SUMMARY
A compilation of Ellroy's GQ magazine fiction and non-fiction pieces published subsequent to those gathered in "Crime Wave." "Breakneck Pace" is Ellroy's first original e-book. The now collapsed "Contentville" won the rights to offer the Ellroy collection in what is believed to be the first literary auction of an e-book.
During the auction phase, the e-book's projected title was "Widespread Panic."
CONTENTS INCLUDE:
• I've Got the Goods, a celebration of/meditation upon Hollywood scandal rags such as "Confidential" and "Hush-Hush." Ellroy also takes the measure of today's scandals and skank vs. yesteryear's and finds contemporary innuendo and general bad behavior wanting.
• The Trouble I Cause, a Jack Webb-centered Danny Getchell short story. Getchell, a reporter for Hush-Hush Magazine, is a recurring character featured in several GQ-published Ellroy short stories that are either audaciously or annoyingly alliterative (depending upon individual tastes).
• My Life as a Creep, a hearkening back to Ellroy's days on the streets as a drifter and drug-addict with a jones for November 1967 Playboy Playmate Kaya Christian. In many respects, a short form of Ellroy's acclaimed memoir, "My Dark Places."
• Grave Doubt, a piece that originally appeared in the June GQ regarding Gary Graham, executed in Texas for murder on June 22. Ellroy appeared on MSNBC May 24, 2000 to promote his article. Ellroy said in that broadcast that he had changed his former pro-death penalty stance and believed Graham should not be executed. Ellroy also appeared on the FOX News Network's "O'Reilly Factor," where he stated he was 85% certain Graham was guilty, despite claims to the contrary. Several hours before the execution was carried out, Ellroy appeared again on MSNBC as a pundit. The Graham case became a pivotal issue in the 2000 presidential race: then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush was being heavily petitioned to grant a stay.
• Blood Sport, is Ellroy's nonfiction take on boxing. Ellroy writes of his father Armand's love of boxing in general and his old man's grudging respect for Latino boxers, in particular. Ellroy's piece centered on a 2000 Las Vegas featherweight bout between Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera. Ellroy's prose in this piece arrived at a stripped-down, staccato-style that in many respects anticipated the narrative voice of his latest novel, "The Cold Six Thousand."
Christopher Lehmann-Haupt reviewed Breakneck Pace in the June edition of Yahoo! Internet Life. He asks, "how much can you really say with a drumbeat of ...three-word sentences crammed into three-sentence paragraphs...?" His answer: "Quite a lot, actually." The review is generally quite positive and finds fault only with the Danny Getchell story, "The Trouble I Cause," which he finds "grates on the nerves."
At one point, Lehmann-Haupt's review takes an unexpected turn, criticizing the very form in which the e-book is being presented. "The machine-gun-like bursts of prose, whle superficially friendly to the eye on the screen grow monotonous." He also sends readers back to Ellroy's hardbacks and paperbacks, noting "the only way to appreciate" Breakneck Pace's pieces is to "read Ellroy's conventionally published works."
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