Official Website of Author Walter Mosley

Walter Mosley revisits Easy Rawlins’ neighborhood

WalterMosley — Thu, 09 May 2013 20:44:43 +0000

Author Walter Mosley. (Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)

The Writer’s Life, By David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times Book Critic

When last we saw Walter Mosley’s detective Easy Rawlins, he had just lost control of a car he was driving on the Pacific Coast Highway north of Malibu. This was in the closing pages of the 11th (and apparently final) Rawlins book, “Blonde Faith,” published in 2007. “The back of my car hit something hard,” Easy tells us, “a boulder no doubt. Something clenched down on my left foot and pain lanced up my leg. I ignored this, though, realizing that in a few seconds, I’d be dead.”

And yet, six years later, Easy is back, narrating a new novel, “Little Green” (Doubleday: 292 pp., $25.95), that picks up where “Blonde Faith” left off. He is, if not entirely alive, then at least present, navigating a 1967 Los Angeles he barely recognizes in the wake of both the Watts riots and the Summer of Love.

“It was great,” Mosley enthuses, “because for all intents and purposes, Easy was dead. And when he came back to consciousness, he felt dead. … Most of my novels are about redemption. But ‘Little Green’ is about resurrection. And so, I naturally followed it, from having him wake up dead to, at the end of the book, actually being alive.”

For Mosley, writing about Easy again is a kind of homecoming, precisely the process in which he is engaged today. A tall man, bald and gently spoken, he stands at Pico and Genesee, wearing a hat, a jacket and black shoes.

He’s in town from New York — where he moved in 1979 after attending Goddard College — for a bookseller dinner and meetings, but he’s agreed to spend an afternoon walking this Mid-City neighborhood, where he grew up and where, in his fictional universe, Easy lives.

“I imagine Easy living up here on Genesee on the right side. Somewhere, one of those houses,” he says, gesturing at a line of houses north of Pico, just past the BreitBurn rig, an oil well camouflaged by the façade of a fake office building that, Mosley notes, “has been here since I lived here.”

These are the details, the little nuances, that give the Rawlins novels such resonance. Taken together, they form an extended social fiction, as much Balzac as Raymond Chandler, charting the life of Los Angeles — and especially African American Los Angeles — in the decades after World War II.

The first book, “Devil in a Blue Dress,” which came out in 1990, introduces Easy as a young veteran, new to Southern California and enmeshed, at times against his will, in the region’s overlapping layers of race and class. The year is 1948, a turning point, and yet underexplored in L.A. literature.

“One of the problems I saw, or one of the empty places I saw, in the literature about California,” Mosley says, “was that you really didn’t know about all the people of color who moved here. It’s not just black people. It’s the Koreans, the Mexicans, the Chinese, the Japanese. Central Avenue is just as important as Hollywood or Sunset. That’s where all the music was.”

The same might be said of Mid-City, to which Mosley’s parents came, like Easy, from South Los Angeles. “I was born,” he recalls, “at 116th and Central. We moved to 76th and Central before I even remember. I lived there until I was 12, and then we moved to this neighborhood.”

Part of the appeal had to do with the layout of the streets, which Mosley calls “really kind of gorgeous, that California dream, that working class — which many people confuse as middle class — California dream, with a house and a lawn and a great place to live.”

In many ways, that describes his parents, who bought a pair of duplexes on Spaulding, just south of Pico, in 1964. Yet equally important is how the neighborhood reflected, and continues to reflect, the changing face of Los Angeles: both its diversity and its tortured history around race.

“This neighborhood,” Mosley says, “has always been in flux. First, it was mostly white, mostly Jewish. Then black people moved in. When we came, it was mostly white people. After awhile, mostly black people lived here. But then, the white people moved back, which I thought was wonderful. I never saw anything like that. And so it became truly mixed.”

To some extent, this has to do with Pico, long considered a dividing line between white and black L.A. Yet even in the 1960s, Mosley recalls, such boundaries were growing porous, which “Little Green” reflects. “Really,” he says, “the police’s line was Olympic. If you crossed Olympic, the police would stop you.”

