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The arts ... it's not for everyone.
My name is Richard Perez and this is my new ad campaign for PERMANENT OBSCURITY. That's supposed to be me with a chocolate mustache. Get it? (Rim shot.) Makes more sense if you read about "Serena Moon & The Fine Art of Face-sitting" .... Or if you snag a copy here. The arts. Yeah.
Set in downtown New York City, THE LOSERS’
CLUB tells the story of Martin Sierra, an unlucky writer addicted to
the personals. His journey brings us into the East Village, pre-9/11—and
in contact with Nikki, his dream woman, who remains unattainable romantically
yet becomes his friend and confidant during his illuminating misadventures.
A romantic comedy and coming-of-age story. More Author's Opinions: "I was hooked.
I couldn’t put it down until I finished.... I was simply impressed that
these were real, instantly recognizable people ... poor lonely bastards
of every stripe resorting to utter humiliation and personal endangerment
in the barest hope of hooking up with a kindred spirit. It’s a brave
book with a great deal of heart." "A story of youth, very well told, and it dwells in the mind long after a reader finishes it." —Joanne Greenberg, author: I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN "A very beautiful
valentine to a time and place almost faded from existence." "Funny and endearing—and wisely not so hip as to avoid a good grab for your heart." —Marcie Hershman, author: SAFE IN AMERICA, TALES OF THE MASTER RACE "Richard Perez
is a clear-eyed chronicler of the New York club scene and a compassionate
observer of the lives lived in the carnival at the center of the world.
He is a sociologist and a historian, telling the truth about the way
we live now. He’s funny, honest, and compassionate. We can only hope
that THE LOSERS’ CLUB is but the first act in Richard Perez’s Human
Comedy." "THE LOSERS’
CLUB evokes a real and genuine sense of place—the world of the East
Village—and people—single, young and desperate—written with zest, energy
and enthusiasm." "Funny, touching,
and very much alive, THE LOSERS’ CLUB throbs with the subculture of
East Village night life. Buoyant and highly entertaining—I couldn’t
put it down." "THE LOSERS’
CLUB gives a complete panoramic view of the downtown New York scene
of the '90s, and along with all its flamboyant extremes... this novel
has an appealingly old fashioned love story at its core." "A fast, fun
read." "Rich Perez is
a rare writer who moves with ease through the blasted lyric pain of
childhood, the mysterious and sensuous and powerless world of being
a kid, into the spotty drastic charm of ‘90s downtown flashy and downtrodden
New York…having arrived at adulthood so that he can taste it with pleasure..."
"Mr. Perez has
written a kind of contemporary fable of his generation’s life in Manhattan,
a fable at once humorous and poignant." "THE LOSERS’
CLUB is a fine novel. Richard Perez has a wonderful eye for details
of the club scene and the humor to be found in urban decay. It is a
book to be savored." "Richard Perez’s
THE LOSERS’ CLUB is a bittersweet trip through the East Village....
It’s a tale of love lost and found among the coffee shops, mosh pits
and art galleries. Take it from someone who’s spent half a lifetime
archiving the scene—this one’sspot on!" "THE LOSERS’
CLUB is a vibrant and hopeful anthem for all of us 'losers' who choose
not to wallow (for too long!) in our despair and who find the will to
keep searching." *— BOOK SENSE 76 TOP TEN PICK! —*
This is my last word before I put it to rest forever to put focus on Permanent Obscurity, my new sexploitation-film inspired novel. (More about that here.) The tag line of The Losers' Club (what distributors and publishing folk need to attach to its line of "product") is this: "Set in New York's Lower East Side, pre-9/11, it's the story of an unlucky writer addicted to the personals." The truth is that it's partly an urban romantic comedy, partly a coming-of-age story, partly a quasi-documentary of a time and place. It's a modest novel:
my attempt at a cinéma-vérité style narrative, influenced by French
New Wave films like François Truffaut's "Stolen Kisses" and
Jean-Luc Godard's "Masculin, féminin," Italian Neo-realism
flicks like Vittorio de Sica's "Umberto D.," and American
indie flicks like "sex, lies and videotape" (which for a long
time was my favorite film). My influences are almost always cinematic,
not literary, which might account for my love of hard cuts, the re-shuffling
of chronology in the narrative ("disjunctive editing"), and
my love for revealing character through dialogue (European filmmakers
in particular allow their characters to SPEAK [Éric Rohmer is a shining
example of this]). My novel, The Losers' Club, is a character-driven
piece and a comedy (which only technically means it concludes in an
“up” note [exactly the reverse of "Masculin, féminin"]).
Of the French New Wave filmmakers, I lean more toward Truffaut, who's the more romantic and heartfelt filmmaker of the two, the one least afraid of emotion. In the same way Antoine Doinel is Truffaut's alter ego, Martin Sierra (of The Losers' Club) is mine: at least that’s how I saw it at the writing of the book. The last movie I need to mention as a major influence on the novel is Ross McElwee's "Sherman's March," which begins, "For a long time, I've had this notion that love was possible, I mean romantic love—y'know, two people falling deeply in love with each other and somehow managing to stay together for more than two weeks. "But time after
time it seems that a woman would get involved with me and want some
sort of commitment and I would decide it wasn't right or vice-versa.
And no matter how passionate things were in the beginning, there was
never an equilibrium, and nothing ever seemed to last." To Purchase My Last Little Novel < Click (Click on the
image, for more) So what about Permanent Obscurity?  next: Origins of Permanent Obscurity: Or A Cautionary Tale of Two Girls And Their Misadventures with Drugs, Pornography and Death    This site is © 2010 Richard Perez |
