The Collagist
A collage I made on my kitchen bulletin board, under a painting I bought at a San Fernando Valley estate sale.
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Fables of the 818
Image via Wikipedia
One of the books I’m working on at the moment is a short story collection. The title is: Fables of the 818. The interrelated stories take place in the San Fernando Valley—at strip clubs, porn sets, and massage parlors.
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What I'm Watching: Deichkind's "Keine Party" (Featuring Lars Eidinger)
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Fincher, Tarantino, and Pitt
Blush & Bangs, Highland Park, Los Angeles, Calif., 2005 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
David Fincher is filming the Quentin Tarantino penned spin-off to Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood, The Adventures of Cliff Booth, starring Brad Pitt, so they transformed a section of Highland Park into the 1970s.
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Were You Brave?
The Glendale Room, Glendale, Calif., 2005 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
“Generally, my question for myself in life is pretty simple: Were you brave?” Subscribe to my newsletter here.
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I'm Revealed
Tonight, at 7 p.m., I’ll be a storyteller at Revealed, where people share true and personal stories about the “comedy and complexity of being human.” The show is at The Glendale Room, and the tickets are $8.
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My Photograph in an Upcoming Group Art Show
I’m delighted to share that one of my photographs will be part of a group art show in Brooklyn this fall. The show, curated by photographer Ellen Stagg, is called “Don’t Be a Square,” and it will take place at SHAG. The exhibition will be up from September 19, 2025, to January 3, 2026, starting with an opening reception on the 19th from 6 to 8 p.m. My work is titled Flowers (Adult Movie Set); it’s featured in the lower left-hand corner of the invite pictured in this post. I took the photo on the set of an adult movie in Canoga Park, Calif., in the spring of 2009. Below is Ellen’s curatorial statement. I hope you’ll check out this awesome exhibition.
Don’t Be a Square, Group Art Show
Curated by Ellen Stagg
Shag from September 19 - January 3
108 Roebling Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
“To Be Square: Means to be old-fashioned, conventional, or uncool”
Erotic art is never square, but I asked the artists of this show: “How do you see outside a box when you put yourself in one?”
Making art in a square is not typical, but it can be done. Most canvases are rectangles in Landscape or Portrait, but a square is the same on all sides, creating a canvas for all the artists to be the same, but expressing themselves in their own way, fully and freely.
The artists in this show exemplify just that—all different. From color to black and white, and through the use of media from Photography, Collage, Drawings, Sculpture, Paintings, Video, and Multimedia, they all have a common ground—the square—and their own way of thinking outside their own constraints. By expressing themselves fully with the theme of Eroticism and what it means to them to be boxed into four walls, they are thus exposing their own deepest desires of sexuality and sensuality.
The work flows so well together because of their common canvas, but they are all so different in a playful, sexy, and thought-provoking way. If we are forced to be boxed into a square, how do we test the limits of our sexuality? Stop putting yourself in a box with conventions and don’t be a square.
Artists to show:
Agatha, Amanda Heck, Ames Robin, Daze, Dee Lee, Ellen Stagg, Isa McMullen, Jeff Faerber, Joe Borzotta, Lara Scotton, Leo Brooklyn, Marianna Carlina, Martina Secondo Russo, Micheal Paul, Peekaboo Pointe, Porkchop, subtexture, Susannah Breslin, Sy Rivers, Trixie LaPointe, Tom Tapit and William Thompson
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Books I Read in July: Favorite and Least Favorite
This year, I decided to read only books with pictures. In July, I read four books. (You can find all my short book reviews here.) My favorite was Barbara Nitke’s American Ecstasy; from my review: “I read and pored over this book at a glacial pace because I didn’t want it to end.” My least favorite was E. M. Carroll’s A Guest in the House; from my review: “I had to search the internet to try and understand [the ending].”
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The Halfway Point
Yesterday I reached the halfway point in my novel, which is set in the San Fernando Valley’s adult movie industry. As seen here, with the book’s epigraph. Only the rest of the way left to go. Onward and upward.
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Fuck You, Pay Me #24: A New Book and Other Things
A pink curtain at an art gallery, Los Angeles, Calif., 2024 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
This is part 24 of Fuck You, Pay Me, an ongoing series of posts on writing, editing, and publishing.
July proved to be another busy month. Highlights include the announcement of my next book, an audition I’m doing for a well-known podcast, the latest from my newsletter, an upcoming public performance, and how my novel set in the San Fernando Valley’s adult movie industry is coming along. Let’s dive in, shall we?
The book
This month I was really delighted to share the news of my next book. It’s part of Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 books series. If you’re not familiar with the beloved series, each book focuses on a single album. My book will focus on Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. I also wrote a bit about the process of pitching the book in my newsletter.
To be perfectly honest, when I proposed doing this book earlier this year, I didn’t think my proposal would be selected. Now that it has been, I’m really excited to be doing it. I spent a lot of time over the years listening to hip-hop so I hope I have something to add there, and I am a big fan of all things West Coast.
As I wrote in my book proposal:
“In the San Francisco Bay Area, I had come of age listening to hip-hop—from The Sugarhill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ to Kurtis Blow’s ‘The Breaks,’ from Public Enemy’s ‘Bring the Noise’ to Gang Starr’s ‘Mass Appeal,’ from the Bay Area’s own Too $hort’s ‘Life is… Too Short’ to 2Pac’s ‘If My Homie Calls’—but this was something different.”
The audition
In other news, a couple months ago, I pitched a story to a popular podcast. The story had to do with one of the most extreme, out-there things I had seen as a journalist writing about the adult movie industry. While I had written about the subject in the past, I hadn’t told the full story of what I’d seen.
