Stalking Bret Easton Ellis

I just ran across Stalking Bret Easton Ellis while on Facebook. I haven't had a chance to read up on it yet. Anybody have info on this? Below is the trailer for the book.

Dumbocracy

While we are waiting for Imperial Bedrooms and The Informers film, you may want to distract yourself by picking up Marty Beckerman's Dumbocracy.

I haven't got a copy yet to put up any type of review, but I really enjoyed his previous novel - Generation SLUT and his blog. Here's a couple of reviews from other folks:

"Dumbocracy is a thoughtful book with great shock value geared to awaken, entertain and enlighten Marty's generation about the freedoms embedded in our Bill of Rights. Beyond the spoofing, it is passionate, scholarly, and delivers the message that young people need to hear." - Former U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Mike Gravel

"Beckerman uses the deft and subtle touch of a sledgehammer. If you can read this entire book without being offended, then there is a good chance that you are illiterate. If you can read this entire book and not enjoy it, then there's a good chance you take yourself too seriously."
- Christian Lander, bestselling author of Stuff White People Like

Ellis Writing Screenplay For 'Downers Grove'

We may have to wait awhile for Imperial Bedrooms to be published, but it looks like there's a good reason.

Bret Easton Ellis will be writing the screenplay for Downers Grove.

The independently financed project centers on a paranoid high school senior for whom graduating has become a matter of life or death. The novel was published in 1999 by Michael Hornburg.

I've never read anything by Michael Hornburg before. Any of you have thoughts on the Downers Grove novel and how it might translate onto the big screen?

Ellis Appearance With Joe McGinniss Jr.

Bret Easton Ellis will be appearing with Joe McGinniss Jr. in support of The Delivery Man at Book Soup in West Hollywood.

Book Soup
8818 Sunset Boulevard
West Hollywood, CA 90069
Tuesday - 2/12/2008
7:00 PM

If you get the chance to go, ask Bret about Imperial Bedrooms.

Fires by Nick Antosca

First off, I need to apologize to Nick for the length of time it took to get this brief review up on the website. He was kind enough to send me a signed copy of the book several months ago and alot of personal issues got in the way of me devoting any time to the novel until recently.

Fires is the debut novel from Nick Antosca. The book revolves around 2 high school acquantencies (Jon and James) whose paths cross again in a 'violent sex triangle' during college. Eventually the 2 return to their deserted hometown together in the midst of encroaching wildfires after a body is found in the home of a former teacher who lived across the street from Jon.

I found Fires to be an extremely dark book - similar in mood to Donnie Darko - built around disturbed characters. I enjoyed the book alot, it managed to suck me into the story right from the start and I didn't put it down till I was thru.

Buy from Amazon: Fires by Nick Antosca

Spanish Book Covers

Thanks to Alejandro for sending in these Spanish covers of Less Than Zero, The Informers, and American Psycho. Pretty bland stuff really.

... continue reading this entry

Lunar Park Nominated For World Fantasy Award

Couple of interesting tidbits via the SciFi channel. According to this story, Ellis has re-located back to Los Angeles to work on his previously mentioned 'sequel' to Less Than Zero.

We also find out that Lunar Park has been nominated for a World Fantasy Award. The winner will be announced at their convention in November 2006. Here are all the nominees:

Hal Duncan, Vellum (Macmillan; Del Rey)
Bret Easton Ellis, Lunar Park (Knopf; Macmilln)
Graham Joyce, The Limits of Enchantment (Gollancz; Atria)
Patricia A. McKillip, Od Magic (Ace)
Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore (Harvill; Knopf)
Paul Park, A Princess of Roumania (Tor)

It seems very odd to see Ellis listed among that group of authors.

Killing Yourself To Live

I missed Bret's endorsement of Chuck Klosterman's Killing Yourself To Live when it was originally released. Here's the blurb from the back cover:

"I can't think of a more sheerly likable writer than Chuck Klosterman and his old-fashioned, all-American voice: bighearted and direct, bright and unironic, optimistic and amiable, self-deprecating and reasssuring - with a captivating lack of fuss or pretension. He's also genuinely funny and I pretty much agree with everything he says." - Bret Easton Ellis

The Australian just put up a review of the book, thats what reminded me of Bret's back-cover blurb.

Ellis Promotes Eat The Document

Another back of the book jacket recommendation from BEE, this time for Dana Spiotta's new novel Eat the Document.

