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"In the freewheeling, debaucherous tradition of Charles Bukowski, a taxi driver's stories from the streets of lowlife Los Angeles. Dan Fante lived the stories he wrote. His voice has the immediacy of a stranger of the next barstool, of a friend who lives on the edge. As he writes in Short Dog (the title comes from street slang for a half-pint of alcohol): I had been back working a cabbie gig as a result of my need for money. And insanity. Hack driver is the only occupation I know about with no boss, and because I have always performed poorly at supervised employment, I returned to the taxi business. The upside, now that I was working again, was that my own boozing was under control and I was on beer only, except for my days off.s"--
About the author
Dan Fante lived in Los Angeles, a city that provided the setting for much of his work. His novels (published by Ecco) include
Chump Change,
Mooch,
86'd and
Spitting Off Tall Buildings. He is also the author of the poetry collections
A Gin-Pissing-Raw-Meat-Dual-Carburetor-V8-Son-Of-A-Bitch From Los Angeles and
Kissed by a Fat Waitress, as well as the memoir,
Fante: A Family's Legacy of Writing, Drinking and Surviving.
Summary
“Soaked in booze and sadness, psychotic eruptions and hilarity.”—Willy Vlautin
In the freewheeling, debaucherous tradition of Charles Bukowski, a taxi driver’s stories from the streets of lowlife Los Angeles—with an introduction by Willy Vlautin. “Dan Fante is an authentic literary outlaw.”—New York Times.
Dan Fante lived the stories he wrote. His voice has the immediacy of a stranger of the next barstool, of a friend who lives on the edge. As he writes in Short Dog (the title is street slang for a half-pint of alcohol):
I had been back working a cabbie gig as a result of my need for money. And insanity.
Hack driver is the only occupation I know about with no boss, and because I have always performed poorly at supervised employment, I returned to the taxi business. The up side, now that I was working again, was that my own boozing was under control and I was on beer only, except for my days off.
Fante was the son of famed novelist and screenwriter John Fante, but as the Los Angeles Times wrote, the younger Fante “… allows us a glimpse of the Southern California demimonde that surely escaped his father’s attention.”
These outsider stories are raw, vivid, and brutally honest. But even when the stories are fueled by anger and disgust, they are punctuated by unexpectedly funny and dark-humored vignettes. Short Dog is for readers ready for a cab ride on the wild side.
Foreword
Short Dog
- Paperback reprint with a new introduction by Willy Vlautin
- Dan Fante is a legendary LA writer in the mold of Charles Bukowski (and the son of, John Fante, author of Ask the Dust).
Additional text
“With the rerelease of Short Dog, we find Fante at his most grizzled and unrepentant…like Jim Thompson whispering lines for Charles Bukowski to carnival bark.”
—Los Angeles Review of Books
“This cab driver’s anecdotal tour of L.A.’s underbelly contains scenes of compulsive readability that could turn mainstream writers green, and not from a hangover.”
—Booklist
“Dan Fante is an authentic literary outlaw....Short Dog delivers eight blunt, unsparing episodes in Bruno’s [Fante’s alter ego] brief career as a Los Angeles taxi driver. Dan Fante’s world is unremittingly ugly, but like Ishmael he has lived to tell the tale.”
—New York Times
“Shaggy, gritty...echoes of Burroughs and Kerouac...Fante’s raunchy, dynamic voice occasionally soars.”
—Publishers Weekly
“Hardnosed tales . . . Fante’s writing often gets compared to his forebear Charles Bukowski’s . . . both men wrote about hard drinking in the rogue’s gallery.”
—Rain Taxi
