Send us a text

Using acting-school chops to conquer her deeply ingrained instinct to run away, Wanda finally phones for the directions to St. Jude's Hospital. But the flickering world at Sunset and Vine floods her with memories--from golden visits to the Hollywood Ranch Market, to the high-rise vistas behind casting couches where she used to fight her way free, to The Brown Derby. . . The Smoke House . . . the warm safety of Coffee Dan's. And is that Tab Hunter as Jesus in the revolving glass?

Catherine Hein's former life took her from 20 years in the entertainment industry to two years in a homeless women's shelter. That's where Wanda, the reigning spirit of this epic two-volume novel of early ‘60s Hollywood, was born.

Host Alan Rifkin's novels, essays and short stories of Los Angeles have been published widely. Learn more about him at www.alanrifkin.com.

Intro music is from the song "Slow," performed by Sally Dworsky. Written by Sally Dworsky and Chris Hickey. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and all other streaming platforms. Closing credit music for Season 3 is performed by Ben Rifkin. Podcast art by Ryan Longnecker.

We have double publishing news!! Season Two’s novel, Sunland by Charlie Haas, has just been released in print by Beck & Branch with a new title, The Current Fantasy ("Heart, soul, art, and the promise of Giant Vegetables... perhaps the last great untold chapter of the California Story." —Don Wallace). Purchase on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Current-Fantasy-Charlie-Haas/dp/B0DJ1TJV82/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tuTmk2PLbYrhl35vNF26hNKifzMVNLxUX5sbuZKxIrSaOzMPlYjB5Uys5Y1YQ2ED1dDgQKbH8KqXAWxZaLQCQTt-KHNyPXOjQoh_573_J3WAGlt6ZVeniX-tqsXmWnQ3.CsBj4yVK4jbIFxGRKRiHullCZ9rJF1jsg1L23qgiuZE&dib_tag=se&qid=1728574532&refinements=p_27%3ACharlie+Haas&s=books&sr=1-1

Season One’s novel, The Drift That Follows Will Be Gradual by Alan Rifkin, has just been released in print by Open Books (“A delectable tour de force through our fractured culture—witty, wise, memorable, and touching.”—Richard Bausch). Purchase on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/Drift-That-Follows-Will-Gradual/dp/1948598795?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Send us a text

Achieving a moment's peace between mind and body in the bathroom of June's trailer after the aborted three-way, Wanda staggers off toward a darker reality ...fully reassembled, although, yes, forgetting her horse ... But in the shelter of her own Daytalk dressing room, teen memory is rounding the corner from summer's sewing with the relatives to riding with boys.

In what one listener describes as "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" if it were written by a woman, Catherine Hein's historical novel traces the journey of Wanda Fleming, the tenacious, calamity-prone co-host fatale of TV's Daytalk who, in the spring of 1962, must face life without her closest ally, settle on one lover, conquer her eating disorder, and ace a round of Password in order to secure a coveted game-show gig. . . if the world doesn't change too much first.

Hein's former life took her from 20 years in the entertainment industry to two years in a homeless women's shelter. That's where Wanda, the reigning spirit of this epic two-volume novel of early ‘60s Hollywood, was born.

Host Alan Rifkin's novels, essays and short stories of Los Angeles have been published widely. Learn more about him at www.alanrifkin.com.

Intro music is from the song "Slow," performed by Sally Dworsky. Written by Sally Dworsky and Chris Hickey. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and all other streaming platforms. Closing credit music for Season 3 is performed by Ben Rifkin. Podcast art by Ryan Longnecker.

Publishing news!! Season Two’s novel, Sunland by Charlie Haas, is being released in print on October 15 by Beck & Branch with a new title, The Current Fantasy. Visit: https://www.beckandbranch.com/the-current-fantasy. Season One’s novel, The Drift That Follows Will Be Gradual by Alan Rifkin, will be released August 1 by Open Books, where it is already available for pre-order. Visit https://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/the-drift-that-follows-will-be-gradual/order.html

Send us a text

This week's episode: "The Playwright,” a remarkable new short story by first-year talent Natalie Goss, about the subdued heart of a young Los Angeles theater reviewer-turned-dramatist who's losing the script.

Goss is a Child Development and Family Studies major now contemplating a minor or possible double major in English. She dreams of publishing a collection of both fiction and nonfiction, enjoys painting when not reading or writing, and hopes to become a counselor for the public school district of Oakland, where she was born and raised.

The story was developed in a lower-division fiction workshop at California State University, Long Beach.

Intro and outro music is from the song Slow, performed by Sally Dworsky. Written by Sally Dworsky and Chris Hickey. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and all other streaming platforms.

Podcast art by Ryan Longnecker.

Publishing news: Season Two’s original novel, Sunland by Charlie Haas, is being released in print this October by Beck & Branch with a new title, The Current Fantasy. Visit https://www.beckandbranch.com/the-current-fantasy. Season One’s novel, The Drift That Follows Will Be Gradual, will be released in August by Open Books, where it is now available for pre-order. Visit https://www.open-bks.com/library/moderns/the-drift-that-follows-will-be-gradual/order.html

Catherine Hein's novel THE CELEBRITY resumes next week.