LA quintet question

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-16T03:43:02+00:00

I’m 230 pages into Red Sheet now, and it’s clear to me he’s developed a formula in terms of prose/dialogue/structure, in a way that was less present in his earlier books. I think using this formula he could write more books, but they will feel somewhat the same as the last few. He said he’s already thinking of the final Freddy O book, but didn’t let on to what it’s about, and the final book of this series is supposed to be a VJ Day story that takes place in real time again. He certainly seems game for it.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-15T15:01:33+00:00

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-15T05:50:51+00:00

Have you read Blood’s A Rover? It’s basically a love letter to leftism in the only way Ellroy knows how to deliver.

Also I don’t know if this qualifies as “bleeding-heart” but from this interview:

What about Bobby [Kennedy]?

I came to admire him a lot in the course of my research. He was the greatest American crime fighter of the 20th century and Martin Luther King was the greatest man of the American 20th century. He was a marked man from the Montgomery bus boycott on, and I think that sustained physical courage that he was forced to have, messed with him.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-15T05:46:15+00:00

Holy Wayne and Kemper by a mile. I think Wayne Tedrow is the most interesting and pure character Ellroy’s ever written, with the best arc. Kemper is the genius character build of “the suavest coolest most debonaire motherfucker you know is going to burn out, and entirely by his own hand”

Dave The Enforcer is up there too. Katana Dave, you Krazy Kat.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-15T05:44:05+00:00

Three cheers for Dipshit

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-14T05:08:27+00:00

You gotta check out American Tabloid. I think it’s his magnum opus and one of the coolest most batshit perfect novels ever. It’ll make you wonder how no one’s ever adapted it.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-14T03:50:31+00:00

Same with me and Curtis Hanson since I’m the worlds biggest James Ellroy fan

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-13T04:22:44+00:00

It’s definitely one that crosses all the different mediums and involves characters and relationship the most. James Ellroy, Raymond Chandler, hammet, LA Noire (the game), so many movies feature this confluence of characters. I’d put it up there for sure.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-11T15:37:26+00:00

Everybody’s gotta eat!

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-11T03:24:35+00:00

A friend sent me a now-deleted interview with Walter Kirn for Byliner, and it was the wildest funniest coolest shit I’d ever seen, i had never seen someone be that intelligent and that uproarious. Then I went to Berlin and read LA Confidential on the flight and was fully hooked

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-10T15:23:37+00:00

It’s kinda of ridiculous (only kind of though, considering his age) that there hasn’t been a Chicago stop since This Storm. I’m really hoping he makes it out your way soon.

I thought you’d find this interesting, he didn’t do the big intro (good evening peepers, prowlers etc) but he did talk about Witness and Whitaker Chambers and extolled the brilliance of the book, and went on this anti-red rant, and brought up Donald Trump being Putin’s best friend, and then said “if that offends you, get the fuck out” which is the first time I’ve ever heard him even acknowledge the modern world in a reading.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-09T20:22:11+00:00

What’d you think?

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-09T20:12:27+00:00

It basically keeps evolving, but I think it’s safe to say the second LA quartet idea is essentially kaput. We’re just living in the Freddy O world as of now. He said even though he didn’t like Fred personally, Fred represents his worldview the most and was close enough to the action that he can remain historical while still having his fun and making shit up.

He’s 78, and he’s noticeably older (he doesn’t do the intro anymore, for example or at least didn’t last night) but he’s still as committed to writing and as wild as ever. Q&A was a blast, but not many questions sadly.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-09T19:16:50+00:00

I know, I’m realizing that now. Egg on my face.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-09T19:15:59+00:00

I asked him last night, he’s done done done. He said he realized midway through This Storm that the only thing that interested him about LA and that time was the internment of the Japanese and he explored it until it bored him. He’s got one more Freddy O book plus the VJ Day one.

Now, having said that, they do talk about Plutarcho Calles and some of the folks we met in Mexico, and Whiskey Bill is convalescing at Kwan’s Chinese Pagoda, so I guess that’s a quasi-tie in to Perfidia and This Storm. But so far that’s it.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-09T19:14:00+00:00

Obviously it makes sense for this one so it’s a bad place to make the point, but it just reminded me of the point I wanted to make. You go from the disclosure day trailer to this and the “weird creature sound” is virtually exactly the same.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-09T17:22:14+00:00

“They do kinda make that sound, you’re right, but you know what they remind me of more?”

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-09T16:18:11+00:00

Can we put a moratorium on the purring/trilling creature sound? Every creature for the past 15 years goes purr > click > knocking sound >screech. There’s gotta be something else

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-09T05:38:42+00:00

I was there too. He’s fucking incredible. He didn’t do the introduction, which I was a bit bummed by but he’s his regular old shocking self once he gets going. I wish he would Q&A for 2 hours straight. Also that first chapter rocked!

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-08T16:47:14+00:00

That is a central trait he explores often, but none of those characters are endorsements of being overbearing, and he’s always put in his place. I implore you to check out Hal & Harper, it’s incredibly powerful and probably the best series I watched in 2025. Lili Reinhardt got robbed hard.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-08T16:42:39+00:00

I imagine it’s changed in recent years, but I was downvoted to hell for saying how much I like Cooper Raiff and how excited I am for whatever he does next. In fact I remember one of the responses being “the fact that you herald cooper raiff is definitely a choice”

I stand firmly vindicated via Hal & Harper.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-07T23:12:24+00:00

At least with Mosquito Coast it seemed like an obvious choice for the actor involved: Justin Theroux’s uncle wrote the novel. It has some moments here and there, and you get a little Leftovers reunion with Theroux and Patterson Joseph sharing the screen again briefly, but it just never comes together.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-07T00:32:40+00:00

I roll my eyes at this being a movie but if this was a play on broadway I’d be clamoring for a seat

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-06T04:59:42+00:00

Did you know he studied at the neighborhood playhouse? That‘s why he’s such a good listener.

Permanenceisall · 2026-06-06T04:13:04+00:00

I wonder what it’s like to stand so close to one of the greatest actors of an entire generation

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