Author Dan Fante almost lightens up about LA
Anyone who understands LA literature even a little bit knows that this region produces angry writers. From Raymond Chandler to Charles Bukowski, our authors have burned with a self-possessed rage that is unparalleled.
Perhaps the angriest, though, is Dan Fante (yes, the son of writer John Fante). Through novels [...]

One book’s look back at the founding of the Port of Los Angeles

Phineas Banning pulled up some deep dreams from the bottom of San Pedro Bay. There, he imagined the greatest shipping center in the world, built upon the purest port land he had ever seen. But if railroad tycoon Collis Huntington had his way, [...]

When you’re not committing multiple felonies in ‘Grand Theft Auto IV,’ consider the art

Okay, okay, The Art of Grand Theft Auto IV?
From Rockstar Games, the same people who (cover your eyes) made it possible for us to have videogame sex with a hooker in a stolen car and not pay—and yank a traffic cop off [...]

Judge this book by what’s inside its cover
John Fante was a lot of things. Famous wasn’t one of them. The late author’s lack of notoriety forced the Colorado-native-turned-Los-Angeles-writer to Hollywood, where he worked on such films as Walk on the Wild Side and My Man and I. Fante’s bout with near-obscurity makes a signed, first [...]

You can read Kurt Anderson’s ‘How to Back Up a Trailer’…or you can just back up a trailer

If you don’t know how to back up a trailer, change a tire or shuffle cards like a pro, you may not be from this planet. In which case, Kurt Anderson’s How to Back Up a Trailer . [...]

Paul G. Maziar and Matt Maust’s new book makes you make sense of it

The ideas and personal revelations about the mundane in What It Is: What It Is won’t make sense if you don’t want them to.
That’s because writer Paul G. Maziar’s and graphic artist/photographer/Cold War Kids bassist Matt Maust’s collaboration feels like an existential [...]

Long Beach author David Mark Dannov talks about writing, and reading at Acres of Books
Most writers are thankful to publish three books in a lifetime. Long Beach-based author David Mark Dannov accomplished that feat in one day, dropping three volumes of poetry via his own imprint, Black Joke Press, then reading selections at Acres of [...]

How does a nice guy like Long Beach writer David Hernandez produce a dark, dark book like ‘Suckerpunch’? A story of ancient Greece, Nazi Germany and America

FATHERHOOD IS POLITICAL
It’s a day before Election Day, and I’m driving through grassy, bushy, rainwashed, improbably shiny Belmont Shore whilst monitoring conservative talk radio. Call it watching the defectives. [...]

The short, sharp life of soul surfer Bunker Spreckles

We love young, dead people if they’re hot and have backstory. Which greatly explains Bunker Spreckels, Surfing’s Divine Prince of Decadence, the latest from writer Craig R. Stecyk III (“discoverer” of the Dogtown skaters) and ex-Spreckels photographer Art Brewer. It also explains why you probably don’t need [...]

Therapy: Unwind with DJ Wingard before you stuff yourself. Free. 21+.
ALEX’S BAR 2913 E Anaheim, Long Beach 90804. 562.434.8292; alexsbar.com.
Knitting Circle: String together something warm before it gets too cold. 7:30pm. Free.
PORTFOLIO 2300 E Fourth St, Long Beach 90814. 562.434.2486; portfoliocoffeehouse.com.