List of Hollywood novels
Encyclopedia
This is a list of Hollywood Novel
s i.e. fiction about the American
film
and television
industry and associated culture. The Hollywood Novel is not to be confused with the Los Angeles novel which is a novel set in Los Angeles and environs but not at least overtly about the movie business and its effect on the lives of industry participants and movie goers.
Hollywood novel
A Hollywood novel is a novel that takes the Southern California motion picture industry as its setting and often its subject. Examples of Hollywood novels include The Day of the Locust by Nathanael West, What Makes Sammy Run by Budd Schulberg, The Last Tycoon by F...
s i.e. fiction about the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
industry and associated culture. The Hollywood Novel is not to be confused with the Los Angeles novel which is a novel set in Los Angeles and environs but not at least overtly about the movie business and its effect on the lives of industry participants and movie goers.
- Katherine Albert, Remember Valerie March (1939)
- James Robert BakerJames Robert BakerJames Robert Baker was an American author of sharply satirical, predominantly gay-themed transgressional fiction. A native Californian, his work is set almost entirely in Southern California. After graduating from UCLA, he began his career as a screenwriter, but became disillusioned and started...
, Boy Wonder (1988) - Clive BarkerClive BarkerClive Barker is an English author, film director and visual artist best known for his work in both fantasy and horror fiction. Barker came to prominence in the mid-1980s with a series of short stories which established him as a leading young horror writer...
, Coldheart CanyonColdheart CanyonColdheart Canyon is a novel by Clive Barker, published in 2001 by HarperCollins. The paperback edition was published by HarperTorch on November 5, 2002 . The story centers around Todd Pickett, a failing movie star, and Tammy Lauper, Todd's obsessive fan.-Synopsis:The story begins in Romania during...
(2001) - William BoydWilliam Boyd (writer)William Boyd, CBE is a Scottish novelist and screenwriter.-Biography:Of Scottish descent, Boyd spent his early life in Ghana and Nigeria, in Africa...
, The New ConfessionsThe New ConfessionsThe New Confessions is a novel of the Scottish writer William Boyd. The book follows the life of John James Todd from his birth in Edinburgh up to his final exile on a Mediterranean island, having fled the USA from fear of being implicated in a murder...
(1987) - Brock Brower, The Late Great Creature (1971)
- Charles BukowskiCharles BukowskiHenry Charles Bukowski was an American poet, novelist and short story writer. His writing was influenced by the social, cultural and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles...
, Hollywood (1989) - James M. CainJames M. CainJames Mallahan Cain was an American author and journalist. Although Cain himself vehemently opposed labeling, he is usually associated with the hardboiled school of American crime fiction and seen as one of the creators of the roman noir...
, Serenade (1937) - Robert CarsonRobert Carson (writer)Robert Carson was an American film and television screenwriter, novelist, and short story writer, who won an Academy Award in 1938 for his screenplay of A Star Is Born. He was married to Mary Jane Irving, a former child actress.-Film screenwriting credits:*A Star Is Born, 1937...
, Love Affair (1958) - Raymond ChandlerRaymond ChandlerRaymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...
, The Little SisterThe Little SisterThe Little Sister is a 1949 novel by Raymond Chandler, the fifth in his popular Philip Marlowe series. The story is set in late 1940s Los Angeles.-Plot summary:...
(1949) - Jackie CollinsJackie CollinsJacqueline Jill "Jackie" Collins is an English novelist and former actress. She is the younger sister of actress Joan Collins. She has written 28 novels, all of which have appeared on the New York Times bestsellers list. In total, her books have sold over 400 million copies and have been...
, Hollywood Wives (1983) - Ray ConnollyRay ConnollyRay Connolly is an English novelist, screenwriter and journalist.He is perhaps best known for writing the screenplays for the films That’ll Be the Day and the sequel Stardust and for his many interviews with the Beatles...
, Shadows on a Wall (1995) - Robert CraisRobert CraisRobert Crais is an American author of detective fiction. Crais began his career writing scripts for television shows such as Hill Street Blues, Cagney & Lacey, Quincy, Miami Vice and L.A. Law. He lists amongst his literary influences the authors Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Ernest...
, Lullaby TownLullaby TownLullaby Town is a 1992 detective novel by Robert Crais. It is the third in a series of linked novels centering on the private investigator Elvis Cole. It was nominated for both the Anthony Award and the Shamus Award....