Easy himself lives north of Pico, and as “Little Green” progresses, he finds himself in a host of unexpected situations, beginning with the hippie culture of the Sunset Strip, where he investigates the disappearance of a teenager from his neighborhood. Along the way, Mosley reintroduces Mouse, Jackson Blue, Etta Mae, Mama Jo, as well as Easy’s kids, Jesus and Feather — all the characters who, all along, have helped him maintain his foothold in the world.

That this is essential should go without saying, for the Rawlins books have always been about community.

“You know,” Mosley observes, “you can have the existentialist detective. He’s all alone; he may know somebody, but that person’s only going to appear in one book, and then it’s over. But Easy, he works with people. He trades favors. That’s part of how he lives.”

He also moves through many different strata of the city, his role as detective allowing him a kind of access that most civilians never know. In “Little Green,” this is only heightened because so many people think he’s dead. If nothing else, it gives him an advantage, keeping his adversaries (and his friends too) just a little off-kilter, as if unsure whether they are dealing with a human or a ghost.

As for Mosley, this is the draw of returning to the character, that he can frame him differently.

“The reason I ended it,” he notes, referring to the original arc of the series as well as the grim finale of “Blonde Faith,” “was that I thought my work on it was no longer interesting. I’d been writing about Easy, about Easy, about Easy, and I had fallen into a rut. He needed to be reborn.”

Now Mosley plans to keep him around for a while; he’s just finished a follow-up to “Little Green” called “Rose Gold.”

“It’s fun to open that door again,” he says as he makes his way back to Pico, through the streets where he and his detective have their roots. “You write and you discover. All art comes from the unconscious. You keep doing it and things keep coming up and they take form. Then your consciousness sees the form and works with it. But what comes out is something else.”

Little Green

WalterMosley — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:07:25 +0000

When Walter Mosley burst onto the literary scene in 1990 with his first Easy Rawlins mystery, Devil in a Blue Dress—a combustible mixture of Raymond Chandler and Richard Wright—he captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of readers (including future president Bill Clinton). Eleven books later, Easy Rawlins is one of the few private eyes in contemporary crime fiction who can be called iconic and immortal. In the incendiary and fast-paced Little Green, he returns from the brink of death to investigate the dark side of L.A.’s 1960s hippie haven, the Sunset Strip.

We last saw Easy in 2007’s Blonde Faith, fighting for his life after his car plunges over a cliff. True to form, the tough WWII veteran survives, and soon his murderous sidekick Mouse has him back cruising the mean streets of L.A., in all their psychedelic 1967 glory, to look for a young black man, Evander “Little Green” Noon, who disappeared during an acid trip. Fueled by an elixir called Gator’s Blood, brewed by the conjure woman Mama Jo, Easy experiences a physical, spiritual, and emotional resurrection, but peace and love soon give way to murder and mayhem. Written with Mosley’s signature grit and panache, this engrossing and atmospheric mystery is not only a trip back in time, it is also a tough-minded exploration of good and evil, and of the power of guilt and redemption. Once again, Easy asserts his reign over the City of (Fallen) Angels.

“In 2007’s Blonde Faith, set in 1967, Easy Rawlins drove drunkenly off a cliff in what his creator indicated was likely his last appearance. Now, after two months of sliding in and out of consciousness, Easy begins the long journey back to the living, in Mosley’s superb 12th mystery featuring his iconic sleuth…. If there were an Edgar for best comeback player, Easy Rawlins would be a shoo-in.”

—Publishers Weekly (starred)

“Mosley fans were pining for the resurrection of Rawlins. Their dreams have come true…. Mosley returns here to doing what he does best: setting the pain and pleasure of individual lives, lived mostly in L.A.’s black community, within an instantly recognizable historical moment and allowing the two to feed off one another…. [A] major event for crime-fiction fans.”

