Todd Grimson

In the world of Hollywood's panderers, philanderers, has-beens, and sycophants, aspiring screenwriter and director Lisa Nova considers herself a rising star who can transcend the lies, cheating, and hypocrisy for the sake of her art. When she is coldly betrayed by one leering producer too many, she turns to Boro, the enigmatic leader of a local biker gang, to exact vengeance--and she gets more than she bargained for. It begins with the strange tattoos that appear overnight on her skin like stigmata, followed by the hallucinations of ancient cults of the undead. Lisa soon finds herself contending with white jaguars and cannibalistic demons rising from the grave, and the lines between dreams and reality quickly dissolve in this surreal and exhilarating blend of satire and the macabre.

Brand New Cherry Flavor

Nel mondo di Hollywood, tra ruffiani, cascamorti, divi sul viale del tramonto e adulatori, Lisa Nova, aspirante sceneggiatrice e regista, si considera una stella nascente che può passare sopra le ipocrisie, le menzogne e gli inganni in nome della sua arte. Quando viene imbrogliata per l'ennesima volta da un produttore, decide di rivolgersi a Boro, il misterioso capo di una banda di motociclisti, per avere vendetta. Ma ottiene molto più di quanto ha chiesto. Inizia tutto con degli strani tatuaggi che sembrano conferirle poteri insoliti. Poi arrivano le allucinazioni che risvegliano oscuri e antichi culti legati ai non morti, e Lisa si ritrova a lottare contro giaguari bianchi e demoni cannibali emersi dalla tomba. Il confine tra l'incubo e la realtà si fa molto, molto sottile, fino a dissolversi del tutto in questo romanzo, miscela surreale, irresistibile e a tratti esilarante di macabro e satirico.

Al nuovo gusto di ciliegia

Acero

Marking the first original publication by Todd Grimson in almost 20 years, the 13 stories compiled in this volume showcase the author’s fascinating fictional canvases, peopled by authentic and sympathetic characters with settings ranging from the Amazon to the Sahara and stops in between to 1970s East Village and pre-Castro Cuba. Whether it’s a Hollywood starlet who goes AWOL from her movie set in the wake of her husband's suicide and in disguise embarks anonymously on a hedonistic bender or an African American man seeking the answer behind the mysterious disappearance of his friend in the heart of Muslim North Africa, each individual within these stories is striving to break free, to make new meaning of their world, to find recognition or self-definition in an otherwise bleak and unsympathetic world. Fresh and bold and original in his voice and depiction of character, places, and events, Grimson’s range is extraordinary, his imagination is unsurpassable, and his empathy for his characters—whether killers, transvestites, prostitutes—are all deeply heartfelt.

13 Stories

Stabs at Happiness

Resurrecting a horrifying and romantic narrative that broke fresh ground for its genre, this newly rereleased novel sets a vampire story in contemporary Los Angeles—the pleasure dome of late 1990s sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll culture. Unlike the vampires that came before her, Justine does not shun crosses, she watches horror movies on television, and she sets upon her prey in an almost apologetic way, never killing her victims but leaving them unconscious instead. She soon finds herself entwined in a very human sexual relationship with Keith, a down-on-his-luck rock guitarist whose hands have recently been mangled by a gang of drug dealers. Justine nurtures Keith out of his depression and drug addiction as he in turn becomes her lover and accomplice in her nocturnal predations. The relationship between the undead and the living is realistically and tragically portrayed as Keith acts both as Justine's enabler and unwitting nemesis and, in this classic role reversal, ends up having to destroy the one he loves in order to save her.

Todd Grimson

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