Dozens of Books

“First there was the Kafka book,” Trace said.
“Kafka is cool. What was that story where the guy turned into a giant bug?”
“That was ‘Metamorphosis’. Anyway, we’re having lunch a few days later and she brings up some Chester Himes book I’ve never heard of and – boom! – next thing you know she drops it [...]

Pushing the Envelope at the LA Times Festival of Books

It was CBS late night talk show host Craig Ferguson’s arrogant, loud-mouthed comment that isolated his co-panelists at yesterday’s “Pushing the Envelope” event at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.
“Being authentically myself tends to offend a lot of people and I’m too rich and too old to give a damn,” said the Scottish-born actor, [...]

The 8763 Wonderland Interview: Joseph Mailander, Writer O’Fiction

As some of you may recall. Joseph Mailander, editor and founder of Martini Republic, announced in late March that he was temporarily hanging up his reins at MR in order to, well, get his head together.
Joe has been in a funk lately. His 49th birthday had a lot to do with that. And a certain [...]

The Air Down There

Earl pocketed the $9.10 and spit on a pile of scrap aluminum to show his displeasure.
“You saying that’s all what the brass and copper in that thing is worth?” Earl scowled.
The recycling dealer never liked Earl. He had the hooked nose and beady-eyes of a predatory bird and his clothing always smelled of beer and [...]

Check-Out Time Is … Whenever You Want It To Be

During a conversation last night with friend and colleague Diana Wagman, the subject of suicide notes arose.
Suicide is a resonant theme in Diana’s multi-character L.A. novel, “Bump”. One of the characters, Madelyn, is a bored, married mother of two who falls in love with a man she meets while working for a suicide hotline. [...]

The Misfits

It was a cold and cloudy spring afternoon in Los Angeles. Trace sat in a hard wood deck chair in the back yard of the mansion, bored and listless as twenty-something porn starlets cavorted on the lawn of the four-acre backyard. There was a yellow pad in his lap and he scratched out a series [...]