—Bill Ott, Booklist

Fall of Heaven

WalterMosley — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:56:10 +0000

Congo Square Theatre’s
The Fall of Heaven

Written by Walter Mosley
Directed by Daniel Bryant
Featuring Anthony Irons

Feb 25, 2013 – Mar 24, 2013

For tickets:
Congo Square Theatre Company
2936 North Southport Avenue
Chicago, IL 60657
773.296.1108

In the blink of an eye, Tempest is struck by the bullet of a police gun and finds himself at the pearly gates facing St. Peter and his judgment. Refusing to accept his eternal condition, he’s stripped of his identity and given a new body and a chance to change his fate. Alive, Tempest was no angel, but he was far from evil. The Accounting Angel, Joshua, is out to prove the scales tip toward the latter. Adapted from his book, Tempest Tales, and inspired by Langston Hughes’ colorful character, Jesse B. Semple, Walter Mosley takes us on a hip trip—an ethereal excursion into the metaphysical conundrum between right and wrong, good and evil. Which will you choose?

Enjoy a sneak peek from a staged reading of The Fall of Heaven:

Camera in the Sun Interview

WalterMosley — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:38:22 +0000

Camera Q&A: Walter Mosley on adapting his novels for the screen, by Christian Niedan

Walter Mosley is a New York City-based author, whose 37+ book literary career goes back to 1990′s Devil in a Blue Dress. That novel kicked off a series revolving around detective Ezekiel “Easy” Rawlins — a Black resident of the Watts section of Los Angeles, whose continuing story begins in 1948, and (with the May 2013 release of his 12th story,Little Green) has progressed to 1967. Mosley also created the character of ex-convict Socrates Fortlow, the modern-day protagonist of Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, and two other novels. Both Rawlins and Fortlow were adapted for the screen in the 1990s. Denzel Washington portrayed Rawlins in 1995′s Devil in a Blue Dress, directed by Carl Franklin. Laurence Fishburne portrayed Fortlow in 1998′s Always Outnumbered, directed by Michael Apted for HBO. During production Mosley met producer Diane Houslin, and in 2012 they partnered to launch a new production company: Best of Brooklyn Filmhouse. Other Mosley creations include Fearless Jones, portrayed by Bill Nunn in the final episode of Showtime’s anthology series, Fallen Angels. He has also authored several science-fiction stories — the latest being The Gift of Fire andOn the Head of a Pin, which were released together by Tor Hardcover in May, 2012. Camera In The Sun interviewed Mosley in the summer of 2012, as he was editing Little Green, and discussed how his books have been adapted for the screen — including past and future versions of Easy Rawlins.

Read the rest of the interview here »

“Little Green” by Walter Mosley, National Author Tour

WalterMosley — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 18:13:47 +0000

The dates have been announced for the Little Green National Author tour, May-June 2013 in the following cities; Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Scottsdale, St. Louis, Austin, Houston, Philadelphia, Raleigh, Brooklyn, New York, Washington DC.

Browse the Events Calendar (to the right) or click “Appearances” to see a list of readings in your area.

Parishioner, Publishers Weekly Review

WalterMosley — Tue, 05 Feb 2013 23:28:32 +0000

Parishioner

Walter Mosley. Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, $9.99 e-book (279p) ISBN 978-0-345-80444-0

Many of Mosley’s heroes are men who are or have been brutal and are certainly still dangerous—men like Fearless Jones, Leonid McGill, Easy Rawlins, and Easy’s friend, Raymond “Mouse” Alexander—and all have their redeeming qualities. Xavier “Ecks” Rule may be the worst, having “beaten, raped, and murdered my brothers and sisters,” until he meets Father Frank, whose Seabreeze City, Calif., congregation consists of 96 similarly lost souls. Father Frank gives Ecks a mission to aid Benol Richards, who as a young woman 23 years earlier helped her lover, Brayton Starmon, kidnap and sell three babies. Now Benol wants to make amends, and Ecks reluctantly agrees to help. Sordid tales mingle with trials, redemptions, and philosophy grounded in gritty experiences as Ecks follows cold clues into hot action. Ecks’s world is populated with some of Mosley’s most colorful and memorable characters, from Father Frank, who never invokes God, to the edgy parishioners who make up his flock. No Mosley fan should risk missing this scintillating novel. Agent: Gloria Loomis, Watkins Loomis Agency. (Dec.)

