Flash: A Novel

by Jim Miller

"'This remarkable novel is nothing less than a secret history of southern California—a radical past that might yet redeem our future."—Mike Davis, author of City of Quartz

A chance encounter with a faded "Wanted!" poster in a San Diego library sends journalist Jack Wilson on a wild adventure through southern California's radical past. As Jack searches for the truth about I.W.W. outlaw Bobby Flash, he uncovers a hidden history of real-life revolutionaries . . . and learns a powerful lesson about the importance of family in the process.

Jim Miller is a labor educator and activist in San Diego, California.

Genres: Fiction

196 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Jim Miller is a native San Diegan and a graduate of the MFA program at San Diego State University. In addition to his MFA in Fiction, Miller has a Ph.D. in American Culture Studies from Bowling Green State University. He is a founding member of the San Diego Writers Collective and a co-founder of San Diego City Works Press. Miller teaches English and Labor Studies at San Diego City College where he was the founding director of the San Diego City College Literary Center and the San Diego City College International Book Fair from 2006-2008.

Miller is the author of Flash and Drift, both novels. He is also co-author of the radical history of San Diego Under the Perfect Sun: The San Diego Tourists Never See (with Mike Davis and Kelly Mayhew) and a cultural studies book on working class sports fandom, Better to Reign in Hell: Inside the Raiders Fan Empire (with Kelly Mayhew). Miller is also the editor of Sunshine/​Noir: Writing from San Diego and Tijuana and Democracy in Education; Education for Democracy: An Oral History of the American Federation of Teachers, Local 1931. He has published poetry, fiction, and non-fiction in a wide range of journals and other publications.

As a young man, Miller was a bouncer, a factory worker, a warehouseman, and a laborer in his late father’s home repair business. A proud union member, Jim serves on the executive board of AFT Local 1931 and does political action work.

Jim Miller lives in downtown San Diego with his wife, Kelly Mayhew, and their son, Walt.

Reviews

[Cheryl Klein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this novel, about a journalist who becomes obsessed with an old Wobbly named Bobby Flash (Wobblies were IWW workers, who caused a stir in San Diego in the early twentieth century), I got the impression that Jim Miller moves through a city much like I do: seeing the past as a ghostly imprint over the present, falling in love with cultural idiosyncrasies, wondering what my history classes never taught me. There's an interesting tension in Flash between artistic individualism and social-justice collectivism which plays out as journalist Jack bumps up against organizers and activists but never quite joins them. His dreamy loneliness is compounded by his semi-estrangement from his grown son and the gaps in his family history. But as his research reveals, the pursuits of individual and communal happiness aren't mutually exclusive. This book is a must-read for history geeks, labor advocates, Southern Californians, people intrigued by alternative communities, and border dwellers in all senses of the phrase.

[Justin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started this book this morning. I'm one chapter deep. Let's just say this: thank god there are only 11 more chapters and that they are short.

That's a little mean, true. But Miller is already displaying all the symptoms of awful hipster lit that I dread. The first chapter is like a list of literary/cultural names being dropped, interspersed with too-obvious and smug references to works like Bartleby the Scrivner.

By the end of the first 20-odd pages, you are convinced that the author (or narrator) went to all the cool places before they were cool, fights the good fight against corporate malaise & corruption, and is way more authentic than you. Yeah, he had his Bukowski phase, at least until he and his hip girlfriend (before she sold out and got hitched to a rich but abusive dude in the suburbs)realized everyone else was in it and they all sucked so they started making fun of them, but later named their first son after dude's most famous character.

I'm really starting to think this is my generation's version of noir detective lit. Hardboiled, self-congratulatory hipster novellas (because we don't have the attention span to go all the way).

Anyway, a brief report after chapter one. More when/if I finish.

*******

Update 12/28

I finished the book a couple days ago. I'm happy to say that the remainder was an improvement over the first chapter. For the most part, the self-congratulatory character development ended, with the exception a handful of instances when the main character's political stances were identified. Dude takes the haughty high ground on every single issue in the way only the most politically correct person can. And while I'm a strong lib, I hate those people.

Interestingly, once the awful character development was toned down, the book itself became one of those color-by-number exercises where various bits of labor history were retold in a way to move along the narrative. The oomph, sadly, went to the dustbin along with the character development. Still, I'd take remedial plot development over eye-stabbing character background any day.

[Pamela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reads like a non-fiction book but disguised as fiction. It might seem like a compliment, but it's not. The more I read the more annoyed I became. There wasn't the fictional pizazz in between all of the fake newspaper accounts from the early 20th century to really carry forth an exciting book. No, this was dull. I would rather have read the real truth than a convoluted fake half-truth. At least not in this form.

What I mean is, the book was too thin on plot. It seemed more concerned about checking all the boxes of cultural references and movements from the last few decades. It really needed more character development, than step by step what Jack did today. Sadly, I think the highlight of the book was a quote from Walt Whitman's Leaves of Grass.

On the other hand, I'm quite sympathetic to the topics discussed so at least there's that. I did rate the book better just for that aspect. You really don't see a lot of novels tackling old union activists or free speech fights as the main subject. In the end, it felt a little too much like preaching to the choir. I doubt the book will change anyone's political mind, the "big bosses" aren't suddenly going to become fierce union labor activists. I was hoping for something just a little more.


Two sympathetic reviews:
CounterPunch: In the Ruins of the Perfect Future
OB Rag: Journalism noir meets San Diego’s labor history in "Flash” by Jim Miller.

[Art · Rating 3 out of 5]

A glimpse of an old wanted poster sets reporter Jack Wilson off on a quest to find out more about Bobby Flash, an IWW activist and a pretty fair shortstop.

The result is an interesting back history of the Free Speech movement, the Wobblies, San Diego and much of California.

Since the book was published by the Anarchist Press, you can rest assured the sympathies lie with the good guys (you know, "power to the people").

And since Jack is a pretty fair alternative city reporter, you can also rest assured he gets to the bottom of who was Bobby Flash -- at the same time getting closer to his own son.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It was really well written, and goes through a lot of great hidden radical history, as well as having that great quality that I look for in friends in my life of having a "healthy cynicism" of not being so jaded that they're useless, and not so optimistic that they're naive. The main character in it makes me want to write, write, write about hidden histories.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised how much I liked this book. Easy, conversational style. Good story. Filled with interesting California radical history. A great introduction to the IWW, communes...

[Ernie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very cool for fans of the Wobblies or of San Diego history. I am both. Fun to read a novel that's set where you live, to read the characters move about in places you know well.

[Jmolentin]

another novel by a local author, with many references to local politics, journalism, etc.