RWC student Othello Gooden, Jr. is more than meets the eye. Although the computer wiz graduates in June with a degree in Computer Support Technology, he has a lot more to look forward to in the near future. He has just completed his first children’s book in the series “Erica the Talking Calico Cat.” It’s about Erica, a talking cat, who will stop at nothing to keep Ms. Tunnelworth, a postal woman, from capturing herself and her fellow alley cat friends and sending them to the School for Creative and performing Arts.
“I got the idea for Erica the Talking Calico Cat from the famous talking cats in cartoons such as Garfield, Top Cat, and Heathcliff,” says Othello. The book is currently being prepared for commercial release.
Aside from the Erica series, Othello also has another series in the works. This time it is a sci-fi thriller set in the year 2037 titled “Raylorian Dawn.” This series of novels is geared more toward the young adult audience and looks to be released between the end of Summer and Fall of 2009.
When asked what his influence was for Raylorian Dawn, Othello explains, “As for Raylorian Dawn, I’m a Sci-Fi fanatic, getting most of my ideas from comic books, Anime shows, and movies. If I could explain what Raylorian Dawn is like, I would combine Iron Man with Jason Bourne and put them in a Star Trek setting.” He also says while it took him about a month to complete “Erica the Talking Calico Cat,” it took him more than two years to complete “Raylorian Dawn.”
Somewhere in between all of his writing, Othello has found time to make music and write poetry. He has a song titled “Cannon-1 (Taizosu),” a techno track that was released on April 25 on Amazon via mp3; this song is included on his original sound track for his novel “Raylorian Dawn.”
Othello has also been a member of rpol.net, an online writing community dedicated to gamers and interactive storytellers, such as himself, for the past six years. He has a poem titled “Memoire de Rayloria,” which will be in this year’s issue of the Blue Ash Review.