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"A PAGE-TURNER, SPIFFY AND IRRESISTIBLE!"
Ron Base's previous novel, Magic Man, was published by St. Martin's Press. Part fable, part adventure, it is a love story about the impossibility of love.
A mysterious young magic man named Brae Orrack who claims to possess the ability to turn stones to bees, arrives in Los Angeles in 1928. Is he a con man or does he really believe that unless he finds true love in the next five weeks his evil father’s curse will kill him? Brae may not be exactly sure himself. But he somehow must find “that which cannot be found” in a town where no one is quite what they say they are and everyone wants to be someone else.
Desperate for rent money, he gets a job chauffeuring a young leading man named Frank Cooper. The studio has renamed him Gary, but with the coming of sound no one believes the spoiled, petulant Gary Cooper will last much longer. Brae soon finds himself lost in a glamorous world nervously on the brink of seismic transformation.
Just when he’s given up all hope, Nell Devereaux appears, the shimmering golden goddess who can provide the love he needs to save his life – or can she? Nell is involved with a ruthless Cuban dictator and is avidly chased around by a lovesick Coop. How’s Brae ever going to get close, let alone make her fall in love with him before time runs out?
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“Beautiful women and gangsters, movie stars and dictators all rub shoulders in this delicious tongue-in-cheek debut set in 1920s Hollywood.... Base works his own magic as he crisply choreographs the entrances and exits of his large cast. There will be thrills aplenty before we are done, and disillusionment, but never defeat for the resilient Brae. A page-turner, spiffy and irresistible.”
---Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Inventive and evocative... In a novel filled with surprises, Base saves the biggest for the last. There's something for everyone: humor, mystery
suspense, nostalgia and, of course, a little magic."
-- Publisher's Weekly
“What a rich and vivid portrait of Hollywood as the talkies came in and the magic of the silents ebbed away. Ron Base’s naïve romantic young hero leaves a trail of mayhem and chaos in his wake. There are mercilessly funny portraits of Gary Cooper, George Raft, Clara Bow, and many others.”
---John Boorman, director of Deliverance, Excalibur, Hope and Glory, and The Tailor of Panama
"It takes off with relentless speed, refusing to permit us to catch our breath. Never boring, Magic Man makes for an entertaining and engrossing tale...If (Base) sometimes relies too often on writer-director David Mamet's tried technique, where nothing ever appears as it seems, then we are the lucky, breathless recipients."
-- The Edmonton Journal
"Superbly crafted...I read it in one sitting...Base kept me guessing to the very end. Luring the reader into believing that a typical Hollywood climax is in store, I was caught completely off guard by Base's end game. Scheduled to make its way into bookstores later this month, Magic Man is a gripping narrative that surprises right to the very last page. Bravo."
-- Hour Magazine (Montreal)
"Ron Base spent four years researching this novel about Hollywood in 1928 and it shows. He has Tinseltown, in its transition from silents to sound, down word perfect."
-- The Globe and Mail
"Base's novel quickly gets into full swing as Orrack becomes the bodyguard for a young Gary Cooper and raids a gambling ship with George Raft and his gangster pals."
--Entertainment Weekly
"A PAGE-TURNER, SPIFFY AND IRRESISTIBLE!"
Ron Base's previous novel, Magic Man, was published by St. Martin's Press. Part fable, part adventure, it is a love story about the impossibility of love.
A mysterious young magic man named Brae Orrack who claims to possess the ability to turn stones to bees, arrives in Los Angeles in 1928. Is he a con man or does he really believe that unless he finds true love in the next five weeks his evil father’s curse will kill him? Brae may not be exactly sure himself. But he somehow must find “that which cannot be found” in a town where no one is quite what they say they are and everyone wants to be someone else.Desperate for rent money, he gets a job chauffeuring a young leading man named Frank Cooper. The studio has renamed him Gary, but with the coming of sound no one believes the spoiled, petulant Gary Cooper will last much longer. Brae soon finds himself lost in a glamorous world nervously on the brink of seismic transformation.
Just when he’s given up all hope, Nell Devereaux appears, the shimmering golden goddess who can provide the love he needs to save his life – or can she? Nell is involved with a ruthless Cuban dictator and is avidly chased around by a lovesick Coop. How’s Brae ever going to get close, let alone make her fall in love with him before time runs out?
_____________________________________________
Reviews of Magic Man
“Beautiful women and gangsters, movie stars and dictators all rub shoulders in this delicious tongue-in-cheek debut set in 1920s Hollywood.... Base works his own magic as he crisply choreographs the entrances and exits of his large cast. There will be thrills aplenty before we are done, and disillusionment, but never defeat for the resilient Brae. A page-turner, spiffy and irresistible.”
---Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Inventive and evocative... In a novel filled with surprises, Base saves the biggest for the last. There's something for everyone: humor, mystery
suspense, nostalgia and, of course, a little magic."
-- Publisher's Weekly
“What a rich and vivid portrait of Hollywood as the talkies came in and the magic of the silents ebbed away. Ron Base’s naïve romantic young hero leaves a trail of mayhem and chaos in his wake. There are mercilessly funny portraits of Gary Cooper, George Raft, Clara Bow, and many others.”
---John Boorman, director of Deliverance, Excalibur, Hope and Glory, and The Tailor of Panama
"It takes off with relentless speed, refusing to permit us to catch our breath. Never boring, Magic Man makes for an entertaining and engrossing tale...If (Base) sometimes relies too often on writer-director David Mamet's tried technique, where nothing ever appears as it seems, then we are the lucky, breathless recipients."
-- The Edmonton Journal
"Superbly crafted...I read it in one sitting...Base kept me guessing to the very end. Luring the reader into believing that a typical Hollywood climax is in store, I was caught completely off guard by Base's end game. Scheduled to make its way into bookstores later this month, Magic Man is a gripping narrative that surprises right to the very last page. Bravo."
-- Hour Magazine (Montreal)
"Ron Base spent four years researching this novel about Hollywood in 1928 and it shows. He has Tinseltown, in its transition from silents to sound, down word perfect."
-- The Globe and Mail
"Base's novel quickly gets into full swing as Orrack becomes the bodyguard for a young Gary Cooper and raids a gambling ship with George Raft and his gangster pals."
--Entertainment Weekly