Reviewed on 02/01/2013 | Details & Permalink

Parishioner

WalterMosley — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 16:50:07 +0000

A brand-new, eBook original crime novel from bestselling author Walter Mosley, Parishioner is a portrait of a hardened criminal who regrets his past, but whose only hope for redemption is to sin again.

In a small town situated between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, a simple church of white stone sits atop a hill on the coast. This nameless house of worship is a sanctuary for the worst kinds of sinners: the congregation and even the clergy have broken all ten Commandments and more. Now they have gathered to seek forgiveness. Xavier Rule—Ecks to his friends—didn’t come to California in search of salvation but, thanks to the grace of this church, he has begun to learn to forgive himself and others for past misdeeds. One day a woman arrives to seek absolution for the guilt she has carried for years over her role in a scheme to kidnap three children and sell them on the black market. As part of atoning for his past life on the wrong side of the law, Ecks is assigned to find out what happened to the abducted children. As he follows the thin trail of the twenty-three-year-old crime, he must struggle against his old, lethal instincts—and learn when to give in to them.

Vintage; Available December 18, 2012; Random House Digital, Inc.

This May Walter Mosley delivers two speculative tales, in one volume, of everyday people exposed to life-altering truths

WalterMosley — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 17:44:44 +0000

GIFT OF FIRE / ON THE HEAD OF A PIN
Coming from Tor Hardcover
On-sale: May 8, 2012

The Gift of Fire

In ancient mythology, the Titan Prometheus was punished by the gods for bringing man the gift of fire—an event that set humankind on its course of knowledge. As punishment for making man as powerful as gods, Prometheus was bound to a rock; every day his immortal body was devoured by a giant eagle. But in The Gift of Fire, those chains cease to be, and the great champion of man walks from that immortal prison into presentday South Central Los Angeles.

On the Head of a Pin

Joshua Winterland and Ana Fried are working at Jennings-Tremont Enterprises when they make the most important discovery in the history of this world—or possibly the next. JTE is developing advanced animatronics editing techniques to create high-end movies indistinguishable from live action. Longdead stars can now share the screen with today’s A-list. But one night Joshua and Ana discover something lingering in the rendered footage…an entity that will lead them into a new age beyond the reality they have come to know.

‘Food stamp president’: Gingrich’s words of hate

WalterMosley — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:23:59 +0000

By Walter Mosley, Special to CNN
updated 8:26 AM EST, Thu January 26, 2012

GOP candidate Newt Gingrich appears at a campaign event on January 25 in Cocoa, Florida

Editor’s note: Walter Mosley is the author of more than 34 books, including the mystery series featuring Easy Rawlins and his latest featuring Leonid McGill. He has won an O. Henry Award, a Grammy and PEN America’s Lifetime Achievement Award. His newest book is “All I Did Was Shoot My Man” (Riverhead Books).

(CNN) – Newt Gingrich is a political opportunist. His job is to pack as much powerfully charged meaning into every sentence as he can, which makes him a working poet. So he knows full well that calling someone a “food stamp president” brings up the working person’s fear, looming reality, and in some cases the actual experience, of unemployment — while making a shout-out to racism and affixing a stigma to poverty. All the while hiding behind the symbol of a flag.

‘All I Did Was Shoot My Man’ by Walter Mosley

WalterMosley — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:49:22 +0000

By James H. Burnett III | JANUARY 25, 2012

Given his potent combination of wildly colorful yet believable characters, it’s understandable that some fans of novelist Walter Mosley have yet to forgive him for apparently killing off Easy Rawlins, his most popular character, in the 2007 bestseller “Blonde Faith.’’

Rawlins was, fans argued, not just a character they could envision through Mosley’s words, but also a character they could relate to, one they wish they could have known.