(1992) - Joan DidionJoan DidionJoan Didion is an American author best known for her novels and her literary journalism. Her novels and essays explore the disintegration of American morals and cultural chaos, where the overriding theme is individual and social fragmentation...
, Play It as It LaysPlay It As It LaysPlay It as It Lays is a 1970 novel by the American writer Joan Didion. Time magazine included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels from 1923 to 2005. The book was made into a 1972 movie starring Tuesday Weld as Maria and Anthony Perkins as B.Z...
(1970) - John Gregory DunneJohn Gregory DunneJohn Gregory Dunne was an American novelist, screenwriter and literary critic.-Life:He was born in Hartford, Connecticut, and was a younger brother of author Dominick Dunne. He suffered from a severe stutter and took up writing to express himself. Eventually he learned to speak normally by...
, True Confessions (1977) - Bret Easton EllisBret Easton EllisBret Easton Ellis is an American novelist and short story writer. His works have been translated into 27 different languages. He was regarded as one of the so-called literary Brat Pack, which also included Tama Janowitz and Jay McInerney...
, Less Than Zero (1985) - James EllroyJames EllroyLee Earle "James" Ellroy is an American crime fiction writer and essayist. Ellroy has become known for a so-called "telegraphic" prose style in his most recent work, wherein he frequently omits connecting words and uses only short, staccato sentences, and in particular for the novels The Black...
, The Black DahliaThe Black Dahlia (novel)The Black Dahlia is a neo-noir crime novel by American author James Ellroy, taking inspiration from the true story of the murder of Elizabeth Short. It is widely considered to be the book that elevated Ellroy out of typical genre fiction status, and with which he started to garner critical...
(1987), The Big NowhereThe Big NowhereThe Big Nowhere is a 1988 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy, the second of the L.A. Quartet, a series of novels set in 1940s and 1950s Los Angeles.-Plot:...
(1988), L.A. ConfidentialL.A. ConfidentialL.A. Confidential is a 1997 American film based on James Ellroy's 1990 novel of the same title, the third book in his L.A. Quartet. Both the book and the film tell the story of a group of LAPD officers in the 1950s, and the intersection of police corruption and Hollywood celebrity...
(1990), and White JazzWhite JazzWhite Jazz is a 1992 crime fiction novel by James Ellroy. It is the fourth in his L.A. Quartet, preceded by The Black Dahlia, The Big Nowhere, and L.A. Confidential....
(1992) - Henry FarrellHenry FarrellHenry Farrell was an American novelist and screenwriter, best known as the author of the renowned gothic horror story What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, which was made into a film starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford.-Life and work:He was born Charles Farrell Myers in California, and grew up in...
, What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a suspense novel by author Henry Farrell published in 1960 by Rinehart & Company. The novel has earned a cult following and has been made into several movies.-Plot summary:...
(1960) - Peter FarrellyPeter FarrellyPeter John Farrelly is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and novelist. The Farrelly Brothers are mostly famous for directing and producing gross-out humor romantic comedy films such as, Dumb and Dumber, Me, Myself and Irene, There's Something About Mary and The Heartbreak...
, The Comedy WriterThe Comedy WriterThe Comedy Writer is a novel by Peter Farrelly.The story revolves around Henry Halloran, a young man who quits his sales job in New England and moves to Los Angeles to pursue his dream of becoming a comedic screenwriter...
(1998) - Steve Fisher, I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
- F. Scott FitzgeraldF. Scott FitzgeraldFrancis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
, The Last Tycoon (1941) and The Pat Hobby StoriesThe Pat Hobby StoriesThe Pat Hobby Stories are a collection of 17 short stories written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, first published by Arnold Gingrich of Esquire magazine between January 1940 and May 1941, and later collected in one volume in 1962...
(1962) - Carroll Graham, Queer People (1930)
- Richard GrenierRichard GrenierRichard Grenier was a neoconservative cultural columnist for The Washington Times and a film critic for Commentary and The New York Times...
, The Marrakesh One-Two (1983) - Doris GrumbachDoris GrumbachDoris Grumbach is an American novelist, biographer, literary critic, and essayist. She taught at the College of Saint Rose in Albany, New York, and was literary editor of the The New Republic for several years. Since 1985, she has had a bookstore, Wayward Books.-Life:Grumbach was born in New York...
