February 2023
A peek behind the Hollywood looking glass, an interview with Layne Fargo, and that time Courtney Love almost beat someone to death with an Oscar.
What’s new
I’m so excited to share an exclusive look behind the scenes of my new book, The Hurricane Blonde! I got my pass pages (a chance to see the book typeset, as it will look for readers) and was beyond thrilled to see this gorgeous interior title page! First of all, Los Angeles still makes me weak in the knees as a city, and this “behind the looking glass” feel to the Hollywood sign is truly stunning.
In other news: I joined TikTok. Please join me so I feel less deeply alone and confused by this infernal app.
Early advance praise for The Hurricane Blonde: “If HOLLYWOOD BABYLON had a hook, it would be THE HURRICANE BLONDE. Peopled with all the heroes and villains you *think* you know, this engrossing thriller captures LA in all her guises and packs a chilling message about the inherent victimhood of female stardom.” — Eliza Jane Brazier, author of Good Rich People and the forthcoming Girls and Their Horses
Preorder The Hurricane Blonde here. Add it to your Goodreads here.
Interview with Layne Fargo
Layne Fargo is the author of the novels They Never Learn and Temper, coauthor of the bestselling Audible Original Young Rich Widows, and co-creator of the podcast Unlikeable Female Characters. She lives in Chicago with her partner and their pets.
What was the last piece of art—book, show, movie, whatever—that made you want to create something?
The movie The Menu. It was so dark, so mean, so funny—and so incredibly specific, in the details of the characters and the setting and all that ridiculous food. It inspired me to really dig into the details in my own writing (and also made me want a fucking cheeseburger).
Tell me about the last internet rabbit hole you went down.
My current work-in-progress is set in the world of Olympic ice dance, and the other day I spent an irresponsible amount of time trying to find the daily competition schedule for a specific event from 2006. I eventually found an official, color-coded PDF archived by the Wayback Machine—jackpot! Pathological behavior? Perhaps, but also worth it because I learned that the ice dance final took place on Friday the 13th, which added a whole new spooky layer to the scene I was writing.
What factors have to come together for you to feel your most creative?
I don’t respond well to the blank page, so I have to give myself things to bounce off of—whether that’s a bunch of rambly ideas I word-vomited into the document, or research notes (as you can probably guess from my answer above, I love to research), or pictures of settings, celebrity facecasts, whatever. I am not a writer who can create something out of thin air or pure imagination, and for a long time I thought that made me less creative. Now I see it as a different, equally valid, method of sparking creativity.
What are you craving to see (or see more of) in books, movies, tv, or other art?
More weird self-indulgent shit that people make to please and entertain themselves, industry trends be damned. I believe the best art comes from digging deep into your personal obsessions, shamelessly pursuing your own pleasure, and creating the thing that only YOU can create.
Would you rather be able to write a finished novel in a month or have Adam Driver read you a bedtime story every night?
Novel in a month, no question. I can think of better things for Adam Driver to do with his mouth.
My open tabs
This excellent article from the LAist about Ahmantise Sanati, who is single-handedly working to rectify the fact that LA County jails have no library. About 95% of people who are incarcerated in America will return to their communities; improving literacy skills while incarcerated can be a huge step towards post-incarceration employment and opportunities. If you’re in LA and you have paperbacks to donate, might I recommend Sanati?
Amateur detectives cracked a 30-year-old cold case in Los Angeles through one of fiction’s greatest detective tropes: the murderer makes himself indispensable to the crime scene.
Evidently Pablo Neruda was most likely murdered.
Working on a mocktail recipe unique to my second book. Should I lean towards honeydew and mint; huckleberry and drinking vinegar; or sparkling preserved lemonade?
Men behaving badly in Hollywood is one of the cornerstones of The Hurricane Blonde and boy, this well-reported, well-told history of the ascendancy of Pulp Fiction has some behind-the-scenes looks at…questionable characters.