📖Authors' Corner: "Let's have a sit-down" with James C. McCusker 👥
Get to know author James C. McCusker - dad, husband, author, and..... former male review dancer?! 👀 plus read about his experience with Sopranos actor, Robert Funaro.
Editor’s note: When I first sat down with author James C. McCusker, it was after the release of his 2023 Atlantic City crime novel, The Edge - featuring the story of veteran male revue dancer Ricky Royal.
In July of 2024, we got together again for an interview on the first edition of The Coolest People in the World, where we talked about writing, parenting, and, yeah - maybe a little about his experience as a male revue dancer. (You can hear that interview by clicking play on the podcast feature or the video below.)
Just recently, I had the chance to catch up with my friend, “Jimmy Bruno,” to hear about what he’s up to now.
This feature is part of an ongoing CPW series highlighting The Coolest Authors In The World.
It’s only in retrospect that we are afforded the ability to turn around and see how the tiny habits, hobbies, and experiences of our youth often unknowingly prepared us for the life we now live. We often refer to it as “life coming full circle,” and it looks something like career artists telling the story of how they first picked up a paintbrush at the tender age of five or spent their high school lunch hours in the art room but never really thought they’d create art for a living years later.
Musicians exchange stories of when they were first moved by the music, strummed their first chord, or wrote that first lyric. Lawyers, doctors, and athletes all have stories of that first planted seed of a parent or loved one pointing out their strengths. It’s only in their story-telling later that life affords them the retrospect to appreciate the oak tree that those seeds have become.
Such is the story of Brigantine, N.J. native James C. McCusker - better known as Jimmy Bruno.
Like many of the artists I’ve interviewed, Jimmy found healing through art. After the loss of his father at a young age, he found solace in his escape to the fictional worlds found only in his notebooks. Throughout high school, Jimmy was a student-athlete and wrote for the school newspaper, but it was his love for the hit show, The Sopranos, that lace many memories of his youth.
So when his writing journey collided with his lifelong Sopranos-Superfandom, it was his childhood passions combined with his writing practice that prepared him to walk through the door of opportunity.
Jimmy McCusker is a father of two and an award-winning author who began his publishing journey with his first book, Atlantic City Nights, in 2013. He is also a public notary in the state of New Jersey, a wedding officiant, a member of St. Theresa Parish in Little Egg Harbor, and the guy South Jersey beach-goers can catch every 4th of July running the four miles of Brigantine Beach with an American Flag. He is also an advocate for early literacy through Reach Out and Read.
After years of publishing several more books, including a children’s book series that he created for his groomsmen, which you can hear more about in the podcast interview, Jimmy found himself primed for his latest life adventure with Soprano’s actor, Robert Funaro.
While promoting his 2023 book, The Edge, a mob-inspired novel, Jimmy found himself in the right place, at the right time, and ready for the moment.
As it turns out, Robert Funaro - the actor who played Eugene in the hit series The Sopranos, was looking for the right guy to help him bring a story-lined cookbook to life.
“Being associated with him and this project felt like transcending into a world I always watched on T.V.,” McCusker said about his Funaro experience. “It was like I broke the third wall.”
Jimmy’s love for The Sopranos came about when he was only in eighth grade. While many of his peers weren’t even allowed to watch the show, and his mother protested the idea in light of his age, Jimmy persisted.
He had gotten a taste of the mob-inspired drama, and while other kids were asking for video game systems, McCusker was asking Santa for HBO so he could catch up to speed on his favorite New Jersey-based characters. Eventually, he got his wishes, including all of the box sets, so he could begin what became a bit of an obsession.
“I was just fascinated,” explains McCusker about his younger years. “This dichotomy of the life or lives they lived was fascinating to me. For a 13-14-year-old boy, when you’re coming of age and want to be a tough guy, there’s nothing like watching mob movies; it kind of sets the stage.”
McCusker explains that emulating the characters on The Sopranos very much became a part of the lifestyle among him and his friends, so when Funaro asked him to help guide the writing of his cookbook, Jimmy was the perfect man for the job,
“Being a lifelong fan of the show, it was too good to be true,” says McCusker.
When asked about his involvement in the writing process, Jimmy explains that his superfan knowledge helped Funaro to guide the ship in many ways, choosing which episodes and stories to narrow in on, while Robert brought his family recipes to the table.
Jimmy’s first book, Atlantic City Nights, released in 2013, featured a South Philly mob boss who found his riches in the booming Atlantic City casino empire of the 1980s. The publications that followed continue down a similar storyline, including his 2016 release, Left in the Sand, and Black McCool, released in 2018 and The Edge in 2023.
“I’ve always been fascinated by the true crime genre,” shared Jimmy in a previous interview. “I use a lot of my imagination combined with in-depth research to tell these stories.”
Learn more about James McCusker and see what he’s up to next at at booksbymccusker.com. Be sure to listen until the end of the podcast to hear when James C. McCusker feels like The Coolest Person in the World!
James Mccusker, I'm proud to say, is my little brother. I can attest to his obsession with the Sopranos and "mob life". Jim even got a summer job to pay for the HBO, no one deserves more than this guy. He's also an uncle, a brother and a son that has made all of us so proud-you deserve it all Jim, and I just know Mom is beaming over these accomplishments!!!