Joy Nicholson

(Photo by Claudia Kunin)

The Narcissist's Edge

Joy Nicholson
“Forget how famous you’re going to be as a writer — are your verbs flabby?” In a world where even unknown artists talk like businesspeople and PR apparatus, speaking to novelist Janet Fitch is a bit like getting a bracing, old-fashioned tutorial on the Artist’s Way. For a few years,......

The Los Angeles Reader

Joy Nicholson
Santa Monica blogger Mark Sarvas takes pleasure in “confronting the canard that no one reads in L.A.” His blog, The Elegant Variation (https://marksarvas.blogs.com/elegvar) — or TEV, as it’s known to its many readers — has been championed by such disparate sources as The New York Times, The Guardian, Forbes, NPR......

Surf Sensei

Joy Nicholson
ON ANY GIVEN WORKDAY, John Philbin might encounter tsunami waves, dolphins, sea lions or beautiful Hollywood actresses. His office attire consists of “4/3 wetsuit, booties, hood and gloves, sometimes goggles and a hat in the summer.” That is, when he’s not wearing retro-cool sunglasses to production meetings with the likes......
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Spare Parts

Joy Nicholson
Photo by Ted Soqui If you happen to turn too quickly while on your way to get a lap dance at Jumbo’s Clown Room, or if you’re on your way to see the Thai Elvis impersonator at the Palms restaurant, you may come across an enigma wrapped in wire and......
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Chewing Tobacco and Big Feet

Joy Nicholson
Photo by Ron Athey In The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook, under the section titled “How To Escape From a Mountain Lion,” there is the plaintive advice: “Try to make yourself appear bigger by opening your coat wide!” Which is, I imagine, a writer’s natural response to the writer Lisa......
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Chewing Tobacco and Big Feet

Joy Nicholson
In The Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook, under the section titled “How To Escape From a Mountain Lion,” there is the plaintive advice: “Try to make yourself appear bigger by opening your coat wide!” Which is, I imagine, a writer’s natural response to the writer Lisa Teasley. A person who......