Justify My Sins: A Hollywood Novel in Three Acts
by Felice Picano
Paperback, 6″ x 9″, 352 pages
ISBN 13: 978-0-9981262-8-9
$19.95 plus shipping and handling
Available now at Beautiful Dreamer Press
Victor Regina should be perfectly happy in Manhattan. His novels are best sellers, he has a kick-ass agent, and the upcoming Black Party at the exclusive club Flamingo promises to be a cornucopia of gay desire. But New York is hard. The city is gripped by a winter that won’t quit, and although he has plenty of dishy friends, there is no lover in the picture. When his agent calls with an offer from Hollywood to adapt his latest novel, Justify My Sins, for a famous director, he jumps at the chance.
In “El Lay,” the sun is warm, the food is fantastic, the men are plentiful and eager. It’s all so easy. So easy, in fact, that Victor begins to suspect there’s nothing quite real about it—not the quick affairs, not the luxurious cars and ostentatious architecture, and certainly not the film script or scenario or treatment or whatever the hell it is everyone expects him to write. He begins to long for NYC, hard but real.
Noted names and events of the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s intermingle with celebrated triumphs and private tragedies in this hilarious roman à clef with a heart. In his first novel in over fifteen years, Felice Picano exposes the clash between celebrity and integrity, the rivalry between love and lust, while showcasing the grittiness of Manhattan and the voluptuousness of Hollywood. Through disastrous production meetings, steamy sex clubs, and encounters with friends who grow old, or strange, or both, Victor tries not once, not twice, but three times to find authenticity and contentment in a life that, while perhaps never fully justified, is fully lived.
Advance Praise for Justify My Sins
“What fun! A New York author goes to Hollywood to try to turn his best-selling books into movies. Felice Picano gives us an inside look at the filmmaking business, plus a slice of gay life in Los Angeles and enduring friendships from the ‘70s and beyond, with sexy side trips to Palm Springs and San Francisco. Justify My Sins is jam-packed with cameo appearances by big name stars and quirky character extras, all with juicy stories of their own. A delicious read.” —Mark Abramson, author of Farm Boy: A Memoir with Recipes
In Justify My Sins, Felice Picano’s fast-paced romp, a libidinous New York novelist gets seduced by Tinseltown—in more ways than one. From the hedonistic 70s to the sadly corporate movie business of today, Picano offers delicious dish on the mores and shallowness of Hollywood, with more than a few cameos by real stars. It’s like having your own personal Hedda Hopper whispering all the dirt in your ear. With snappy dialogue and sharp-as-manicured-nails satire, Picano brings the world of starlets, Oscar parties, and the occasional orgy to vivid life.” —Lewis DeSimone, author of Channeling Morgan
Composer Walter Torgersen, set some to music and the Warhol-Era chanteuse, Jackie Curtis, regularly sang them in her act. 
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