Picture Business

Los Angeles past and present is the focus of this accomplished, entertaining collection of short stories, poems and essays. Among the unforgettable characters are a faded actress planning a media hoax, a would-be entertainment mogul, a young Midwest widow in love with Dean Martin, an ambitious newscaster, a cranky film director and a pigeon who doubles as a talent agent. The comically bizarre settings include a Las Vegas coffee shop, a university department devoted to Marilyn Monroe studies, a junior high science fair and a swimming raft off the coast of Malibu.

Varied in tone and theme, the pieces are linked by an unfailing eye for detail and a fondness for the absurd. This is a Los Angeles, according to the introduction, of “dreamers, hustlers, artists, visionaries, eccentrics and a considerable number of ordinary working people who have come west to reinvent themselves.”

A writer, film scholar and educator, James Stratton has lived for many years in southern California. His previously published books about the movies include A Star is Born and Born Again: Variations on a Hollywood Archetype and the best-selling Hitchcock’s North by Northwest: The Man Who Had Too Much. He also has written extensively on literature, popular culture and travel for newspapers and magazines. His poetry and short stories have been published in several national journals.