Pretty Things:
a novel by Susan Compo

204 pages, paperback

Charles Bukowski hailed Susan Compo as "a pretty girl with a dirty mind," while Publishers Weekly praised her "witty, unflinching prose." Compo's narrative voice -- satirical and allusive -- has been compared to Dorothy Parker's, and her characters display the same irresistible blend of smart-ass wit, despair, and whistling-in-the-dark bravado. Following two highly regarded story collections, Compo's first novel takes a sharp-eyed look at LA's culture industry.

Adon, Brad, and little Miss Culligan could lead off a celebrity ABC. In the clash of egos that defines Hollywood, though, there is no lasting order, and talent-handler Giselle Entwistle has her hands full keeping these (and several other) career fires burning-along with a rare romance of her own. If teen idol Adon's goatee looks patchy, or ambitious screenwriter Brad lacks principle, it's all part of the game.

But when Len Tingle, the agency's rising country star, takes off with another client, while child prodigy belter Frances Culligan goes missing, Giselle could be overchallenged.

Meanwhile, the mysterious Pandra hands Giselle a haunting memoir of life in early 1970s glitter-era Los Angeles. Pandra's narrative-which forms a book within this book-does more than describe a journey from teenage scene-making to prostitution it hints that a long-lost rock star may have been murdered.

about the author:

Susan Compo is the author of two collections of stories, Life After Death and Malingering.

She grew up a surfer kid in Orange County, California, before moving to Los Angeles, where she published the seminal punk fanzine Blank Generation.

During the 1980s and 1990s, Compo moved back and forth between LA and London, writing about music for Mojo, SPIN, and other magazines, as well as exploring its echoes in her fiction. She currently lives in Los Angeles and teaches writing at the University of Southern California and Cal Arts.