"With only her second book Dana Spiotta has become, I think, a major American writer. The ironic connections she makes between the cultural divide of the early '70s and late '90x are chilling and delicious. This scary and often brilliant novel comes together beautifully in the end - there's an intense satisfaction of seeing everything link up so movingly and with such warmth, and yet Spiotta is the only female writer I know whose prose remins me of the cool ambient poetry and steely precision of Don DeLillo, and Eat the Document is as darkly exact and thrilling as the political novels of Joan Didion." - Bret Easton Ellis

Its pretty obvious from reading many of Bret's back flap recommendations who his favorite author is - Don DeLillo. He can't help but compare everyone he reviews to him. The only DeLillo book I've read was Libra - his alternative history book about Lee Harvey Oswald.

Ellis Interview

The Morning News has an interview up with Bret by Robert Birnbaum. Robert has chatted with Bret a few times over the past couple of years, so his interview is quite different than most folks because he doesn't have to ask the obvious questions. [Thanks to Tim and Settemod for sending this in]

The only real future project nugget is Bret's response when asked about The Informers:

BEE: And that has a script and looks like it's going to go, yeah.

This would be the Nicholas Jarecki script mentioned last year, so hopefully its still progressing.

Rebels, Turn Out Your Dead

With very little happening in the direct world of Bret Easton Ellis right now, we're reduced to discussing books that Bret blurbs. The latest is Rebels, Turn Out Your Dead from Michael Drinkard - a novel based on true events and set during the Revolutionary War. Here's the blurb from Ellis reprinted at the official site for the book.

"Michael Drinkard is a genius fiction writer who has written a truly original historical saga that envelops us in the madness of Revolutionary War America. He's produced a playful, funny, brisk novel - beautiful yet so spare (there's not a wasted word and no fussy lingering over arcane detail) that Rebels, Turn Out Your Dead never loses its focus as a genuinely rousing adventure told at full gallop with a unique contemporary spirit. I have no idea how Michael Drinkard pulled this off but he transports the reader with the skill of a wizard." - Bret Easton Ellis

Ellis also has a smaller blurb on the back cover of this novel:

Michael Drinkard writes like a benevolent Don DeLillo ... one of our generation's most distinctive and original voices.

Thanks to for bringing this to my attention.

I should also mention that BEE's pal Jay McInerney had a new book released on Jan 31 called, The Good Life. Also, here is an interview discussing the book with WTOP radio.

Holidays With Patrick

Fan fiction: An American Psycho Christmas [thanks to t for the heads up]

Review: You Will Behave

I got the chance to read a new novella called You Will Behave by Matt Getty over the past week or so while traveling. It was very different style of book than what I usually read, in that it was very short and quite funny. I'm not sure why, but I can't remember the last time I read a book that was actually funny.

You Will Behave is also different in that its written in the 2nd person future tense. The story revolves around a mother chastising her young son after he sodomized his sister's Sparkle Beach Barbie with Darth Vader's light-saber.

If that sounds odd, well it is. And it gets even more weird as the mother continues laying into her son and in effect, predicting his entire life based on this episode.

Overall, a good book, and a great change of pace from what I'm used to reading.

Rating: 7.0

Beckerman Meets Ellis

Marty Beckerman has posted a 'transcript' of his conversation with Ellis at a recent book signing [he's also posted an uber-short review of Lunar Park].

Marty is the author of Generation S.L.U.T., which I reviewed last year. His next book, Retard Nation, will be released in February 2006.

Ellis Audio Interview

Tom Waters has posted 4 audio snippets from an interview he did with Bret Easton Ellis last week.

Discussing his late father.
Discussing his critics.
Discussing a possible Less Than Zero sequel.
Talking about Donna Tartt.

And since I didn't know offhand, here is some Donna Tartt info.

Tom Waters is the author of First Person, Last Straw.

First Person, Last Straw is a collection of explosively funny rants, celebrity interviews and prose by Buffalo humorist Tom Waters. His rants cover smoking, 9/11, Dave Barry, cartoons, games, strip clubs, religion, singles dating, babies and hair coloring. Celebrity reviews and interviews include California Governor Candidate Mary Carey, cartoonists Shannon Wheeler and Jason Yungbluth, Director Jon Elston and Poet Li Farrello to name a few. There's also a 20 page party jounal ala Andy Warhol diaries; drinks, name dropping, gossip andn unflinchingly honest inebriation. Bombastic, obnoxious and hilarious in turns, First Person Last Straw is a must have for those in need of uncontrollable laughter!

Jaime Clarke Blog

Jaime Clarke has started a 'BEE & Me' blog that you'll be interested in. If the name doesn't ring a bell, Jaime is the author of Vernon Downs which is a novel based on his relationship with Bret Easton Ellis.

He also has some info about the Publisher's Weekly article on Lunar Park.

Chuck Palahniuk: Diary

I finally managed to finish Diary while I was traveling last week. Palahniuk's books are always fun to read because they tend to have alot going on and the short sentence/paragraph structure makes for a quick read as well.

