I Want To Read Blue Elephants
by Phil Brody
Recently, in an effort to
promote my debut novel, The Holden Age of
Hollywood, I’ve been sourcing photographs that bring to life some key lines
and passages from the book.
The other day, I stumbled upon
a painting by Yolanda Goulet Marsolais. I typed “Blue Elephants” into Google’s
search engine, so it makes perfect sense why I was led to the image you see
below. However, I ended up staring at it for a long while because of how
effectively it brought to life the following words.
Painting by Yolanda
Goulet Marsolais
"When you’re a kid, you color
without abandon. You color outside the lines. You color however you feel. Blue
elephants, red bears, purple trees, green oceans. It’s all good. As you get
older, though, everyone tells you to stay inside the lines, to color everything
just like you see it. Why? Where’s the fun and intrigue in that? Writers care
too much about coloring within the lines. They all seem to be painting by
numbers, everyone wanting their stuff to look and sound exactly like what they
see up on the big screen. It’s a shame. A few write what they want. A few make
their mark, but then everybody copies them and they ultimately wax and wane
into the masses. Damn shame. Should write what you feel. Write outside the
lines. We need more green oceans, blue elephants. I want to read blue
elephants."
The Holden Age
of Hollywood is
at once a modern detective novel, an unexpected love story, and a provocative
exposé of a broken industry. With dark humor and incisive commentary, the novel
immerses readers in a neo-noir quest to attain the Hollywood dream, integrity
intact.
The conceit of the story involves the search for the
one writer in Hollywood who does not want to be found.
After all, we all long to be discovered. Don’t we?
That passage is part of a late
night phone call the protagonist makes to a nameless writer he doesn’t know,
one he’s only read. He’s drunk, talking into a machine, but nonetheless, waxes
poetic and makes an important point in the process.
“I want to read blue
elephants.”
Well, I want to write blue
elephants, which is what I aimed to do with The
Holden Age of Hollywood. I believe I succeeded in that goal. So far the reviews for the novel
concur.
I’d love to know if you agree. At any juncture, you
can tell me what you think by emailing me at: emailphilbrody@gmail.com
Note: That email address is also found at the back of
every copy of the book. I want to know what you all think of the blue elephants
I painted onto every page. Hope my words resonate and inspire. Hope they make
you long for more.
Phil Brody lives in Los
Angeles and writes every day.
The Holden Age of Hollywood is his first novel
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