, The Missing Person (1981) - Richard Hallas, You Play the Black and the Red Comes Up (1986)
- Brian Hayes, A Boy Scout in Hollywood (2000)
- MacDonald HarrisDonald HeineyDonald Heiney was a sailor and academic as well as a prolific and inventive writer using the pseudonym of MacDonald Harris for fiction.Heiney was born in South Pasadena, California, and grew up in South Pasadena and San Gabriel. He served in the Merchant Marine and the Navy during World War II...
, Screenplay (1982) - Aldous HuxleyAldous HuxleyAldous Leonard Huxley was an English writer and one of the most prominent members of the famous Huxley family. Best known for his novels including Brave New World and a wide-ranging output of essays, Huxley also edited the magazine Oxford Poetry, and published short stories, poetry, travel...
, After Many a SummerAfter Many a SummerAfter Many a Summer is a novel by Aldous Huxley that tells the story of a Hollywood millionaire who fears his impending death; it was published in the United States as After Many a Summer Dies the Swan...
(1939) - Clive JamesClive JamesClive James, AM is an Australian author, critic, broadcaster, poet and memoirist, best known for his autobiographical series Unreliable Memoirs, for his chat shows and documentaries on British television and for his prolific journalism...
, The Silver Castle (1996) - Gavin LambertGavin LambertGavin Lambert was a British-born screenwriter, novelist and biographer who lived for part of his life in Hollywood...
, The Slide Area (1959), Inside Daisy CloverInside Daisy CloverInside Daisy Clover is a 1965 American drama film based on the 1963 novel by Gavin Lambert. It stars Natalie Wood, Christopher Plummer, Robert Redford, Roddy McDowall and Ruth Gordon in her Academy Award nominated role.- Plot :...
(1963), The Goodbye People (1971), and Running Time (1982) - Janet LeighJanet LeighJanet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
, House of Destiny (1995) and The Dream Factory (2002) - Elmore LeonardElmore LeonardElmore John Leonard Jr. , better known as Elmore Leonard, is an American novelist and screenwriter. His earliest published novels in the 1950s were westerns, but Leonard went on to specialize in crime fiction and suspense thrillers, many of which have been adapted into motion pictures.Among his...
, Get ShortyGet ShortyGet Shorty is a 1990 novel by American novelist Elmore Leonard. In 1995, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name.-Plot summary:...
(1990) - Norman MailerNorman MailerNorman Kingsley Mailer was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, poet, playwright, screenwriter, and film director.Along with Truman Capote, Joan Didion, Hunter S...
, The Deer ParkThe Deer ParkThe Deer Park is a Hollywood novel written by Norman Mailer and published in 1955 by G.P. Putnam's Sons after it was rejected by Mailer's publisher, Rinehart & Company, for obscenity. Despite having already typeset the book, Rinehart claimed that the manuscript's obscenity voided its contract with...
(1955) - Alan Marcus, Of Streets and Stars (1960)
- James McCourtJames McCourt (writer)-Life:McCourt is openly gay. His life partner since 1964 is novelist Vincent Virga; they met in graduate school at Yale.-Work:McCourt is best known for his extravagant 1975 novel Mawrdew Czgowchwz, about a fictional opera diva, and his 2003 nonfiction book Queer Street, about gay life in New York...
, Kaye Warfaring in "Avenged" (1985) - Horace McCoyHorace McCoyHorace McCoy was an American writer whose hardboiled novels took place during the Great Depression. His best-known novel is They Shoot Horses, Don't They? , which was made into a movie of the same name in 1969, fourteen years after McCoy's death.-Early life:McCoy was born in Pegram, Tennessee...
, They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1935) and I Should Have Stayed Home (1938) - Larry McMurtryLarry McMurtryLarry Jeff McMurtry is an American novelist, essayist, bookseller and screenwriter whose work is predominantly set in either the old West or in contemporary Texas...
, Somebody's Darling (1978) - Joyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol OatesJoyce Carol Oates is an American author. Oates published her first book in 1963 and has since published over fifty novels, as well as many volumes of short stories, poetry, and nonfiction...
, BlondeBlonde (novel)Blonde is a bestselling 2000 historical novel by Joyce Carol Oates that chronicles the inner life of Marilyn Monroe, though Oates insists that the novel is a work of fiction that should not be regarded as a biography. It was a finalist for the National Book Award...
(2000) - Darcy O'BrienDarcy O'BrienDarcy O'Brien was an award-winning author of fiction and literary criticism, most well-known for his work in the genre of true crime. His first novel, A Way of Life, Like Any Other, was a fictionalized account of his childhood in Hollywood...
