Los Angeles’ literary scene is getting increasing attention. Indy writers there “don’t discuss six-figure advances and movie deals. Their artistic touchstones include pop music, art, drugs, sex, and what seems to be a prevalently southern California curiosity about murder. Most important, many of L.A.’s contingent of talented underground writers are influenced by, if not graduated from, the art programs at this city’s increasingly prestigious art schools – Cal Arts, Otis College of Art and Design, and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. The writing coming from these programs is something like the art – there’s a tendency to use frank, bold, anti-intellectual forms to filter raw, sometimes lurid, content.”