Overall, the book was good, but not nearly up to the standard set by Fight Club and Survivor.

Rating: 7.5

Pornstar Blurb

Back in 1999, Bret wrote a jacket blurb for Ian Gittler's book - Pornstar - and I finally ran across it today and thought I'd post it.

Pornstar is a one-of-a-kind reading experience; its both a clear-eyed memoir and an intimate portrayal of an industry rarely written about with such seriousness. Sad and ribald, it locates a place where the scabrous and the innocent meet. The tension stems from the disparity between the rock & roll glamour of Ian Glitter's photographs - which are stunning - and the dispairing tone of his text. Glitter is totally honest about his own mixed feelings - his attraction and moral anxeity - and his honesty humanizes this world. As both voyeur and participant, he doesn't demonize porn - its neither as scummy as one might have thought nor as sexy as one might have hoped - but treats it with compassion and sympathy. Why didn't anyone write this book before?
-Bret Easton Ellis

Chip Kidd: Book One

Its not coming out until October, but Chip Kidd: Book One : Work: 1986-2006 will be released this fall. The book is a collection of all his book covers, designs and various sketches over the years.

For those that don't know, Chip Kidd designed the Lunar Park cover - among a bunch of other things you would recognize.



From inside the front cover:

Described as "the closest thing to a rock star" in graphic design today (USA Today), Chip Kidd is universally recognized as an American master of contemporary book design. At the forefront of a revolution in publishing, Kidd's iconic covers, with their inventive marriage of type and found images, have influenced an entire generation of design practitioners in many fields.

Chip Kidd: Book One collects all of his book covers and designs for the first time, as well as hundreds of developmental sketches and concepts-annotated by Kidd and by many of the best-selling authors he's worked with over the years. The result is an important contribution to the design canon today as well as a visually dazzling (and often hilarious) insider's look at the design and publishing process.The book also showcases Kidd's work with comics and graphic novels, including his collaborations with leading artists and writers in the field. Featured are projects for DC Comics, including Batman and Superman, as well as Kidd's award-winning exploration of the art of Charles M. Schulz.

Vernon Downs

Gawker has the details behind 'Vernon Downs', a new book about a writer obsessed with Bret Easton Ellis. It was authored by Jaime Clark, and is available for download (is this authorized?) at the Ellis Yahoo! Fan Site as a PDF. (You have to join the group, and then look in 'Files' to get it.

The PDF is 133 pages, I'll see if I can get thru it tonight. And thanks to the handful of people who emailed this to me today.

UPDATE: The PDF version of 'Vernon Downs' has now been removed from the Ellis Yahoo! Fan Site per the request of the author. Hope you got it while it was up.

Chloe Sevigny Interview

Dark Horizons has an interview with Chloe Sevigny (IMDB profile) about her new role in the Woody Allen film Melinda & Melinda.

Chloe played Jean in the movie adaption of American Psycho.

Also, Boldtype had a review of Glamorama in their fashion issue. (thanks to Aneri for the tip)

Bret Easton Ellis Bookstore Appearance

Bret Easton Ellis is going to be making a bookstore appearance out in LA on February 9th to introduce another author - Carter Coleman. Here's the skinny:

2/9/2005 - 7:00 PM

Book Soup
8818 Sunset Blvd.
W. Hollywood CA 90069

Ph. 310.659.3110

Carter Coleman with special guest Bret Easton Ellis, presents and signs Cage's Bend.

Another glitterati occasion! In Cage's Bend, Carter Coleman delves deeply into family, loss and mental illness with tremendous grace. Bret Easton Ellis (Less Than Zero, Glamorama, American Psycho) will be on hand to introduce this talented newcomer.

If any of you get a chance to make it to this event, send in any pictures you take and I'll post them here.

Headless: A Book To Pass The Time

I've found another book to keep you busy while we wait on Ellis' next offering - Headless by Benjamin Weissman.

Consider, for instance, 'Morality Play (Six Hours in Length)' from Headless, "an old-fashioned fable of the unendurable man known only as (raises his arm) … who wakes up one morning sick to his stomach." Not unlike the protagonist of Albert Camus' The Stranger,"this unendurable man" goes on to commit casual violence:

"He shoots his daughter and son, strangles his wife, and heaves their newborn infant against the wall; clutter, he screams, every person takes up so much room … the world is passive, he says as smoke rises all around him, I am the active one, the spring rain of contempt, a swift morose icon, my gift is misguided love, I’m the only person who’s truly supposed to be here."

The above was taken from the In The Fray review. Plus, Bret Easton Ellis has a favorable blurb about the book:

"Beneath the deadpan absurdity these virtuoso comic monologues describe what it means to be male." - Ellis

Thats good enough for me.