, A Way of Life, Like Any Other (1977) - John O'HaraJohn O'HaraJohn Henry O'Hara was an American writer. He initially became known for his short stories and later became a best-selling novelist whose works include Appointment in Samarra and BUtterfield 8. He was particularly known for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue...
, Hope of Heaven (1938) - Rachel Pine, The Twins of Tribeca (2005)
- Harold RobbinsHarold RobbinsHarold Robbins was one of the best-selling American authors of all time. During his career, he wrote over 25 best-sellers, selling over 750 million copies in 32 languages....
, The CarpetbaggersThe CarpetbaggersThe Carpetbaggers is the title of a 1961 bestselling novel by Harold Robbins, which was adapted into a 1964 film of the same title.The term "carpetbagger" refers to an outsider relocating to exploit locals . It derives from post-bellum South usage, where it referred specifically to opportunistic...
(1961) - Thomas SanchezThomas SanchezTomás Sánchez was a 16th century Spanish Jesuit and famous casuist.- Life :In 1567 he entered the Society of Jesus. He was at first refused admittance on account of an impediment in his speech; however, after imploring delivery from this impediment before a picture of Mary at Córdoba, Spain, his...
, The Zoot Suit MurdersThe Zoot Suit MurdersThe Zoot Suit Murders by Thomas Sanchez is a murder mystery set in Los Angeles of the 1940s and employing the true historical events of the Zoot suit riots as a backdrop....
(1978) - Budd SchulbergBudd SchulbergBudd Schulberg was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his 1941 novel, What Makes Sammy Run?, his 1947 novel The Harder They Fall, his 1954 Academy-award-winning screenplay for On the Waterfront, and his 1957 screenplay for A Face in the...
, What Makes Sammy Run?What Makes Sammy Run?What Makes Sammy Run? is a novel by Budd Schulberg. It is a rags to riches story chronicling the rise and fall of Sammy Glick, a Jewish boy born in New York's Lower East Side who very early in his life makes up his mind to escape the ghetto and climb the ladder of success...
(1941) - Pat Silver-LaskyPat Silver-LaskyPat Silver-Lasky is an American actress, screenwriter, and writer, mostly known for her collaborations with her second husband Jesse Lasky Jr.-Early years:...
, Ride The Tiger (2010) - Terry SouthernTerry SouthernTerry Southern was an American author, essayist, screenwriter and university lecturer, noted for his distinctive satirical style...
, Blue MovieBlue Movie (novel)Blue Movie is a satirical novel by Terry Southern about the making of a high-budget pornographic film featuring major movie stars. It was published in 1970....
(1970) - C.K. Stead, Sister Hollywood (1989)
- Robert Stone, Children of LightChildren of LightChildren of Light is a 1986 novel by Robert Stone. The story tracks the lives of Gordon Walker, a failed playwright in his 40s and modestly successful screenwriter-actor, and his old flame Lu Anne 'Lee Verger' Bourgeois Morgen, a successful actress who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia...
(1986) - Michael TolkinMichael TolkinMichael L. Tolkin is an American filmmaker and novelist. He has written numerous screenplays, including The Player , which he adapted from his 1988 book by the same name, and for which he received the 1993 Edgar Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay...
, The PlayerThe PlayerThe Player is a 1992 American satirical film directed by Robert Altman from a screenplay by Michael Tolkin based on his own 1988 novel of the same name....
(1988) - Gore VidalGore VidalGore Vidal is an American author, playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and political activist. His third novel, The City and the Pillar , outraged mainstream critics as one of the first major American novels to feature unambiguous homosexuality...
, Myra BreckinridgeMyra BreckinridgeMyra Breckinridge is a 1968 satirical novel by Gore Vidal written in the form of a diary. It was made into a movie in 1970. Described by the critic Dennis Altman as "part of a major cultural assault on the assumed norms of gender and sexuality which swept the western world in the late 1960s and...
(1968), MyronMyron (novel)Myron is the name of a 1974 novel by Gore Vidal. It was written as a sequel to his 1968 bestseller Myra Breckinridge. The novel was published shortly after an anti-pornography ruling by the Supreme Court; Vidal responded by replacing the profanity in his novel with the names of the Justices...
