I believe the term goes something like this— “Truth is
stranger than fiction.” Real life can be more remarkable than invented tales.
Research tells me this old expression was invented by Byron, who used it in Don
Juan (1833). I know, a useless fact. Anyway—it certainly relates to me living
on the edge in Los Angeles in the
nineteen sixties and seventies and being able to witness and tell this story
As advertised, this book was conceived and raised from true-life
events. This was, I thought, a story I always wanted to tell and a story I
thought should be told. It had rattled around in my subconscious for years but
I never could gather enough time or courage to tell it without being bias or
seemingly outlandish.
See I virtually lived this
story. I am a product of the 60s and
70s. And since we’re confessing inspiration—I just happen to be one of the
characters who played an integral part as one of the owners in the Jon’s Drawer
clothing store— A venue that is also a central character in the theme and
prides itself as being the first to sell bellbottom jeans to the masses in Southern
California. Maybe I’m cheating because I didn’t have to go far to
come up with exciting, quirky, loveable, despicable people to portray in this
cast of head shaking characters. I didn’t have to conjure up love interests
because I knew them on a personal level. I didn’t have to make up the intrusion
of the FBI and the Mafia because I was met and threatened by them face-to-face,
while I nearly peed my pants.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been told to pass this
slice of life on and let people hear for themselves what went on in that
pop-culture era in Southern California. It was fascinating, and when I looked back
and while I was jotting down recollections, it was hard to believe I lived it.
It was surreal how three semi-normal guys who just wanted to sell jeans were
swallowed up in a fervor of sex, drugs and murder.
So I took a break from my twenty-year career as a TV comedy
and feature film writer and tried my hand at writing novels. My first was The Tipping Point of Oliver Bass. I was
told by reviewers that as a character, Oliver
toed a curious line between Holden Caulfield and Philip Marlowe. I must’ve been
doing something right, so I decided to dust off the cobwebs in my subconscious
and take a crack at Material Things.
To use an overworked cliché—the rest is history.
I self-published my first
book and swore I’d never do that again because the result was less than an overwhelming
success. It sucked actually. But failing to sign with a major publisher, I once
again hit the self-publishing trail —but I think I’m taking more of a serious
route this time and utilizing, sights, sounds and literary avenues that are
offered to me that I didn’t take advantage of the first time. Fingers crossed. Right?
About the Author
LARRY SPENCER published his first novel, The Tipping Point Of Oliver Bass in the
summer of 2017. A story that covered the life of a pathologically arrogant,
wealthy young man who sets off on a journey of self-discovery, family tragedy,
and sexual conquest in a modern California
noir backdrop. Spencer has been a
Writer’s Guild of America member since the late 70s, having written and
produced a multitude of highly successful TV shows, which culminated into
writing several feature films. He was then encouraged to pen his second book, Material Things, a story based on true
events that takes place in the 60s &70s and tackles organized crime, drugs
and embezzlement during a time when bellbottom pants ruled the fashion
scene. He lives in Valley
Village, California.
Visit his website at www.larryspencerauthor.com.
About the Book:
Larry
Spencer’s riveting, interlocking narratives circle the lives of Matthew Street,
Jon Lewis and Christopher Styles, in a 1970s California backdrop that takes
them from owning and operating a fashionable clothing boutique into the
gripping world of an FBI under cover operation, drug trafficking, prostitution
and a nefarious criminal element, that brings to light a Mafia contract killer,
who’s out to bump off a stoolie in their midst.
Material
Things is based on true events surrounding the store that introduced bellbottom
jeans to a hip Southern California crowd and how it
became, not only a cottage industry but also an arena fraught with danger and
moral strife that put the store and it’s owners under close scrutiny after an
alarming number of felonious activities surface.
The
climax is anything but conventional as Matthew, Jon and Christopher are
confronted with a life threatening reality that they never imagined could happen
just by selling bellbottom pants.
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