— JAMES ELLROY —

DESTINATION: MORGUE!

L.A. TALES

(The Second GQ Anthology)

JAMES ELLROY'S 2004 U.S. TOUR DATES:

10/7/2004 — Tattered Cover Bookstore 2955 E. First Street Denver, CO 80206 303-322-7727

10/9/2004 — Southern Festival of Books Tennesse Humanities Council 1003 18th Avenue South Nashville, TN 37212 615-320-7001, x. 12

10/11/2004 — Shaman Drum Bookshop 313 S. State Street Ann Arbor, MI 48104 734-662-7407

10/13/2004 — Borders Books 3750 University Avenue Madison, WI 53705 608-232-2600

10/14/2004 — H.W. Schwartz Bookshop 2559 N. Downer Avenue Milwaukee, WI 53211 414-332-1181

10/15/2004 — Regulator Bookshop 720 9th Street Durham, NC 27705 919-286-2700

10/18/2004 — Harvard Bookstore 1256 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138 617-497-7625

10/19/2004 — Barnes & Noble 675 6th Avenue New York, NY 10010 212-727-1227

10/20/2004 — Prairie Lights Books 15 S. Dubuque Street Iowa City, IA 52240 319-337-2681

10/26/2004 — Diesel, A Bookstore 5433 College Avenue Oakland, CA 94618 510-653-9965

10/27/2004 — Seattle Mystery Bookshop 117 Cherry Street Seattle, WA 98104 206-587-5737 Noon

10/27/2004 — Bailey - Coy Books 414 Broadway East Seattle, WA 98102 206-323-8842

10/28/2004 — Powell's Books 1005 W. Burnside Portland, OR 97209 503-228-0540, x. Kevin: 241 / Michael: 489

10/30/2004 — Texas Book Festival P.O. Box 13143 Austin, TX 78711 512-477-4055

11/11/2004 — Poisoned Pen 4014 N. Goldwater Scottsdale, AZ 85251 480-947-2974

11/13/2004 — Miami Book Fair Miami - Dade County Community College Wolfson Campus / 300 NE 2nd Ave. Miami, FL 33132 305-237-3564305-237-3315

11/14/2004 — The Writer's Garret The Writers Studio 2800 Routh Street Dallas, TX 75214 214-828-1715

11/15/2004 — Rainy Day Books 2706 W. 53rd Street Fairway, KS 66205 913-384-4508

11/16/2004 — Vroman's Books 695 E. Colorado Pasadena, CA 91101 626-449-5320

11/18/2004 — Book Soup South Coast Plaza 3333 Bear Street South Coast Plaza Costa Mesa, CA 92626 714 689-2665

SUMMARY:

James Ellroy’s second collection of GQ fiction appeared on Sept. 14, 2004 from Vintage in trade paperback format. The U.S. volume includes three previously unpublished novellas and numbers 400 pages. It retails for $13.95 (ISBN: 1400032873). RESERVE YOUR COPY HERE.

The British edition, on the other hand, is scheduled to appear in hardcover format in October at 368 pages. (Pre-order your copy HERE.) Because it's the only hardcover version, this will be the one to go for as a collector.

Unfortunately, Art Cooper's ousting at GQ, the magazine in which the Ellroy articles contained in the collection originally appeared, was followed by the ousting of Ellroy and several other major writers from the magazine's stable. The U.S. and U.K. publications of Destination: Morgue! were pushed back to fall 2004.

The Italian edition of the book was released late in 2003, thus becoming the first true edition (though not in English) of Ellroy's latest title.

The new collection incorporates three previously unpublished novellas, narrated by contemporary L.A. homicide detective Richard W. Jenson, an obsessive/compulsive cop with a long long Jones for actress Donna Donahue (think Ellroy muse Dana Delaney). Unlike Crime Wave, Ellroy's first collection of GQ material, this collection incorporates photo illustrations.

Contents include:

PART I: CRIME CULTURE/MEMOIR:

• "Balls to the Wall" (Formerly titled, "Blood Sport"), dwelling on boxing: Father Armand Ellroy's love of boxing in general and Mexican boxers in particular. Ellroy's essay centers on a Las Vegas featherweight bout between Erik Morales and Marco Antonio Barrera.

• "Where I Get My Weird Shit," a sort of digest version of Ellroy's memoir My Dark Places.

• "Stephanie," Ellroy reopens an unsolved L.A. homicide case. The case also keys two of the new novellas contained in the collection.

• "Grave Doubts,", Examining the case of Gary Graham, executed in Texas for murder.

• "My Life As A Creep," a hearkening back to Ellroy’s days on the streets as a drifter and drug-addict with a thing for November 1967 Playboy Playmate Kaya Christian.

• "The DA," Ellroy's profile of L.A. District Attorney Steve Cooley that appeared in the July 2002 GQ, in which Ellroy predicted Cooley could go down as one of America's great crime fighters.

• “Little Sleazer and the Mail-Sex Mama,” about the May 2001 unsolved murder of actor Robert Blake's wife.

• "I've Got The Goods," a celebration of Hollwood Scandal rags such as Confidential and Hush-Hush.

• "The Trouble I Cause," a Jack Webb-centered Danny Getchell short story.

PART II: RICK LOVES DONNA (3 NEW NOVELLAS)

• "Hollywood Fuck Pad," is set in 1983 and narrated by Hollwood Division cop Rick Jenson, who, up front, lets slip he died in a shootout. No spoiler, this: textual clues indicate Rick, who has a thing for rhinos, falls in the year 2048 ... following a term as California governor.

• "Hot Prowl Rape-O." It's autumn, 2004: Rick and actress/muse Donna tackle softcore porn stars, the Internet, transgendered whack-jobs and solve an old historic L.A. crime. The good news, for those who are up-to-here with the alliteration of Danny Getchell is that Getchell is at last dead. The bad news? Well, another bottom-feeding gossip-monger has picked up the torch, producing a low-end present-day version of Hush-Hush and writing under the name "Gary Getchell." Ellroy fans who have their issues with the Getchell stories should also take note that narrator Rick has elected to write his accounts in Hush-Hush style....

• "Jungletown Jihad." Perhaps the strongest of the three Jenson novellas. This one is set in 2005, and has vintage Ellroy touches ... news articles to distrupt the alliterative narrative ... a fitness report from a station-house shrink regarding Detective Jenson, ala Lloyd Hopkins, Ellroy's last "contemporary fictional" cop ... excerpts from a biography of actress Donna Donahue, dubbed "Her Private Places." Mix-in Muslim criminals, terrorist plots and snuff films ... you get the picture.

GQ pieces that didn't make the cut, for whatever reasons:

• Ellroy's long touted piece profiling 2000 presidential contenders George W. Bush and Al Gore — as well as their parties' respective summer conventions — dubbed, "The Father, the Son and Bubba's Ghost."

• An April 2001 profile of FOX news host and fellow best-selling author Bill O'Reilly. GQ posed the question: "How did Bill O'Reilly, a regular guy from Levittown, New York, become a media pundit?" Ellroy answered, in his first personality profile, entitled, "Bill O'Reilly Is All Folked-Up."

• A short essay regarding the attacks of Sept. 11, entitled "The Power of Witness."

• Ellroy's last piece for GQ before the ouster, detailing the impact of his world tour, and his respective things for poet Anne Sexton and actress Dana Delaney.

Official Agent's Site for Destination: Morgue!

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