There were some stories I enjoyed more than others but even the ones that weren't my cup of tea were by no means bad.

Though it's hard to compare anything to the sheer burst of joy and exuberance that was EVE'S HOLLYWOOD, BLACK SWANS is a close second place. really enjoyed this, although not as much as slow days, fast company but i think that's because i have a thing for the vibe of 60s/70s california.

Babitz became somewhat more reclusive after this incident, but was still willing to be interviewed on occasion. much tumult, this is not a critical read of that Los Angeles — the racist, splitting at the seams, earthquake-y one. For example, a woman racked with remorse for an affair she had years ago, finds an earring in her husband’s sock drawer.

And of course the outcome needs to fit within the whole; however slight or subtle, every twist and turn of the action must support the ending. It’s a model for writing fiction that addresses politics that feels neither didactic nor preachy but natural. Didion’s Los Angeles is filled with pestilence — freeways that inspire nervous breakdowns, raging fires, the moan of the Santa Anas setting everyone on murderous edge — whereas Babitz presents a lush, playful landscape full of movie stars and intellectual European émigrés, a city where the party never seems to end.

What you might think is difficult to achieve today will no-doubt become possible in the future and that includes producing a crafted and original work of flash fiction. A new reissue of Babitz's collection of nine stories that look back on the 1980s and early 1990s--decades of dreams, drink, and glimpses of a changing world. And if you still think you’d be fine with these issues because Babitz is dead so she can no longer profit off being evil (which I believe is OK, I also read a lot of dead white men who would tie for record-breaking gold if racism and misogyny were Olympic sports) don’t say I didn’t warn you: these stories are choppy, pointless, and artless. She renders dead-perfect scenarios of contemporary angst, generously imbued with wit and her characters’ hard-won wisdom.