Rating: 
Summary: Another winner by Ellroy!!!!
Review: After reading about Ellroy's complicated novels during promotions for "L. A. Confidential" I thought I would start with some of his short stories. The longest is 'Dick Contino's Blues' which is told in a hipster tone that is very different from the following 5 stories. I was then very satisfied by the next story "High Darktown" which is exactly what I had hoped for. Gritty, smart and fast. I loved that story alot. The others never lived up to "High Darktown". Several subjects are started that appeared in L. A. Confidential, such as a story about Mickey Cohen and Howard Hughes called 'Gravey Train' which is told by Buzz Meeks in old age.
Rating: 
Summary: Short stories from Ellroy prepare youfor his longer novels.
Review: After reading about Ellroy's complicated novels during promotions for "L. A. Confidential" I thought I would start with some of his short stories. The longest is 'Dick Contino's Blues' which is told in a hipster tone that is very different from the following 5 stories. I was then very satisfied by the next story "High Darktown" which is exactly what I had hoped for. Gritty, smart and fast. I loved that story alot. The others never lived up to "High Darktown". Several subjects are started that appeared in L. A. Confidential, such as a story about Mickey Cohen and Howard Hughes called 'Gravey Train' which is told by Buzz Meeks in old age.
Rating: 
Summary: ehh...
Review: As a another reviewer stated Ellroy is best with the novel format. I've read a lot of his books and it's taken me at least 100 pages to get into the stories, except for American Tabloid and The Cold Six Thousand. "Dick Contino's Blues" is the best story in this collection. "High Darktown" is also good. The rest aren't very impressive. Having said that, I cannot wait until Ellroy's next novel.
Rating:
Summary: -
Review: Ellroy is a love/hate man. Love him or hate him, there isn't much in between. I do recommmend this as a starter book of Ellroy. The shorrt stories are easy to pick up, especially if you've begun from viewing the movie LA Confidential. If these are like pie to you, then move on to the books.
Rating:
Summary: -
Review: Ellroy is a love/hate man. Love him or hate him, there isn't much in between. I do recommmend this as a starter book of Ellroy. The shorrt stories are easy to pick up, especially if you've begun from viewing the movie LA Confidential. If these are like pie to you, then move on to the books.
Rating:
Summary: ehh...
Review: I think it was Faulkner who said something along the lines of: I write novels because poems and short stories are too difficult. Of course, Faulkner could do anything he put his mind to when it came to prose. But Ellroy largely misses in this collection of L.A. stories. Each story or novella has a great array of characters and some semblance of the beginning of a plot. Yet each seems to peter out by the end and the conclusions are a mad dash to terminate the story in a quick but unsatisfying way. My theory is that Ellroy set out to write actual novels for each of these plots, but tired of the storyline or the characters and just ended them. Maybe I'm wrong--but if so, then I'll go with the original premise that it is harder to write a short story than a novel and maybe Ellroy should stick to the novel.
Rating: 
Summary: Orphan Novels
Review: I think it was Faulkner who said something along the lines of: I write novels because poems and short stories are too difficult. Of course, Faulkner could do anything he put his mind to when it came to prose. But Ellroy largely misses in this collection of L.A. stories. Each story or novella has a great array of characters and some semblance of the beginning of a plot. Yet each seems to peter out by the end and the conclusions are a mad dash to terminate the story in a quick but unsatisfying way. My theory is that Ellroy set out to write actual novels for each of these plots, but tired of the storyline or the characters and just ended them. Maybe I'm wrong--but if so, then I'll go with the original premise that it is harder to write a short story than a novel and maybe Ellroy should stick to the novel.
Rating:
Summary: Another winner by Ellroy!!!!
Review: James Ellroy has done it again with the gritty, violent and disturbing collection of short stories, "Hollywood Nocturnes". My favorites were "Dial Axminster 6-400", "Since I Don't Have You", and "Dick Contino's Blues". All were wonderfully exciting as the always splendid Ellroy whips out razor-sharp prose about dirty cops, femme fatales, and smart-ass private investigators. A wonderful collection and another win for the best crime writer out there today, James Ellroy.
Rating:
Summary: nightime isn't always the right time
Review: This book is the only major disapointment GOD has given me so far,not really a waste of time,the Buddy de Greco bits are rather cool but this certainly not the book tostart your trip in this man's heart of darkness or VOYAGE AU BOUT DE LA NUIT.The Lloyd Hopkins saga is where it all began for me and I would recommend it strongly to anyone new to the world of Sir Ellroy . Yours with the sincerity pills ...C.Monnet President of the Bud White Appreciation Society...
Rating:
Summary: Six great stories and one dud.
Review: This is a collection of short stories by the master of noir, James Ellroy. Several of them are directly linked to his full-length novels, but not consistently. The main character of one of the stories says he is writing his memoirs as an old man, when I know for a fact he was whacked at the end of "The Big Nowhere". Also, Ellroy has a tendency, like a lot of writers, to forget who the characters are when he's writing dialog for them. In "Dial Axminster 6-400", he has an Okie white trash-type using the phrase "divergent angles"...gimme a break! Overall, these are great stories, with the exception of the last, "Torch Number". Skip it and finish the book early
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