Recent college graduate Michael Gyulai relocates across the Atlantic with one desire—to satisfy a lifelong infatuation with Rome. But Michael’s naive perception of the beautiful city and its people begins to wane after he lands a job behind the bar of an ultra-modern nightclub in the historic Campo de’ Fiori.
As the club’s mischievous staff sweeps him into their world of after-hours Rome, Michael is suddenly exposed to a reckless atmosphere comprised of drug dealings on the banks of the Tiber and robberies in ancient piazzas. When all hope seems lost, Michael meets Skye, a striking Icelandic foreigner. Through their relationship, he explores the intimate intricacies of the human condition, exposes fate’s irrationality, and fights against the language barriers that keep them apart.
In the midst of colorful back alleyways, timeless cobblestone, and world-famous monuments, Michael shares his improbable adventures in one of the world’s most recognized and venerated cities.
[ in development and looking for a publishing home ]
Three young international professionals have found La Dolce Vita in Rome, spending lazy afternoons at their favorite hangout, Caffè della Pace, rating female passersby on a ten-point scale.
[ in development and looking for a publishing home ]
Childhood friends Nic and Sean became business partners on the blacktop of their New Jersey high school. Nic ran sales, Sean: inventory and accounting. Their product? Cigarettes stolen from the local convenient store.
Seven years later the two find themselves roommates in Brooklyn, feeding the hungry CD and DVD bootlegging industry of Manhattan with pirated music and movies. Determined to grow their underground business, Nic brings Sean on a trip into Manhattan to meet with a prominent distributor to the Canal Street shops when a sudden collision between a delivery truck and their taxi knocks them both unconscious.
When Sean awakens, he is stunned to find Nic has been deported from the U.S. for lack of proper documents. Nic phones one week later, having found refuge with a family acquaintance in Rome. Sean packs Nic’s belongings from their apartment and flies to the Italian capital to deliver them, and when the two are reunited after an agonizing period of solidarity, it becomes clear one cannot survive without the other.
Nic barred from returning to the U.S., Sean unable to obtain legal documents in Italy, the lifetime companions fight to restart their business abroad, dodging police and packs of viciously territorial immigrants. Desperate to gain footing, they dip into a partnership with the head of an extremest immigrant group, but the move could prove fatal to them both …
Books by Michael
Midnight in Rome
Recent college graduate Michael Gyulai relocates across the Atlantic with one desire—to satisfy a lifelong infatuation with Rome. But Michael’s naive perception of the beautiful city and its people begins to wane after he lands a job behind the bar of an ultra-modern nightclub in the historic Campo de’ Fiori.
As the club’s mischievous staff sweeps him into their world of after-hours Rome, Michael is suddenly exposed to a reckless atmosphere comprised of drug dealings on the banks of the Tiber and robberies in ancient piazzas. When all hope seems lost, Michael meets Skye, a striking Icelandic foreigner. Through their relationship, he explores the intimate intricacies of the human condition, exposes fate’s irrationality, and fights against the language barriers that keep them apart.
In the midst of colorful back alleyways, timeless cobblestone, and world-famous monuments, Michael shares his improbable adventures in one of the world’s most recognized and venerated cities.
[ read the first chapter ] [ purchase ] [ reviews ]
Caffé della Pace
Three young international professionals have found La Dolce Vita in Rome, spending lazy afternoons at their favorite hangout, Caffè della Pace, rating female passersby on a ten-point scale.
When a new commercialized caffé opens across the cobbled street, hiking up rent for the surrounding shops and threatening to put Caffé della Pace out of business, the men find themselves suddenly roused to raise money and save their beloved Roman sitting room.
The men’s newly empowered state awakens individual life desires that had fallen dormant under the Italian capital’s easy-living lifestyle. As the cash for Caffé della Pace begins to pile up, the question becomes: which of them will act on their secretly reawakened dream and take off with the money first?
[ read the first 6 pages in screenplay format ]
Switchblades & Starlight
Childhood friends Nic and Sean became business partners on the blacktop of their New Jersey high school. Nic ran sales, Sean: inventory and accounting. Their product? Cigarettes stolen from the local convenient store.
Seven years later the two find themselves roommates in Brooklyn, feeding the hungry CD and DVD bootlegging industry of Manhattan with pirated music and movies. Determined to grow their underground business, Nic brings Sean on a trip into Manhattan to meet with a prominent distributor to the Canal Street shops when a sudden collision between a delivery truck and their taxi knocks them both unconscious.
When Sean awakens, he is stunned to find Nic has been deported from the U.S. for lack of proper documents. Nic phones one week later, having found refuge with a family acquaintance in Rome. Sean packs Nic’s belongings from their apartment and flies to the Italian capital to deliver them, and when the two are reunited after an agonizing period of solidarity, it becomes clear one cannot survive without the other.
Nic barred from returning to the U.S., Sean unable to obtain legal documents in Italy, the lifetime companions fight to restart their business abroad, dodging police and packs of viciously territorial immigrants. Desperate to gain footing, they dip into a partnership with the head of an extremest immigrant group, but the move could prove fatal to them both …
[ read the first 10 pages in screenplay format ]