Once again, when I pitched this story, I wasn’t sure it would be picked. The subject matter is so beyond the pale, but this podcast has a history of doing stories that sit at the extreme end. When I got the email saying they were interested in a 10-minute audition of what the story might sound like, I went for it.
Actually, I really went down the rabbit hole. I re-researched everything I had created about this specific topic, reading stories, researching online, digging up old photos I’d taken that I hadn’t seen in several decades. I probably spend too much time feeling like my interests are too freaky for most people to be able to tolerate, but it felt validating to have someone else interested in hearing about it.
I’ll share what happens after I submit my audition.
The newsletter
This month over in my newsletter, I wrote about various things: my novel, my penchant for taking photos of people’s feet on adult movie sets, what a map of Porn Valley might look like. Over time I’ve learned with this newsletter to write about what interests me, and not worry about the rest. I read something someone wrote somewhere which is basically that newsletters are blog posts with an email function. That caused something for me to click. After all, I certainly know how to blog.
Upcoming subjects I’m thinking about writing about in my newsletter: an adult industry-related event taking place in L.A. soon, what happens when porn stars die, an idea I have for a group art gallery show that would pull back the curtain on the adult business.
Got a suggestion for what you’d like to read about in my newsletter? Email me here.
The stories
A few months ago, I started performing publicly again. First, I read an excerpt from a short story that I wrote that will be published in an online literary magazine later this fall at a bookstore in Echo Park. Next up, I read an essay I wrote about being a human lab rat at a basement bar in Atwater Village. This Sunday, I’ll be sharing a story about what I learned from hanging around adult movie sets as a journalist at Revealed at The Glendale Room.
I’m not sure why I’m doing these public storytelling experiments. So far I’ve learned my fiction is better read than read out loud, being entertaining is better than being boring, and I’m not sure I can tell a good story if I’m not reading something off a page. I guess I will find out! I tend to like to throw myself into new situations and see what happens. If I fail, no one will give a shit or remember.
Or so I like to think.
The novel
This morning, I finished writing the sixth chapter of my novel. I’m pretty proud of myself. Writing a novel isn’t easy. What a slog! What a test of endurance and will! I've reached the halfway point. There are only six chapters left.
Each chapter of this book takes place in a different city or community in the San Fernando Valley. The entire story takes place in a single day. The main character works in the adult movie business. Sometimes when I get stuck, I drive to the place where that chapter takes place. Inevitably, I get inspired.
What a joy and a pleasure and a gift to live in the Valley.
To quote Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now:
“When I was here, I wanted to be there. When I was there, all I could think of was getting back into the jungle. I'm here a week now. Waiting for a mission. Getting softer. Every minute I stay in this room, I get weaker. And every minute Charlie squats in the bush, he gets stronger. Each time I looked around, the walls moved in a little tighter.”
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What I'm Watching: "The Enviable Loft Fran Lebowitz Has Never Liked"
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My Photographic Foot Fetish
Adult actors film a scene, Los Angeles, Calif., 2001 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
In my latest newsletter, I try and understand why I take so many photos of feet. Subscribe to get it every week.
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Books I Read: American Ecstasy
I can’t remember the first time I encountered Barbara Nitke’s American Ecstasy series, but it was a very long time ago. And more recently when I realized I’d never owned the book version, I wasn’t sure why. Then I remembered that I was sick when it was published. So, finally, I ordered it. And this book just dazzles. During my career, I have spent quite a bit of time on adult movie sets as a journalist, and I have never encountered a woman who had a similar experience, which is captured in this magnificent volume. In her own words, the words of the performers and crew, and her dazzling photos, she brings to life the often hidden adult business, what it’s like to insert yourself into its making, and what we can learn when we take the time to look at and listen to a part of capitalist production that due to its preoccupation with erotic fantasy is often misunderstood and frequently vilified. I read and pored over this book at a glacial pace because I didn’t want it to end. This is better than Larry Sultan’s The Valley. This is the real thing.
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Jerky Boys
Recently I’ve been tracking down print copies of my older work and posting the stories online. The latest is the October/November issue of Nerve magazine. You may remember Nerve.com. For a spell, they published a print magazine. This short piece focuses on one of the most extreme things I saw in the adult industry.
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Photo City
Photo City, Studio City, Calif., 2025 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
Photo City, in Studio City, California, is a great place to get passport photos (if you’re me) and film developed.
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The Audition
Awhile back I pitched a story to a podcast. It would involve talking about one of the most out-there, extreme things I ever witnessed as a journalist on adult movie sets (and there were a lot!). The production team requested that I create an audio audition of what the story might sound like. That prompted me to revisit everything I had created that was about that out-there thing: photos, art, writing. I also viewed the adult movies that were created on those sets, which I found on adult streaming sites. During this research process, I re-read “They Shoot Porn Stars, Don’t They?”, which I wrote in 2009 and is about the Great Recession’s impact on the adult industry. I had always felt that I hadn’t gotten the ending right, but when I read it this time, I thought I did. In fact, I think it captures what’s at the heart of my writing on the adult industry: the relationship between fantasy and reality and what happens when you insert yourself into the tension between the two. In any case, I’ll post more thoughts on this audition process down the line. For now, that’s it.
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Adult Movie Set, North Hollywood, 2001
Adult actress, North Hollywood, Calif., 2000 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
An adult movie actress poses on a North Hollywood set, 2001. For more of my photos, follow me on Instagram.
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What I'm Watching: "The Dog Days and Your Creative Juices"
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It's Like This and Like That
In this week’s newsletter, I share more about my next book—which is part of Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 books series and focuses on Dr. Dre’s 1992 album, The Chronic—including a peek at the proposal and the other contenders.
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The Actress
Adult actress with script, Los Angeles, Calif., 2017 | Photo credit: Susannah Breslin
An adult actress reads her script before shooting her scene. For more of my photos, follow me on Instagram.
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