Author/screenwriter Michael Meloan, a confident of the late writer Bukowski, says this about the story that makes up his 136-page novella PINBALL WIZARD: “Young software engineer Ralph Hargraves is buffeted between a controlling father, international intrigue in the US defense industry, and an impactful friendship with the writer Charles Bukowski. A wild girlfriend also ratchets up the action. And a shamanic physicist introduces a new way of thinking. Is Ralph the Pinball Wizard or the pinball? In the end, he must decide. And he does.” While his book deals with a close relationship with Bukowski, PINBALL WIZARD tackles the author’s sense of developing his own identity and growth as a writer as well. “In 1980,” said Meloan,” my girlfriend Jan worked at a small health food restaurant in South Redondo Beach owned by Linda Lee Beighle. Jan told me that Linda was dating the poet Bukowski. I had read his column “Notes of a Dirty Old Man” in the LA Free Press when I was in high school. I was a fan, and so through Jan, I was invited to the house. Bukowski and I immediately hit it off.

He and Linda continued to invite me to the house for various parties from 1980 to the time of his death in 1994.” Meloan continues, “Also, during that time Bukowski’s work was being adapted into films. I was invited to numerous premieres, screenings, and parties. Most notably, Barfly, starring Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke. After Bukowski’s death, I appeared as an interview subject in the documentary Bukowski: Born into This. I accompanied the director John Dullaghan to Sundance where the film was purchased for theatrical distribution.”

http://pinballwizardbook.com

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