Review: Generation S.L.U.T

While we all wait for the next novel from Bret Easton Ellis, its always fun to stumble onto something thats at least similar in style to an Ellis novel. Generation S.L.U.T. from Marty Beckerman fit the bill perfectly.

The book is about a group of high school kids struggling with sex, depression, popularity and their parents. Mix in an ultra-rich under-age porn purveyor who all the parents just adore and you've got yourselves an interesting story. Basically, its like a Bret Easton Ellis book, but built around a younger generation.

Thats not to say that this is just an 'Ellis formula' book, trying to capitalize on his popularity. Not at all. Instead, Beckerman creates a style all his own to move the story forward.

By mixing in actual news headlines and quotes from the past few years inbetween the fiction chapters, Beckerman provides a very serious context to the book that provides weight to the already compelling storyline.

Its one thing to write an intersting piece of fiction, its quite another to write one that makes a social statement at the same time. Beckerman manages to do both seamlessly here. Overall, an excellent novel; very fast read as well. I encourage you to pick up a copy if you get a chance.

Christian Bale Is The New Batman

Christian Bale - who played the lead in the American Psycho movie - has been selected to play Batman in Christoper Nolan's (Memento) adaptation.

Said Nolan, "What I see in Christian is the ultimate embodiment of Bruce Wayne. He has exactly the balance of darkness and light that we were looking for."

I realize this is only tangentially related to Bret Easton Ellis, but there has been such a complete void of news over the past month that this is the best I can do right now.

Mick Foley As Bret Easton Ellis

This is a comparison that I thought I'd never see. From the official site for Mick Foley's new book Tietam Brown:

I think you will enjoy "Tietam Brown," although the tone might seem a little darker than you might think, coming off the pen of the jovial commissioner. Critics have called it "disturbing" and "sickening," but they've never called it boring. It has been hailed by one critic as "a strange mix of J.D. Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye,' and Bret Easton Ellis' 'American Psycho.'" Anyway, I think you'll like it, and find it touching and uplifting … in a disturbing, sickening kind of way.

In case the name doesn't ring a bell with you, Mick Foley is a retired (mostly) WWF/E wrestler who's written two previous bestsellers - both autobiographical. I can see where he's be demented enough to cover subjects similar to BEE - the writing quality is sure to suffer in comparison, but hey - he's Mick Foley.

Bret Easton Ellis Porn Essay To Be Published

NY Post Page Six is reporting that a new book of photography by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders entitled either XXX or Porn Stars (according to the Village Voice) will include essays on pornography from Bret Easton Ellis, John Malkovich, Adam Gopnik, A.M. Holmes, Whitley Strieber and Nancy Friday.

The photography portion of XXX/Porn Stars is described as featuring photographs of 50 top adult entertainers, spanning male and female, straight and gay, clothed and nude. Currently, there is no mention of this project on Greenfield-Sanders official site.

Ellis Recommends A Million Little Pieces

UPDATE: Pretty much this entire book has been exposed as a lie by The Smoking Gun. Don't buy it. Don't buy anything from Frey ever again.

While we are waiting for another Bret Easton Ellis novel to drool over, I'm going to read James Frey's A Million Little Pieces. Frey is a fiend of Ellis and has written a memoir that chronicles his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction. Here's what Ellis had to say about the novel:

A Million Little Pieces is this generation's most comprehensive book about addiction, a heartbreaking memoir defined by its youthful tone and poetic honesty. -Bret Easton Ellis

Here are a couple of recent favorable reviews from the Chicago Sun Times, the Denver Post, and the Clevland Plain Dealer. What follows is the first paragraph of the book:

I wake to the drone of an airplane engine and the feeling of something warm dripping down my chin. I lift my hand to feel my face. My front four teeth are gone, I have a hole in my cheek, my nose is broken and my eyes are swollen nearly shut. I open them and I look around and I'm in the back of plane and there's no one near me. I look at my clothes and my clothes are covered with a colorful mixture of spit, snot, urine, vomit and blood. I reach for the call button and I find it and I push it and I wait and thirty seconds later an Attendant arrives.

You can get the first 10 pages of the book sent to you via email from the official site.

UPDATE: The Independent has yet another glowing review of Frey's book.

Bret Easton Ellis To Write For 'Radar' Magazaine

Along with some other 'big name' writers like Candace Bushnell, Jake Tapper, Lisa DePaulo and Tina Brown, Ellis has signed on to the staff of the new magazine, Radar. Described by its creator as a hybrid of National Enquirer and Spy Magazine, the first issue of Radar his the shelves last week. The magazine's official website is - not suprisingly - RadarMagazine.com