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So maybe Wallichs’ "Battle of the Surf Bands" wasn’t the best time and place for Wanda to demand a display model record player for her hospitalized pal and makeup man, Sparks, her beloved mutual crybaby over “Where the Boys Are.” But she could take in the teen-bikini scene from the ledge she’s climbed up on, kick her heels to the pulsating Watusi beat, and try to make sense of her own exploited girlhood.

Why couldn’t Wanda—or seemingly any woman—find real love, like her dying Grandma Neva did? Fat chance, with these sales boys who either have no idea they’re in the presence of a TV star, or recall this one as having been. . . thinner, somehow?

Shouldn't the blonde hairs compulsively plucked from a celebrity's patchy scalp count for anything in this establishment?

CREDITS:

Catherine Hein's former life took her from 20 years in the entertainment industry to two years in a homeless women's shelter. That's where Wanda, the reigning spirit of this epic two-volume novel of early ‘60s Hollywood, was born.

Host Alan Rifkin's novels, essays and short stories of Los Angeles have been published widely. Learn more about him at www.alanrifkin.com.

Intro music is from the song "Slow," performed by Sally Dworsky. Written by Sally Dworsky and Chris Hickey. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and all other streaming platforms. Closing credit music for Season 3 is performed by Ben Rifkin. Podcast art by Ryan Longnecker.

We have double publishing news!! Season Two’s novel, Sunland by Charlie Haas, has been released in print by Beck & Branch with a new title, The Current Fantasy ("Heart, soul, art, and the promise of Giant Vegetables... perhaps the last great untold chapter of the California Story." —Don Wallace). Purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Current-Fantasy-Charlie-Haas/dp/B0DJ1TJV82/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tuTmk2PLbYrhl35vNF26hNKifzMVNLxUX5sbuZKxIrSaOzMPlYjB5Uys5Y1YQ2ED1dDgQKbH8KqXAWxZaLQCQTt-KHNyPXOjQoh_573_J3WAGlt6ZVeniX-tqsXmWnQ3.CsBj4yVK4jbIFxGRKRiHullCZ9rJF1jsg1L23qgiuZE&dib_tag=se&qid=1728574532&refinements=p_27%3ACharlie+Haas&s=books&sr=1-1

Season One’s novel, The Drift That Follows Will Be Gradual by Alan Rifkin, has been released in print by Open Books (“A delectable tour de force through our fractured culture—witty, wise, memorable, and touching.”—Richard Bausch). Purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Drift-That-Follows-Will-Gradual/dp/1948598795?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

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In author Noelle Calabretta’s dream-infused and bittersweet new short story, "Sleepless Sheep," an insomniac rice farmer and failed poet who left his long-ago love beneath Mt. Fiji makes a return journey to the woods where she’s remained.

The story was developed in an upper-division fiction workshop at California State University, Long Beach.

A second-year Fine Arts Ceramicist at California State University Long Beach, with an Associates degree in Studio Art, Calabretta is now minoring in Creative Writing, and her work has appeared in Sierra Journal.

Intro music is from the song "Slow," performed by Sally Dworsky. Written by Sally Dworsky and Chris Hickey. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and all other streaming platforms. Podcast art by Ryan Longnecker.

Find The Last We Fake's serialized novels in print. Season Two’s novel, Sunland by Charlie Haas, has been released in print by Beck & Branch with a new title, The Current Fantasy ("Heart, soul, art, and the promise of Giant Vegetables... perhaps the last great untold chapter of the California Story." —Don Wallace). Purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Current-Fantasy-Charlie-Haas/dp/B0DJ1TJV82/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tuTmk2PLbYrhl35vNF26hNKifzMVNLxUX5sbuZKxIrSaOzMPlYjB5Uys5Y1YQ2ED1dDgQKbH8KqXAWxZaLQCQTt-KHNyPXOjQoh_573_J3WAGlt6ZVeniX-tqsXmWnQ3.CsBj4yVK4jbIFxGRKRiHullCZ9rJF1jsg1L23qgiuZE&dib_tag=se&qid=1728574532&refinements=p_27%3ACharlie+Haas&s=books&sr=1-1

Season One’s novel, The Drift That Follows Will Be Gradual by Alan Rifkin, has been released in print by Open Books (“A delectable tour de force through our fractured culture—witty, wise, memorable, and touching.”—Richard Bausch). Purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Drift-That-Follows-Will-Gradual/dp/1948598795?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

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From begging Jock Penny’s autograph at Coffee Dan’s, to blundering into a surf music contest at Wallich's, to brushing past a wisp of her former self outside a flower shop, Wanda is waylaid by memories of better times—the onion rings at Frankie’s (“the world’s only delicious vegetable”); the awards ceremony where, slid between two beaus at an effortless 103 lbs, she’d been honored for her heartfelt report on the loss of a local movie house (could she ever do works again that honor the daydreams of women in Bell Gardens and Reseda?). All this, as she searches and yearns for the perfect, maybe last, gesture of love to bring her dying Grandma Neva. And whose all-knowing voice is this anyway, interviewing her to reflect on her finest achievements?

Catherine Hein's former life took her from 20 years in the entertainment industry to two years in a homeless women's shelter. That's where Wanda, the reigning spirit of this epic two-volume novel of early ‘60s Hollywood, was born.

Host Alan Rifkin's novels, essays and short stories of Los Angeles have been published widely. Learn more about him at www.alanrifkin.com.

Intro music is from the song "Slow," performed by Sally Dworsky. Written by Sally Dworsky and Chris Hickey. Available on iTunes, Spotify, Apple Music and all other streaming platforms. Closing credit music for Season 3 is performed by Ben Rifkin. Podcast art by Ryan Longnecker.

We have double publishing news!! Season Two’s novel, Sunland by Charlie Haas, has been released in print by Beck & Branch with a new title, The Current Fantasy ("Heart, soul, art, and the promise of Giant Vegetables... perhaps the last great untold chapter of the California Story." —Don Wallace). Purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Current-Fantasy-Charlie-Haas/dp/B0DJ1TJV82/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tuTmk2PLbYrhl35vNF26hNKifzMVNLxUX5sbuZKxIrSaOzMPlYjB5Uys5Y1YQ2ED1dDgQKbH8KqXAWxZaLQCQTt-KHNyPXOjQoh_573_J3WAGlt6ZVeniX-tqsXmWnQ3.CsBj4yVK4jbIFxGRKRiHullCZ9rJF1jsg1L23qgiuZE&dib_tag=se&qid=1728574532&refinements=p_27%3ACharlie+Haas&s=books&sr=1-1

Season One’s novel, The Drift That Follows Will Be Gradual by Alan Rifkin, has been released in print by Open Books (“A delectable tour de force through our fractured culture—witty, wise, memorable, and touching.”—Richard Bausch). Purchase on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Drift-That-Follows-Will-Gradual/dp/1948598795?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER