In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Meloan was friends with Charles Bukowski and his wife Linda. Bukowski enthusiastically encouraged his writing and invited him and his wife Cathy to many Hollywood events.
Meloan was also good friends with NPR monologue artist Joe Frank. Their regular brunches at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills were among the most fascinating encounters of his life. They discussed sexual failure, the nature of existence, godly realms, and the existential abyss. Meloan had the privilege of co-writing a number of radio shows with Frank that appeared on the NPR syndicate. The documentaries
Bukowski: Born into This and Joe Frank: Somewhere Out There both contain interviews with Meloan.
Visit the book’s website at www.pinballwizardbook.com.
Your book is a novella. Did you intentionally want to write a novella or is it something that just happened on its own?
PINBALL WIZARD consists of mostly true tales from a compressed period of my life in the early 1980s. There is a bit of embellishment here and there. So, I chose the moniker—novella.
Can you give us a book blurb so others can find out what your book Is about?
“Are you the Pinball Wizard or the pinball?” asks Ralph Hargraves’ manager inside a nuclear-hardened bunker in England. That is the question driving Michael D. Meloan’s new novella—a story of love, sex, jets, and Bukowski.
Lights flash, and bells ring as Ralph is buffeted between a controlling father, international intrigue in the US defense industry, and a friendship with the writer Charles Bukowski. A wild girlfriend also ratchets up the action.
But in the end, it is Ralph’s turn at the controls.
Who exactly is Bukowski?
Charles Bukowski was a prolific LA-based poet and novelist from the late 1960s to the early 1990s. His work explores life at the bottom end of the economic pyramid—barflies, denizens of the race tracks, the working poor, and of course, women and alcohol.
He wrote uninhibitedly about his sex life, delivering a wry sense of humor peppered with genuine bits of wisdom.
Have you written other books? Do you plan on writing more books?
My brother Steven and I co-wrote a published novel called The Shroud. And I have two new book projects coming soon. The first is a collection of flash memoirs and fiction with photos. These shorts have been well received by my 5,000 Facebook audience members over a period of years. Next, there will be a collection of short stories, including many previously published in magazines.
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
There is a PINBALL WIZARD website, including excerpts from the book and information about me.
Where can readers buy your book?
PINBALL WIZARD can be ordered from Amazon.
It can also be ordered directly from IFSF Publishing.
https://www.ifsfpublishing.com/pinball-wizard
And it can be ordered from bookstores across the US.
Thank you very much for taking the time out of your busy schedule to take part in this interview. What is next for you?
After this interview, I’m going to make a spinach, onion, and Munster cheese omelet.
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