R.P. “Rick” Heinz is the author of The Color of My Coffee, a coming of age novel that deals with the cultural issues of the late 1960s and Goodbye Lake Powell, the story of a family trapped on a houseboat for a week with a maniacal bi-polar victim.
The Color of My Coffee is available available in hardcover, softcover and electronic download versions from these retailers:
Information concerning international publishing and film rights upon request.
Goodbye Lake Powell is anticipated to be ready for publication in Spring 2021. Information on publishing and film rights on request.
I love good storytelling. I try to write a book that is fun and easy to read with a thought provoking message buried in there somewhere.
R.P. Heinz is a writer of literary fiction based on the vast collection of people, places, and experiences, he has developed over the sixty plus years of his event-filled life.
He worked his way through the ranks of the retail automotive business for over forty years where he rose from cleaning cars at the age of fifteen, to owning and operating multiple new car dealerships.
Retiring from the auto business at age fifty he decided to attend college for the very first time. He ultimately rediscovered his love of writing through the process of earning his degree from the University of Phoenix and attending creative writing classes at Irvine Valley College.
Rick now splits his time between Telluride, Colorado, and Corona del Mar, California. He is fortunate to have the best of family and friends in both places. He spends most of his time with his very best friends — his wife Susan, his dog Winston, and his Apple computer.
The Color of My Coffee
The Color of My Coffee is a timely, entertaining, and thought-provoking work of literary fiction written in the form of a memoir. The book takes us back to the tumultuous 1960s when Steven, a naive sixteen year old boy, meets Herb, a worldly African-American man, who becomes his friend, mentor, and surrogate father.
The many characters Steven meets are all based on colorful people the author, Rick Heinz, actually knew and the events are based in fact. The story focuses on the race issues, cultural conflicts, and dangers that transpire as a teenager learns the sometimes painful lessons of becoming a man.
In addition to the romance, humor, and coming-of-age stories, there are serious, contemporary discussions and thought provoking-encounters concerning race and cultural differences.
The plot culminates into an exciting, surprising, and satisfying ending that ties up all of the relationships and gives Steven a life lesson he would never forget.
The Color of My Coffee will strike a chord with anyone growing up in the late nineteen sixties, however, it does not dwell on nostalgia. Instead, it focuses on the unique characters and the different backgrounds they bring to the main story. The Color of My Coffee is a fun, easy-to-read novel that will appeal to men and women of every age group.
A naive teenager from an all-white suburb of Los Angeles is forced by circumstances to run a small business. There he works with colorful characters from diverse backgrounds — African-American men from the Deep South and West Virginia good old boys. One of the men becomes a surrogate father to the boy instead of his cold, unfeeling, real father. He learns about life and experiences an array of new feelings and strange events in the short time he is acquainted with his new, and unique, friend, Herb Jackson.
The colloquial dialogue is realistic and brings the characters to life with humor and passion. The provocative, thought-provoking conflicts and the interplay between the characters captures the real flow of American cultural patterns.
The plot creates a suspense that runs through the entire book. A character named “The Roach” appears and threatens to upset Steven and Herb’s world, thus creating a gripping tension, and anticipation for the reader as to the final outcome.
Kirkus Review
In this debut novel, a white suburban teenager runs a car detailing service in 1960s California, finding among his employees a mentor in a charismatic, Southern black man.
Steven Reilly’s home life is a struggle — his mother is all but rendered inert by mental illness, while his taskmaster father demands that, despite his young age, he pay rent to continue living at home. Steven takes over a company his older brother started, cleaning cars for dealerships around smoggy Los Angeles. To help him run the business, he hires Herb Jackson, a middle-aged African-American from the Deep South, wise in the ways of the world and eager for a job. A strange relationship develops with Steven as employer and Herb as adviser, drawing the younger man out of his shell while introducing him to the other cultures of the eclectic characters who join the business…
Goodbye, Lake Powell
Ready for publication Spring 2021
Goodbye, Lake Powell, is the latest novel and work of literary fiction by author R.P. Heinz.
The underlying theme of the novel is the study of bipolar disorder, an affliction that is looked at from the viewpoint of each character.
Peter Jacobs takes his sixteen year old daughter by a former marriage, his thirteen year-old son, and his wife, Laura, to Lake Powell where they look forward to a restful vacation and reunion with Peter’s old best friend, Danny. The trip will prove eventful, however, as Danny has brought, along with his twelve year-old son from a previous marriage, a brand new girlfriend, Marilyn. The two families rent a houseboat and are out of touch with the real world for ten days.
The trip forces the group to come to grips with the sometimes charming, sometimes funny, sometimes violently angry girlfriend Marilyn, who completely upsets the traditional chemistry of the group and threatens the very lives of those around her.
Danny is forced by these circumstances to confront not only the situation with his out of control girlfriend, but also his relationships with Pete, Laura, and the children.
There are reflective chapters interspersed throughout the book where Pete looks back at his failed marriage and discovers there may be a thread of likeness in the behavior of his former wife and various other family members with Marilyn as he begins a journey of discovery and awareness of what may be one of society’s biggest present day mental illnesses.
Despite the serious theme, the book often runs from episodes of hilarity at the groups misadventures to touching emotional moments shared by the characters with one another.
There is a running tension throughout the book and the plot culminates in a stunning, yet touching, ending.
The bipolar issue is discussed in sensitive, yet realistic terms. For those unaware of the disease it will be an enlightening experience and the reader will never see those afflicted in the same light.