HOLLYWOOD NOCTURNES

New York City, NY: MacMillan Publishing, 2007. First Edition. First Printing.. Softcover. Fine/No Dust Jacket, As Issued.. New York City, NY: MacMillan Publishing, 2007. Softcover. Fine/None, As Issued. First Edition/First Printing. 229 pages. Retrospective collection of "stand-alone" short stories and other pieces. The author's eleventh book. The first appearance of the title as a Vintage Books Classic. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent printings, of which there are innumerable. Published in a small and limited first print run as a softcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The book design by Chip Kidd is dazzling, one of the best softcover designs ever of our time. The First Softcover Edition is now scarce. Presents James Ellroy's "Hollywood Nocturnes". Seven grisly, riveting accounts in "short dark riffs, the blues formalized". "Our best living mystery writer. Literate, suspenseful, honest. His pages crackle with manic energy. Ellroy captures the vocabulary, the rituals, the smells, rhythms, and colors of real people living on the edge. Nobody since Chandler has evoked so perfectly the seamy side of LA" (The Austin Chronicle). The defining event in James Ellroy's life was his young mother's murder when he was ten years old. Like Elizabeth Short, the "Black Dahlia", she was ritualistically murdered, and Ellroy has basically been writing about his mother's unsolved murder in one way or another since then, including his memoir about her, "My Dark Places" (1996). While his work is influenced by Raymond Chandler - as well as Jim Thompson -, it is tiresome to be reminded of it. It must also be said that his work is ultimately the exact opposite of Chandler's relentless misogyny, a hatred of women that has marred what is otherwise a great body of work. Ellroy loves women, as incarnated by his (in real life, otherwise exasperating) mother, and realized in the female character-victims he has written about with such grace and beauty. He is THE crime writer of Los Angeles of our time: His work isn't just about LA; he encompasses and embodies it; he is LA Incarnate. An absolute "must-have" title for James Ellroy collectors. This copy is very boldly and beautifully signed (initialled/"scrawled") in black ink-pen on the title page by James Ellroy. It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. This title is a late-modern classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed copy of the First "Vintage Books" Edition/First Printing available online and is in fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws, are in innumerable subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A scarce signed copy thus. One of the most brilliant writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER JAMES ELLROY TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0307278794.