Michael D. Meloan’s Pinball Wizard, a novella is noted by reviewers as a most satisfying reading experience. In part because incorporates Charles Bukowski as a main character…
California Writer/Screen Writer Michael Meloan Pens A Novella That Deftly, Curiously
Spins A Story Of Being A Confidant To Iconic LA Lit Figure Charles Bukowski To His Job With The Feds
The New Yorker magazine said this about the iconic LA author-poet, the late Charles Bukowski (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bukowski): “He became wealthy and famous, a friend of celebrities like Sean Penn and Madonna, the subject of biographies and documentaries. In his late poems, his delight in driving a BMW and hobnobbing with Norman Mailer is so genuine that it becomes infectious.”
Author/screenwriter Michael Meloan, a confident of the late writer Bukowski, says this about the story that makes up his 136-page novella PINBALL WIZARD: “Young software engineer Ralph Hargraves is buffeted between a controlling father, international intrigue in the US defense industry, and an impactful friendship with the writer Charles Bukowski. A wild girlfriend also ratchets up the action. And a shamanic physicist introduces a new way of thinking. Is Ralph the Pinball Wizard or the pinball? In the end, he must decide. And he does.”
While his book deals with a close relationship with Bukowski, PINBALL WIZARD tackles the author’s sense of developing his own identity and growth as a writer as well. “In 1980,” said Meloan,” my girlfriend Jan worked at a small health food restaurant in South Redondo Beach owned by Linda Lee Beighle. Jan told me that Linda was dating the poet Bukowski. I had read his column “Notes of a Dirty Old Man” in the LA Free Press when I was in high school. I was a fan, and so through Jan, I was invited to the house. Bukowski and I immediately hit it off. He and Linda continued to invite me to the house for various parties from 1980 to the time of his death in 1994.”
“PINBALL WIZARD should be especially interesting to fans of Bukowski since some of the key action involves him. But the story is much more than my relationship with Buk. It is a multifaced tale that should appeal to any reader interested in family dynamics and the difficulties of discovering oneself and forging a personal identity.”
Meloan continues, “Also, during that time Bukowski’s work was being adapted into films. I was invited to numerous premieres, screenings, and parties. Most notably, Barfly, starring Faye Dunaway and Mickey Rourke. After Bukowski’s death, I appeared as an interview subject in the documentary Bukowski: Born into This. I accompanied the director John Dullaghan to Sundance where the film was purchased for theatrical distribution.”
About Author-Screenwriter Michael Meloan
Michael Meloan traveled extensively to England, Germany, and South Korea supporting the Department of Defense as a software engineer. He met the real Top Guns at Ramstein, Germany. He also wrote short stories for Larry Flynt, Buzz, Wired Magazine, and many literary journals. With his brother, Steven, he penned a published novel called The Shroud. Also with his brother, he wrote journalism for The Huffington Post.
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Meloan was friends with Charles Bukowski and his wife Linda. Bukowski enthusiastically encouraged his writing and invited him and his wife Cathy to many Hollywood events.
Meloan was also good friends with NPR monologue artist Joe Frank. Their regular brunches at the Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills were among the most fascinating encounters of his life. They discussed sexual failure, the nature of existence, godly realms, and the existential abyss. Meloan had the privilege of co-writing a number of radio shows with Frank that appeared on the NPR syndicate. The documentaries Bukowski: Born into This and Joe Frank: Somewhere Out There both contain interviews with Meloan.