The Hollywood Trilogy A Couple of Comedians, The True Story of Jody McKeegan, and Turnaround

Don Carpenter wrote about Hollywood like no one else. Hollywood Trilogy collects, for the first time, Carpenter's most significant Hollywood novels—A Couple of Comedians, The Turnaround and The True Life Story of Jody McKeegan—into a single volume. Here readers will find the jungle of "B" movie Hollywood with no attempt to dress up the rawness and vulgarity of this "glamorous" town. Carpenter's characters occupy every facet of Hollywood—there are naïve and shy young men trying to break into the business, one–picture wonders, comedy duos, beautiful starlets and middle–aged moguls wondering how exactly they got where they are. All are drawn with the wit, pace and above all, the authenticity that were Don Carpenter's trademarks.



Following the Spring 2014 publication of Friday at Enrico's, Carpenter's "forgotten" novel, finished and championed by Jonathan Lethem, interest in Carpenter's work is at an all time high. Hollywood Trilogy will introduce readers to an entirely new facet of Carpenter's work, just waiting to be discovered by a contemporary audience.

Don Carpenter was born in Berkeley in 1932. Raised in Portland, he enlisted in the air force and returned to the Bay Area at the end of his service. He published 10 novels during his lifetime, and spent 12 years in and out of Hollywood writing for movies and television. After years of poor health he committed suicide in Mill Valley in 1995.