Novelist James Polster believes that the best fiction is based in fact, so residents of L.A. probably shouldn’t be surprised they make an appearance in his latest work, THE GRADUATE STUDENT. With deadpan and razor sharp wit, Polster takes on Hollywood and its denizens, name checking Sylvester Stallone, Steven Spielberg, and even Johnny Depp’s tequila. While the portrait isn’t always flattering, it’s entertaining, and obviously the thorough work of an insider, which should be no surprise considering Polster has called Southern California his home for years.
Although his experience settling in LA may not match the story of his hero, a would-be scientist working on his dissertation who gets dragged running a production company, and tries to stay afloat amid the dark scheming of his fellow scientists, Polster can relate to trying to keep y
our bearings in the spinning world of Hollywood. “I showed up in town with two jobs, neither of which I was qualified to do,†Polster says. Taking a break from writing novels, Polster worked as a screenwriter before deciding writing his novel on a town where the business is show business.
It’s not the first time Polster has written what he knows. After finishing graduate school in the early 1970s, Polster wasn’t quite ready for a desk job and decided to become an explorer of sorts instead. He traveled throughout the Amazon rainforest in 1973 and it was there that he was inspired to write his first novel, A GUEST IN THE JUNGLE, which was re-released by AmazonEncore in April. The story of a young Pittsburgh lawyer whose faux adventure-ish sightseeing trip goes awry leaving him stranded in the heart of the Amazon jungle, A GUEST IN THE JUNGLE became a cult hit when it came out. It was green before the green movement and it forced everyone from young idealists to college professors to think about the impact adventure travel and big corporations were having on the environment.
With glowing reviews pouring in and major media like NPR calling his writing “incredible,†Polster decided to write another novel. BROWN, a quirky mystery that was named one of Publishers’ Weekly’s “Best Books of the Year†when it originally came out, is also being re-published by AmazonEncore and hits shelves this month. The main character, a sports writer turned amateur detective, isn’t based on Polster per se, but considering the fact that Polster both covered and played in the World Championships of Elephant Polo for Sports Illustrated in Nepal in 1991, a quick-witted sports-loving protagonist doesn’t sound too far from the truth.
Movie execs and show business stars aren’t the only L.A. residents who might be surprised to find themselves in the pages of Polster’s newest novel. When the man who taught computers to write screenplays makes an appearance in the same story as the primates at the L.A. zoo, it’s clear that Polster has found a nearly endless stream of stories in his adopted hometown, Hollywood.