(1974), and HollywoodHollywood (Vidal novel)Hollywood is the fifth historical novel in Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series. It was published in 1990. It brings back the fictional Caroline Sanford, Blaise Sanford and James Burden Day and the real Theodore Roosevelt and William Randolph Hearst from Empire...
(1990) - Peter ViertelPeter ViertelPeter Viertel was an author and screenwriter.-Biography:He was born to Jewish parents in Dresden, Germany, the writer and actress Salka Viertel and the writer Berthold Viertel. In 1928, his parents moved to Santa Monica, California where Viertel grew up with his brothers, Hans and Thomas...
, White Hunter Black HeartWhite Hunter Black HeartWhite Hunter Black Heart is a 1990 American film, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood as John Wilson, based on the book by Peter Viertel. Viertel also co-wrote the script with James Bridges and Burt Kennedy. The film was based on several Golden Age of Hollywood movie producers...
(1953) - Bruce WagnerBruce WagnerBruce Alan Wagner is an American novelist, actor, screenwriter, producer, and director based in Los Angeles known for his acerbic view of the Hollywood entertainment industry.-Personal life:...
, Force Majeure (1991), I'm Losing You (1996), I'll Let You Go (2002), and Still Holding (2003) - Evelyn WaughEvelyn WaughArthur Evelyn St. John Waugh , known as Evelyn Waugh, was an English writer of novels, travel books and biographies. He was also a prolific journalist and reviewer...
, The Loved OneThe Loved OneThe Loved One: An Anglo-American Tragedy is a short satirical novel by British novelist Evelyn Waugh about the funeral business in Los Angeles, the British expatriate community in Hollywood, and the film industry.-Conception:...
(1948) - Nathanael WestNathanael WestNathanael West was a US author, screenwriter and satirist.- Early life :...
, The Day of the LocustThe Day of the LocustThe Day of the Locust is a 1939 novel by American author Nathanael West, set in Hollywood, California during the Great Depression, its overarching themes deal with the alienation and desperation of a broad group of odd individuals who exist at the fringes of the Hollywood movie industry.In 1998,...
(1939) - Harry Leon WilsonHarry Leon WilsonHarry Leon Wilson was an American novelist and dramatist best known for his novels, Ruggles of Red Gap and Merton of the Movies. His novel, Bunker Bean helped popularize the term flapper.-Biography:...
, Merton of the MoviesMerton of the MoviesMerton of the Movies is a 1919 book written by Harry Leon Wilson. In 1922, it was adapted into a Broadway play by George S. Kaufman and Marc Connelly. A 1924 silent movie version was directed by James Cruze and starred Glenn Hunter who had created the role on Broadway...
(1919) - P.G. WodehouseP. G. WodehouseSir Pelham Grenville Wodehouse, KBE was an English humorist, whose body of work includes novels, short stories, plays, poems, song lyrics, and numerous pieces of journalism. He enjoyed enormous popular success during a career that lasted more than seventy years and his many writings continue to be...
, Laughing GasLaughing Gas (novel)Laughing Gas is a comic novel by P.G. Wodehouse, first published in the United Kingdom on September 25, 1936 by Herbert Jenkins, London, and in the United States on December 4, 1936 by Doubleday, Doran, New York...
(1936) - Gary K. Wolf, Who Censored Roger Rabbit?Who Censored Roger Rabbit?Who Censored Roger Rabbit? is a mystery novel written by Gary K. Wolf in 1981, later adapted into the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit .-Plot:Eddie Valiant is a hard-boiled private eye, and Roger Rabbit is a second-banana cartoon character...
(1981)
Novels set in satires of Hollywood
- Terry PratchettTerry PratchettSir Terence David John "Terry" Pratchett, OBE is an English novelist, known for his frequently comical work in the fantasy genre. He is best known for his popular and long-running Discworld series of comic fantasy novels...
, Moving PicturesMoving Pictures (novel)Moving Pictures is the name of the tenth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, published in 1990. The book takes place in Discworld's most famous city, Ankh-Morpork and a town called "Holy Wood"... - Geoff NicholsonGeoff NicholsonGeoff Nicholson is a British novelist and non-fiction writer. He was born in Sheffield and was educated at the Universities of Cambridge and Essex....
, The Hollywood Dodo - Brandie KnightBrandie KnightBrandie Knight is an American writer, who has spent over twenty years in the entertainment industry, and co-producer of the award-winning documentary "a/k/a Tommy Chong"...
, Hollywood Under the Covers