Notes on Sex and Violence in Hollywood

Movies have always been a passion of mine. Because of the religion I was raised in, I was not allowed to go to movie theaters. For that reason, movies became a kind of forbidden fruit. Mark Twain wrote, "There is a charm about the forbidden that makes it unspeakably desirable." As usual, he was right. I could watch movies on TV — and I did at every opportunity — but not being able to see them on the big screen like other people made me crave them. I became a sponge, soaking up movie lore and trivia. I knew for years that at some point, I would write a novel that involved the movies, but I had no idea what kind of novel it would be.

It finally happened in 2000. I had been thinking a lot about how violent movies had become within my lifetime. I'm not one of those people who thinks violence in movies makes people violent. I don't have a problem with violence in films myself, but I've noticed that as it has become more explicit over the years, things that we once found shocking seemed tame, even naive. In 1960, the shower scene in Psycho was horrifying, but 20 years later, it seemed rather innocent compared to all the throat-slashing and head-severing in Friday the 13th. And it wasn't just movies. Violence had become more pervasive throughout our cultures — on TV, in video games, then on the internet. With each new level of violence presented to us, we've become a little more desensitized to it. I was ruminating on this when I sat down to write Sex and Violence in Hollywood. It didn't have a title yet, though. And I really had no idea what it was going to be about. All I knew was that I wanted to write something that involved the movies and our growing numbness to violent images.

I began with a sex scene. A young man in his early twenties was having sex with a woman in her forties. I didn't even know their relationship to each other at first. By the end of that scene I did, though — the woman was the wife of the young man's father. After that, I was off and running. The book flowed faster and more smoothly than anything I had ever written. It was, in fact, the most enjoyable writing experience of my life. It's a thriller and a comedy set against the backdrop of Hollywood and it has touches of horror. It deals peripherally with our desensitization to violence and it features a big, high-profile, celebrity trial. One reader called it a blend of Quentin Tarantino and Jackie Collins — which I took as a great compliment!

"Nasty, raucous, at times hilarious, Garton's (Live Girls) latest delivers what the title promises, in spades. But the core of the book is a sensational murder trial clearly inspired by the O. J. Simpson case. The cast features an abrasive female judge who swoons over the film stars who flit in and out of the courtroom, tongue-tied prosecuting attorneys, a nerdy defendant who reserves his right to silence, and Rona Horowitz, a pint-sized, high-octane defense lawyer. Even Johnny Cochran, among a host of real-life celebrities, makes a brief appearance. The defendant may be guilty as hell, but part of the fun is watching dynamo Rona cook up one outrageous legal trick after another to try to extricate her client. Meanwhile, the story's hero, young buck Adam Julian, is sleeping with his hated schlock-film producer father's new wife, as well as her underage but wildly sexed, drugged and dangerous daughter. [Julian's sweetheart] Alyssa is the unlikely chip the author will eventually cash in to supply enough gore for two or three more trips to the courtroom…. This over-the-top excursion into the underside of Tinseltown provides more thrills than a high-speed car chase on an L. A. freeway."
-- Publishers Weekly

"Trust Ray Garton. This talented author of many of the more distinctively strange horror novels of the past decade and a half could – probably – write the sort of break-out commercial novel that would make his name a household word right up there somewhere in the alphabet just before the King, Koontz K-section in the book stores. … Check out his substantial new novel, Sex and Violence in Hollywood. It's a fascinating work with all the commercial elements: greed, Hollywood, murder, Hollywood, lust and graphic sex, Hollywood, psychopathia. Oh, and Hollywood. Garton's novel is muscular, paced something like a car with a brick duct-taped to the throttle, and edgy with a sharp and nasty little tongue lodged firmly in cheek. ... The deliberately broad and superficially bland title manages to reel in vivid portraits of a generation more lost than usual, an accurately jaundiced view of how thin the dividing line seems to be between fantasy and reality. ... As a bonus, the readers gets a sardonically entertaining legal thriller slipped between the ribs of what might be termed a dark associational suspense work. ... The author cranks his epic to a balls-to-the-wall ending that could trigger late-night reader debates for quite a while."
– Edward Bryant, Locus magazine

"Worth every penny of its price. You are in for one mean, hard, vicious ride; it's about as searing a satire as you're likely to encounter. I defy anyone to survive the last 50 pages unshaken."
-- Gary Braunbeck, Bram Stoker Award-winning novelist

"Visceral, provocative, and graphic, Sex And Violence In Hollywood would make a perfect vehicle for the next Quentin Tarantino film. Equal parts crime novel, Hollywood expose and legal thriller — Garton alternately channels Jim Thompson, Joe Esztherhas, Dominick Dunne and John Grisham — it's a genuine pleasure to read, a trashy thrill ride with unexpected depth. Gleefully milking the dramatic potential of Adam's dysfunctional family, various Hollywood lowlifes and America's legal system for all they're worth, Garton also slips in some sly commentary on modern culture, the media, and the judicial system, celebrating and condemning their excesses. Purists might ask, "Is it horror?" Well, not in the supernatural sense, but certainly in the utter emptiness of the main characters' lives. Rest assured, however — there are some genuinely horrific moments, not the least of which is the shocking denouement."
-- Henry Wagner, Hellnotes

"Sex and Violence in Hollywood is not only Ray Garton's best novel, but it may be one of the best novels published, in this or any other year."
– Weston Ochse, author of Scarecrow Gods

"Sex and Violence in Hollywood is a realistic, non-supernatural melodrama of greed, murder, and twisted family relations that offers exactly what the plainspoken title promises….It's a kinetic, plot-driven novel filled with cliffhangers, betrayals, unexpected developments, and moments of stark, disturbing violence. It's also, at times, a very funny book, filled with cogent observations of an insular, narcissistic society. Sex and Violence possesses wit, energy, and a relentless momentum that carries the narrative steadily forward. At its best, Garton's latest has the raw, in-your-face power of a Quentin Tarrantino film. It comes highly recommended to anyone looking for a nasty, colorful, high adrenalin good time."

-- Bill Sheehan, Locus magazine

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