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A Phantasmagorical Machine
Los Angeles in the 1970s, with all its lazy pleasures and dreams, its crimes spoken and unspoken …
It's 1978, and a lonely teenage boy named Harris wanders the San Fernando Valley streets, searching for meaning in the cars of men who pick him up at strip mall parking lots. When one of them asks if he’d like to be in a movie, he discovers a newfound sense of power and control by appearing in low-budget gay porn loops.
Meanwhile, the actress Eva Loesch -- well known for grace, wit, charm and dignity, but now reduced to coffee commercials -- is offered the chance to join a hit TV series, and with it, the possibility of rebuilding her career and self-esteem. As she warns her family -- especially her grandson, Harris -- that nothing must impugn her respectability as DA on the popular crime drama Bowman, Harris's own underground popularity begins to soar.
Equal parts humor and heartbreak, A Phantasmagorical Machine is the story of a family of survivors and the city that made them. One day, years after the unresolved events of his youth, Harris discovers his own obituary in a magazine. As the crimes and mysteries of the past reveal themselves, the search for who died in a lonely desert trailer brings the whole family together, to finally reckon with the meaning of love, attachment, loss and forgiving.
It's 1978, and a lonely teenage boy named Harris wanders the San Fernando Valley streets, searching for meaning in the cars of men who pick him up at strip mall parking lots. When one of them asks if he’d like to be in a movie, he discovers a newfound sense of power and control by appearing in low-budget gay porn loops.
Meanwhile, the actress Eva Loesch -- well known for grace, wit, charm and dignity, but now reduced to coffee commercials -- is offered the chance to join a hit TV series, and with it, the possibility of rebuilding her career and self-esteem. As she warns her family -- especially her grandson, Harris -- that nothing must impugn her respectability as DA on the popular crime drama Bowman, Harris's own underground popularity begins to soar.
Equal parts humor and heartbreak, A Phantasmagorical Machine is the story of a family of survivors and the city that made them. One day, years after the unresolved events of his youth, Harris discovers his own obituary in a magazine. As the crimes and mysteries of the past reveal themselves, the search for who died in a lonely desert trailer brings the whole family together, to finally reckon with the meaning of love, attachment, loss and forgiving.
374 pages, Kindle Edition
Published May 28, 2023
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About the author
David Law
1 book8 followersJust someone with a story of interesting people and things, some of which happened, some of which not. Sharing it for entertainment, enjoyment, enlightenment and pleasure.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 28, 2024
This book wasn't what I expected, and I wasn't sure where it was going. But I liked it nonetheless. Having read so much about gay life during this time, as I was reading the sordid details of this novel as its plot evolves, I was sure that this was going to be a book about AIDS. Thirty years ago, this would be written to demonstrate what caused the tragedy.
But this book has a simpler theme - finding one's identity in such a difficult place (institution) like Hollywood. Especially if one finds a following. This book looks at the life journeys of members of a family, trying to reconcile who they are versus who the camera shows them to be. Serious conflicts here, with lots of collateral victims.
But this book has a simpler theme - finding one's identity in such a difficult place (institution) like Hollywood. Especially if one finds a following. This book looks at the life journeys of members of a family, trying to reconcile who they are versus who the camera shows them to be. Serious conflicts here, with lots of collateral victims.
November 21, 2025
WOW! fantastic book. I got this through a Goodreads giveaway - I was intrigued by the description and was not disappointed! I actually enjoyed it so much that I bought a copy to give to a friend. very engrossing and lots of drama exposing the seedy underbelly of Hollywood.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews