easier than for others. Fertitta has found it to be the best of both worlds.

“There are moments when you sit down, and something starts flowing out of your fingertips – you’re dialed in. Then, there are times you’re beating your head against the wall, and you’re staring at a blank screen and wondering, ‘When am I going to break through on this?’ The moments where it flows wonderfully, and the moments when it’s a challenge, are both equally important to me. If we don’t face challenges – that blank screen, or be it some other life challenge, then we don’t grow.”

Fertitta has plans to write at least nine novellas under the “Trinacria” name. He is also working with a friend on writing a screenplay.

“The capstone piece is a movie. That’s the hope.”

And as his resume’ shows, Fertitta’s “hope” often turns into reality.

To purchase “Trinacria: The Blood Washes Blood Chronicles,” you may visit: omertaentertainment.com/trinacria